fro yo Archives - Ari's Menu

Tart Cherry Fro-yo {with White & Dark Chocolate Chips}

August 17, 2014 · by Ari · 15 Comments

The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of the Cherry Marketing Institute.

Ultra thick and creamy tart cherry frozen yogurt loaded with dark chocolate and white chocolate chips. So decadent, you’d never guess the base is FAT FREE!

After an incredible summer in Portland, I’m back in Phoenix. Back to real work, and back to 100++ degrees. And again I’m wondering…WHY DON’T I LIVE IN PORTLAND? Well, a fantastic husband, my puppies and an entire life time of family and friends make the heat livable I suppose.

Totally unreasonable amounts of frozen yogurt don’t hurt either. 😉 You may have noticed that before I left I was on a bit of an ice cream kick. I finally figured out my ice cream maker, and I just couldn’t stop. The real deal, full fat ice cream is just so hard to recreate that I was a little nervous to go back to homemade fro-yo. I mean, I am a HUGE fan of soft serve, and I will eat it any time, any day, but it is just so hard to make something at home that doesn’t turn into an icy mess.

The good news? This is by far the BEST frozen yogurt I have ever made! The base is so rich and creamy, and packed with tart cherry flavor. You may remember a little bit about the benefits of tart cherries from this Tart Cherry Lime Elixir. They are said to reduce soreness and oxidative stress, and aid in recovery. Also, they are delicious. I’ve been drinking tart cherry juice plain for the 7 Day Cherry Juice Challenge, and it is the perfect amount of sweet and tart.

This challenge is great leading up to a big race or event, and it’s incredibly easy to incorporate! If you love the taste of tart cherry juice, just drink 8 ounces a day, or you can use 2 tablespoons of the concentrate as a shot–college flash backs anyone? Except I like the idea of actually feeling better the next day instead of worse (the woes of getting older)–or diluted in another beverage.

Okay, back to the fro-yo. We all know that cherries pair magically with chocolate. White chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate syrup, you name it. I went for a combination of white and dark chocolate to create more flavors, but you are free to use whatever you’d like. Or, if you’d like to keep this 100% fat free, feel free to skip the chocolate all together, and it will still be delicious!

Tart Cherry Fro-yo {with White & Dark Chocolate Chips}

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Serving Size: 1/2 cup

Tart Cherry Fro-yo {with White & Dark Chocolate Chips}

Ultra thick and creamy tart cherry frozen yogurt loaded with dark chocolate and white chocolate chips. So decadent, you'd never guess the base is FAT FREE!

Ingredients

2 cups nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/3-1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon tart cherry juice concentrate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ tablespoon bourbon or vodka, optional
¼ cup dark chocolate chips
¼ cup white chocolate chips

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, tart cherry juice concentrate and vanilla extract until combined and sugar is fully dissolved. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions. Add bourbon or vodka in the last 2-3 minutes of freezing. This is optional, but recommended—it keeps the frozen yogurt from freezing hard and icy. Fold in chocolate chips. Frozen yogurt is best served immediately, but can also be stored in a freezer safe container, just allow 10-15 minutes thawing time before scooping.

http://www.arismenu.com/tart-cherry-fro-yo/

To learn more about tart cherries and their benefits, check out ChooseCherries.com, or follow their Facebook / Twitter /Pinterest / YouTube!

Magic Shell Cups

July 7, 2013 · by Ari · 29 Comments

Remember Dibs? They were so popular when they first came out. Dangerously good, and finally brought ice cream as a “snack” to movie theaters. I was pretty obsessed, but as I’ve mentioned, I’m pretty obsessed with anything that includes ice cream. 😉

I tried to make you Dibs. I tried to many ways. I made a mess of my kitchen. Chocolate and fro-yo everywhere. And I’m not one of those roll with the punches people who keeps it cool when things don’t work out. No. I work in an embarrassingly fragile state in the kitchen where I am known to have legit freak out when things don’t turn out the way I want them to. It’s really fun being married to me. 😉

Anyway, after several failed attempts, I decided to change things up a little. Last year I was obsessed with making these cups. Then after selling hundreds of them for fundraising and spending pretty much every weekend making them, I decided I never wanted to make a single candy cup again for the rest of my life. Good thing these are ice cream cups instead. They did bring back some painful memories, but man were they worth it in the end!

These cups are everything you love about a magic shell ice cream cone in tiny, bite-sized cups that are perfect for when you just want a little bit of sweetness. They are also extremely versatile. You could put rice krispies in the chocolate for some added crunch, you can use any type of ice cream/fro-yo you like (I like it best with nonfat vanilla fro-yo or coconut milk ice cream), you can add sprinkles (no brainer for me!) for color and crunch, and you could even put in some peanut butter, granola or pretzels to add some variety!

Magic Shell Cups

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 26-30 cups

Serving Size: 2 cups

Magic Shell Cups

Ingredients

20 oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped (or dark chocolate chips)
1 tbsp coconut oil
Approx 1 cup ice cream/frozen yogurt of choice (I used coconut milk ice cream and nonfat vanilla fro-yo. If vegan, use coconut milk or other nondairy ice cream.)
Sprinkles for topping, optional

Instructions

Line mini muffin tins with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, heat chocolate and coconut oil in the microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring after each, until melted.
Spoon enough chocolate to cover the bottom of each baking cup. Add scant tablespoon fro-yo or ice cream. Cover with more chocolate. Add sprinkles if desired.
Freeze for at least one hour or until set. Cups will stay kept in the refrigerator for up to one month.

http://www.arismenu.com/magic-shell-cups/

Fro-yo Malt

July 2, 2013 · by Ari · 24 Comments

I love to bake, but my #1 hands down favorite dessert will always be anything involving ice cream or fro-yo. In fact, sometimes if I get fro-yo as an afternoon snack, I find myself still eating some after dinner for dessert. I can’t even keep ice cream in the house, or it’s bad news.

One of my favorite ways to eat ice cream is a thick and creamy malted milk shake. What is it about malt powder that automatically makes things delicious?? I love sitting down at an old school diner and ordering a vanilla malt. I haven’t had one in years because shakes have more calories than almost any dessert out there. I never stopped craving them, so I made my own smaller ones using nonfat fro-yo and almond milk. Let me tell you, they taste exactly like the real deal!

I made them for my mom and she told me they were her favorite thing I’ve ever made! They are definitely on my favorites list also. Thick, creamy and perfect for the summer (not that I don’t drink shakes in December…), these are sure to cool you off and take you back in time without giving you the gross ate-too-much-ice-cream feeling. You can make these whatever flavor you want–chocolate, caramel, the possibilities are endless! Also, this makes a fairly small shake (about 1 cup). You are free to double the portions if desired. I kept it closer to what I consider (and what do I even know? 😉 ) to be a healthy-ish dessert portion, but I’m not going to tell you how much fro-yo to eat. 😉

Fro-yo Malt

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 3 servings

Serving Size: Approx 1 cup

Fro-yo Malt

Ingredients

2 cups nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt (or chocolate, or any flavor you like), I used Stoneyfield
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup malted milk powder
Light whipped cream and sprinkles for topping, optional

Instructions

Blend frozen yogurt, almond milk and malted milk powder in a blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Serve topped with whipped cream and sprinkles if desired.

http://www.arismenu.com/fro-yo-malt/

Beer Floats

September 12, 2012 · by Ari · 6 Comments

I have a few favorite things in life. Puppies, my husband, Seinfeld reruns, fro yo, beer, peanut butter, cilantro…. The list goes on. I’m not really someone who feels luke warm about things. There’s “OMG I freaking love ____ so much, I would poke my eyeballs out of my head if I could never see/have/eat it again!!!” and “Ew, gross.” Yes, I have the love scale of a teenage girl.

I don’t want to live in a world where my favorite things can’t go together. In my world, which is a little bit like Neverland–all whimsical and idealistic with no real sense of grown-up-ness, all the things I love fall magically into place, so that after a 15 mile run, I can sit down to pour myself a delicious dark, sweet beer.

I can scoop fro yo on top, and enjoy a grown up ~~root~~beer float.

Okay, so you might think I’m a total freak, but listen, my first beer float experience was at The Ale House in Moscow (Idaho, not Russia) with my college bestie and foodspiration, Heather. We were both skeptical, and in true fashion of both of our tastes, she ordered hers with the huckleberry ale, and I ordered mine with the vanilla bourbon stout (oh my gosh, vanilla boubon stour, PLEASE COME BACK INTO MY LIFE!!). They were both absolutely delicious, but I’m guessing you know which one was my favorite…

Celebratory dessert done in about 90 seconds, and gone in about an equal amount of time. You better believe this baby will be reappearing after my very first 17 miler that’s coming up this Friday! What can I say? I’m a girl who likes to celebrate 😉

Beer Float

yield 1

1 bottle ice cold sweet beer of choice; stouts and porters work great (I used oatmeal stout. You can also use a lighter, fruity beer, but for the love, please do NOT use Bud Light, or, worse, PBR. Just don’t do it.)
2 scoops (approx 1/2 cup) nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt

Directions:

Chill your beer glass in the freezer for 30min-1 hour.
Pour beer until glass is 1/2-2/3 full. Top with 2 scoops frozen yogurt.

In case you needed an example of my interpretation of 1/2-2/3 full 😉

Heath Bar Fro-yo

June 14, 2012 · by Ari · 4 Comments

Well, I guess whether or not we had a perfect 85 degree Memorial Day weekend, that is long gone, and summer is here to stay. Although, I’m not. Come Sunday, I will be on a plane to Oregon where I will be spending most of the summer! I get to do theatre in a beautiful location with some of the most amazing people. I cannot wait! But while I’m still here “enjoying” the triple digits, you better believe I am getting my fro yo fill.

Not that I need warm temperatures to eat frozen yogurt. We all know that it’s my weakness in any temperature. But there is something special about the cool treat in the hot weather, especially when it’s made at home.

And can we talk for a second about Heath toffee bits? Is there anything more delicious to put into a cookie, cupcake, bowl of ~~cereal~~ ice cream? They’ve always been one of my favorite additions. I used to make these super unhealthy cookies filled with white and dark chocolate chips, and ridiculous amounts of toffee bits that gave it a slight crunch, and made the whole thing taste like toffee. You should try it sometime. But keep them far away from me, because I will eat the whole batch. Then make more.

It’s okay, I have this bowl of deliciousness to keep me occupied. And it has Greek yogurt, so I can eat it for breakfast, and call it healthy. I love dessert for breakfast. I am totally my mother’s daughter. She never likes to eat her dessert at night. Instead, she saves it, and eats it for breakfast the next morning. She also loved ice cream. And chocolate. She’s basically me, with a New York accent.

Mom, come over and eat fro yo. Okay, actually, it’s all gone (I’m sure you’re shocked), but it honestly is the easiest thing to make ever, and it is basically fool proof. Even I can’t mess it up!

So, I know my house is not Yogurtland. I will never forget the first time I made frozen yogurt for my friends, and they asked me where the toppings were. But, I would say Heath and chocolate are among the best of toppings. And Yogurtland’s sprinkles suck. I love my sprinkles crunchy. I can’t stand a soft sprinkle. Is that weird? Do other people out there have a sprinkle preference?

Rainbow and crunchy. Or pink and crunchy. No chocolate sprinkles. Those are lame, and boring. Apparently, I’m a sprinkle connoisseur. That is because sprinkles go on fro yo (they may not be in the picture, but you better believe they made it onto my bowl), and I am, without a doubt, a fro yo connoisseur. And this fro yo is creamy, filled with delicious vanilla bean (if you’ve never used one, you don’t know what you’re missing!!), and the delicious crunch of one of the best candy bars around.

Heath Bar Fro-yo

yield 12 4oz servings

3 cups nonfat plain Greek yogurt
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split length wise
1/3 cup Heath toffee bits
1/3 cup mini dark chocolate chips

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together yogurt, and sugar. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into the bowl, and combine. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions.
When yogurt is frozen, gently fold in toffee and chocolate chips before serving, or transferring to a container to freeze for later.

Nonfat Brownie Batter Fro Yo

May 16, 2012 · by Ari · 3 Comments

Friends, it is getting hot in Phoenix. The high today is something gross like 105, and it’s only May. Not a fan.

Okay, let’s be honest for a second–I eat fro yo year round. It could be snowing and I would still want fro yo. In fact, no other dessert really satisfies my craving the way frozen yogurt or gelato does.

And when it’s hot outside, it is even more refreshing. I could eat frozen yogurt for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

In fact, today when I came back all hot and gross from my run, all I wanted to do was eat this for breakfast.

Remember when you were a kid and you had parents to tell you that you weren’t allowed to eat dessert for breakfast? That’s what I need. MOM LOOK! I am actually asking you to tell me what to do! That is a far stretch from my teenage years, right?

All I’m saying is watch out Yogurtology! You may have the best self serve in Phoenix, but I can also serve this myself, and it is creamy, chocolatey and also packs quite a bit of protein! HOW MUCH PROTEIN DOES YOUR YOGURT HAVE YOGURTOLOGY???? HMMMM???? Sorry, I love your yogurt, really. I just really love mine too 😉

Brownie Batter Fro Yo

adapted from my BBFF Nicole

3 cups nonfat Greek yogurt (I used TJ’s vanilla bean)
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
2-3 tbs Splenda
1/2 cup + 2 tbs No Pudge or Reduced Guilt brownie mix (or gluten-free brownie mix if desired)

Directions:

In a medium bowl combine yogurt, sugar, Splenda and brownie mix, stirring together until well combined. Chill mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Pour chilled mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and freeze according to the ice cream makers instructions.

Blogger Meet Up @ Piestewa Peak & La Grande Orange

March 12, 2012 · by Ari · 5 Comments

Saturday after our bike ride of near death, Nicole, Carolyn and I met up with Diana, Marisa and Estela for a hike at Piestewa Peak. After the bike ride, I honestly was not really in the mood to hike anymore, but once we got going, I stopped being lame and started to enjoy myself. I’m no expert on hiking, but this one seemed…nice? You know, like a nice uphill walk with cacti 🙂 Haha, if you want to actually hear anything legit about hiking, you should just go to Diana’s blog because she’s basically an expert. In fact, she even knows all of these weird hiking rules–did you know there were rules??? Like she knew what to say to all the people we passed, and talked about things like right of way that I didn’t even know existed on a mountain!

Look! Nicole and I are hiking! And there's a mountain.

Marisa, Carolyn, Estela, Diana, Nicole & Me

**Hike photos courtesy of Marisa**

After the hike, we hopped back on our bikes and headed to La Grande Orange where we met up with Emily, Megan and Stacey. You better believe after a 30 mile bike ride I was ready for some wine! Emily and I split a bottle of pinot.

I have way too many pictures that look just like this...

As soon as we sat down, the manager sent out an appetizer for us to sample. Whooohooo, I think it was my first special foodie blogger treatment! And all thanks to Nicole for slipping that into an email to the manager 🙂

Guac, salsa, and pimento dip. All super delish!

Emily and I also split a salad with oranges, goat cheese and avocado (that I inhaled before it even occurred to me to snap a photo) and a pizza with goat cheese, tomatoes, roasted corn and avocado. Ummmm, yum.

OMG!!!! It's real pizza!!!! Probably my favorite food, but I very rarely eat it, unless it's at home and all skinnified. This was ahhhhmazing.

They even had gluten free crust!

Carolyn got the same pizza on the gf crust. I almost wished I would have ordered mine that way because I love a thin and crispy crust!

Then I insisted we take funny pictures. Naturally.

YAY!!! I got Emily to agree to a silly picture!!!

I also have a lot of pictures that look like this one.

I had such a great time with these girls! We have such an amazing group of AZ Bloggers!

Emly, Carolyn & Megan

Stacey & Nicole

Marisa & Me

Carolyn, Megan, Marisa, Stacey, Nicole, Emily & Me

**Photo courtesy of Marisa**

During dinner, Nicole and Emily announced that they have been hard at work at a super awesome new project!!!

The AZ Bloggers Network!!!

The Arizona Bloggers Network will be a place to organize, promote, and connect with other female Arizona bloggers. You don’t have to be a food/fitness blogger to join–just a woman who lives in Arizona and has a passion for blogging. You can head over and register your blog for free! So all you bloggers out there, come and join us! We like people!

After an amazing evening, Nicole’s husband Lance was kind enough to pick us (and our bikes) up @ LGO, and then we convinced him to that a Yogurtology stop was a necessity.

Husband of the year award--picking up his wife and her 2 crazy friends that were silly enough to bike from Mesa to PV.

Oatmeal cookie, salted caramel and butterfinger with graham cracker, butterfinger and nutella on top. I usually stay away from the candy toppings, but after the riding and the drinking I totally caved, haha.

fro yo shirt.”]fro yo shirt.”]Then we tried really hard to take jumping pictures…for a change.

SUCCESS!!!! Except, apparently Lance was zoned out during my lecture about how snapping a photo at any moment in time where it looks like I may have a double chin is unacceptable and grounds to end our friendship forever. Buuuuttt, we were all in the air, so I am posting my second and third chins for the world to see.

And my chins make an appearance here too, but this picture cracked me up. I don't know what I'm doing or why Nicole is a Charlie's Angel, but I find this picture to be pretty awesome.

I can’t say enough what an awesome time I had!! I’m so excited for the new AZ Bloggers Network, and thanks so much to Emily & Nicole for setting it up, and to Nicole especially for putting this whole meet up together!

Fro Yo Cake with Nutella Cookie Crust

March 12, 2012 · by Ari · 2 Comments

Remember this birthday cake gem that Steve got me from Yogurtology?

That cake was perfection. More delicious than ice cream cake, but fro yo, so that makes it healthy, right? Riiiiiight.

What’s even better than a perfectly prepared oatmeal cookie fro yo cake made with love by a Yogurtology employee? One made with more love by ME!

With a butter cookie crust, layers of Nutella and TJ’s Cookie Butter, and topped with Yogurtology’s pretty much famous oatmeal cookie fro yo, this may not be the healthiest cake I’ve ever made, but when you compare to a typical ice cream cake, it definitely can at least hold up to a healthier title, and let me tell you, I would choose this over a regular ice cream cake any day of the week!

Fun fact, ice cream has always been my favorite dessert. I *almost* never eat it now, because I love fro yo so much and never really want to spend the extra calories, but I am of the opinion that if it doesn’t at least include ice cream, it’s not really a dessert. Plain cookie? That’s a snack 😉 Cookie a la mode? Mmmmm….dessert! Fro yo with cookie, Nutella and cookie butter? 3x a day for the rest of my life? Okay….If you insist….

Can we also talk about how this cake takes all of like 20 minutes to make? So easy, and ridiculously hard to mess up! Trust me, I can usually mess up anything 😉

Fro Yo Cake with Nutella Cookie Crust

yield approx 16 slices

1 package Chessman cookies (or any buttery shortbread type cookie), finely crumbled
1/4 cup apple butter
1/2 cup + 2 tbs Nutella, melted & divided
1/3 cup TJ’s cookie butter (or Biscoff spread), melted
1 quart + 1 cup fro yo of choice, softened but not melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a spring form pan with cooking spray, then wrap tin foil around the bottom to avoid fro yo dripping out.
In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs (reserving 1-2 tbs to sprinkle on top) with apple butter. I suggest just using your hands and getting in there.
Press cookie and apple butter mixture into the bottom of the spring form pan and bake for 8-10 min, until set.
Cool for 10-15 minutes, then spread Nutella on top. Let sit for a minute before brushing cookie butter on top of Nutella.
Use a spatula to evenly spread the fro yo on top.
Drizzle with Nutella and sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.
Freeze for 2-3 hours until set, then serve and enjoy!

Nacho’s 30th Birthday

March 4, 2012 · by Ari · Leave a Comment

Last Saturday, Steve and I went up to The Talking Stick Resort to celebrate Nacho turning 30. Jason went all out for Nacho’s birthday, getting both of their families in town, and planning an amazing surprise party. He wanted to have an “out of town” feel, so he rented a beautiful suite at the resort and we had the party there–so fun! Steve and I got there early to help get everything set up. Jason and Christy don’t consider themselves to be very artistic, so I was put in charge of decorating, and I was thrilled to ~~be in charge of something~~ help out.

I made sure to bring my own knife to cut the cake later since we wouldn’t be at a house. Well, after talking about how Jason, his dad and Christy all love to watch true murder stories on television, obviously we had to reenact what that looks like.

Jason's dad,Russ. His is definitely the scariest! Don't worry Russ, I will make sure to NEVER make you angry!

Christy

Hey face, what's up with all those wrinkles? Maybe you didn't get the memo that I'm not actually old yet.

After getting everything set up, we went down to the buffet where everyone was meeting for dinner.

Nacho arrived with his mom and sister. SURPRISE!!!!

Once everyone had arrived, we headed in to eat. Most people seemed to really enjoy the buffet.

You're welcome, Jason. I'm sure you're going to be thrilled about this photo.

After eating, Nacho opened some of her cards and presents.

He still didn’t even know we had a room and he seemed a little confused as to why we went to this resort to eat at the buffet, haha. He also mentioned that he couldn’t believe I hadn’t made his birthday cake. Usually I suck at being sneaky, so I felt pretty awesome that he had no idea about it. We finished things up at the buffet.

Love this one!! So sweet!

Then we blindfolded Nacho to try to keep the room as much of a surprise as possible!

SURPRISE!!!!!

YOU’RE NEXT FOR THE CRIME INVESTIGATION SHOWS!!!!

AHHHHHH!!!!

Just kidding 😉

We opened some bottles of wine and some beers, and all hung out for a bit.

Jason's parents (Russ & Ann). See, Russ doesn't always look crazy!

Steve and Charles--it's a miracle because Charles pretty much refuses to ever pose for the camera.

Tom

Then it was time for BIRTHDAY CAKE!!! Home made fro yo cake to be exact. When I asked Jason what he thought Nacho wanted, he mentioned that he had really loved the cake we got for my birthday from Yogurtology, so I tried my hand at creating my own.

In case you didn't notice, Nacho LOVES Snoopy.

Ohhhhh, that's what knives are for!

Yummmm. It was gone in about 10 minutes. I was so worried about what we’d do with the leftovers, and there weren’t any! Eventually everyone headed down to the casino, but Steve and I were exhausted, so we went home around 10:30. We’re old. 😉

Jason totally outdid himself on the party planning! It was so much fun, and such a great idea!

Free Always Tastes Better

October 25, 2011 · by Ari · 6 Comments

Hi friends. It’s funny, today was not a crazy work day, but it’s 8:30 pm and I feel totally wiped. I started this morning by doing some upper body weights with Kara before heading into spin class. I did 2 supersets

Bicep concentration curl (15 lbs, 3 sets of 12)

3 point shoulder lift–I don’t remember the exact name, just that it was for shoulders and my trainer at the time said something about 3 point. I remember that because I smartly remakrd “Oh then I should just use 3 lb weights!” (5 lb each hand, 3 sets of 10)

and

Pushups (3 sets of 15)

Dips (3 sets of 15)

It looks like so little all typed out, but I have sucked big time at my strength training lately and I was feeling it! Then of course spin almost killed me. It seems like every single time I am a good little spin student and push myself to up my flat road, the next class she is telling us whatever we did last time, we need to push it up one higher. The forever student in me wants to raise my hand and ask “But excuse me, what if I raised my flat road last week? Do I raise it again already? ~~Please hold my hand every step of the way and give me all of the answers.~~” Instead I gave myself a little pep talk that went something like this

“Look, quit b****ing out, and raise your flat road whether you just raised it or not! You want to look good naked!”

So apparently my new flat road is gear 11. That simultaneously sucks and is awesome. I mean I feel awesome that my flat road was 7 and now supposedly it’s 11, but let’s be honest–11 might as well be a hill!!!! It is freaking hard!! And when we go up from there?!?! At the top of the steepest hill today, the last time Linda told us to add a gear, I just looked at Kara and said “Are you Fing kidding me?!” But I love it. Every second. When sweat drips into my eyes and I feel like my legs can pedal no more, I am so happy to be there in the class and not completely suck.

After class I got an other delicious pepperminty iced coffee from The Bux. Grande iced coffee, 3 pumps SF vanilla, 1 pump SF peppermint, soy milk, light ice. Perfection. Then I came home and made some cinnamon apple oats. Steve mentioned the other day about eating one of those oatmeal packets (gross) in the cinnamon apple flavor and ever since I have had it on the brain! I used

1/3 cup slow cooking oats
2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
gaala apple, cored and diced
1 tsp vanilla extract
lots of cinnamon
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tbs raisins
1 tbs ish PB & Co cinnamon raisin swirl

I cooked it all together on the stove over medium heat, except the raisins (which I added in almost at the end) and the PB which went right on top. It was so yummmmmy,

Tonight, we had plans to go to the state fair. We were supposed to go Saturday, but things came up and our plans changed to today. Well, we drove all the way there in rush hour only to discover the fair is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Fail. Booooooo. We figured we were all together (my dad, Hermano, Steve and me) so we might as well do something and headed for dinner at True Foods. I love love love True Foods. Steve took more pictures of the crazy fam

Then asked me to pose for a picture, but I was not looking cute so I definitely was not in the mood. He made a puppy dog face so I acted like a 5 year old, stood where he told me and scowled at him. Karma. I ended up looking crazy evil in the photo!

Scarrrrrrryyyy!!! But perfect for Halloween! PS: My shirt says “Coffee makes me happy.” So fitting.

After dinner, we went to Yogurtology for some fro yo. Seriously, if you live in Phoenix, you must go there. They have the best yogurt, hands down. Get the oatmeal cookie flavor and you will not be disappointed. I got 6 oz of oatmeal cookie with about 1/2 tbs of nutella on top. Best combo ever. Except…..

They were out of spoons. I had to use a big metal topping spoon haha. But I got my yogurt for free, so I don’t mind! Free always tastes better! I would eat it with a spatula as long as I don’t have to pay! Wow–is it politically incorrect to make fun of my Jewishness on the internet? In person it always seems so harmless because every just knows I’m Jewish so I’m allowed to make fun of myself. Here it feels so taboo, like someone will get the wrong idea and think I’m an anti Semite! I love my people, and all of our quirks and stereotypes!

Now I’m watching some Biggest Loser and gonna head to bed early because I have an early training run with Kara tomorrow am! Goodnight all!