What I Ate Wednesday #123: Vegan. Week 2.

Sunday I had a really serious conversation with my nutritionist, Cyrus. As you may recall, he has me experimenting with a high-carb [70% carb, 15% fat, 15% protein], vegan diet for 14 days. At the start of week 2, I met with him and told him my main concern—I’m not eating the right foods for lunch to hold me over; especially when I’m out of the house all day at work. I just ended up being completely exhausted by late afternoon. I’m just not packing enough. His solution? Eat more. And eat starchy! Lose the greens at lunch; they’re just taking up valuable real estate in my stomach that I need for energizing carbs.

This past week, I’ve made a few adjustments to my meals, in particular, eating more. Lots more! Yesterday was the big test; I was working 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. with just two 1-hour breaks in between hitting all 3 jobs. I knew it was important to pack a lot and really take into account what Cyrus had to say. And let me tell you, I found a way to just. keep. eating.

[Breakfast]
I’ve tried a couple breakfasts from Cyrus’ plan but this one was my staple.

• 2 bananas
• 1/2 papaya
• 1 mango OR a bunch of blueberries
• 2 tbsp chia seeds + 2 tbsp hemp protein soaked 10+ mins in 1/2 cup almond milk

Adding in the protein powder definitely helped keep me full longer. And you’re welcome for snapping a picture pre-chia/protein mix.

[Morning Snack]

I went to barre after training my first client, but unfortunately could only stay for 30 minutes before heading onto my next job. That said, it was a killer 30 minutes! and I was famished. Chick peas. Because apparently that’s a normal snack? But clearly not enough to hold me over for too long.. Cashew Cookie Larabar to the rescue!

Larabars have been great because they’re just fruit and nuts. No extra sweeteners, grains, etc.

[Lunch]

Admittedly, I’m still getting used to such a high starchy carb load, but eating a ton of sweet potatoes? I can’t really complain.. Seriously. Just straight roasted sweet potatoes. Twas delicious.

[Afternoon Snack……sssss]

I had a hell of a time staying full. Must have been all of my running around! In between job 2 and 3, I snacked on an apple with 1 tbsp peanut butter. A couple hours later, my very last Gingerbread Larabar made an appearance. And finally, a blood orange. I told you, I was hungry!

[Dinner]

A long day required an easy dinner. Same as the night before—mushrooms and lentils with mustard dressing over mixed greens.

[Evening Snack]
I must’ve really worked up an appetite because even after all of that, my stomach was still growling before bed. I reached for a banana.. might as well end the day in a similar fashion to how it started!

Damn. That’s a lot of carbs! Haha they are quite tasty, though, so it’s hard to argue. Just a few days left to finish off my 2 week experiment!

Food for Thought

Which meal would be your favorite?
Have you ever considered or tried a high carb diet?

Foodie Friday: Peanut Butter Banana Protein Souffle Pancake

The other day, Nathan was looking for restaurants to try for breakfast during his mom’s visit and came across this amazing creation. Holy cannoli! I’m not usually one for ordering pancakes when we go out, but I seriously had to consider at least getting one for the table to try. Of course, then I couldn’t stop thinking about this amazing-looking souffle pancake. So much so that I was laying in bed that night thinking about ways to make a healthier version for breakfast the next day.

I mentally put a list of ingredients together and decided I needed to give it a whirl. I was so excited when it turned out so well and had to remind myself to slow down a few times because it was so good! Because of the whipped egg whites, this souffle pancake has a much lighter, fluffier texture than a typical pancake. And by using peanut flour over all-purpose flour, it adds an extra protein punch and a ton of extra flavor.

Peanut Butter Banana Protein Souffle Pancake

Serves 1

Ingredients
– 3 egg whites
– 1 egg
– 1/4 cup peanut flour [I use Protein Plus Peanut Flour]*
– 1/2 tsp baking powder
– 1 tsp ground cinnamon
– 1/4 cup almond milk [I use Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla]
– 8 drops liquid stevia [if using unsweetened peanut flour – I use NuNaturals Vanilla]*
– 1/2 banana; sliced

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F and place a 10″ pan over medium heat. In a medium bowl, whisk the 3 egg whites until thick and white with stiff peaks.

In a separate bowl, add the rest of the ingredients except banana. Mix those ingredients together until well incorporated, then gently fold in the whipped egg whites. Be careful not to mix too much as it could deflate the whites. Spray the pan with cooking spray and pour your mixture in. Let the mixture set about 2 minutes before placing the banana slices on top.

Once the slices are placed on top, turn the burner off and place the pan in the oven. Let bake about 7-10 minutes until it is completely set. Remove from the oven and set aside for 1-2 minutes. Carefully slide the souffle pancake onto a plate and top with your favorite toppings. I just so happened to have a fresh batch of coconut cashew butter just waiting to be drizzled on top!

*These ingredients can be found on iHerb.com. Use code ZAF482 to receive $5 off of your first order.

Nutritional Information
Per pancake, without toppings

302 Calories  /  10g Fat  /  25g Carbs  /  7g Fiber  /  10g Sugar  /  34g Protein

Food for Thought

Have you tried peanut flour before? Are you a fan?
How would you top your souffle pancake?

What I Ate Wednesday #83: Elimination Diet

I was really trying to think of Passover as an elimination diet this time around. I had recently been experiencing itchy hands and feet, mostly at the end of the day, and was seriously hoping it wasn’t a food allergy. I didn’t think about it so much throughout the week, but I have to admit I definitely noticed a difference by the end of last night after I officially broke Passover.

Breakfast

While I thoroughly enjoyed my egg white, banana, sweet potato/kabocha scramble all week, I’m excited to be having something new for breakfast. Like oats! Gimme grains! Also, peanut butter forever.

Snack

I had a bunch of errands to run in the late morning/early afternoon and stuck this bar in my purse as I was running out. Larabar was pretty much the only bar I had that I could eat during Passover.. good thing they’re so delicious!

Lunch

I was pretty hungry by the time I got home and just picked up a can of salmon from Trader Joe’s. Instead of eating it straight from the can, I whipped up an awesome salad. Also, I totally bought some cottage cheese after seeing it all over tons of blogs! Well done, FitFluential 😉

Ingredients
– 1 can wild Alaskan salmon; drained
– 1 small avocado
– 1/4 cup cottage cheese
– 1 tsp McCormick Smokehouse Maple seasoning

Mash it all up together in a bowl and throw it on a salad, crackers, etc. I sprinkled a little chili powder on top and ended up going back for more. So good! It makes 2-3 servings [2 if you’re me!]

BREAKING PASSOVER!

When Nathan got home, he had a quick snack of some leftover buttered noodles from the other night. He offered me a bite and with that, Passover was officially over. Of course, then I went and grabbed a bite of granola because I couldn’t wait until after dinner.

Dinner

Chipotle ain’t got nothin’ on me! The salsa turned out great and I thoroughly enjoyed the rice-y bean-y goodness. Unlike any kind of elimination diet, I eliminated food for a week and immediately added all of it back into my diet in one fell swoop! Unfortunately, I was bloated within 30 minutes and now I’m not sure what did it but I’m thinking my body might hate legumes. Say it isn’t so!

Snack

I won a giveaway of Shelia G’s Brownie Brittle and of course it came in the other day. Nathan tried it right away and I couldn’t wait to try a piece. And then another piece with peanut butter because everything is better with peanut butter! .. and of course I had to have my apple, a little more granola, and a handful of peanut butter puffins. Success.

So the final results? Everything may be better with peanut butter, but I’m not so sure my body is. I hadn’t experienced the bloating all week like I did after dinner and I also noticed my hands and feet getting itchy again later on. It may be time to call the doctor in on this one!

Food for Thought

Have you ever tried an elimination diet?

Wedding Blend Oatmeal

Have you entered my LÄRABAR giveaway yet?

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to review a new product from My Oatmeal through Fit Approach. Being the serious oatmeal lover that I am, I was pretty darn excited. And not only was I excited to try my own custom blend of oatmeal, I was happy to be supporting a great cause. The mission statement from their website states:

Our mission at MyOatmeal.com is simple.
We want to help our community and my fellow man. we will do this by donating gourmet oatmeal to various organizations that aid in natural disaster recovery.
We will also donate healthy oatmeal to non profit groups that make it their business to improve the lives of the people in their communities.
We will make it our priority to seek out, and support those groups and individuals that value family, community, our country our planet and our future by whatever means we have at our disposal via the MyOatmeal.com company.
Our mission is to make the world better, and encourage others to do the same.
One bag of healthy oatmeal at a time.

I couldn’t wait to jump in and start creating my custom blend. First up, you choose which size bag you want. Next you choose your oats; they have it all from instant, steel cut, gluten-free, and their signature smash blend. I opted for the signature smash blend which is a mixture of the 5 grain and steel cut oats. I figure if it’s their signature, it must be good, right?

Step 3 is where the real fun starts. Time to choose your flavors and add-ins!

Check out all of those flavors! It was so hard for me to choose, but when I saw Bananas Foster, I had to go for it. I also added in golden raisins, chipped coconut, quinoa flakes, and sliced almonds. Not exactly a traditional bananas foster, but I’m not a traditional gal. I also really liked that the nutritional information updated in real-time so anytime you check a box, the stats change.

Once you’ve chosen all of your flavorings, add-ins, etc, you get to name your blend. I named mine “Wedding Blend” since we had a bananas foster cake topper. Pretty cute, huh? 😉 Then you just sit back and wait.

My first oatmeal concoction was my pretty much my go-to. Except instead of adding banana into the oats, I saved it for the top. Usually, I’ll add half when I’m cooking the oats to give it some sweetness but since this was already flavored, I held off.

In the bowl: custom oatmeal blend, egg whites, 1/2 sliced banana [because you can never have too much banana], homemade maple sunflower butter, homemade coconut cashew butter, The Good Bean chocolate chickpeas, and cinnamon.

The result? Delicious! I love all of the different flavors [is that rum?!] that the bananas foster gives to the oatmeal. It’s definitely a bit different from my normal oats and I would definitely go back to try more. Can you imagine peanut butter s’mores oatmeal? YES!

If you’re looking for a way to spice up your breakfast [or brinner] and support a great cause, I’d definitely recommend giving MyOatmeal a shot.

Food for Thought

Have you ever tried a custom oatmeal blend?

Disclaimer: I was provided 1 lb. of customized oatmeal from MyOatmeal.com as part of a campaign run by Fit Approach as a Sweat Pink Ambassador. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Link Love #22

Ooooh my gravy. Well I have to say, I’m definitely feeling better than I was over the weekend, but a workout plus 4 loads of laundry yesterday and I was knocked on my butt the rest of the day! One day at a time and lots of sleep, I should be back to myself soon 🙂 In the meantime, lots of love!

Health

Do you need to do cardio if you’re lifting heavy? | question from a reader – FitKnitChick

Do you need to do cardio if you’re lifting heavy? | question from a reader – FitKnitChick
4 Ways To Stop Eating A Million Calories Every Night – JillFit
The Makings of the Best Diet Ever – Truth 2 Being Fit
What a Dietitian Eats – HuffPost Lifestyle
Paleo Diet Pros and Cons – Kath Eats

Fitness

Get Bootylicious: Best Glute Exercises For Women (And Why) – Lifting Revolution

Get Bootylicious: Best Glute Exercises For Women (And Why) – Lifting Revolution
A core workout for runners – Crazy Running Girl
Burpees or Bust Challenge and Roundup #FFBurpee – Cotter Crunch
Winter Interval Treadmill Workout – Sarah Fit
Stability Ball Workout – Fitnessista

Food

Bourbon Caramel Almond Butter Cups – Minimalist Baker

Bourbon Caramel Almond Butter Cups – Minimalist Baker
Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Almond Butter Filling – Running on Real Food
Lentil Sloppy Portobello Joe – Peachy Palate
Honey Porter Glazed Chicken Skewers – The Beeroness
Healthier Magic Cookie Bars – Eating Bird Food

Food for Thought

What is one of your favorite posts from the last week?

Foodie Friday: Pancake Variations

It’s clearly been a week of pancakes. These pancakes are delicious and I love the stats.. you can’t beat 350 cals, 35g protein, and 15g fiber! I’ve had far too much fun playing with the flavor combos [ok, not really too much fun..] so I wanted to share a couple successes.

It all started with the original..

Peanut Butter ‘Cake’ Coconut Flour Pancakes

via Dashing Dish

Makes 6-7 pancakes for 1 serving

Peanut Butter ‘Cake’ Coconut Flour Pancakes – Dashing Dish

Ingredients
– 5 tbsp coconut flour
– 1/4 tsp baking powder
– 2 tsp peanut butter or 2 tbsp peanut flour [I chose peanut flour]
– 1-2 pkts stevia or sweetener of choice [I used 16 drops of liquid stevia]
– Pinch of salt
– 7 egg whites
– 1/4 – 1/2 cup water

Directions
Place a pan over medium heat. In a medium size bowl, mix all ingredients together except the water. As they all come together, slowly add the water a little bit at a time until a thick batter forms. Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan per pancake and cook until they become a little bubbly around the edges. Flip the pancakes and cook through.

In between each pancake and atop of the stack, I covered them with more peanut fluff [1 1/2 tbsp peanut flour, ~3 drops liquid stevia, and water] and a little granola.

Next up came the Banana Coconut variety. These look beautious but the flavors need a little work. I’ll report back soon 😉

Banana Coconut Coconut Flour Pancakes

Then I knew it was time to go for pumpkin.

Pumpkin Coconut Flour Pancakes

Pumpkin Coconut Flour Pancakes

Ingredients
– 5 tbsp coconut flour
– 1/4 tsp baking powder
– 1/4 cup pumpkin [NOT pumpkin pie filling!]
– 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
– 16 drops of liquid stevia
– Pinch of salt
– 7 egg whites
– 1/4 – 1/2 cup water

I swapped out the peanut butter for pumpkin and added some pumpkin pie spice and it was fabulous! I also topped [and layered] these with pumpkin peanut fluff [1 1/2 tbsp peanut flour, 2 tbsp pumpkin, ~4 drops liquid stevia, pumpkin pie spice, and water] and of course a little granola.

My final flavor of the week involved some of my absolute favorite flavors in the world!

Reese’s Coconut Flour Pancakes

Reese’s Coconut Flour Pancakes

Ingredients
– 5 tbsp coconut flour
– 1/4 tsp baking powder
– 2 tbsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
– 16 drops of liquid stevia
– Pinch of salt
– 7 egg whites
– 1/4 – 1/2 cup water

This time, I swapped in the cocoa powder and topped/layered with regular peanut fluff and a sprinkling of granola.

To say this was a good breakfast week would be an understatement! Time to load up on eggs again and get back to work 😉

Food for Thought

What is your favorite flavor combination?

What strange but good combinations can you come up with?

Have you ever had coconut flour pancakes before?

What I Ate Wednesday #57: Pancake Party!

I have to be honest, my last week of eats, with the exception of what I already showed you on Monday, has not been very exciting. So rather than sharing the same pictures over again, I thought I’d share my latest morning fun.

On Monday, I decided to venture outside of the breakfast world of my daily protein oats and go for some pancakes again. I’ve been seeing mile-high stacks of coconut flour pancakes on my instagram feed so I went for a peanut butter pancake recipe from Dashing Dish.

Peanut Butter ‘Cake’ Coconut Flour Pancakes – Dashing Dish

I topped this stack with peanut fluff [peanut flour, stevia, and water] and the last of my maple blueberry Michele’s Granola. It was bittersweet. Using the last of the granola.. not the pancakes! 😉 The pancakes were actually very light and fluffy! They held me over for about 5 1/2 hours but they didn’t sit heavy. It was great!

Obviously now I have to play around with flavors..

Tuesday’s flavor was banana coconut.

Banana Coconut Coconut Flour Pancakes

These pancakes were topped with coconut protein fluff [vanilla protein powder, coconut extract, and water], a little coconut butter, and toasted coconut. They were good, but this recipe is still in the works.

And finally, today I went for the pumpkin! About time, right?!

Pumpkin Coconut Flour Pancakes

These were awesome.. so much pumpkin flavor! I topped this stack with peanut fluff mixed with extra pumpkin, a little pumpkin pie spice, and granola.I’ll definitely be making this flavor again soon but I still want to try other flavor combos and hash out my banana coconut flavor too 🙂

And the best part about these pancakes? They’re only about 350 calories per serving with about 35g protein and 15g fiber. That’s what I call staying power!

Food for Thought

What flavor would you try first?

What flavor combos should I try?

Five Things Friday

It’s Friday!! I’m not sure if I could be any happier that I actually made it out of this week alive [..so far].

1. The past 2 weeks have been absolutely nuts at work but it makes the weekends all that much better.
2. Speaking of weekends, tonight at sundown begins Yom Kippur which means 24 hours of fasting. I’ll be staying off of Pinterest tonight and tomorrow!
3. HOWEVER! Today is National Peanut Day. Quite possibly one of my favorite days ever [after my wedding day and National Peanut Butter Day, of course]. So I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite peanut recipes for you.
   

   Sweet

   

   Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bark

   

   Hail Merry Peanut Butter Coconut Banana Bites

   

   Healthy Banana Peanut Butter Cups

   

   Peanut Butter Cup Protein Shake

   

   Peanut Butter Wonderful Powerballs

   

   Sweet Potato Dippers

   Savory

   

   Buddha’s Feast with Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

   

   Peanut Chili Baked Tofu

   

   Tilapia Stir-Fry with Chili Peanut Sauce

   Enjoy 🙂

4. Another round of Best Body Bootcamp started this week. Looking over the workouts I definitely thought they didn’t look so bad and I’d probably breeze through them. Holy cow was I wrong! All of the workouts were deceptively difficult and I left the gym drenched. It was a great feeling!
   

   Cardio and core work

5. I wandered around the food area of Marshall’s last week and found a few fun things. I’d gotten plain ginger chews for Nathan to try once upon a time and he said they were a bit spicy for his liking. When I came across a bag of peanut butter ginger chews [here I go with the peanut butter again!], I couldn’t pass them up. They have more of a peanut butter flavor with a little kick of ginger spice.. seriously addictive! And they’re individually wrapped so you can throw a few in your bag for later!
   

   Peanut Butter Ginger Chews

And on that peanutty note, I hope you have a lovely, restful weekend!

Food for Thought

Do you have a favorite food holiday?

An Ode to Oatmeal: Protein-Packed TVP Oats

Have you entered my Chobani giveaway?

I’ve recently gotten a few requests for my go-to oatmeal recipe. I may be a bit obsessed [read: eat them every single day] but I just can’t stop! And frankly I see nothing wrong with that. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? 😉

Protein TVP Oats

Serves 1

Ingredients
– 2 egg whites
– 1/2 banana
– 1/2 cup almond milk + splash at the end
– 1/2 cup water
– 1/4 cup rolled oats
– 1/4 cup TVP* [If you don’t have TVP, just substitute another 1/4 cup of oats]
– Cinnamon. Lots of cinnamon!
– Your fave nut and/or seed butters [Optional.. but why wouldn’t you?!]
– Your fave granola [Optional.. see note above]

Directions
In a small pot, scramble your egg whites and put them off to the side. I add cinnamon to mine as they’re cooking, but you can just leave them plain.

Break up the banana into the pot and toss it with a sprinkle of cinnamon to coat. Add almond milk and water. Mash up the banana into the liquid until there are almost no chunks. Add the oats and TVP and bring to a light boil, then turn down to a simmer.

When the oats are almost finished cooking, add the egg whites back in with a splash of almond milk. This will make it creamier and help to incorporate the egg into the mix. When they’re done, top with 1 tbsp nut/seed butter [and another sprinkle of cinnamon!]

I can never decide which nut/seed butter to use so I typically split my tablespoon into 3 teaspoons of different ones.. it makes it that much more exciting 😉 I also throw a little granola on top for a some crunch! [Michele’s is the best!]

*You can purchase TVP from iHerb.com. Use discount code ZAF482 at checkout for up to $10 off your purchase!

Nutritional Information

Per serving, without optional toppings

254 Calories  /  4g Fat  /  31g Carbs  /  5g Fiber  /  11g Sugar  /  24g Protein

Food for Thought

What is your favorite breakfast? What’s your favorite way to dress up oatmeal?

Guest Post: Carrots ‘N’ Cake 10 Tasty Cookie Recipes

If you don’t know Tina from Carrots ‘N’ Cake, you should really get on that! Her blog is one of my faves to read daily. She posts so many awesome recipes, workouts, and pictures of her adorable pug, Murphy! You may recognize the name from my many shout outs to her Sweet Breakfast Scramble that I couldn’t enough of! I’m so glad to be featuring Tina in today’s guest post and I hope you love all of these mouth-watering cookie recipes as much as I do!

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Hi! My name is Tina, and I blog at Carrots ‘N’ Cake.

CNC is where I share my love for healthy living by documenting my meals and workout (and photos of my pug). While I try to pack the most nutrients possible into each meal, I have a number of favorites that are not necessarily “healthy,” but are still delicious and fun to eat. If eaten in moderation, I believe that the “bad” foods can be part of a well-balanced diet. With that said, here are ten of my favorite cookie recipes. Hopefully, you will love them as much as I do!

3-Minute Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

Banana Oatmeal Chip Cookies

Butterscotch Chip Cookies

Cherry-Walnut Almond Flour Cookies

Chewy Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies

Gluten-Free Trail Mix Cookies

Loaded Pumpkin Cookies

Reeses Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Thanks again to Tina for sharing these delicious recipes!

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite go-to cookie recipe?