Pumpkin Peanut Butter French Toast

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P + PB + FT

Pumpkin + Peanut Butter + French Toast = Winning Combination

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I thought of this odd combo and had high hopes for a recipe success!

I’ve had a jar of PB2 powdered peanut butter collecting dust in my pantry for a while now, mainly because I typically overlook it in favor of real peanut butter.

As I was trying to think of creative ways to use the jar, a light bulb went off!

What to Do with PB2?

Combine the powdered peanut butter with pumpkin!

To bring PB2 to life, you typically add water, but I figured that by adding pumpkin, the powdered peanut butter would be much thicker and also take on a pumpkin flavor.

PB2 + Pumpkin

I combined 2 tbsp. of PB2 with about a third of a cup of canned pumpkin and stirred up the mixture until it was nice and thick.

I then got to work on the French toast.

Arnold Honey Wheat Sandwich Thins

I dredged one Arnold honey wheat sandwich thin in a mixture of one egg white and 1/2 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice.

Dunk-a-Roo!

After cooking the French toast on the griddle, I spread one half with the pumpkin peanut butter and placed thin slices of a ripe peach on the other.

Open Faced P & PB French Toast

After smooshing the two halves together, I dowsed them in syrup and sprinkled the ’em with nutmeg.

Voila!

Chomp!

I couldn’t wait to dig into this bad boy!

A Bite o' Yum

Eat Up, Buttercup!

This breakfast combined many of my different loves: peanut butter, pumpkin, doughy bread, pumpkin pie spice and fresh fruit.

Win!

Workout

Today’s workout included a five mile run with this little one:

Running Buddy

She’s such a good running buddy.

Sadie’s reward for keeping me motivated through our five mile run was licking the container I used to combine the peanut butter and pumpkin.

She was quite a fan.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter French Toast

Ingredients:

• 1/3 c. canned pumpkin
• 2 tbsp. PB2 (I’m sure regular peanut butter would work as well)
• 1/2 ripe peach, thinly sliced
• 1 Arnold sandwich thin
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• Nutmeg, to taste
• Syrup, to taste

Directions

• Combine PB2 and pumpkin in a bowl and set aside
• Whisk together egg white and pumpkin pie spice
• Dredge sandwich thin in egg white mixture
• Spray a pan or griddle with non-stick cooking spray
• Cook sandwich thin slices at a medium-high heat until egg mixture is set, flipping once
• Remove sandwich thins from griddle and spread one half with peanut butter mixture and layer peach slices on the other half
• Press two halves together and cover in syrup and sprinkle with nutmeg, if desired

I Worked Out and Had Dippy Eggs

Post title explanation: After typing up this post, I turned to Ryan and said, “What should I title my post? I worked out and had dippy eggs. Whadda ya got?”

His reply: I Worked Out and Had Dippy Eggs

The man is clearly an un-tapped blogging genius. 😉

On to today’s post!

Workout

I give myself leeway when it comes to working out on the weekend, but if time permits, I love sneaking in a sweaty workout first thing in the morning.

To say today’s 9 a.m. gym session was sweaty is quite the understatement.

This was the sight that greeted Ryan when he came to find me after his workout was over.

I definitely worked up a sweat thanks, yet again, to Jessica’s At Home Cardio Blast workout.

Before completing two rounds of the Cardio Blast circuit, I did 30 minutes of cardio, split evenly between the stair master and the elliptical.

As if the circuit isn’t hard enough by itself, doing two rounds after already completing 30 minutes of cardio made me sweat like a monster!

Needless to say, I worked up quite an appetite.

Breakfast

My pre-workout quesadilla held me over fairly well, but after that workout and a 2.5 mile walk with Ryan and Sadie, I was ready for a real breakfast.

I made myself a dippy egg, seasoned with salt ‘n’ peppa, to enjoy with a toasted Arnold multigrain sandwich thin and two strips of Morningstar Farms veggie bacon (one went directly into my mouth and didn’t make the picture).

I loved every last yolky bite!

So good!

Once we were finished licking our plates, Ryan and I spent some time in the backyard, soaking up some sun and playing with Sadie.

Now it’s time for lunch before we head out for the day.

Catcha lata! 😀

Make Up vs. No Make Up

Lunch, lunch, lunch.

Today’s lunch was oh-so-tasty thanks to leftover BBQ meatloaf!

Meatloaf Sandwich

I enjoyed the leftover meatloaf on a whole wheat Arnold sandwich thin which I received as a sample through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

Though I’ve already declared my love for these sandwich thins numerous times on the blog, allow me to sing their praises one more time: La, la, la! They are so  doughy and delicious! La, la, la! 😀

Yum, Yum Eat 'Em Up

For some extra color, I also enjoyed chopped red and orange peppers with grape tomatoes.

Red + Orange

A cup of Mott’s Natural Applesauce also made an appearance.

Not Just For Kids, My Friends

Thursday's Lunch

I also ate leftover Brussels sprouts and onions from last night, but those eluded any photographs.

This lunch filled me right up!

Now on to some beauty talk…

Make Up vs. No Make Up

I have always envied girls who were good at doing make up.

Watching someone put on their makeup thoroughly amuses me. It’s almost like watching an artist paint a fresh canvas.

Unfortunately I am not good at make up. At all. Not even a little bit.

For one thing, eyeshadow makes me itchy.

I wish I had the ability to highlight my eyes with different color shadows or smudge some eyeliner to give myself the super-sexy smoky eye. Whenever I’ve tried to experiment with  color on my eyelids (other than tans, taupes, beiges and golds),  I end up looking like Mimi from Drew Carey.

Hi, Mimi!

I think that’s why my makeup routine is so simple and takes about five minutes.

My Make Up Goods

Fortunately I am marrying a man who is not a fan of makeup. He says he cannot tell the difference between me with a full face of make up and me without any makeup. (The poor boy is clearly blind.) On the weekends I often go makeup free since Ryan has said he prefers me that way and it makes my life a little easier, too!

In talking with some of my girlfriends, it seems like a lot of guys like their girlfriends or wives fresh faced. It makes me think that women often put on makeup for other women.

And now, speaking of fresh faces…

Faces of Beauty

As if I wasn’t already a big enough fan of Heather of the wonderful blog Heather’s Dish (this girl has some seriously awesome photography skills), yesterday she made an announcement about a new website she’s launching called Faces of Beauty, which made me love her all the more.

Faces of Beauty

Faces of Beauty is a site where Heather will post pictures of women (and men!) with no (or minimal) makeup to highlight the beauty within them.

100 Percent Make Up Free!

In Heather’s words, “What I want to do is start a CELEBRATION of our natural beauty.  What if we took things like wrinkles, smile lines, gray hair, blond eyelashes, crooked teeth, crooked noses, shorter necks, etc. and saw the beauty and the LIFE in them?”

Click here for more information about joining the movement for yourself.

Awesome, awesome idea, Heather! 😀

Of Possible Interest:

• How to Avoid Weekend Weight Gain (An article I wrote for FitandFabLiving.com)
• 10 Signs You’re a Running Fanatic (FitSugar.com)
• Weight Gain in Your 20s: Explained (Health.com)
• Healthy Twitter Chat: Tonight at 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT join @ThermosBrand on Twitter to celebrate the launch of the company’s new series with a group of health and fitness experts: The Cold Matters Coaches, including Caitlin from the blog Healthy Tipping Point. Participate using the #ThermosCold hashtag on Twitter and you will automatically be entered to win some of the company’s newest insulated hydration products.

Question of the Afternoon

• Do you always wear make up, or are you a makeup minimalist?
  
• In your past or present relationships, have men preferred you with or without makeup?
  

The Elusive Pint

Ooooh breakfast. You are my reason for waking up in the morning. 🙂

I love a filling breakfast and find that my morning meals that contain peanut butter are some of the most satisfying. Gotta love those healthy fats that stick to yo’ ribs!

Today’s breakfast was a peanut butter and peach sandwich that I prepared on an Arnold multi-grain sandwich thin.

Hump Day Breakfast

I sprinkled the nut butter and peach slices with pumpkin pie spice to make it look extra purdy for you guys and also add a little bit o’ flava.

Peachy Keen

On the side I enjoyed several fresh strawberries.

Sweet Strawberries

I love how sweet strawberries are in the summer. They’re so touch-and-go in the winter, but summer berries are always perfectly ripe.

Workout

I woke up a little nervous about my workout this morning. After a week away from strength training, I had a feeling my usual 5:45 a.m. Wednesday BodyPump class would kick my little tooshie.

I was right… kind of. I figured I would struggle through the squats and lunges since I assumed my legs would feel fatigued after Sunday’s half marathon, but I actually found the bicep and should tracks the most challenging. Go figure!

It felt great to feel the burn again! Healthy Julie is back!  We’ll just forget about that little bowl of Ben & Jerry’s peanut butter cup ice cream I had last night, mmm kay? 😉

Actually… Let’s talk about Ben & Jerry’s for a second.

In college Ryan and I fell in love with Ben & Jerry’s oatmeal cookie chunk ice cream.

Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk

It is seriously amazing. Sweet cinnamon ice cream with chunks of oatmeal cookies and a ribbon of fudge. It’s heaven in a pint.

Well, we haven’t been able to find this ice cream for years! The grocery store by Ryan’s old apartment is the only location we’ve ever seen carry it. We literally check every grocery store we visit for a pint of this stuff with no luck.

It’s quite the elusive little guy.

Questions of the Morning

• Have you ever had a product you love be discontinued or suddenly become very hard to find?
  
• Which cookie do you prefer: Oatmeal or chocolate chip?
  

Peanut Butter Buddies

Meet my peanut butter buddy!

"I Love PB Almost as Much as My Mama!"

Sadie and I were peanut butter buddies this morning. As I enjoyed a peanut butter finger, Sadie enjoyed a peanut butter spoon (or two).

PBF

I had to spoil Sadie a little bit because I’m going to miss her so much this weekend!

Ryan is taking Sadie up to the Appalachian mountains to go hiking with his dad and his friend Terry, while I head to Jacksonville to spend the weekend with my family. Being away from Ryan makes me sad, and when I don’t have Sadie with me either it’s like a double blow.

At least I have a fantastic and fun family to hang with! 😀

Breakfast

If you didn’t already guess, peanut butter made a starring debut in my breakfast this morning.

Creamy PB

I topped a honey wheat Arnold sandwich thin with the creamy goodness and microwaved frozen banana slices.

Nanners

Open Faced PB & B

The banana was hot and gooey and tasted extra sweet.

PB 'n' B

Elvis would be proud of this breakfast. 😉

Workout

My workout began with an early morning BodyPump class. We had a substitute instructor who decided to do an old throw-back release, which was a neat surprise. I love challenging my muscles in new ways and this release definitely did that.

The throw-back release was easier on the lunges and squat tracks, but my biceps, triceps and chest we killin’ me! I actually increased my weight by five pounds during the chest track. I figured I should give it a go since the release we’ve been working on has a really challenging chest track.

Post ‘Pump, I headed home and leashed Sadie up for an easy, breezy 20 minute run around the lake by our apartment. She seemed to enjoy it and I relished my last moments with my lil’ girl for the weekend. 🙂

A big spoonful of peanut butter was Sadie’s post-run reward.

Worth the Run

Question of the Day

Do you treat yourself to something especially yummy after a tough workout?

I usually eat similar things regardless of the difficulty of my workout. However, after running in a race I always eat a BIG breakfast with dippy eggs, toast, fruit and whatever else I’m cravin’ at the time (like whipped cream, straight out of the can).