Craving Pumpkin Donuts in April

Yes it's April, springtime yes, but I've been having a serious craving for pumpkin donuts.  Of course,  no has any pumpkin donuts or coffee in the spring, so what's a pumpkin lover to do?? Whip up a batch of pumpkin cinnamon sugar mini donuts!
Tried the recipe from King Arthur's Blog and it was perfect.

Sunflower seed apricot protein bites

I finally tried to make my own protein /energy bites, bars, whatever.  So tired of running out of Kind bars, actually. ...tired of buying them even more. I started off with what I had in the house, so I wouldn't have the need to go to store excuse today lol.  I used:

Sunflower seed butter

Vanilla protein powder

Honey

Rolled oats

Apricots

Coconut 

 Sunflower seeds 

Mini chocolate chips 

This was sooo tasty, they are high in calories,  each little nugget is roughly 100 calories.... although I ate about 5 before heading to fitnesspal to get the calories,  oh well.  Only 3 at a time from now on. 

Healthy easy side dish

This year I am eating healthier, trying to incorporate more superfoods into my diet and got my body moving at least 5 days a week.
I found this Seeds of Change Quinoa & Brown Rice at Costco and its better than I expected.  Just heat the package and you're good to go.  I've been using it as a side dish with sauteed greens.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Have you been intrigued by the chia seed hype everywhere? I was curious, especially after I actually looked up the nutritional benefits for myself. With a whopping 11 grams of fiber & 5 grams of protein per serving, I figured it was time to give it a try. Costco had the Nature's Intent brand, 2 pounds for $9.99, a great deal for organic chia seeds! Since everything is better with chocolate, I figured I'd start with a chocolate chia pudding. My trial recipe: 1 1/4 cup coconut milk 1/4 cup chia seeds 4 teaspoons cocoa powder mix the cocoa & chia seeds, add the milk and stir until no large lumps. Refrigerate 30 minutes, check consistency as you may want to ask more liquid, depending on consistency desired. Cover and refrigerate overnight. I decided to stir in 3 tablespoons turbinado sugar afer tasting. This was so simple, no cook and a nice healthy snack to have in the fridge. Definitely a keeper.

Pasta dinner & wine

Tonight I had planned to make a turkey lasagna, but my whiny DH said he wanted fried chicken nuggets instead.....yes that is quite unbelievable to me also!!! But whatever, no need for my taste buds to suffer because of him! I decided instead to make a pasta bake, less steps involved!

First, I made a batch of turkey meatballs. Then I layered the meatballs, sauce, a variety of peppers, baby spinach, uncooked pasta, Parmesan & mozzarella cheeses! Placed in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes which gave me the perfect opportunity to try a new red wine....

It came out pretty good for a makeshift recipe! The wine was just OK, I really am not a wine kind of person....A cosmo martini would have worked better!