PinFTW: Chocolate No-Bake Energy Bites

Since I've been eating clean (well, as clean as possible) for the past few weeks, I've been pinning like it's my JOB and trying all kinds of new recipes. It seems like every time I open Pinterest, these things are taunting me. It's most likely the words "chocolate" and "no bake" that get me, because they don't look all that delicious. They actually look a little like something the dog likes to drop off in the backyard. Just saying. Alas, after seeing the pin pop up on my feed about 47 days in a row, I decided to make them them.

I liked them; my husband liked them (no, he wasn't just being nice - he willingly ate like six of them); however, I recruited two of our friends as taste-testers. They took a courtesy bite or two and gave me the stank eye. Anyway. 50% of us thought they were good little treats. And, should I ever remember to buy prunes at the store, I'll make them again. I would compare the taste to that of a LARA Bar - kind of fruit-ish with a hint of chocolate, an odd consistency and unidentified crunch. Regardless, they are good for you! So, if you're looking for a good-for-you treat and if you aren't a picky eater, I say go for it! I would dare to deem this little treat my "clean eating cookie." :) They are quick and easy to make. I recommend a food processor to get all those ingredients combined quickly. I did use 2T of coconut oil to make them stick together nicely - I think the recipe says 1-2T.

Good luck and let me know if you found anything Pinteresting this week!

Want to link up? It's SO easy! All you have to do is try out something you found on Pinterest (anything!) and then blog about it. After you've written your stellar PinFTW blog post, follow the rules below to link up! 

1. In your post, please link to your original source – the pin you got the idea from.
2. Make sure and link back to our original Pin For the Wednesdays Post here at Daily Ups & Pounds (please).
3. In the Mr. Linky below, leave a direct link to your Pin FTWednesdays post, not to your main website.

Pin FTW Blog Hop: My new favorite (clean) ice cream

So, my mom (whose birthday happens to be today - happy birthday, mom!!!) has been on my case to freeze bananas since she started doing it a year or so ago. She says frozen bananas make THE BEST smoothies. I've been ignoring her advice because I don't like frozen fruit (or ice really) and thinking about it makes my teeth hurt. Annnnyway. A week or so ago, my friend Amy was over and she said something to the effect of: Hey, I see some fruit flys eyeing your bananas. Maybe you should freeze them!? And, of course, in my head I was grumbling that someone else thinks freezing bananas is a good idea. So, in an effort not to be wasteful and let those stupid little bugs near our bananas, I bagged them up and threw them in the freezer. 

I didn't think about them again until I saw this pin. It was Sunday afternoon; a random chocolate ice cream snack sounded good, so I whipped up a batch. Oh. My. Goodness. This recipe (which takes about 60 seconds to prepare) is well worth making and I think it will be my go-to recipe when we have ice cream for dessert. The chocolate/banana/pb mixture tastes rich and it's the perfect ice cream texture. If you don't like the thought of mixing these flavors, be sure to visit the original pin. She posted links to other ideas as well. 

Now, I'm sure you have questions. Here are some answers: 

1. No, the plain cocoa powder does not taste disgusting.
2. No, it doesn't need sugar (the bananas make up for that).
3. I used 1TB of crunchy PB as opposed to the 2TB the recipe called for and it was fine (and I saved myself a bunch of calories!)
4. Yes, crunchy peanut butter is awesome - it's like having peanuts in your ice cream.
5. I mixed it in my Ninja blender.
6. Yes, I will make it again. And again and again and again.
7. No, I'm still not using frozen bananas in my smoothies. ....I don't think.

So, there you have it. I'm SO glad I got pushed into freezing bananas so I could bring you this Pin for this Wednesday. What's been Pinteresting to you this week??

Want to link up? It's SO easy! All you have to do is try out something you found on Pinterest (anything!) and then blog about it. After you've written your stellar PinFTW blog post, follow the rules below to link up! 

1. In your post, please link to your original source – the pin you got the idea from.
2. Make sure and link back to our original Pin For the Wednesdays Post here at Daily Ups & Pounds (please).
3. In the Mr. Linky below, leave a direct link to your Pin FTWednesdays post, not to your main website.

PinFTW: It's almost like making pastries...for dummies.

Ok, so, I like fancy tasting food, but I'm not such a fancy chef. I'm more like a little-of-this/little-of-that/make it up as I go, chef. I had to make a snack for our church group a few weeks ago and was fresh out of recipe ideas; sooooo, I zoned out on Pinterest for a while until I found something worthy of a snack to share. I'd been seeing these little yummies float around on my pin feed for a while, but never really had a reason to make them.

Because we go through both crescent rolls and Nutella in mass quantities in this house, I had the two main ingredients on hand. AND, luckily, powdered sugar is one of those things I buy a whole new bag of every time I need it for a recipe (because I'm just not sure if we have any), so we had about two tons of that in the pantry as well.

I was able to assemble these little treats quickly (it's basically this: unroll the crescent dough, spread each triangle with Nutella, then roll-up, bake, and sprinkle with powdered sugar when they come out of the oven). I also loved the fact that I didn't have to measure anything. It's basically a Nutella and powdered sugar free-for-all ~ use as much or as little as you like. YUM! I absolutely loved these and they may have been better the next day. Spreading the Nutella on the dough can get a little messy, but that's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I used two cans of rolls (to feed a crowd). It was more than enough. I think I ate two for breakfast the next day.

I will definitely make them again. :) Be sure to let me know if you try them and like them (or don't like them)!

Be sure to join the PinFTW blog hop by entering your info on the post below.

Want to hear something Pinteresting?

One of my favorite weekly blog hops has died and my friends over at Mommin' it Up thought maybe it could be brought back to life here at Daily Ups & Pounds. I told them up front that I'm no blog doctor, but we'll see what happens. 

If you are a loyal Daily Ups & Pounds reader, and I know you all are, you know that I have been linking up with Jenny and Emily from Mommin' it Up each Wednesday (okay, most Wednesdays), to share my FAVORITE Pinterest find of the week (or something I found on Pinterest that was supposed to be cool, but I ended up messing up somehow) for quite a while now. I am a big fan of the Pin for the Wednesdays (PinFTW) link up because it gives me real-person insight to how some of these popular pins work. It also forces me to actually do some of the things I pin. You see, if I don't have a post ready for Wednesday, I go cook, clean, or (on an extremely rare [pretty much never] occasion) craft something I found on Pinterest. That produces a post for me (and hopefully not a mess in my kitchen, though that's been known to happen).

Now, since you love this blog so much, I know you'll want to help bring this blog hop back to life by linking up with us if you have your own blog! It's SO easy! All you have to do is try out something you found on Pinterest (anything!) and then blog about it. After you've written your stellar PinFTW blog post, follow the rules below to link up! 

1. In your post, please link to your original source – the pin you got the idea from.
2. Make sure and link back to our original Pin For the Wednesdays Post here at Daily Ups & Pounds (please).
3. In the Mr. Linky below, leave a direct link to your Pin FTWednesdays post, not to your main website.
4. Totally optional – grab our cute #PinFTW button! The code box is over there in our sidebar.  I have to get the code for the button before you can do this...next week!?

That's it! I know you all weren't prepared for this today, but if you've written something Pinteresting any time this week, go ahead and link it! If not, we'll see you back here next Wednesday. Happy pinning!