Sunday Moring PB&J and Coffee

Good morning, darlings! I hope you had a wonderful day/evening/morning. I just got up and and contemplating what to eat for breakfast. This is a sort of live-blogging experience. Although, after I post it, it won't be live anymore, but I digress. I have a pot of vanilla creme coffee cooling now so that I can start off my day with a lovely chocolate vanilla iced coffee. I am pretty addicted to caffeine, although I am busting my butt to learn to not be dependent on it, mostly during the week.

Chocolate Vanilla Iced Coffee

-vanilla creme coffee, brewed and cooled off
- mug full of ice
- 1/4 a cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- Walden Farms Chocolate Syrup, just drizzled over the ice (about 2 tbsp)
- sweetener of your choice

Put all together and enjoy. 

It's Sunday! My boy and I are going to go to the mall in the town over so I can look for a dress. Our friend's wedding is coming up in a couple weeks and I wanted to check out H&M because their clothes are so cute! However, all of this after a workout at the gym of course. I never thought I would look forward to going to the gym. Now, my life just seems incomplete without it. I dread my rest day (I take one full rest day a week). I dread rest because that day I try to eat extra low carb, which means pretty much all of my favorite things get taken from my meal option equation. I have been doing pretty well carb cycling, of course I need to improve much more. Always strive to be better. Set goals, ladies and gents!

Vanilla Protein Flax Pancakes (Low-Carb)
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
2 scoops ground/milled flax seed
2 tablespoons of low fat small curd cottage cheese
3 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 
Few drops Vanilla Creme liquid Stevia

Mix all dry ingredients and wet ingredients together separately. Mix the cottage cheese and egg well, I like the cottage cheese because it adds moisture and texture to the pancake (can't forget protein!). Once mixed into a batter I added a couple drops of my Vanilla Cremem Liquid Stevia from my past post just to add some more vanilla flavor to the party. Cook on low-medium heat, my burner was set between 2 and 3. As always with protein pancakes, resist the urge to flip them too early :)

For the pancakes, they contain 7 grams of fat, 2 g saturated fat, 68 g cholesterol, 665 g of sodium, 16 g carbohydrates, 5 g dietary fiber, 5 g sugar, and 48 g protein. 

And I dressed them up as PBJ Protein Flax Pancakes
2 tablespoons of Organic Powdered Peanut Butter
1/4 cup blackberries made into a jam by microwaving for 30-40 seconds and mashing with sweetener

I just had a bite and OH my GOSH. These are so good. I am definitely making this again. The whole stack is mine, and for only about 350 calories.

Berry Good!

Hey guys!  I hope you have had a nice couple of day. I had yesterday as well as today off so I have been relaxing. Yesterday I went and bought myself two pairs of denim shorts from American Eagle. I felt I deserved them. I had only one pair of shorts to wear outside of my gym shorts and they were way too big on me. I spent $45 and got two pairs. American Eagle's denim seems to be the only ones that fit me well.

I was astounded because I actually managed to fit into a size 2 with room to spare. I don't like my shorts to be skin tight. I fit into a 0, but decided to go with a more comfortable size 2. I have never in my life fit in a size 2 and it is such a great feeling. I have been working so hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle and when it pays off, it is amazing.

I went to the grocery store late last night on a berry run. I needed fruit for work and they had pretty good prices so I stocked up. I have even more strawberries than this, they just didn't fit in my massive container! I also picked up green tea, turkey lunch meat, peaches, a tomato, avocado, and more Greek yogurt.

This morning I made a banana protein pancake from leftover batter I had in the fridge. I still have some left, so I may have another once I get home from the gym later for my post-workout.

I served it with a side of mixed fresh berries, green tea, and a simple blackberry chia seed spread.

The spread is so simple and delicious for pancakes, and healthier than syrup. I took 1/4 a cup of blackberries, 1/2 a tablespoon of chia seeds, and half a pack of stevia and mixed them together, mashing the berries. I microwaved the mixture for about a minute and a half, took it out and spread it on my pancake. SO GOOD!

I hope you guys have a wonderful day. I am planning on going to the local market with my boy in a while just for something to do. If they have some nicely priced produce, I may be picking up some veggies. I also am planning on hitting the gym for a leg and ab session today. Good luck and stay cool!

Protein Pancakes

I have been trying to perfect my protein pancake making and it really is not working too well! Whenever I don't have any flour in the mixture, it is very difficult for me to keep the pancakes from going to complete mush when I flip them. I don't like when my food turns out looking like baby food! What can I do to make my protein pancakes stay whole? They always stick to the bottom of the pan, even with spray and low heat.

However, I did make some protein pancakes that were pretty delicious. They had carbs, but I am ok with that today because I need the energy. It is supposed to be around 97-99 degrees today, plus I will be going to the gym soon for an arm and cardio session.

This lovely giant protein pancake topped with whipped peanut butter, half a banana, flax seeds and chia seeds ended up being about 500 calories, but it was filling and will give me the protein and carbs I need to fuel my workout. To make two servings of batter:

• 1/2 cup of oats
• 1/2 cup of cottage cheese
• 4 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 a large banana

Put all the ingredients about in a food processor and blend. I had attempted to make half the batter without wheat flour, but it ended up making a mess (a delicious mess, but I like pretty food, not mush). I added 1/4 a cup of wheat flour to the second half of the batch and they turned out like the photo above. A beautifully formed pancake. You can make them either way, and they will both be delicious.