Protein Pancakes

So as a little background while I had been in grad school and working full time between 2009-2011 I unfortunately put on a bit of weight.  I was working a super crazy schedule with many 12 hour days and going to grad school part time, so in my free time I just became lazy and did not work out.  Well somehow it took me a while to realize just how much weight I had put on, until I went to an event in January and saw pictures of myself from the event and was not happy.  I went on Weight Watchers for a 5 months and lost a ton a total of 14 pounds.  I was super proud of myself and everyone kept telling me how great I looked.  I then went on an 8 day trip with my husband and parents to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica and let loose.  I gained back 4 pounds and since then I've  been maintaining from that point. Well, now I think I'm ready to lose the final 10 pounds that I had originally gained while in school. So here we go, this time I'm going to try it on my own though and use what I learned from WW.  So there are a few good websites out there that have low calorie recipes that are delicious. So today, I'm going to share a recipe I got from one of these low calorie cooking sites.
These are called Peanut Butter Banana Protein Pancakes and I found them on the Slender Kitchen Website.  I made a couple of changes but basically these are the pancakes Kristen makes, but I think both versions are great.  Now, of course these don't taste exactly like regular pancakes and you have to enjoy the taste of banana.  If you do like banana and you're looking for a lower fat version of pancakes these are a great option.

Peanut Butter Banana Protein Pancakes
as adapted from Slender Kitchen
Makes enough for 1 person - 3 large pancakes

Ingredients:
 
1 banana that is browning slightly
1 tablespoon Chocolate PB2
1/3 cup Liquid Egg Whites
1 tablespoon ground Flax Seed

Instructions:

I prefer to put all ingredients into my Ninja Blender and blend them all up.  It saves time and makes the concoction much more blended than I could ever get it by hand.
Then heat up the fry pan over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. 
Once the pan is well heated pour 1/3 of the mixture into the pan and let fully cook on that side, about 4 minutes.  Remember, cooking times may differ so keep an eye on the pancakes and look for the edges to begin to bubble up.
Once fully cooked on one side, flip the pancake over and fully cook on the other side.
When both sides have been cooked, slide out of the pan onto a plate and continue with the next 2 pancakes.

I like to eat these with some Sugar Free Syrup.  Enjoy!

Weekend in Review

So again we had another pretty calm weekend.  Since we were out of town last weekend, we just took it easy.  

Friday night, we had a bunch of friends over for dinner and a night of playing the game Cards Against Humanity.  I had never heard of this game before, but it is hilarious and kept us playing for a while.  For dinner, we served a trio of meatballs, a basic salad, roasted asparagus, pasta and red velvet cupcakes for dessert.




We served 3 kinds of meatballs: Martha Stewart's Honey-Chipotle Turkey Meatballs, Martha Stewart's Chicken Parm Meatballs, and our own recipe for regular beef meatballs in red sauce.  The Chicken Parm meatballs were the hit of the party - everyone raved how good they were, so I would highly recommend them.  I will also admit, I cheated on the cupcakes and used a box mix.  I just didn't have time to make cupcakes from scratch.  I did make the icing though, which also explains why it is looking so sad. 


Saturday we spent the day running some must needed errands, isn't that what your Saturdays seem to become when you get married?  Then Saturday night we of course had to go watch the FSU vs Miami game.  We went to the old official FSU game watching spot, Mellow Mushroom.  It seemed like a lot of people had the same idea so it was a lot of fun to have so many other FSU fans to watch with.  We won, so that was a great night!  Sunday morning I spent at the gym, which always makes you feel good after.  That afternoon I had to a ton of laundry, which is never fun though.  Sunday night I met a friend for dinner at a local restaurant called Barcelona Wine Bar in Inman Park.  This place was crazy for a Sunday night due to them having half priced wine bottles.  It is a tapas and Spanish wine bar and the food here is really good and if you're a vegetarian, they have a ton of really good options.  My friend who I went with is a vegetarian, so we shared a bunch of their vegetarian tapas.  We left completely stuffed and all caught up after gossiping over wine for hours. 

Hope y'all have a good week!

Egg On My Face

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right?  So might as well make it delicious!  Here is one my favorite things to make for breakfast, my own mini Breakfast Quiches.  There are a ton of great mini quiche recipes all over the internet.  This is mine, you can always switch up the ingredients and put different veggies/meats/cheeses and it will always turn out yummy!  Mine are sort of a cross between a mini-quiche and a breakfast biscuit.  For this recipe you need an oven, mixing bowl, cooking spray and 1 muffin pan. 

My Favorite Mini Breakfast Quiches
Makes 12 quiches

1/3 cup regular Egg Beaters (or other liquid egg)
1/3 cup Liquid Egg Whites (any brand will do)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped yellow pepper
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons Bacon Bits
Salt & Pepper to taste (I usually put a few pinches of salt and 1 pinch of pepper)
2 wedges of The Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss cheese
Container of any brand biscuit dough that has at least 6 biscuits (I usually prefer the light version, but lately haven't been able to find it at the market so I settle for the buttermilk biscuit dough)
1/4 cup shredded fat free Monterrey Jack cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
In a medium sized bowl mix the first 7 ingredients together.  Stir well.
Spray the muffin pan with the cooking spay.
Open the biscuit dough up and break out 3 biscuits.  Break each biscuit in half and spread and flatten each half.
Spread each half along each muffin hole to make a little cup.  The dough probably won't go all the way up the side but that is fine.
Open up one of the wedges of cheese.  Slice the cheese into 6 slices.  My tip is to spray the knife with the cooking spray so that the cheese won't stick to it. Take one slice of cheese and spread along the biscuit dough in the first hole.  Then take the next slice of cheese and repeat this in the next muffin hole.  Continue until all 6 of the biscuit cups have the Laughing Cow cheese spread on them. 
Then spoon a little of the egg mixture into each biscuit hole.  Only fill up 2/3 of the way because it will rise when it bakes.
Place in the oven for 12-15 minutes.  Cooking times will vary, in my oven it took about 14 minutes.

Wait until the muffins cool off and remove from the muffin pan.  These taste best when fresh out of the oven, but I save them for the week so we can eat them for a quick grab and go breakfast.  If you're planning on doing the same, I would wait for them to fully cool before putting in an airtight container.  Then I store them in the fridge.  When I'm ready to heat one up, I just stick it in the microwave for 1.5 minutes.  Enjoy!

I'll just have the salad...

So we meet again, new friends.  Back for more, are you?  My plan is to have different themes on each day, so Monday will be a weekend flashback from the previous weekend, Tuesdays may be some recipes I think you may enjoy to share with friends the following weekend, Wednesday may be the day where I post my outfits for the previous weekend, and so on.  So, since today is Tuesday, let’s start this off with some delicious food!  

There are certain dishes I have mastered and my friends ask for by name whenever they pop by.  One of such dishes is a salad my lovely mother-in-law makes that I am obsessed with!  Let’s call it Crunchy Bok Choy Salad.  I’m not sure if she got the recipe from a book or magazine or whether she whipped it up herself, but it’s amazing and I always have to make double the amount because everyone gobbles it up so quickly!  Even those crazy people who claim they dislike Bok Choy love this salad! 

Here is what you need to create the deliciousness that is Crunchy Bok Choy Salad:

Crunchy Bok Choy Salad

Serves 4-6

Dressing:

Combine the following and set aside for now:

½ cup smart balance oil (or canola oil if you prefer)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Splenda (or Stevia or Truvia if you prefer; I bet you could even replace this with Agave Nectar if you're trying to avoid using sugar at all)

¼ cup light soy sauce

 
Chop up the following and put it in a large bowl:

1 bunch Bok Choy

3 scallions, chopped in small pieces

1 package of Ramen noodles with the flavor packet, smashed up (any flavor will do, we use the chicken or vegetable flavor)

¼ cup sunflower seeds

¼ cup slivered almonds (just a note but the day I made this salad I realized I was out of almonds too late, so I had to leave them out)

Toss everything together.  Right before you’re ready to serve, pour the dressing on and enjoy!  You don’t want to pour the dressing on too early because half of the loveliness in this salad is the crispiness from the Ramen noodles, so we don’t want those to soak in too much dressing beforehand.  Now, it may not look like much, but didn't your mother ever tell you not to judge a book by its cover?

Bon Appetitt!  Enjoy alone or with your friends, they'll love it - I promise!