Preparing For Blocking, Healthy Smoothie Recipes, and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I had a wonderful weekend spending time with my family and going shopping and now all the summer sales are happening, so it is a good time to shop! We got our new Sealy mattress, bed frame, and headboard delivered on Sunday which we purchased at Sleep Country and it is so comfortable. It is taking me awhile to get used to it though, I have a hard time sleeping on different beds or in different places right away but I know I am already adjusting to it. I am looking forward to this week, I will be working on blocking some sweater pieces finally and continuing to finish my Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief.

I have the materials all ready to begin the blocking process for the pieces of my sweater. I have the blocking mats that I bought at Walmart instead of using some more expensive blocking squares I found. I also bought some blocking pins from Walmart. They aren't the T-pins I keep seeing people use, but I will give them a try. I will be sharing my experience blocking all the sweater pieces, along with some before and after shots in the next posts.

Close-up of the pins

 I have also been knitting more of the chevron lace scarf and loving this pattern. I am looking forward to wearing it towards the end of the summer when it is a bit cooler.  I am almost finished the last section of stockinette pattern before the final garter/eyelet section and finishing section. I hope to block the kerchief next week.

To be a scarf using the chevron lace stitch pattern

Kerchief in progress, almost finished

I have still been reading Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy by Helen Fielding and Into the Water By Paula Hawkins. I have not been reading too fast these days. I think I just need to pick a time each day when I sit down and read. I can't read in the late afternoon too much or else I will get too sleepy. I am really enjoying these two books!

I tried two smoothie recipes with the new Hamilton Beach Personal Creations Blender I bought on Saturday. It works so well, and it is so powerful for such a small blender. I love it because after you blend your ingredients, you can drink right from the same cup. It is so fast and easy, and cuts back on dishes. The two smoothie recipes I found and tried this week are the Hearty Fruit and Oat Smoothie from Martha Stewart and the Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie from Gimme Some Oven. Hope you give them a try!

Hearty Fruit and Oat Smoothie:

Ingredients

Ingredients:
I split all the ingredients in half for this smoothie because I am doing a weight loss challenge which requires me to eat only two servings of fruit each day(more about the challenge below). It tasted great with half the ingredients and it was enough to eat for me.

1 cup quartered strawberries  

1 sliced banana     

¼ cup raw almonds          

12 cup old-fashioned oats        

1 cup of low-fat yogurt             

1 teaspoon maple syrup         

Method: 
put all ingredients into the blender, blend and enjoy

Recipe from Martha Stewart 

What I thought: 
I loved this smoothie, I liked the taste of the almonds and the oats mixed in with the fruit. I felt so energized after drinking this and that it would fill me up for the morning. I can see this being a good drink for when you need a quick breakfast to take with you on the go. The only thing I would change about this smoothie, would be to make it colder by adding frozen fruit or ice to the mixture.

Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie

Ingredients

Ingredients:
1 large banana peeled
1 cup of ice cubes
1/2 cup almond milk
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 heaping tbsp of peanut butter
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, store bought or homemade

Method:

put all ingredients into a blender, blend and enjoy!

Recipe from Gimme Some Oven

What I thought:
This one was my favorite. I am obsessed with peanut butter and banana, so I knew I would love it. I like that it is colder too because of the added ice. I really enjoyed drinking this smoothie for breakfast this morning and it filled me up until lunchtime. With its simple ingredients and delicious taste, I have a feeling I will being making this one a lot.

I have been still working on losing weight and getting toned by following the Cityline Weight Loss Challenge guidelines which is basically each day eat  3 protein, 3-4 fats, 1 grain (the hardest one, and no grain at dinner), eat lots of vegetables, and 2 fruits. I had fallen off the wagon a bit, but my mom and sister are also doing the plan and they encouraged me to get back on track and we have all be encouraging each other. So far I have lost 12 pounds but I feel a change recently again and I feel more motivated to resist temptation and grains at dinner so I think the loss will pick up again. I really want this for myself and I am feeling less bloated and feeling better lately which was my reason for starting.

 I still need to have my gelato in the evening sometimes!

Joining along with Frontier Dreams with Crafting On, The Little Room of Rachell with Yarning Along, AsKatKnits with Unraveled Wednesday, and Julie's Creative Lifestyle with Cooking and Crafting with J&J.

Thank you so much for dropping by! I hope you liked the post today. If you would like to keep updated on when I post, please follow me on Bloglovin' or Google Followers and you can get notifications on when I post.

Have a great day!