Grab and Go Power Snack

I’ve heard such great things about ‘power bites’ but have never made them until now! I did a quick search on Pinterest actually, when we were going to spend a day on the boat. I was looking for an easy and homemade snack that I thought everyone could enjoy—and these were definitely a hit!

I’m sure there are so many ways to make these, but this recipe was from Like Mother Like Daughter’s blog page (and I believe she found it from another blogger too.) I have made these two times, the second time I just eye balled the ingredients (that’s how simple it is to make!) There are no eggs or flour and no added white sugar—sure, there are some m&m’s and mini chocolate chips, but still these are so much healthier than your average cookie. And the protein is a bonus for me, because I always need more of it :)

Here’s the easy peasy way to whip these up:
Add 1 1/4 cup of old fashioned oats, 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter, 1/4 cup of honey, and 1/3 cup of both mini m&m’s and mini chocolate chips into a bowl and stir it all up until combined. Then roll the mixture into small balls (I used a cookie dough scoop, about 1 to 1.5 inches in size.) Washing your hands in between to prevent all of it from sticking too much to them will help! Then place the bites onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and let it set in the fridge until solid/chilled. You can store these in an airtight container or a ziplock bag (which is what I do) and I leave ours in the fridge to stay nice and chilly.

The kids love them, I love them, and they take maybe 5 minutes to make so this is definitely a winning recipe in my book!

According to her website here are the nutrients: Calories: 102kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 34mg | Potassium: 62mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 14IU | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

I would LOVE to hear if you make these and what YOU think! Comment on this blog post or tag me in your Instagram stories if you share!

HAPPY SNACKING!
xx

Our Top 5 (Louisville and Surrounding) Trails to Hike

Stores are shut down, restaurants, malls, heck even playgrounds and parks. The biggest way we are staying busy and HAPPY is honestly through a ton of outdoor time, and specifically hiking. Here are 5 of our favorite places that we frequently revisit and wander around with our sweet pup Emma:

1.) Garvin Brown Nature Preserve: a 46-acre nature preserve that is owned and preserved by River Fields.

Directions to Garvin Brown Preserve:
To access Garvin Brown Preserve, take River Road to Bass Road. Continue to Bass Road to Park Road. Park in the paved parking lot near Hays Kennedy Park's soccer field. Cross Hays Kennedy land for about 800 feet until you come to the small gate at the entrance of the preserve.

2.) Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve: Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve is a 170-acre non-profit nature preserve dedicated by Virginia Creasey Mahan and Howard Mahan to enrich the community through conservation, education, preservation, and community enjoyment.

Directions to Creasey Mahan: 12501 Harmony Landing Rd Goshen, Kentucky

3.) Tioga Falls: an interesting and scenic waterfall located near Louisville Kentucky. The hike to the falls is scenic and passes by some really awesome railroad trestles. The falls is best seen in the spring or after a good rain…when we went recently, the waterfall was absolutely beautiful! PS: this is where Asa asked me to his girlfriend a hundred or so years ago, so it’s pretty special to me!

Directions to Tioga Falls: West Point, Kentucky 40177 (Click here for their website)

4.) Wild Hyacinth Trail in the Parklands: Turkey Run Park inside the Parklands, has some of the most extensive collection of hiking trails. Just thirty minutes from downtown Louisville, you will not be disappointed when you land here for some outdoor time! Specifically the Wild Hyacinth Trail is right across the street from the Stout House, and as you walk, you surely will hear spring peepers, woodpeckers, and the sound of flowing water in the Turkey Run Creek. It’s about 1.5 miles and rated as moderate, and our kids and Emma traveled it without any issues at all. I can’t seem to find photos from this hike, so you’ll just have to trust me that it’s beautiful and worth it!

Directions to the Parklands: 1411 Beckley Creek Parkway (5.40 mi) Louisville, Kentucky 40245

5.) Elm Lick Trail at Bernheim Forest: this was a 5-mile hike that our family recently did with cousins and all our dogs! It is rated as difficult and it definitely had some challenging parts for us, going up and down some steep slopes, and taking around 2.5 hours to complete. You will come across the Elm Lick Watershed and see so many diverse landscapes. There are streams, grasslands, oak-hickory and beech-maple trees, and even an old homesite.

Directions to Bernheim Forest: 2075 Clermont Rd, Clermont, KY 40110

Overall the weather here in Louisville has been quite nice. A little on the chilly side, but nothing too cold. Some of the days we have bundled up in our fleeces or hoodies, but we always feel nice and warm once we get moving. It is SO easy to get bored and restless staying indoors…we can’t really hang out with friends or family indoors or host meals for people that we love. Honestly hiking has been a godsend for our family, and I will continue to share with you all on Instagram where we go! Definitely follow along in my stories there, weekly we are going outside and on family walks. I hope wherever you are you are staying well and ACTIVE!

Social Distancing Ourselves to the Woods

“Kids don’t remember their best day of television…”

I recently saw that quote and wanted to share. Right now, our world is looking at a Global Pandemic. We have been faced with worry, anxiety, consuming thoughts, and all the what ifs. Something our family has always done, health pandemic or not, is go OUTSIDE when we are needing a reset. Being outdoors is one of our favorite weekend pastimes so this past Sunday wasn’t really that different for us… This is me encouraging you all, whoever and wherever you may be, to try this as soon as your time allows—and for us now, looking down the lens of potentially three or more weeks of school and work OFF, this is going to happen even more often.

Hiking.

Have you ever felt that bitter taste in your heart and soul? Like this feeling of YUCK when realizing the negativity and hateful comments/words that the universe just tosses around like NO big deal? I bet anything that you have and you may be feeling and tasing those things right now! There is almost constant news coverage going on about the COVID-19 (Corona Virus), and LOTS of people are obsessing, panicking, and even verbally attacking one another. It can be downright exhausting, and I refuse to let my mind get sucked in. Sometimes then, more than ever, adventure is a necessity. Let it cleanse your heart, let it rid the nasty negativity from your overwhelmed soul. Go be in nature. Listen to the trees. Go HIKE!

This is a place called Garvin Brown Nature Preserve. It is a 46-acre preserve super close to River Road, and it is open from dusk until dawn. We discovered this beautiful location not too long ago, and I will never forget Christmas Day 2019—when it was a freakishly warm Christmas and we all went here for a nice long stroll. Elsa pranced around, running through brush and all the water she could find.. I know without a doubt that trails and water were 100% her love language (and the same is now true for Emma, which is pretty dang sweet.) There is something just completely wonderful about Garvin Brown and if you are local reading this, I highly, highly encourage you to go and explore, especially while we are being told to practice extreme social distancing…take your kids, your pup(s), or just even yourself, and go breathe. You will never regret slowing down and enjoying the SIMPLE joys of life, I promise. And your kids will be better for it too!

PS: We had NO IDEA what this terrifying looking fish was (and pretty soon found out) but do you know?! Tell me in the comments below if you 100% know (WITHOUT GOOGLING) what kind it is!! I mean, OH MY WORD, can you imagine swimming with this thing?! (Not that you would swim in the Ohio River, but STILL.)

Valentine Pretzel Bites (Take Two)

A couple of years ago we discovered this amazingly easy (and quick) Valentine’s recipe, thanks to one of my sister in laws! (Head here to see how little they were when we made them for the first time!) These Chocolate M&M Pretzel Bites are GREAT to do with kids; mine loved peeling the Hershey Kiss wrappers when they were tiny and they loved doing it again. Side note, I can’t believe they are six and seven, WHY are they so grown!?

Okay, here’s how to make these, seriously it is so dang easy:
-Spread out a bunch of square pretzels on parchment paper on a cookie sheet
-Place unwrapped Hershey kisses on each pretzel
-Put them in a heated oven (170-degrees) for 4-5 minutes until the Kiss is SOFT, not all the way melted
-Press a M&M on each Kiss gently (I love to use the pink and white ones during Valentine’s month, but really you could do Christmas colored ones or just regular!)

I like to put the tray in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to let them get nice and cold, and then I transfer them to a freezer size Ziplock bag. We snack on these days DAYS, and they make GREAT little gifts. Recently I made two batches and took them to our teacher’s lounge at work and if you know us teachers, we LOVE to snack!!

(Fun fact, we made a batch of these and had the oven set at 200 degrees….the M&M would NOT press in to the Kiss and some of them started to crumble! Lesson learned and thank God for GOOGLE because apparently we burned the chocolate! We read that 170-degrees is a great temp, and that’s what we used for two other batches. It worked GREAT. Don’t burn your chocolate!)

Do your kids like to bake with you or help in the kitchen? When we did this I thanked our daughter Reese and she said, “Mom, I’ll always help you. That’s why I’m your daughter.” These kids, Y’all….they bless me beyond measure and I LOVE these sweet memories we create!

PS: If you make these Pretzel Bites, find me on Facebook or Instagram (@ashley_glass on Insta) and mention me in your story or post! I would to see and connect with you there. Happy Valentine’s Day, Friends! Thanks for reading!

xox