Am I Off My Rocker?

Cheesecake for dinner and now cake for breakfast… Am I off my rocker?

No, no, no. I haven’t completely abandoned my healthy ways!

Today’s cake for breakfast came in the form of a protein cake!

Protein Powdaaa!

To make this sweet mini cake, I simply combined the following ingredients:

• 1 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder
• 1.5 tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg white
• 1 large pinch of baking soda
• Enough water to moisten everything (1/8 cup?)

Protein Cake Ingredients

After stirring everything up, I microwaved the mixture on high for a minute, monitoring it to make sure it didn’t poof up too much and overflow the container.

After a minute, my protein cake was ready for eatin’.

Protein Cake

I paired my protein cake with a cup of cold, creamy Greek yogurt.

Friday Breakfast

Take a Bite!

This lil’ recipe was inspired by a concoction I saw on Janetha’s blog a while ago that used pumpkin in place of the applesauce.

This recipe is a lot like my normal protein brownie recipe, but the addition of the applesauce really helps make this lil’ cake nice and moist! It’s also delicious smeared with peanut butter or with a handful of chopped nuts thrown in! The possibilities are endless. 😀

Question of the Morning

• Protein Powder: Love it or hate it?

I cannot stomach protein shakes made with just protein powder and water or milk, but I love protein powder used in recipes, stirred into oatmeal or incorporated into ice cold smoothies.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

“Hummus, hummus, I got the hummus!”

(Anyone else remember that episode of Friends where Phoebe wears a big Christmas bow to cover her hummus stain? Hysterical!)

I got the hummus in my lunch today. 🙂

I copied my sandwich from Tuesday’s lunch and made another roasted red pepper hummus sandwich with portobello mushrooms.

Hummus + Mushroom Sandwich

This sandwhich was awesome. You’d think Ryan and I just discovered hummus or something this past week. He’s had it on his turkey sandwich every day since Sunday!

On the side I snacked on fresh green and red peppers dipped in Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese and enjoyed sugar-free strawberry Jello for dessert.

Peppers + Cheese

Thursday's Lunch

Delish!

Snack Time

Today’s morning snack was oh-so-good!

I made a double chocolate and peanut butter protein cake (courtesy of Miss April‘s recipe) with All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder (which I buy here on NutraPlanet.com) and cocoa powder.

I spread a semi-thawed frozen banana on the divided cake and smooshed the two slices back together for a chocolate peanut butter and banana delight! April, I love you for this recipe.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Protein Cake

Stuffed Up

I also enjoyed some salty peanuts.

I ❤ Peanuts

Jumping on the Bandwagon: Ask Me Anything

Now that it seems like the Ask Me Anything phenomenon all over blog world is dying down, I figured I’d suck it up and participate. Better late than never!

I’m not anticipating a lot of questions since I’m not the most interesting person in the world, and I’m a little nervous about what kind of questions I might get! Buuut, I know I really enjoyed reading other question and answer sessions. It’s fun to learn something new! So, without further ado, click here to ask me anything!

Remember, it’s completely anonymous and I cannot see who submits questions… It’s cool for you, but I know it’ll drive me crazy since I’m the most curious person in the world. 😀 Just ask my mom, who still has to hide my Christmas presents from me.

Free 8 x 10 Photo

Click here to get a free 8 x 10 photo print at Walgreens today!

Cake for Breakfast

Though I love my protein brownie, I’ll be the first to admit that it isn’t for everyone and can be a little dry. (Tip: Spreading peanut butter on top makes it taste even better!)

Yesterday when I stumbled across April‘s recipe for a protein cake, I was extremely intrigued. I figured it would be more moist than my protein brownie due to the addition of pumpkin or applesauce and figured starting my day with some cake would be a nice treat!

I combined all of the necessary ingredients and used All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder as my base.

Protein Cake Ingredients

I stirred everything up until a thick batter formed. It looked like real cake batter!

Batter

After slightly less than 70 seconds in the microwave, my cake was ready!

Done!

I loosened the cake with a knife and it popped out quite easily.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Protein Cake

Yummmm

The great thing about this little cake is that it’s portable! April recommended spreading peanut butter between the cake halves and taking it as a to-go snack. Yum!

I enjoyed mine topped with Greek yogurt.

Cake + Yogurt

The cake was pretty moist, but I think that making it with pumpkin instead of applesauce would make it even more moist. I’ll definitely be making this again soon!

The protein cake kind of reminded me of the five minute chocolate mug cake, but about a bazillion times healthier.

Protein Cake

Ingredients

• 1/2 scoop protein powder (15g)
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. pumpkin or applesauce

*Note: April’s recipe calls for2 packets of Stevia, but I omitted this since I used a flavored protein powder.

Directions

In a microwavable mug, combine all the ingredients and stir well until you have a thick batter. Microwave for 60 to 70 seconds.

Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife, pop it out of the mug and enjoy!

Workout

My workout today was pretty decent.

I started with a 10 minute warm up on the elliptical before taking a 30 minute spinning class. After spinning, I still wanted to read more of the latest issue of Cooking Light, so I hopped back on the elliptical for another 20 minutes while folding down every other page in the magazine to mark good lookin’ recipes.

My legs are feeling a little sore today, so I followed up my cardio workout with five minutes of stretching.

You wouldn’t want to see pictures of me stretching since I’m sure it’s highly unattractive, so here are two pictures of Sadie gettin’ her stretch on this morning.

Sadie's Morning Stretch

Ahhh, Feels Good

She’s such a little yogini. 😉

Protein-Packed Breakfast Cake

My friend Merri may be my blog’s number one fan and I just love it! She’s always sending me awesome recipe ideas and pictures of her meals.

Merri (top left), Me and My Girlfriends

Last night at girl’s holiday movie night Merri brought me two protein breakfast cakes she made this week.

Like me, Merri works out in the morning. After eating a small bowl of oatmeal before her workouts, she’d still feel lightheaded in the gym. Her trainer told her to incorporate more protein into her morning meal. Since she is at the gym early, she wanted to eat something she could grab quickly and found a recipe for a protein-packed breakfast cake.

Protein-Packed Breakfast Cake

She made the cake into muffins to create a grab-and-g0 breakfast. I loved this lil’ cake! I gobbled one up last night and ate the other one she gave me after my morning run. This recipe is great pre- or post-run fuel.

Merri’s Protein-Packed Breakfast Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 packets of oatmeal (banana bread flavor or Kashi Golden Brown maple oatmeal work really well)
• 6 egg whites
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 6 tbsp Splenda or sweetener of choice
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon (sprinkle on top before baking as well)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients and bake in oven in a 9×9 pan or make individual servings in a muffin pan for approximately 20 minutes.

(You may also find this recipe here.)

Workout

This morning I went for a run with my favorite running buddy, little Miss Sadie. She’s the best running partner because she always goes my pace and is ridiculously excited to be running. Plus I like to say things like “only one more mile, Sadie” to make me feel better offer her encouragement. It’s nice to have her cute little face look up at me when I’m plugging away.

Today we ran for an hour. Once again it was very foggy. My hair and eyelashes were wet from all the moisture.

Orlando Fog

Breakfast

Breakfast today was easy and yummy and very similar to Monday’s morning meal.

• Chobani Greek yogurt
• Clementine
• Kay’s Naturals honey almond cereal
• Yogi Tahitian vanilla hazelnut tea

Tuesday's Breakfast

Festive Clementine

Kay's Naturals Honey Almond Cereal

Easy and tasty – that’s all I ask!

Engagement Gift

Ryan and I have been fortunate to receive some really thoughtful and wonderful engagement gifts. Last night we received one of our very favorites from my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Randall.

Engagement Gift

How wonderful is that picture? It already found a home on our wall. 😀

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?