Protein Fluff Recipe

Here is a yummy post workout treat that would be especially refreshing on a hot summer day and is super easy to make protein fluff.  It's a protein packed low carb ice creamy marshmallow-y fluffy treat.

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen fruit (I used raspberries for this one)
1/4 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
1 scoop of whey protein.

So let's get to the directions and pictures shall we? :)


1. measure out 1 cup of frozen fruit (berries or banana will work for this. I have done pineapple but it's really hard to break it down when it's frozen)

2. Add 1/4 cup of milk of choice to the berries.

3.  Add your protein.  I used Core Fit protein. I love the handy prepackaged scoops and the flavors are delish!!  You can buy it here and you can save 20% with coupon code Jennibean

4. Smash it all up.  I used this attachment to my hand mixer. I usually smash it all a bit before I turn the mixer on and smash it some more. 

5. Smash it all until it looks like the pic below.  Basically until it's well blended and no large pieces of the fruit remain.

6. Then switch to a whisk attachment and fluff it. You want to try to add a bit of air and make it a frozen-y fluffy yummy treat.  It should look like the pic below.

7. Enjoy your delicious healthy treat.

Macros below are for 1 recipe. It pretty much makes 1 serving so you don't have to share :)

Calories: 201
Fat: 4 g
Carbs: 20 g
Fiber: 9 g
Sugar: 8 g
Protein: 24 g

Sweet Potato Protein Cupcakes

So I have a little something to celebrate. I just accepted a new job. I'm super excited to be taking my career to the next step.  Unfortunately, 4 weeks out from my debut show isn't the greatest time to have a celebratory meal or treat.  Fear Not!  Here's a healthy treat that tastes so naughty but is actually packed with protein and good complex carbs!

I adapted this recipe from one I found at www.proteinpow.com  I usually don't have everything on hand or the exact ingredients but I've been pretty successful at getting some amazing recipes from there.  It's a go-to site when I need a protein packed recipe.

These really hit the spot!  I didn't even feel like I was eating something healthy.. it was totally delicious and tasted like a naughty treat, but without the guilt.  I actually got to eat 2 and will have the other 2 tomorrow.. I can't wait!

So let's get to the recipe, then we can get to a couple more pictures!

Ingredients for cake:
212 g Sweet potato (cooked and peeled) this is about 7.5 oz
1/3 cup whey protein (this is about 1 scoop)
1/3 cup egg whites
1 Tablespoon coconut flour

Ingredients for frosting:
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 scoop protein powder (I used core fit cinnamon bun you can get it at www.livecorefit.com save 20% with the coupon code JenniBean )
2 Tablespoons coconut flour
1/4 cup almond milk (add this 1-2 tablespoons at a time as needed until the desired consistency is reached)

Directions for Cake:
Preheat your oven to 325 F.
Mix all the cake ingredients together into a thick batter
Scoop into a pre-sprayed cupcake pan  (recipe makes 4 cupcakes)
Bake about 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean

Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.  I kept mine in the refrigerator overnight.

Directions for Icing:
Mix the first three ingredients together, slowly add almond milk until the desired consistency in reached.  Put the icing into a ziplock back and cut a corner and pipe on to the cooled cupcakes.

I garnished with a dusting of cinnamon.

Macros for 1 cake (out of 4)
Calories:  173
Fat: 2g
Carbs: 19g
Fiber: 4g
Sugar: 6g
Protein: 19g

They are also kid approved. Note the tiny toddler finger photobomb 

Keto mini no-bake cheesecake

Hey there FitFam! Work is finally easing to a slow steady crawl after tax day, I'm a CPA for those who don't know. This was the first time I've actually been in the office doing taxes on tax day (normally I'm out working on an audit).  It was CRAZY!!  So even though I've been a bit quiet I have still been hard at work in the gym and in the kitchen making all my foods for my ever changing diet.  We are having pretty good success with Keto, but we are going to cycle off for a couple weeks. Before I do though I wanted to share a few recipes with you that will always be my in my Keto back pocket.  Today I want to share with my coffee lovers out there.  (Not a coffee lover..keep reading, I've got you covered too!)  If you're not keto you could sub low fat cream cheese and sub almond milk for the heavy cream to make it lower fat friendly.

Let's start with the odd fact that I am NOT a coffee lover! I drink a little.. I like to add a lot of milk and sugar so, I haven't had coffee in quite a while.  But I do have some mocha cappuccino mix and thought it would be an excellent addition to the mini no-bake cheesecakes I've been making. This is something pretty simple to whip up and since I'm the only one in my house I make a lot of single serve dishes. If you wanted to make a few at once you can just multiply the recipe by the desired number of servings, easy-peasy!

Ingredients:

Basic recipe:
2 oz cream cheese
2 tablespoons heavy cream (I've also used 1 so if you need a bit less fat 1 will work!)
sweetener of choice to taste (this is optional if you're a cream cheese lover you might omit this)

Flavor options:
2 tsp mocha cappuccino (for the coffee lovers.. this had a pretty strong coffee flavor, you could easily cut this in half if you wanted to tone it down)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (if you like a chocolate cheesecake)
1-2 tablespoon(s) waldon farms strawberry syrup (calorie free, carb free and delish!!)  I find mine at the local grocery store but you can get their stuff here https://www.waldenfarms.com/

I like to garnish with a little waldon farms syrup too!

Procedure:

Pick your flavor above and mix all the ingredients. If your cream cheese is straight out of the fridge then pop in the microwave for 10 seconds oro so to soften it a bit.

Once its all blended, pour the mix into a small container or glass or however you wish to serve it, and place it in the fridge to set. (30 minutes should do the trick, but I tend to make mine a bit more in advance and let it sit longer)

It should be about a 1/2 cup serving size.  Perfect to satisfy a sweets craving and excellent macros for a keto diet!

11 weeks out again

Figure Competition Prep Update!!

OK first.. I need to get a better way to take my progress pictures.. I'll work on that this week :)

No, you are not experiencing Deja Vu.  We are 11 weeks out.. (Actually 10 weeks 5 days or something.. but yes.. we have more time). Originally my trainer and I discussed doing a show in April.  That was our goal. Well as time progressed and my body is slowly losing fat we have reevaluated our plan and decided that the April show is not ideal for my first show. For a couple reasons. 1. It's a HUGE show and upon discussion with another coach/competitor it was recommended that it's not an ideal first show. 

I definitely want to enjoy this experience and that means feeling prepared and not being overwhelmed during the show. We decided what had been our "back up" show would be a better first show for me. 

The other reason 2. Since I am progressing a bit slower than we would like the April show was more stress on us both.

Again we want to enjoy this and perhaps continue competing for a while to come so killing myself trying to drip 10-15 pounds in 7 weeks was just not the game plan either of us thought would be the best. 

So we are now focused on the Heartland Classic May 23rd. That's goal 1.  In addition to that show. We also will be competing at Muscle Mayhem June 6th.  These are 2 different organizations so we can get a feel for each one and determine where we want to go from there.  

One thing I want to stress is that it's hard to plan weight loss. Believe me.. I am a planner.. I have spreadsheets and charts outlined with how I thought this process should go.  Sometimes your body has other plans. When you ask your body to do something it's never done before.. well, it doesn't always comply. As much as I really hate to report to all my supporters that I just wasn't going to be ready to compete when I originally wanted to, I know this is a temporary setback.

I will keep going. I will still compete and I will look amazing on stage.  I'm far from perfect. (And still will be when I compete) But, I will look the best I have ever looked.  I will be leaner than I have ever been. I will enjoy the experience and hopefully inspire you to do something outside of your comfort zone. Go for something you've always wanted to do.  Nothing is off limits. It's never too late to chase your dreams. Things don't always go according to plan.. so change the plan. 

 Keep moving forward! 

BCAA gummy recipe

Happy Monday everyone. 

So I'll post this update with more details in another post but we've switched shows and I am just under 11 weeks out from the stage! That means 11 more weeks of prep and reduced calories.. actually 13.. but again that's another post.  So last week I messed with my meal times.. It was a horrible idea! I was saving carbs for post workout (I had been carb loading in the morning previously).  So I stretched out the time between my meals earlier in the day and there were a few days were I was STARVING between meals.  

One day I ate a handful of giant mints.. which turned out to be about 30g of carbs total! yikes! So I decided to look around for some alternatives for snacking between meals. (besides gum which also has sugars and piece after piece can add up during the day) 

So I had seen a few posts about BCAA gummies. So I looked into them a little more. I really had no idea they had no added sugar and it was just gelatin which is protein.  I used watermelon flavored BCAA powder and they are yummy! They were pretty easy to make too. I have plastic molds so I dusted them with cornstarch but still had to fight a bit to get the gummies out. I think I will use silicone next time as I think it's a little easier.  I don't have small silicone molds but I think I can just dice up the gummies into pieces once they have set.  So here's the recipe

Ingredients:
1 scoop BCAAs ( I used watermelon Rescue)

1/2 cup water

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (3 tablespoons)

Procedures:

Mix the above ingredients together and let sit a few minutes

Heat mixture until gelatin is dissolved.

Pour into molds 

Freeze for 20 minutes

This made a lot of gummies. I didn't do a macro breakdown per gummy cause they weren't the same size (because my molds were different) but for the entire recipe the macros are:

Fat: Zero

Carbs: Zero

Protein: 24g