…Infinite Life Fitness Recipe: Protein Pancakes…

2013-03-08 09.00.59_22

 

One of my staple food items are my protein pancakes!  They are great to eat at breakfast time, but I will also make a batch of them and have them to eat when I am traveling or to have as a snack.  The great thing about these pancakes it that they are low carb, high in protein, and they TASTE AMAZING!  You can also play around with them and make your own flavors.  You can get creative and play around with the recipe to make them just how you like them!

Here is how I make my protein pancakes:

  • 1 large egg
  • 22 grams of your favorite protein powder
  • 5 grams of coconut flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (if you use chocolate protein powder try using chocolate extract)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • water (add until you want it as thin/thick as you would like)
  • Optional:  You can use almond milk instead of water
  • Optional:  Fresh fruit like berries or mashed bananas
  • Optional: PB2 peanut butter powder OR chocolate PB2

You mix all of the above ingredients into a bowl or cup.  You then pour the batter into a skillet, waffle iron, or any other kind of pan that you would like.  You can make the mixture think or thick depending on how you like it.  You can make the batter thinner to make more pancakes.  Cook them like you would cook “regular” pancakes.

I use Walden’s Farm fat-free (sugar-free, calorie free, and carb free) syrup on my pancakes.  IT TASTE AMAZING!  It tastes just like regular syrup to me but without all of the calories and added macros.

2013-09-03 09.41.08

You can play around with what kind of protein powder you like to use.  I have tried several different brands but a brand such as Body Fortress or Cellucor will work fine.  The fun part is finding a brand that offers a variety of flavors and just trying them out.  Different protein powders have different consistencies so you may have to add more or less to get the right mixture for your pancakes.

waffles_2

 

When I do my weekly meal prep, I will make several batches of these and freeze them.  This will allow me to make a bunch of them and save them to heat up and eat later.  This also helps them to stay good for longer than a week.  I do this because breakfast is usually one of my busiest times of the day.  At night i will take out a few pancakes from the freezer and put them in fridge.  Usually in the morning they are not frozen any more and I can heat them up with my syrup.

Please feel free to try these out and let me know if you have any questions OR if you have an alternate way to make these!

ENJOY!

…Bad eating consequences…

I wish that food labels had “workout equivalents” rather than calories on them.  If I knew that I would have to do 100 burpee to enjoy a bite of a candy bar I would instantly double think enjoying too much of any type of bad food.

I am not saying that you can not enjoy some of your favorite foods! You can enjoy them BUT in moderation.  I think that if I knew that I would have to do 100 crunches to burn off that “one extra bite” I would for sure re-think it.

49581e1210f7bf4240957626a91c8c6e

…Infinite Life Fitness Recipe: Protein Pumpkin Bars…

2013-09-18 12.23.17

 

Tis the season to bring out the pumpkin, apple cider, hot coco, and hot tea.

Today was meal prep day in my house and i made meals that will last me until next weekend.  This next week is going to be a BUSY week so i wanted to get a jump start on my meals so i would have NO excuse to not make the right food choices.

This week i tried a new recipe.  I tired to make Protein pumpkin Bars.

2013-09-18 12.23.43

For those of you who LOVE pumpkin and other spices that correspond with this upcoming cold weather you will LOVE these bars.

Here is what you will need:

Here is how you cook it:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spray a 9 X 13 Pyrex dish with non-stick spray ( I used olive oil)
  3. Combine  ingredients and mix them in a mixing bowl
  4. Spread the batter into your dish
  5. Bake for approximately 30 min (some ovens will take a shorter OR longer period of time. You will have to monitor them and do the “toothpick test”.)

The “toothpick test” is when you place a toothpick in the middle of the pan of your baked goods.  You stick the toothpick straight down and pull it back up (mimic the motion of dipping a tea bag into a hot cup of water).  Once you take the toothpick out if you see wet batter on the toothpick the baked good needs more time in the over.  If the toothpick is dry and relatively clean when you take it out (you may get small morsels of the baked good on the toothpick) the dish is ready!

You can add other things to these bars such as nuts, fruit, or anything else! BUT that will ADD calories, fats, carbs, and protein to the nutritional value of the bars.  You will want to be careful and not try to add too much because the more you add, the more you risk making these bars not as healthy as they should be.

Here is the nutrient breakdown of these bars:

  • 57 Calories
  • 6 grams of Fat
  • 10 grams of Carbs
  • 4 grams of protein 

Each pan can make about 24 squares and the above nutrients are for ONE piece of the protein bars.  I cut mine up, placed them in zip lock bags, and placed them in the fridge.  I would recommend storing them in the fridge.  This will allow for them to stay fresh longer.  If you want a more solid protein bar (not soft and moist like a piece of cake) you can put them in the freezer.  This will make them a little harder and they will actually last LONGER if you keep them in the freezer.  I will keep 1/2 of my batch in the fridge and the other 1/2 in the freezer.  This will help to ensure that none of my delicious pumpkin bars go to waste!

Try then out and let me know what ya think!

…Weekend Workouts & Meal Planning…

2013-09-19 07.32.17

 

My clients say that they slack off the most during the weekend.

After a long hard week all most people want to do is relax and enjoy some good unhealthy foods.  This is OK as long as you enjoy some good food in moderation AND you still stick to your workout plans.

Reaching your health and fitness goals does not mean that you have to give up your favorite foods or miss out on quality time with your family and friends on the weekends.  This is when you HAVE to learn how to balance your life so you can accommodate your goals as well as the other things that are going on.

Key tips to sticking with your workouts on the weekends:

  • Sure you want to sleep in! Sure you want to be lazy and stay in bed all day.  But these things will not help you reach your goals!  The truth is you should probably get up and get your workout done first thing in the morning.  Even if you get to sleep in just a little bit, still find motivation to get up and get it done.  This will allow you to get it done and have the rest of the day to lounge around or get other things done!
  • If you like sleeping in, that is OK!  Plan another time later in the day that you can set aside to get your workout done.  Get in the routine of having your workout during the weekend around the same time.  Getting into this routine will help you to keep up with your workout schedule.
  • Try to find ways to incorporate the family or your friends!  Get up and get fit with them!  Find activities that you all can do.  They can also help keep you accountable for getting your workout done.

Eating healthy is also a hard task for some people.  BUT it should be EASIER on the weekends!
For those who are usually super busy during the week, you can utilize your extra weekend time to cook and prepare meals for you (and your family if you have one) for the whole week!

I personally use Sunday as my day to cook and prepare all of my meals.  I will head to the store on Friday or Saturday to get everything I need.  And Sunday morning after my workouts I will come home and cook all of my food.  It seriously only takes me about 90 minutes to cook ALL of my food for the next 7-10 days.  YES THAT IS ALL IT TAKES!

Once you make a plan and get into a routine it is easy to keep it going.