Skinny Spicy Chicken & Artichoke Bites

January 25, 2016 Amanda Plott

With the biggest football game day of the year just around the corner, and even more sports about to start back up with their seasons I'm delving into game day foods. Finger foods and little stackable grab-and-go bites are what I'm all about. So any excuse for party food is a good excuse to me.

Today I wanted to try something a little different, using one of my favorite dips in a new and different way. Generally my game day spread is full of dips and popable bites, and this is definitely one of my new favorites...

Skinny Sugar Cookie Bites

January 23, 2016 Amanda Plott

If there's one thing that we all know and love, it's raw cookie dough. I know that when I was little, I must have eaten my weight in the stuff. And I couldn't even begin to tell you the amount of beaters that I licked or bowls that my mom let me scrape the remnants out of.

These days though, it's a whole other story. I rarely ever let my daughter 'lick the beaters', especially when there's raw egg involved. The thought of it just sends my head spinning. Thank goodness she doesn't like the texture of raw cookie dough or cake batter or I'd be in a lot more trouble!

Even so, every time that I make baked goods that childhood inclination comes creeping in.

To eat and risk it, or not to eat and be sad...

Skinny Beef Enchilada Dip (Sponsored)

January 19, 2016 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #YesYouCAN #CollectiveBias

The Big Game is getting ever nearer and I am super excited, just as I always am! Game day food is a huge part of my love of sports. I mean... let's face it, who doesn't like finger-food style stackable grub? I feel like I've been lacking a bit this year with my game day offerings, so it's time for me to get back into the swing of it!

One of my favorite and must-have things for a game day spread in my house is dip. Cold dip, hot dip, any sort of dip that you can scoop up and nosh quickly while cheering on your favorite team. It's not like you can have your hands full of forks and plates in the midst of all the hoopla that tends to come along with uber fans...

Skinny Matcha-Monster Smoothie (Sponsored)

January 14, 2016 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BestBlendsForever #CollectiveBias

My mom is not only one of my friends, she's really my very best friend and she has been for as long as I can remember. Of course, just like any other set of besties, that doesn't come without our occasional squabble. She's my complete opposite in almost every way, even down to our hair color.

I stuck out like a sore thumb as a child. A perfectly blonde and blue-eyed fair-skinned child among a gaggle of dark brown hair and beautiful olive complexions. And although it sounds like it, I wasn't adopted. That's just how things turned out as my mom remarried when I was four years old.

All of my life I've known my mom to be one of the softest and sweetest souls out there. She's the sort of person that would give any of her friends and family anything and everything just to see them smile and be happy. She's kind, generous, easy-going and all about fun. On the other end of things, I'm independent, stubborn, and sometimes rather brash. I'm a perfectionist to the core and entirely a homebody. See? She's my complete opposite, hah!...

Skinny Dark Chocolate & Cherry Scones (Sponsored)

January 11, 2016 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MeAndMyTea #CollectiveBias

So, I'm kind of in love with scones. They're easy to make, delicious, and extremely versatile. Today I wanted to make some scones that would help me bring in the New Year and help me reach my goals while also getting me into the spirit of Valentine's Day (because you know that's just around the corner too!) What better way to achieve both other than with dark chocolate and some cherries? Yum, yum.

I used one of my older scone recipes to start out as the base for this one. And it worked out beautifully with the few changes and new additions that I made to it.

What can I say? It's fun to sometimes go back to revisit older recipes while also adjusting them to my ever changing taste and desire...

Skinny Matcha Granola

January 8, 2016 Amanda Plott

There's two things that I haven't tried before, making my own granola and matcha. Okay, well... I have tried matcha since my favorite tea room here dusts it over their fabulous brownies, but outside of that - no. I've had my fair share of green tea, but matcha is different. Since I haven't tried it before, but have heard good things... I decided to do a little research.

At the end of my research, I ended up buying myself a package of the green stuff.

Matcha is made by using specially shade-grown green tea that's then ground down into a find green powder. It's supposed to be effective in improving mental focus with it's higher amounts of theanine. The theanine and caffeine together help to give a boot of energy without causing the crash that comes with the caffeine in coffee. The antioxidants are what I'm after though!...