♥Pink Power Protein Pancakes ♥

Pink power protein pancakes!

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"Use one scoop of whey protein..."

The scoop factor... So there seems to be  no standard of "scoop" out there.  This can be frustrating,  I know. But I will be making a conscious effort to make sure I let you know how much my scoop is. Then there's the liquid to add, that's not always standard either. Because every powder is different it reacts to liquid differently. So always start at the suggested amount and go from there. No matter what recipe you are using there's always a bit of a learning curve. There will be a few batches that are just down right wrong. But with practice you will get the right consistency for your protein powder. Then you will go use a different powder, and mess it up. It just happens. 

So the second holidays are over, we jump right into Valentines *groan*. But, I am a lover and a Fighter... so I couldn't resist the epic cheesiness of Pink Pancakes! Why not. You love yourself right? You love your body right? You want to treat it right.... right? 
Well regardless of your answers, they're strawberry, relax. 

 3 TBS coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 scoop of strawberry whey protein (mine measures approx. 1/4 cup, and 1 Tbs)
3 egg whites
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or to pour able consistency)

Heat pan, or skillet, with oil. Healthy choice: coconut oil, or coconut oil or olive oil spray. Bring down heat to medium. Cook first side until it starts to bubble (about 2 minutes), or you can lift it to flip, and lightly brown. Other side will take less than 2 minutes. 
 This made me about 3 pancakes, none were same size... because that's how I roll. 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 1.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 233
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 4 g	6 %
Saturated Fat 3 g	16 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 5 mg	2 %
Sodium 976 mg	41 %
Potassium 257 mg	7 %
Total Carbohydrate 15 g	5 %
Dietary Fiber 8 g	32 %
Sugars 3 g
Protein 32 g	64 %
Vitamin A	3 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	21 %
Iron	16 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

No excuses, No worries, Have a cookie!

Good morning cookie.

Prep for this bad boy is one bowl, and a masher. In the morning we have 30 minutes to get toddlers and a husband out the door.  This is do-able. This is simple. This is also nothing new.

It is more of the reminder that you need to eat your breakfast with in 4 hours of waking. 

Sure you can do some fasted cardio. But you STILL need to eat breakfast. 

(Saving fasted cardio for another day.)

Skipping breakfast you'll just be screwing yourself later. It can lead to over eating later, and that will make you gain weight. Why not have the largest meal that will help you concentrate, that will give you energy, and that you have all day to burn off? Research confirms that dieters who skip breakfast tend to gain weight over time (Neumark-Sztainer et al. 2006).                     

                                                                                                                                 

My nutritionally substantial dash and go breakfast: Cookies! 

Having something with the name COOKIE and tastes like a COOKIE for breakfast is a good thing. You will be less likely to indulge on sweets later.

Try a "cookie" that contains s few simple ingredients like Banana, oats, and peanut butter. 

Then add raisins, nuts, and a few chocolate chips!

This mix below is 137 calories per cookie. Eat 2 or 3 (for home or on the go) with your choice of healthy beverage. Or one with some eggs or fruit (eating at home), but still substantial!

1 cookie alone won't cut it you really want to aim for 1/4 to 1/3 of your calories eaten in the morning.

Oven:350

Bake:15 min

2 VERY ripe bananas

1.5 cups oat meal ( Old Fashioned) 

1/3 cup peanut butter (Natural, organic)

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup Jumbo chips (jumbo worked out to put 3-4 chips on each cookie)

*cinnamon

*Stevia 

* to taste

Paleo Carrot Cake

I wanted to share this wonderful little gem I found. I shared it on Instagram awhile ago (OK I picture teased, same thing)! I wanted some thing to go with my tea as a treat. I am a little over almond flour right now. Some times I don't love the texture, not appropriate for all recipes. I love my almond flour for cookies.
Working with coconut flour presents a challenge. That stuff loves to absorb any fluid you add. Here is my absolute no fail find! My fist try, perfection, definitely had to share with you.
Best thing I love about this cake is you can sub your coconut flour for protein powder. YOU know I love cooking with it. (See this little protein cake for one here.) This Carrot Cake was moist, and stayed moist. It didn't even taste like it was 'healthy'! It stored really well too!
I did not use protein powder first time around because I fear its too sweet and would take away from the true carrot cake taste. But I will try it this next time around, because OMGPaleos' cake is actually a breakfast protein cake.( I can do that with breakfast!) But with coconut flour it becomes an any time cake. I love it with Matcha green tea in the afternoon.

♥ENJOY!♥

Paleo Carrot Cake
adapted from Carrot Breakfast Protein Cake.

Ingredients

• 2 large carrots, finely shredded
• ⅔ cup almond butter
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons raw honey
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour OR 35 grams (or 1 heaping scoop) Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• ½ cup raisins

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Shred carrots as thin as possible. Place in large bowl. ( I used a food processor worked like a charm)
3. Add almond butter and eggs and mix well.
4. Then add honey, protein powder, cinnamon, baking powder and salt and mix well.
5. Fold in raisins.
6. Grease an 8×8 glass baking dish with coconut oil, pour batter into the dish and place in oven. Bake for 35 minutes or until the top of the cake has a nice crust to it.
7. Let cool before cutting.

Notes

The original recipe made 8 servings, I cut mine smaller in an 8 x 8 glass dish  to make 12 servings. 

My recommendation:  (and I will always say this) get a hand held emulsion blender! It will mix your paleo treats better, faster, with less mess. You really want your ingredients mixed to truly appreciate, and taste the natural flavors. 

Paleo Sandwich Bread

 My Paleo friends, rejoice, and have a sandwich

I have made a lot of Paleo bread, but there's only so much almond bread with almond butter I can take. They were all tasty, but ended up more like a cake. Not so much for just making a sandwich! 



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That dreaded meal; Lunch.

Sometimes I just make breakfast again, or just stick with one of my meal re-placers because I just don't have time to make a mess and cook for one, then have to cook for the family for dinner later. Some times I just want to take my lefts overs and stick it on bread! Well I found a recipe. I did a whole week of testing via Instagram. Funny enough it wasn't until the last day I made a left over sandwich.

My post work out slug-fest I am famished,

 so it's bacon and eggs!                                                               

 Breakfast BLT !

*My personal note, I recommend an immersion blender for Paleo breads and cakes. Blending the almond butter, and honey is never easy. I now mix a lot of my breads and cakes in a bottle mixer using my immersion hand blender. You get a better flavor and consistancy. It's also an easier clean up! 

*If you like to toast your bread, don't over toast. It will burn very fast because of the egg content!

3/4  almond butter, smooth (store bought works fine too)

6 pastured eggs

2 tbsp honey

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup golden flax, ground

3 tbsp coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8 x 4" loaf pan with parchment, grease well with coconut oil.
2. In a large bowl, blend the almond butter, eggs, honey, coconut oil and apple cider vinegar with an immersion blender.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flax, coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt. Mix the dry into the wet, pour into the greased and lined loaf pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan by pulling up on the parchment. Set on wire rack to cool completely.
5. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days, in the fridge for 7-10 days or in the freezer for a month or so.

Read more: http://guiltykitchen.com/2013/04/15/paleo-sandwich-bread/#ixzz2ooVvHwXh

Protein, Caffeine, and Nectresse, Oh My!

I had forgot I pinned a great breakfast shake, I finally got to make it last week. It's now a morning staple. It's important to get food in your belly with in an hour of waking up. But in my house and many other busy households it can be tough. With in the first 20 minutes of getting up my husband and I are baby wrangling, and convincing a 2 year old to get out of bed. Hubby helps me and gets himself ready, while I fly down stairs and get the kids their juice. Our baby boy is not content until he slams a good 8 ounces of juice. Then it's a battle to find my little girl a breakfast to go. Mean while I am just desperate to get some coffee. But first its get my hubby his caffeine and a breakfast to go thing of sorts because he has his commute and drops of the toddler at play school two days a week! Even after they are all gone I am still feeding my 9 month old boy which is the same size as the 2 year old. The breakfast menu for my baby dude is extensive. Whew.. well if I can shove enough food in front of him, I get a chance to sit and have ... what? Well luckily I found my new staple in the mornings:

Adapted from Fit is the new black.

Ingredients:

♠  2 handfuls of ice

♠ 1 scoop of vanilla or chocolate protein powder. I use a vanilla flavored vegan brand, that has 22 grams of protein per scoop. That’s half of the protein I need for the day!

♠ 1/2 frozen banana

♠ 1 cup of brewed coffee-choose whatever flavor you like

♠ 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk- I like unsweetened almond milk because it’s dairy free, provides extra protein, is creamy, and only 35 calories. However, you can totally use whatever type of milk you want.

♠Nectresse to taste. I actually add it to my coffee like I am going to be drinking it before I add it to the blender. I don't want to over do it! I was originally not using any sweeteners because I have found that they all can be overwhelming and they do not enhance any flavor.

Add all ingredients to blender and go to town! I pour it into a blander bottle because it make a lot and the blender aeration adds to the volume. It is very filling, and I now have breakfast and coffee in a better for me way.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ng5y_XqDNk&w=560&h=315]

Review:

I just started using Nectresse, it is from the makers from Splenda. I will have to say I was slightly weary because I have not been a fan of zero calorie sweeteners unless it was a Stevia type but some times I found even that was too much. I had received my sample in my VOXBOX from Infuenster. After trying it out in my coffee I was surprised. I tasted my coffee, NOT sweetener. I tried it in my tea's which is a tough test to pass. I like a lot of fruit teas, and strong herbal teas and they are best with agave. But sometimes agave or honey can be too sweet, and added calories. Nectresse did the job with out over powering my tea! After all those basic tests I am ready to use in my protein shake.  The best part is that I am also using less sweetener too. You only have to use 1/4 teaspoon for every teaspoon you use! It must be that monk fruit, Nectresse is made with  Monk fruit and 100% natural. I am very happy with the final results, and will continue to use Nectresse.