Baked Oatmeal!

Guys I have discovered my absolute favourite breakfast of all time. BAKED OATMEAL!! I finally got around to whipping up a batch and its official I'm hooked. It is literally the best thing on earth. Here is the recipe so you guys can jump on board my new obsession.

Ingredients-  

2 eggs

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of cinnamon 

1 1/2 tsp salt 

1 1/4 cups of milk

1/4 cup of butter(melted, I used salted but I don't think it matters) 

3 cups of rolled oats 

**I added walnuts and chocolate chips to mine but you can literally add whatever you would like before baking and afterwards**

Directions- preheat your oven to 350 and butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish for later. 

In a large bowl mix together the eggs then add in the brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt, wisk together until no lumps remain. Stir in the melted butter and milk and then add the oats. Now you bake it for 30-40 mins until it has set(you can also store it In the fridge overnight and bake the next day if desired)

After you remove it from the oven you can serve it warm and add whatever toppings you like. Berries,honey,milk,cream,maple syrup,chocolate chips, nuts, you name it, it's entirely up to you. I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, let know below how you liked it!

This is how mine turned out, unfortunately I couldn't get the pic before my Fam had already started digging in.

Make Up Haul!!

So I went make up shopping!!!! I was running low on some key items specifically foundation and mascara so I went and picked up some new products. Here's what I got

For foundation I picked up the Pixie tinted moisturizer and the Cover Girl 12 hr moisture foundation. I picked up 2 Pixie tinted lip balms. I love Pixie brand because they are paraben free which is wonderful. I also picked up 2 Marcelle mascaras, one for volume and one for length and an Almay Healthy Lenghs mascara. All are in the shades blackest black. Lastly, I picked up the L'Oreal illuminating primer. In the non make up category I picked up the Biore self heating charcoal face masks which I can't wait to try, some make up sponges, and the age perfect by L'Oreal for my mom because it was on sale :) 

I'll let you guys know how I liked all the products after I've had a chance to try them all out. Let me know if you guys have tried any of these products below!

Hunter Hayes Concert

Okay guys so I'm a massive Hunter Hayes fan. Like I own every album and listen to his songs pretty much daily. He is just amazing all around and has the most beautiful lyrics, what's not to love? So when I got the chance to see him in London, Ontario 2 months ago I freaked out!  I had standing seats which means we were in the pit and let me tell you, you couldn't have had better seats in the entire place. I was right at the front row, in fact I was so close I could touch the freaking stage. I also snagged a blurry yet still amazing picture with him while he was on break from doing a radio interview. 

Not the best but I'll never delete this pic as long as I live. 

That's how close I was, his feet are literally within touching distance. 

Hunter gives an amazing show, one of the best I've seen. He is so humble and sweet. One thing I really loved about his performances was that he left the main stage to a stage set up in the nosebleeds so that everyone could enjoy his performance up close. He plays a huge variety of instruments which is amazingly impressive and he just has an amazing stage present. Plus hey I'm a bit biased because I'm a huge fan ;)  being so close was amazing. I got to touch his hand twice and was able to literally see the sweat dripping down his face( yeah gross yet adorable at the same time) It was definitely one of the best nights of my life and I'll never forget it. Here are a few more pics, enjoy. 

Me and my mom waiting for the doors to open. 

Dan and Shay were the opening act. They were pretty good, I only knew one of their songs  

Hunter takes the stage. 

Walks right by me. *freaks out*

Jamming on his guitar. 

Finishing up the best show ever. 

Krispy Kreme Stop

Okay so I don't know if I'm just late to the party or what but today I discovered the mini donuts at Krispy Kreme. Now I don't eat donuts often because they have like NO nutritional value what so ever but I've been craving a good ole plain glazed donut for almost 2 weeks so today I decided to satisfy that craving. I drove up to KK, saw mini donuts and was like heck yeah because I'm a sucker for miniature foods. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect but when I opened my box I was ecstatic. 

How could I have gone so long without knowing these adorable donuts exist? They were absolutely fantastic and the perfect size to satisfy my donut craving. I'm really not into total cheat food deprivation because I believe you have to enjoy your life so I try to follow the 80/20 rule, eat clean and healthy 80% of the time and enjoy unhealthy cheat foods 20% of the time. The mini donuts aren't really a horrible cheat food either as you can have 2 plain glazed for 180 calories. All in all I was totally satisfied with my little sugary splurge for today. 

65 Calories Double Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Yes you read the title right, today I'm going to be sharing my recipe for "65" calorie cookies. They are honestly my favourite little sweet treat. They satisfy my sweet tooth and you can have 2 for less calories than a normal double chocolate chip cookie. So here's what you'll need

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened 

1/2 cup sugar

 1/4 cup brown sugar

 1 egg white 

1 tsp vanilla extract

 1 cup all-purpose flour 

1/2 tsp baking soda

 1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 cup cocoa powder 

1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips 

Preparation: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars together with an electric mixer until creamy. Add egg white and vanilla and mix until well blended. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Gradually add flour mixture to egg and sugar. Use a wooden spoon to work the dough together. Don’t worry if the dough seems a little crumbly at first. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop cookie dough by the teaspoonful on to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat if you have one. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. I personally like to sprinkle mine with a light dusting of powder sugar but that's totally optional. 

Makes 30 cookies Per Serving: Calories 65, Calories from Fat 21, Total Fat 2.3g (sat 1.8g), Cholesterol 5mg, Sodium 44mg, Carbohydrate 10.3g, Fiber 0.5g, Protein 0.7g

Here is a picture of some from a batch I made, don't they look scrumptious?! If you guys try them out let me know how you like them below. -Alex 

Transformation Tuesday

Hello Everyone!
Today I'm going to be sharing a little bit of my weightloss story. I am sharing it in the hopes that it will help inspire or at the very least motivate someone out there to start leading a healthier lifestyle. I just want to show you guys that you can lose weight in a healthy and very do-able way. You do not need some crazy diet or pills, just determination and some dumb-bells ;) Okay so lets get into then.


My weight loss journey started around the beginning of 2012, when I was 158 lbs and wearing a 2X. One day I basically woke up and decided that I was tired of eating junk and feeling bad. I wanted to feel better about how I looked in my clothes and how I felt about my myself all together. So from that day on I started running. At first I'll tell you it was a complete nightmare. I could only go for about 10 minutes before I felt like dying but everyday I kept doing my 10 minutes and soon that turned into 20, then 30, and so on.

After about 2 months of running I started to notice a few pounds come of but still nothing drastic like you hope would come from running your butt of everyday. That's when I decided to start looking at my diet. They say that losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise and that couldn't be more true guys. My family has always eaten pretty healthy but my biggest problem was portion control( nothing is that healthy that going back for thirds won't hurt you in trying to lose weight.) and snacking on the wrong foods. 

After I began to change my diet, that is when I really started to see results. I started cutting back my portions to healthy sizes and started snacking on fruits and veggies instead of candy and chips. I started eating salads, drinking smoothies, and I had never felt better. All this whole food gave me the strength and energy to run longer and even start yoga. After about 6 months I noticed a very pleasant change in my body. I was stronger, more in shape, and was down to 120 lbs and could fit in a size small! 

When I reached 120 I started to realized that my body was still flabby, not 156 flabby, but just not as toned as I would like to be. That's when I started incorporating strength training into my daily workouts.  I went and bought some light dumbbells and at first I was at a complete loss as to what to do with the stupid things. I'm not kidding i had no idea. I started going on YouTube and looking at workout videos that used dumbbells to get an idea and that helped me a lot. I realized that all cardio wouldn't give me the toning I wanted so I started doing a lot of workout videos to build some muscle. I continued a good mix of strength and cardio combined with eating healthy all the way into 2013 and the beginning of 2014. At the beginning of 2014 I weight 112 and had finally gained some muscle. I continued to eat healthy and control my portions but I had to increase my calories a little because of the strength training which meant upping portions. 

I am currently still 112 lbs and still building muscle. I continue to eat as healthy as I can, I do cheat every once and a while because hey life was meant to be enjoyed. I won't completely give of all my favourite foods, like pizza and chocolate cake, I just have them in moderation balanced out with all my whole foods. If you guys have any questions for me I'd be more than happy to answer them, just post them below! I hope my story will motivate you guys and show you that losing weight and becoming a healthier version of yourself is completely doable and that anyone, including you, can do it.