MUCH to share!

2 1/2

cups Whole Grain Total® or Total® Cranberry Crunch cereal

1/2

cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

1/2

cup sweetened dried cranberries

1/2

cup sliced almonds

1/3

cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed 

Mix ingredients and bake at 300 for 30 minutes!
**I am thinking this recipe could use some healthy tweaking to make it even better, like for cereal I'd use Uncle Sam's original for the added fiber and low sugar.  And instead of high-sugar apple juice, maybe honey but not sure if that texture would help it stick?  I'll have to experiment but these would be GREAT for a weekend trip to take on the go!
Or even a snack in the car on your way to work, run errands or dropping the kiddos off at school!  Mmm!

4

cups MultiGrain Cheerios® cereal

3

cups trail mix (seeds, nuts and dried fruits)

1/4

cup margarine or butter

1

cup packed brown sugar

2

tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1/2

cup light corn syrup

• In 2-quart saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, flour and corn syrup. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• 3 Pour mixture evenly over cereal mixture; toss to coat. Press mixture in pan. Cool 10 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.

*For this one, I'd probably stick to the recipe but maybe substitute whole wheat flour.  

But won't these make a great camping snack?!  I could make a large serving and package them individually, so they would be a better alternative than the over-processed trail bars!

All of these recipes taken from eatbetteramerica.com

And why am I looking for great snack bar recipes? 
Because we are the proud owners of our very first travel trailer!  We are SO excited, we have been looking for months and decided on this one!  For one, it reminds us of a cabin, and the decor was SO us...looks like something you'd find in Bass Pro Shops, so we fell in love!  We picked it up from Holiday World of Houston yesterday!  The boys were SO excited and we were too!  It's a 2012, so they are trying to make room for the '13's and gave us a great deal!  


We are planning on camping in our driveway tonight-sounds silly, but ya know we gotta test it out! Then next week, our first, official trip...hope we survive!M
I'll allow my son to show it to ya...well, the couch!  I'll share more soon!

 And a PROUD side note:  Our son, pictured above has been running the golf course each evening!  I'm a little concerned that neighbors will begin to think we're doing this to him for torture, but HONESTLY he asks to do it every day!  He wants to ride the golf cart to the first hole, jumps off and starts to run...the other night, he ran 9 holes!  We are starting to think no matter how much we want a little baseball or football player, we might have a track star on our hands!  But we'll be proud no matter what, 
because he says he runs to be healthy...what Momma wouldn't be proud of that :-)


Today's Workout:   Today is H.O.T, muggy and gross!  BUT I went out there and got it done!  
2 mile run, 25 minute spin, and then 20 minutes of drills!  Here's an after workout pic, but I get really frustrated that my iPhone doesn't capture the yucky, sweaty mess I am after workouts...I promise it's BAD!  haha!

And now for a challenge that I'm excited about,

What is the Challenge?
The Marathon Weight Loss Challenge runs 13 weeks over the course of the summer. This time frame is simply MY goal, averaging 2 pounds a week in weight loss.  During this time frame, I will track participants' weight loss, offer tips, recipes, a weekly newsletter, mini challenges, success stories and prize giveaways!  You may have a goal larger or smaller than 26.2 pounds... and you may not even run. That's okay - you can still join for the motivation and prizes. The whole point of this challenge is to encourage one another and hold ourselves responsible in summer workouts and food choices. 

START - Officially Monday, June 18, 2012

You have my permission to start as soon as you sign up!

FINISH & CELEBRATE - Monday, Sept. 17, 2012

How do I participate?

Sign up HERE. Registration will close on June 25. The official weigh-in day is every MONDAY.  Why Mondays? I find it helps to keep me more accountable over the weekend knowing that I have to face the scale on Monday.  Report back your weigh-in to me before midnight each Monday. I will keep a spreadsheet of every participant's progress.  I will never share your weight with anyone, although I may share success stories like "Carly lost 3.5% this week!"  I also suggest posting comments and pictures on my FB page throughout the contest to encourage one another - specifically me! 

How do I win Prizes?!

Throughout the challenge, I will be drawing randomly for prizes... some big, some small, but all targeted at helping you on your weight loss journey.  Each week that you report back your weigh-in, you will earn an entry into the prize pool. You can also score entries by sharing photos and recipes. Only active challenge contestants are eligible for prizes.  If you miss 3 or more weigh-in dates, I will assume you are no longer participating, remove you from the list and you'll no longer be in the prize pool. There is absolutely no benefit to cheating your weigh-in as prizes are not awarded on results, but rather weekly consistency. The only one to cheat is yourself...

• 1 entry - Report back your weigh-in to Jess (before midnight every Monday)
• 1 entry - Share a photo on my FB page here - anything related to your weight loss journey. (max 1 photo entry each week)
• 1 entry - Share a healthy recipe with photo. Email it to me and I will share them all in one weekly blog post. (max 1 recipe entry each week)
• At the end of the 13 week challenge, there will be a special recognition/prize for anyone who achieves a loss of 26.2 or greater!  I dare you to LOSE a Marathon!

That's a maximum of 3 entries every week in the prize pool!

For more info, check out her website here.  and don't forget to grab a button too!!