Meal Plan Monday – Making Due & A Monumental Cheat

Happy Labour Day Monday peeps!  Hopefully you’re as lucky as I am, at home,  in your sweats, drinking a huge cup of coffee on this chilly morning (I kinda love my sweats…a lot).  I’ve been procrastinating writing this post all weekend, which is odd, cuz normally I’m all over it and it’s done and ready to publish first thing in the morning, but for whatever reason I’ve been a bit of a lazy bum this over the past few days! 

So, because honestly, I’m not so super inspired to write this morning, I’m gonna bust right into this week’s menu.  The theme this week is “making due”.  You see, I have this rather bad tendency of coming up with these awesome meal plans, buying all of the ingredients and then winding up with a boatload of food in my fridge and freezer (seriously, if you looked in my fridge and cupboards you’d think that 10 people lived here), which then, I’m embarrassed to say, sometimes ends up going bad.  So, with that (and my budget) in mind I decided that this week I would take stock of what I already have and create a menu that required me to buy as few groceries as possible.  Here’s what I’ll be chowing down on this week -

• Brekkie – same ol’, same ol’
• Snacks –
  • Apples
  • Greek yogurt
  • berries
  • PB
  • veggies and hummus
  • Ingredients of a Fit Chick’s Cashew Chip Cookies (I have everything I need to make ‘em)
  • GNC’s Mini Chocolate Lean Cake Shake
• Lunch & Supper –
  • What’s left of Oxygen reader, Devon Timberlake’s, Sweet & Smoky Turkey Chili that I made last week
  • The rest of the Eating Clean Magazine reader, Zan Raymour’s, Slow Cooker Chicken Barley Stew
  • Tuna salad “sandwiches” (made with Greek yogurt and on a rice cake)
  • Tosca’s Keep it Tight Tilapia (I have a ton of tilapia in my freezer!)
  • The ush salad
  • What’s left of my frozen veggies

So, nothing really out of the ordinary this week, but I’ll definitely round up something new to share for next week. 

So, since the Meal Plan part of this Meal Plan Monday is kinda lame, and if you’ve noticed, I still haven’t confessed my sins from last week, here comes the good part…

You might remember that I mentioned something about going to Hell in my last post?  Well, on Saturday, I went to Hell(‘s) Gate and back!  Hell’s Gate is an abrupt narrowing of the Fraser River, where 200 million gallons of water per minute flow through a 33 meter wide passage.  My friend, ‘stache, and I visited the Hell’s Gate Airtram, where you take one of North America’s only descending gondolas between two mountain ranges to get a bird’s eye view of the rushing water below.  It was pretty cool.  Oh, yeah, and we might have also gone for the fudge (there’s a fudge and ice cream shop there too!).  Enter the monumental cheat.  Since getting back into my eat clean meal planning 5 weeks ago I have not had a cheat meal, let alone cheat day, like the one I had on Saturday.  It started out ok, with my typical weekend brekkie of eggs and oatmeal, but it went downhill pretty quick when the fudge at Hell’s Gate entered the picture!  Honestly, sugar is my drug; one little bit and I’m like an addict looking for my next hit!  And I definitely had more than one hit on Saturday.  In fact, I’m not sure why I wasn’t as high as kite!  But, even though I did feel mostly like a gigantic blob when I got home late that night, after eating fudge, candy and pizza, I had such an awesome day, visiting Hell’s Gate and getting a personalized grand tour of the Fraser Valley, thanks to ‘stache, I definitely feel like the one cheat day was totally worth it and hey, you gotta get wild and crazy every now and then, right?!  I am happy to report though,  that I was back in the eat clean saddle yesterday no problem. 

Here are a few pics from my first trip outside of Van City.

Big thanks to ‘stache for a great day.  I definitely appreciated the opportunity  to visit parts of BC that I haven’t seen yet.  I love Van, but there’s just something about  being in the middle of those mountains. 

Spilling the Lean Green Bean–August Foodie Penpals Reveal

Happy Friday morning peeps! Hope you all had a great week and have lots of cool stuff planned for the long weekend.  I’m going to Hell (no comments)…tell ya about it on Monday!

So, hooraayyy!  It’s finally time to spill the Lean Green Bean(s)!  Those of you who have been following along for a while might remember that I participated in the Lean Green Bean’s Foodie Penpals program back in April.  Remember, just after the show, I got tons of yumminess in the mail from my penpal and I was actually allowed to eat it?!  Remember how excited I was?!  Well, I participated again this month and got an awesome box of treats from my penpal, Steph, who lives in Alberta.  It was Steph’s first time participating and after reading my blog and discovering how ummm particular I am about food, she told me she was concerned about what she was going to send.  Well, there was definitely no need for concern cuz everything in my goodie box rocked my socks (and was pretty much gone in a flash).  I picked up my package on August 18^th and had to keep all my prezzies a surprise ‘til now (those are the rules)!

Man, it was so hard keeping it a secret!  So now, finally, after keeping my lips…errr…my fingers, sealed for all that time, here’s what I got…

• Dark Chocolate Raspberry Goji magic beans of love (OMG.  That is all.)
• An Almond Bounce Protein ball
• Veg Biryani
• Godiva Milk Chocolate Pearls (they go well with PB…just sayin’)
• Chocolate Soy Milk (I love soy milk, but had never tried chocolate – thumbs up!)
• A handwritten note on a beautiful card that has the initial of Steph’s last name on it
• A recipe and ingredients for…

Parmesan Quinoa Bites

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (Steph included chicken broth for me to cook the quinoa in)
• 3 large eggs
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1/3 cup parsley, chopped
• 3/4 cup parmesan, plus extra for sprinkling
• 3 Tbsp rice flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Spray muffins tins with cooking spray
3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well
4. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Press down firmly with fingers or back of spoon.
5. Sprinkle the remaining parmesan on each bite
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until slightly brown on top and a crust has formed on the sides (keep your eye on ‘em!)

These babies were SO good!  I ate ‘em as a little side with some of my meals that week.  A definite re-do! 

Oh, and check out Steph’s recipe card!

For those of you who have never heard of Foodie Penpals before, here are all the deets, straight from an e-mail that Lindsay of the Lean Green Bean sent to all of us who participated in August –

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On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

• You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
• The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
• You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
• Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
• Foodie Penpals is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for September, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by September 4th as pairings will be emailed on September 5th!

*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!

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Thanks to Steph for a box full of delicious goodies and to Lindsay for taking the time to organize such a cool program.  I love getting prezzies in the mail, especially ones that contain chocolate!

A Cake Walk & A Correction Notice

No, sorry, not a cake walk…a cake SHIRT!  A Flag Nor Fail cake shirt!!  HOLLA!  That’s what I’ve been waiting for all this time!  I ordered it earlier this month, but took a while for it to make from the FNF warehouse out here to Van.  For those of you who don’t know, Flag Nor Fail is a clothing company that hand prints limited edition gym and casual apparel.  It’s run by Dana Linn Bailey and her husband Rob.  The gear is not something I would have normally ever been drawn to, but my homies in G-Vegas introduced me to it and now I’m hooked!  I’m not usually a skull and crossbones kinda gal, but I really dig FNF’s message; I shall not flag nor fail – basically, don’t give in or give up.  And “kill for cake”, well, ya, I kill it in the gym so I can chow down on a piece of cake now and then.  Lovin’ my cake tank!

And…I’m also lovin’ that recipe that I told you’d I’d share a while back!  Guess what it is!  Un hunh…it’s CAKE!  Bahaha!  I was waiting for my cake tank to get here to tell you about cuz I’m a nerd and I figured it’d be funny.  You’ve probably seen lots of recipes for protein mug cakes out there, but so far this one is my fav.  And yes, I know some of you are either going to laugh or gag when you see it, but seriously, it’s good and it’s loaded with protein (and hello, it’s cake!), so don’t knock it ‘til ya try it.  Oh, and no, this is not the cake I kill for!

GNC’s Mini Chocolate Lean Cake Shake 

(The recipe was created by blogger Blonde Ponytail)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup GNC Total Lean Shake 25 Rich Chocolate (I used GNC Whey ISO Burst Double Chocolate Royale)
• 1 Tbsp of chia seeds
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1 heaping tsp of cocoa
• 2 Tbsp of unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1-2 drops of vanilla extract

Method

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mug (I use a little ceramic bowl)
2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly
3. Microwave for about 75 – 80 seconds, depending on how “done” you like it
4. Use a spoon to pull the cake edges from the mug and flip it onto a plate
5. Eat cake!!

So now that I’ve covered the cake, it’s time for the correction.  It’s actually more of an apology than a correction.  Not sure if you remember, but a couple of posts back I told you about how tricky it’s been to meet people in Van and that I discovered Meetup and had started meeting some peeps.  Well, what I failed to tell you was that I had in fact met a new friend before  joining, a really great friend, named King Cheese.  I met King Cheese at the gym not long after arriving in Van and we soon discovered that we have lots in common, most notably our level of cheesiness!  Both of us are pretty damn cheesy and it usually involves 90s slang or hip hop song lyrics for some reason!  Anyway, King Cheese was really the first Vancouverite to reach out and welcome me to the city (for which I am super grateful) AND he took me out for ice cream on my birthday which I otherwise would have spent alone, so I most definitely owe him a big apology for leaving him out of my previous post.  I’m sorry King Cheese and thank you for being an awesome friend and having gigantic ears.  And I haven’t forgotten that I still owe you dinner; I’m just workin’ on makin sure it’s gonna rock your socks.

Meal Plan Monday, Modo & a Milestone

Rise ‘n shine kiddos!  It’s Meal Plan Monday which means more recipes and my weekly eat clean confession; I know, you’re on the edge of your seats, aren’t you?   Well, I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t an absolutely perfect week and I really don’t have a good excuse other than the jar of PB kept calling my name.  Seriously, it was weird, every time I opened the fridge, it was right there, staring me in the face.  And I admit it, I caved a couple of times.  Oh, and I had another Booster Juice and protein bar while I was out running errands on Friday.  I don’t feel terribly bad about it cuz I got lost inside Metrotown  (a GIGANTIC shopping mall) after trying to find a bathroom so I didn’t pee my pants and I needed to eat something and I was on the clock.  I did find my way back to the grocery store that’s inside the mall (which was the only reason I was even at the mall to begin with) thanks to the nice man at Booster Juice.  So, while I didn’t stick to my daily plan to the letter, I only strayed slightly and I’ve decided not to beat myself up about it cuz overall I feel good about how I’m doing and I don’t think that a little extra PB, a berry smoothie and a protein bar are worth losing sleep over. 

So, now that I’ve aired my eat dirty laundry let’s move on to this week’s menu shall we?  I cooked a TON of food this weekend.  So much food in fact, that I actually had a hard time cramming it all into my fridge and freezer!  I love it!  Means next to no cooking over the next couple of weeks (HALL-ER)!  Here’s what’s on tap -

• Standard brekkie – eggs, prOATein pancake or oatmeal
• Snacks -
  • apples
  • grapes
  • Running to the Kitchen’s Triple Chocolate Protein Cake Bars

        

• Greek yogurt
• Berries
• Veggies and hummus (I bought a vat of hummus at Costco!)
• Meals -
  • Oxygen reader, Devon Timberlake’s, Sweet & Smoky Turkey Chili

• Eating Clean Magazine reader, Zan Raymour’s, Slow Cooker Chicken Barley Stew

• The Lean Green Bean’s Thai Peanut Salmon Burgers
• The Edible Perspective’s Nacho Fries
• Salad (usually baby spinach, peppers, mushrooms and cucumber)
• Local corn on the cob
• and a recipe that was inspired by one I found on allrecipes.com –

Quinoa Tuna Casserole

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1.5 – 2 cups spinach, diced (do you dice spinach?  I dunno if that’s the correct cooking term, but anyway, I cut it into smaller bits )
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 3 cans tuna, drained
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp spelt flour
• Ezekiel bread crumbs (I toasted a couple of Ezekiel hamburger buns and just crumbled ‘em on top of the casserole)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325
2. Sauté mushrooms and onion
3. Combine quinoa, mushrooms, onion, spinach and tuna
4. Add egg, oil and flour to quinoa mixture
5. Place mixture into a greased casserole dish
6. Sprinkle with bread crumbs
7. Bake for 30 minutes

See, I told ya, I cooked lots!  Nom nom nom…

K, so after all that food talk, just a couple of other things to mention (saving the VERY best for last). 

1. Modo – Modo is one of Van’s car sharing companies.  Lil history – I got rid of my car when I was living in downtown Haliwood cuz I walked everywhere and was wasting money on a car that was hardly being driven.  I joined CarShare HFX so that I would have access to a car on the odd occasion that I needed one and I loved it.  When I told CarShare HFX that I was moving they suggested that I check out Modo when I got to Van, so I did!  I rarely need a car here either cuz I can walk pretty much everywhere I need to go in the run of a week, but there are times when having a car is handy (like GIANT Costco shops!), so I joined Modo.  I booked my first Modo-mobile this past Friday and it was perfect; I went to Ikea, the lulu outlet (which was sadly disappointing btw), the grocery store (where I got lost finding the bathroom) and Costco (I now have enough eggs to feed a small army for the next 3 weeks – boo yah!).                
2. A Milestone – Today is my niece’s first birthday!  I’m sharing this big day with you because basically I can’t contain how much I love her and how important her and my nephew are to me.  I’m sure you have a person or a place or a thing, someone or something in your life, that are your “happy”.  When no matter what’s going on, the minute you see them, or go there, everything is instantly better.  My niece and nephew are my “happy”.  No matter how miserable I feel or bad I think things are, the second I see those kids, everything else goes away and I am 100% happy and as cliché as it sounds, my love tank is overflowing.  It’s so hard to describe the feeling, but I’m sure you all know what I mean.  I could go on and on here and write an entire post about my babies and how much they mean to me, but I think you get it and I’ve already had to get up twice to go get Kleenex, so I’ll just share a couple pics! 

 

Phew!  Ok, well, I know it was a rather long-ish post, but thanks for hangin’ in.  I’ll be back soon with that surprise recipe I keep promising; I have what I need now !

‘Til next time…

Oh, oops…I forgot to mention one little thing in my confession…this piece of cake! 

I enjoyed every last bite of that little gem at my friend Van-a’s place for dinner last night.  We shared a very yummy, very clean dinner and then I very gratefully indulged in dessert.  Hey, we were celebrating!  Her folks are visiting from Nova Scotia AND it’s my niece’s birthday, two very good reason to eat cake, if you ask me!

And because it seems that I’ve started a little tradition,  here’s the weekly beach shot…

And just for the record, I did do legs this weekend too…

Green Bean Fries–Seeing Red

Ok, so it was a good idea…in theory.  I’d been seeing green bean fries on almost every blog that I follow and was inspired to try whippin’ up a batch of my own. Seemed pretty simple, a few green beans, lil bit of egg white, some coating, turf ‘em in oven and badda boom badda bing…eat clean fries.  I mean, how can you mess that up, right?  Well folks, I’m about to tell you!

Here’s how it went down…

Ingredients

• Approximately 1lb green beans, rinsed and trimmed
• ¼ cup almonds, finely chopped (I used my coffee grinder)
• 1 tsp Mrs. Dash Herb & Garlic (I used about a tsp; it was what I had left from the days of seasoning all that dang chicken and tilapia)
• 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• ¼ cup egg whites

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
3. Put egg whites in a shallow dish and set aside
4. Combine almonds, flaxseed and Mrs. Dash in a medium bowl
5. Dunk each bean into egg white and then into the coating mixture
6. Place coated beans in one layer on the baking sheet
7. Bake for 10 minutes

You’re wondering where that went wrong, aren’t you?  Well, it was smooth sailin’ ‘til about bean number 6, at which point whatever coating mixture was not glued to my fingers was now a just a little clump in the bowl and was no longer sticking to the beans.  As you can see I tried to press the gooey almonds onto the beans, but it didn’t fly.  After pressing attempt number two, I threw in the towel and popped the few fries that did “work out” into the oven.  At that point, I figured, hey, why not?  So, after about 10 minutes I noticed that the coating was getting, well, uh…it was a little crispy, so I yanked ‘em out of the oven.  Good news peeps; the fire alarm in my condo works.  Yep, in addition to testing a new recipe, I tested my fire alarm.  You’re supposed to do that once a year, aren’t you? Least I can check it off my to-do list now.  So the “pressed” bean fries were a smidge on the burnt-ish side, well, just the coating really, but the rest of them actually turned out pretty good.  They were crispy on the outside and the flavour was good.  Despite the goo ball and the fire alarm test, I’m gonna make ‘em again, I just gotta figure out a better way to get the coating on.  Maybe sprinkle instead of dip?

        

Well, that’s it for today, just wanted to share my little fry fiasco!

Thanks for stopping by.

Meal Plan Monday, a Mini Meltdown & a Minute About Meetup

Morning peeps.  Well, it’s Monday and time once again for a run down of this week’s menu along with a little recap of how I fared last week.  Unfortunately that’s where the mini meltdown comes in.  It wasn’t earth shattering or anything (even thought it might have felt just a smidge that way at the time), but you know how sometimes all it takes is one itty bitty, ridiculous event to throw things totally outta whack?  Well, ya, that’s kinda what happened last week.  One stupid moment (I’ll spare you the details) which I totally saw coming and definitely could have prevented,  derailed me from my meal plan and had a hand in throwing the rest of the week off.  I didn’t go drown my sorrows in a tub of ice cream or anything and what I did snack on was actually really clean, but it wasn’t on the plan and it did involve more carbs (including some dark chocolate) than I would have normally had.  Straying from my menu just that once, along with a surprise (a good one, that I have to wait to tell you about) opened the door to a little more snacking than “planned”; I also had a raspberry protein smoothie and a protein bar from Booster Juice yesterday when I was out,  along with the odd spoonful of PB (yes, I’m guilty of raiding the PB jar!).  But, while I’m definitely not thrilled about the fact that I allowed something so silly to affect my mood and my meal plan momentum, I think it could have been worse and I am now 100% back on track and ready to roll with this week’s menu. 

Here’s what it looks like.

• The ush for brekkie
• Veggies and tzatziki (changin up the hummus!)
• Chicken Explosion from The Eat Clean Diet Recharged
• Left over  Homestyle Turkey Meatloaf with Mushrooms & White Beans from the South Beach Diet
• Ingredients of a Fit Chick’s Blueberry Hazelnut Loaf, except I used almond four and almond milk instead of hazelnut flour and coconut milk, so mine’s not actually hazelnut loaf!  I also sub’d xylitol for the stevia.

• Green bean fries (I haven’t made ‘em yet, but I will share the recipe when I do)
• The Healthful Pursuit’s Maple Pepper Salmon Cakes
• Greek yogurt
• Local apples
• Grapes
• Left over Meal-in-a-Bowl soup from The Eat Clean Diet Recharged (yup, I still have more soup!)
• Homemade trail mix with cashews, sunflower seeds, dehydrated pineapple, tiny, crushed up pretzels, Terra Breads granola, raisins and soynuts
• Grilled Tilapia Soft Tacos from myrecipes.com (I stumbled across the recipe while browsing Pinterest one day)
• Salad and mixed frozen veggies as sides for lunch and dinner and one other recipe that has to remain a secret for another coupla weeks…

Man, it always seems like so much when I write it out in a list like that!  But, eating six times a day is bound to make my menu a lil lengthy! 

Just one more thing I want to share with you on this fine Meal Plan Monday…and that is Meetup.  Those of you who have moved to a new city solo have probably also discovered that finding new peeps to hang out with isn’t an easy thing; am I right?  Yup.  Well, after finally getting settled into my place and sorting out my daily routine here in Van, I realized that I still hadn’t met anyone and that going to work and the gym everyday wasn’t really helping me in the finding new homies department.  Then, a couple of weeks ago I discovered Meetup.  It’s basically an online database of gazillions of interest groups that you can join and then participate in the events the they are hosting.  I joined several groups, including, one about blogging, one for training and one that does random different social activities, like meet at the beach, go on hikes and to the movies.  Name an interest or a hobby and I betcha there’s a Meetup for it!  So far I’ve attended 3 Meetups and met lots of new people.  Last night’s Meetup was watching Dirty Dancing (my all-time favourite movie) on huge outdoor screen at a park near my condo – cool, right?  I would have never even known that it was going on if I hadn’t of joined Meetup and it’s less than 10 minutes from my place!  There are Meetups in tons of cities, not just Van, so if you’re somewhere else and you want to meet some new people, check the website, there might be a Meetup in your hood!

Dirty Dancing at David Lam Park

 

Anyway kiddos, that’s all I’ve got for now.  Let’s get this week rollin’! 

Oh look, it’s me, at the beach…again!  I’m getting used to this…mwahahaha!

My Own Recipe – Whoopie!

Pies.  Well, kinda.  D’you ever have a hankerin’ for something that you just can’t get it outta your head ‘til it’s in your belly?  Well, for some reason, that was the case with me this week and Whoopie Pies?!  Seriously.  I have no idea how I got Whoopie Pies on the brain (I blame Pinterest even though I’m not entirely sure that it was Pinterest’s fault), but wherever the idea came from, I knew I had to figure out a way to get one in my guts somehow (and that it had to be clean).  Ugh.  So, naturally I Googled “clean whoopie pies” (doesn’t Google know everything?), but only one recipe popped up.  I’m sure it’s a delicious recipe, but it called for black beans and not that I am opposed to baking with beans (I’ve baked a coupla pretty mean recipes with beans in the past), but I was kinda hopin’ for something a little more light ‘n fluffy, like the not-so-clean Whoopie Pies that my dad made when I was a kid (my dad is an awesome baker….dear dad, I want a molasses cookie).  So since Google didn’t have the answer (gasp),  I decided that after all the baking and cooking I do, surely I could whip something up on my own that closely resembled a Whoopie Pie or that would at least cure my craving.  Well, they didn’t quite end up to be Whoopie Pies, more like a cross between a muffin and a cupcake (a cuffin), but, they turned really, really good and I’m happy to report that they satisfied my sweet tooth!  So, here it is, my very first recipe…

Kat’s Double Chocolate Whoopie Cuffins

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup chocolate protein powder (I used Dymatize ISO 100 100% Hydrolyzed Whey)
• 1/3 cup xylitol
• 1/4 cup organic cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 3/4 cup non-fat, plain Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Line muffin pan with silicone muffin cups or spray with extra virgin olive oil cooking spray
3. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
4. Combine wet ingredients in a medium bowl
5. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well
6. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full (I got 8 cuffins)
7. Bake for 30 mins

So, I definitely need to work on the light an fluffy bit; they turned out pretty dense, but they’re super chocolate-y and….I iced ‘em!  Here’s how I made the “icing”.

I combined 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1 Tbsp chia, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp xanthan gum, 2 tsp stevia and 2Tbsp no-sugar-added PB in a small bowl and mixed it well (the bones of this recipe came from Powercakes).  It was REALLY thick thanks to the chia and the xanthan, so I might leave one or the other out next time (probably the chia) and it needed a lil more sweetener, but it went pretty good with the cuffins.

I put the ingredients into the recipe analyzer on caloriecount.about.com and here’s what it spit out.  Not a ton of protein; I actually expected a higher number to be honest, considering the amount of powder, egg whites and Greek yogurt that’s in ‘em, but this is what it said (and the Internet is always right…).

 

Well, there you have it, my very first recipe!  It wasn’t entirely a success per se, but I’m not gonna call it a flop either, since all but 2 of the little fellas are now gone. 

Thanks for checkin’ in kiddos.  Stay tuned for Meal Plan Monday and to find out if I had a cheat this week or not (insert ominous sound track music here).