Pears and Chocolate?

While out to dinner with my favorite suppliers of "discounted" fruit it was mentioned how good the pear cinnamon jam was and that they were out of it. And that their kids would only eat jam if it was jam I made. I figured it was time to get out the canning supplies. I had a weekend coming with nothing planned and my husband was working so it was perfect timing! Thursday evening when I got home I found a box of pears and apples on my door step. Yes!!!

I spent a slow Friday at work looking for new recipes. (Don't worry my boss does not care!) I am not good at following recipes but I do enjoy reading them for ideas. The first site I always go to is foodinjars.com (and I usually end there). A new recipe was on her recipe index! Pear and chocolate jam! How could I not make it?

Since I have been trying to get healthy and loose weight I have cut out most of the sweets from my diet. I know it is hard to believe for those who know me. But the sweets I do have tend to be ones I have made. So I know what I am eating. I am excited to have this treat in my almost empty jam closet!









My first batch I used 10 pears, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup water, 3 1/2 cups sugar, 7oz dark chocolate and cinnamon. It was so rich you could barely taste the pear. So for my second batch I used 15 pears, 3/4 cup lemon juice, 3/4 cup water, 4 cups sugar, 7oz dark chocolate and cinnamon.

The second batch was much better. Still very chocolatey but you could really taste the pear. Especially when you bit into a chunk of pear.



This jam will definitely be made again! Next time I may even add more pears. But whoever gets a jar of this batch is pretty lucky. Today I made 9 pints and I am hesitating giving any of them away!



Now it's time for a little break before I head to the store for cinnamon. Can't really make pear cinnamon jam without the cinnamon!

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More Protein, Ugh

So I am officially down 20 pounds! I have been trying to follow a diet of 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fats. Some days I am spot on, others I am close and then there are those days I am not even close. One thing that is hard is getting 100+ grams of protein a day without eating a lot of calories. I started looking into protein powders. Most added a lot of protein but also added a lot of calories. But I finally found one that I think will work for me.


For 2 scoops it is 100 calories and 15 grams of protein. I know some of the other protein powders have more protein per scoop but I want to try and stay away from the extra calories they have. Last night for dinner I made a smoothie that was 1 1/2 cups of strawberries, 1 cup non fat plain Greek yogurt, 1 cup non fat milk and 2 scoops of the protein powder. It was delicious, extremely filling and had about 42g of protein.

For breakfast this morning I am having another shake. This one is 1 1/2 cups mixed frozen berries, 1 cup vanilla non fat yogurt, 1 cup milk, 1 cup spinach and 2 scoops protein powder. It is wonderful and about 35g protein.






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Oatmeal Muffins

After returning from a much needed girls trip to Hawaii I began a new chapter of my life! My main goal is to get healthy! Loose weight and eat better. Well I love food so part of my new life involves going to the gym. I am lucky that just down the street is a gym I feel really comfortable working out at. I have found that going there allows me to eat more, yay!

Using an App on my phone called Lose it is making this process so much easier. It is also making it so I actually write down (or log) recipes that I am making. Some have been awesome and some I will probably not make again.

Today I made banana oat muffins. They turned out better then expected.

Here they are!


Here is the recipe. I mashed the bananas then added everything else. Baked at 350* for 20-30 minutes.


I now know what to do with any bananas that get a little brown in our house.

You may be wondering what PB2 is. Well I discovered it last week and so far it has not disappointed!

I found it at the local health food store. When this jar gets low I will probably order online where it is a little cheaper. And they make a PB2 with chocolate.


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