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.

Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bites

Ryan had to work late this evening, so I wanted to surprise him with one of his favorite meals.

BBQ meatloaf!

(Side note: I loved looking back at the post where I made this recipe for the first time last year, on the night when we put our Christmas tree up! Hooray for the holidays!)

This meatloaf is really easy to make and the BBQ sauce makes it extra moist and flavorful.

 

Along with the meatloaf, we enjoyed broccoli and grape tomatoes for some added nutrition.

Ryan was quite the happy camper when he arrived home and smelled this cookin’ away in the oven!

We both gobbled down our meals rather quickly. 😀

Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bites

While the meatloaf was cooking, I did some experimenting in the kitchen. I was in the mood to bake, but didn’t want bake goods chillin’ around out house since I’ve been known to polish off batch of cookies on my own in a week one day.

I decided to try my hands at creating a protein cookie and the result was pretty darn good!

Disclaimer: I would never say that these cookies are as good as full-fat, sugar-laden cookies, but for what they are (chock full of protein and whole grains), they’re pretty tasty!

To quote Ryan, “I’d eat ‘em again.” 😉

Ingredients

• 1 c. oats
• 1/2 c. flavored protein powder (I used All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup)
• 1/2 c. fat-free cottage cheese
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tbsp. ground flax seeds
• 1/4 c. water

(Note: You may substitute one egg for the ground flax seeds and water)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together using a mixer. Place round spoonfuls of dough on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Pump Up the Jam

“Pump up the jam, pump it up

Pump it up yo pump it!”

My morning was pumpin’ in two different ways…

Pump One: BodyPump

I think taking Friday off from strength training made me feel extra powerful as I tackled my typical Monday morning BodyPump class. It felt good to push my muscles and feel the burrrn. After spending several years in the gym as a cardio queen, it’s funny that I now definitely prefer strength training to cardio.

I actually have a little plan in my head once my half marathon training is over that will really focus on strength training. I think I may try waving goodbye to long cardio sessions, replacing them with short, fast interval or HITT sessions to see how my body responds. I think my body will be ready for some time away from running and steady-rate cardio after the half on August 1. Should be interesting!

Pump Two:Pumped Up Protein Oats

Super simple breakfast this morning: Pumped up protein oats!

Only two ingredients were used to create this filling bowl of protein-packed oatmeal.

• 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
• 1/2 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder

Oats + Protein Powder

I combined the oats and protein powder and decent amout of water and stirred everything up before placing it in the microwave for a minute, stirring it every 20 seconds or so to prevent overflow. After a minute, I added a little more water and microwaved it for another 30 seconds, stirring it every ten seconds.

Chocolate Protein Oats

Come in Close for the Good Stuff

I ate this combination a lot during the winter months when it was chilly, but it still tastes wonderful even when the weather is scorching.

On the side I enjoyed dark cocoa Pumpkorn, a tasty combination of cocoa powder-dusted pumpkin seeds.

Dark Cocoa Pumpkorn

This was one heck of a chocolatey breakfast… Just the way I like it! 😀

Question of the Day

Did you listen to Jock Jams CDs?

I did and I still love classics like:

• Technotronic – “Pump Up the Jam“
• C&C Music Factory – “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)“
• Reel 2 Real – “I Like to Move It“
• DJ Kool – “Let Me Clear My Throat“

Goodness, Gracious, Great Bowls of Chocolate!

“Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!”

Love that song and love that scene in Top Gun! Goose warms my heart. 😉

Today’s lunch was a great bowl o’ chocolate, in the form of brownie batter hot cereal.

Coco-Tastic

Into the mix went:

• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder
• 1/2 serving Flax-Z-Snax chocolate cream hot cereal
• Water

Flax-Z-Snax Chocolate Cream Hot Cereal

After nukin’ it up for about a minute and a half (and stirring regularly), I had one heck of a rich and chocolatey lunch.

Brownie Batter in a Bowl

This concoction seriously reminds me of brownie batter. Love it.

Speaking of sweet treats, I see a trip to Mochi for some frozen yogurt in my near future… It’s becoming a bit of a Friday staple, I think.

Weekend Plans

Another weekend is upon us (Hooray!) and I can’t wait to get the fun started!

My plans include:

Friday:

• Drive to St. Pete with Ryan and Sadie for dinner with my parents

Saturday

• Spend all day on the boat!!!
• Meet with potential wedding DJ
• Birthday dinner with my family (My actual birthday is on Tuesday)
• Eat my mom’s homemade red velvet cake with the best cream cheese frosting EVERRRR

Sunday

• Meet with potential wedding officiant
• Drive back to Orlando
• Surprise birthday dinner with Ryan

What are YOU most looking forward to this weekend???

I am so excited to get out on the boat! I can’t wait to have some fun in the sun!

Of Possible Interest

• Become a Faster Runner in 6 Weeks
• 6 Eating Rules for Faster Weight Loss
• Exercises for a Better Butt

Real Man Shake

Breakfast this morning was served in one of Ryan’s massive protein shake cups. 

I felt like I was drinking a real man shake. 😉 

Green Monster Man Shake

Ryan drinks several protein shakes a day out of these cups. He gets them for free when he buys exorbitant amounts of protein online, so we have about a billion of them. 

Apparently I added an entire bush-worth of spinach to my green monster smoothie today because it was ginormous, as Buddy the Elf would say. 

"Have you seen Julie's green monster? It's ginormous!"

Into the mix went:

• Tons o’ spinach
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder
• Almond Breeze almond milk
• 1 tbsp. peanut butter
• 1 tsp. Bob’s Red Mill xanthan gum
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder

Green Goodness

It was thick, filling and, of course, terribly unattractive and green. 

I know I’ve said it before, but I love the way I feel after downing one of these bad boys. Cheesy as it sounds, they make me feel alive! It’s probably all in my head, but I’ll take it! 😀 

I'm Alive!

Workout

Today’s BodyPump class was emptyyy. Apparently no one was feelin’ the gym today, because there were less than half the amount of people who are normally there in class this morning. 

I actually missed the energy of a packed class! I like the “we’re all in this together” feeling I usually get during such an early morning group exercise class and I missed it a bit today. Still, the instructor did a great job, as always, and I got a good workout. Success! 

After Pumpin’ it up, I did 25 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical while reading about the latest celebrity trash. I think those celebrity gossip magazines are great gym reading material because they’re basically like picture books! Since it can be hard to read while working out, they’re a perfect fit. 

Do you like celebrity gossip magazines? 

I used to try and hide it, but who am I kidding? I love that stuff. Do I care that Carrie Underwood is engaged. Yes, I do. 🙂