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Roasted Peach Ice Cream

Roasted Peach Ice Cream

I warned you, didn’t I? Summer = all peach everything around here. But summer also means hurricane season and this one is already a doozy. Living in Louisiana we were lucky to be far enough north hurricanes weren’t really a concern, but you have never 

Grilled Peaches with Mascarpone Cream

Grilled Peaches with Mascarpone Cream

If you’ve been following along here for awhile, you’ll know that my husband hates peaches (I still am appalled). You’ll also know that I, on the other hand, LOVE peaches. And every time he goes out of town in the summer I use it as 

Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars

Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars

Before we get to these tasty treats, I want to apologize for the radio silence here on the blog recently (even my dad has noticed. Hi, Dad!) We are both still here…just busy with life! There are still plenty of delicious desserts we plan on sharing with you, but there may be longer gaps between posts. If you stick around though, we promise they will be worth the wait.

Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars | longdistancebaking.comNow back to these breakfast bars. Breakfast may be my favorite meal of the day: fluffy scrambled eggs, crispy diner style hash browns, crunchy bacon and a hot cup of coffee. It doesn’t get better than that! Sadly though…my usual breakfast routine is shoveling a bowl full of oatmeal in my mouth as fast as humanly possible. But hey…at least I’ve graduated from eating in my car!

Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars | longdistancebaking.comWhile I guess technically these are pretty much a dessert, they have fruit, oatmeal, and very little added sugar. In my mind, that’s enough to consider them acceptable for breakfast. Flahavan’s Irish Oats are a source of whole grains and we all know how good whole grains are for you. Studies have repeatedly shown that they are able to reduce your risk of stroke, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Sign me up!

Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars | longdistancebaking.comGrowing up my mom always used to make strawberry rhubarb pie…but it was never my favorite (sorry, Mom!) I think it’s one of those things you have to acquire a taste for? Maybe? Or maybe these days I’m just a less picky eater because now I love the combination. Juicy strawberries fresh from the farmers market and homegrown rhubarb are the epitome of early summer. Plus they’re just so pretty together!

Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars | longdistancebaking.comI’ll let you be the judge of whether these bars are a breakfast or dessert. Either way, I’m sure you’re going to love them.

~Steph

Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars | longdistancebaking.comDisclosure: I received Flahavan’s Irish Oats to be used for review and recipe development purposes. All opinions are my own.

Strawberry Rhubarb Breakfast Bars (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

  • 1 1/2 c Flahavan’s Irish Oats  (or another old fashioned oat)
  • 3/4 c whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 c brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 c butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 c strawberries, sliced
  • 1 c rhubarb, chopped in bite size pieces
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  1. Line a 9×9 inch baking dish with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. In small mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Mix until combined.
  3. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and combine until a crumbly mixture forms.
  4. Reserve 1/2 cup of the mixture for later and pour remaining amount into baking dish. Press it down evenly into bottom of pan to create crust.
  5. Spread half of the strawberries and half of the rhubarb over crust.
  6. Sprinkle fruit with cornstarch and lemon juice. Add the remaining fruit and 1 tbsp sugar.
  7. Top evenly with reserved crumble mixture.
  8. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until crust is golden brown.
  9. Let cool and cut into squares. Serve bars either room temperature or chilled (I personally liked chilled)

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Mardi Gras King Cake

Mardi Gras King Cake

It’s Mardi Gras! And if you haven’t been celebrating with king cakes for the past month, you haven’t been celebrating properly. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t worry, I didn’t know until last year. Turns out living in Louisiana you learn 

Crockpot Chunky Tomato Basil Soup {Whole 30 Approved}

Crockpot Chunky Tomato Basil Soup {Whole 30 Approved}

Did you know that January is National Soup Month? Neither did I! But it makes a lot of sense. On these cold dreary winter days I love having a big bowl of soup to warm me up. One of my favorite comfort foods of all 

Whole 30 Recap & Recipes

Whole 30 Recap & Recipes

Whole 30 Review and Recipes | longdistancebaking.com

If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen that we did our first Whole 30 during the month of August. And we survived! With no major cheats! Which is cause for celebration in itself. If you haven’t heard of the Whole 30 program, it’s essentially a 30 day detox for your body. You don’t eat any sugar, grains, legumes, dairy, or alcohol. For 30 days. Can you even believe we considered this?! It’s basically meat, veggies, and lots and lots of eggs. LOTS of eggs…

The point of the program isn’t to lose weight (though most do) but more to reset your bad habits and nourish your body with only healthy and nutritious food. The book It Starts With Food is a great resource about the science behind “why” we shouldn’t eat the foods listed above for the 30 days. After your 30 days is up, you’re supposed to slowly reintroduce each food group individually and see how you feel, see what foods trigger reactions and use that going forward to make better eating habits. Here’s what we learned:

Stephanie: The main reason I wanted to do the Whole 30 was because of my headaches. I don’t have severe migraines, but more often than not there’s always a slight headache and I know that’s not normal. The number on the scale was “good”, but was still feeling…blah. I wanted to switch things up! And stubbornly I just wanted to prove to myself I actually could do it.

While I won’t say the program was easy, it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought! Things I thought for sure I would miss (aka all-the-carbs) I surprisingly didn’t. Reading the labels on food was a really eye opening experience. There is sugar in literally everything! Why?! What I struggled with the most was just getting bored with food and tired of all the prep. And I really missed my wine…

At the end of the 30 days I definitely felt like I was sleeping better, was significantly less bloated and only had 1 headache for the entire month! While these didn’t feel like big, drastic, life changing experiences like many other Whole30 success stories, they were changes nonetheless. I should have done better about the reintroduction phase to really see how the foods affected me, but I have noticed red wine is a big headache trigger (wah wahhh…) and carbs, especially gluten containing, seem to cause the majority of my digestive/bloating troubles.

Kelly: I needed Whole 30 in my life. I love to exercise and consider myself a pretty active person yet I can eat like I am a 300lb linebacker preparing for the big game. Seriously, I can pack it away. Especially bread. And dessert. And cheese. And, well, everything. I needed a change.

I am constantly tired. When I was “Presented” for my sorority in college, they read a short bio on me. In it, I included that my favorite hobby was napping. My fellow pledge sisters talked about saving the world and feeding the homeless and I put napping… My mom was mortifed but hey, I was honest. It seriously was and is my favorite hobby. It’s also been a huge battle. I’ve gone to the doctor numerous times for exhaustion and there was never anything wrong. After years of semi-modifying my diet, it was time for a giant overhaul. Whole 30 was the answer and it was amazing!!

As Steph said, it wasn’t easy. Sugar is the devil and in literally everything we eat. I was shocked!! Getting through the first two weeks was the hardest but after that, you find your groove and you realize that it really isn’t so bad after all. It’s amazing how food that is good for you actually tastes good! I found that I LOVE sweet potatoes and that fruit is actually really sweet. Plaintain chips became my new addictive snack and I don’t think I’ve ever eaten more carnitas in my life than the month of August. I lost weight, my skin looked better, I slept way better, my energy improved, my period cramps went away and I felt less anxious. More importantly, I’ve learned, at least somewhat, a little more balance. I know that I can go back an recharge with a Whole 5 or a Whole 7 to reset. I can’t recommend Whole 30 enough!

***

Luckily we’re a few years behind the times and there are tons of amazing recipes out there. These were some of our lifesavers during the program and we are still incorporating them in our meal planning even now! We have a specific Whole30 Pinterest board if you want even more ideas:

Nutpods: Since neither of us drink our coffee black, we relied heavily on these!

Larabars: Not all flavors are compliant, but these were a necessity when you just HAD to have an on the go snack. Apple Pie is our favorite!

Plantain Chips: With salsa, guac, almond butter or just on their own…these are amazing! Just because they’re a compliant snack though doesn’t mean you should eat the whole bag in one sitting, but we’d be lying if we said we hadn’t done that

Crock Pot Beef FajitasThis was a great make ahead freezer option as well!

Stuffed Peppers with Chipotle Sauce
 whole-30-stuffed-peppers

Lemon Rosemary Chicken 
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Crock Pot Sweet Potato Chili
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Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai
spaghetti-squash-pad-thai4

While we’ve both fallen back into our frozen yogurt eating, wine drinking habits…we definitely learned a lot! This is a very strict diet and there is a reason they only recommend it for 30 days. Life is short all about balance! It was very interesting though and we would both encourage anyone interested in the program to give it a try! If we can do it…any one can 🙂

~Kelly & Steph

Most Popular Posts from 2016

Most Popular Posts from 2016

Proof 2016 went too fast: we’re halfway through January and we’re just posting our top recipes from last year! But better late than never, right? It’s always interesting for us to see what posts were the most popular. Some of these aren’t even from 2016! 

Cranberry Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail

Cranberry Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail

This post is sponsored by Stirrings. I have received sample products for writing this post.  All content and opinions are mine. How is it possible the year is almost over?! I swear every year goes faster than the last. With a whirlwind Christmas trip from New York 

2016 Holiday Gift Guide

2016 Holiday Gift Guide

“It’s always better to give than to receive”. While the saying may be cliche, we fully agree! Christmas is our favorite time of the year and half the fun is buying or making gifts for our friends and family! We’ve compiled a list of our favorite gifts for 2016 below in case you need any ideas.

2016 Holiday Gift Guide from Long Distance Baking | longdistancebaking.com

A Cozy Coloring Cookbook: A cook book coloring book? Yes please! Plus it’s recipes from A Cozy Kitchen and the pictures include Amelia the Corgi, who is one of our favorite Instagram follows.

2017 Pie Calendar: Each month features a seasonal pie recipe and the illustrations are simply beautiful!

Sweet & Simple Cookbook: We are big fans of Dessert for Two, both the books and Christina in general, so you don’t want to miss pre-ordering her latest cookbook!

Cook’s Illustrated Magazine: my favorite magazine subscription by far! I read it cover to cover as soon as it arrives.

Bright Cellars Subscription: you can choose from either a wine or cheese subscription…or both!

FashionABLE: this is a great organization that helps underprivileged women become entrepreneurs. I have a few scarves from them but they now have leather totes and bags, blankets, jewelry and more. This is shopping you can feel good about!

Donation to local animal shelter: don’t forget about our 4 legged friends this holiday season! Almost every shelter will have a holiday wish list you can shop from

Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner?! This time of year always goes by so fast. Make sure to take some time to relax and enjoy this holiday season with the ones you love most!

Bright Cellars Cheese Experience Review

Bright Cellars Cheese Experience Review

When Kelly and I did our Whole30 adventure, I was worried I was going to miss cheese. I love cheese. I love ritz crackers with cheddar cheese, scrambled eggs with goat cheese, a bagel slathered in cream cheese, a thick chunk of fresh mozzarella on