I’m a big meat eater.
That’s an understatement. It’s also what she said.
Oddly enough, I went vegetarian for a while and even vegan for a hot minute. I realized my body does better with meat in my diet, but I learned a LOT about ingredients and creativity from those meatless months.
This Meatless Monday MMAZ Heather chose one of my favorite ingredients: Tofu. In honor of my meat-free days, I opted to do a round up of some of my favorite tofu recipes. I still include these in regular rotation!
There’s something special about a hot breakfast.
Forget Folger’s in my cup – I want eggs!
As someone who is continually unable to get out of the door on time, hot breakfasts aren’t exactly practical. This means food prep is especially important. And it has to be high protein – I need stay-power!
I bring you the Kabocha and Black Bean Frittata.
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Easy has been the name of the game lately.
Don’t worry, I have something more complex coming.
After a month of holiday party baking and creating, I’m appreciating the simple more and more. I was particularly glad when Heather brought back her Meatless Monday link up with the simplest of ingredients: oats. Simple doesn’t have to mean typical though!
Please ignore my janky nails.
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M is for Monday.
I swear I didn’t plan this.
This weekend had an M theme, which happens to work really well for Katie’s Marvelous Monday link up. See what I did there? 😉
My company is a cloud-based technology. Rather than handing out boring collateral like pens at the executive meeting, I ordered cloud-like meringue cookies! Dyed blue and stuffed in pumpkins for Halloween.
Thanks to Henri’s Bakery for doing a great job on this custom order – I’ve been going there since I was a kid!
NO, I didn’t eat one… 2 weeks to go!
Speaking of 2 weeks to go, I had my second to last posting practice with my trainer before my competitions! I have never loved posing, but I’m learning to look forward these Saturday sessions – I get to spend the day posing and training with some of the most inspiring competitors around.
This Saturday’s session made me more excited than ever for these next competitions, and for the next year where I’m 100% committed to hardcore BUILDING. I love lifting.
This weekend was my mom’s birthday. She’s turning 29, once again. 😉
I was really excited to have her over for brunch. She opened presents and I made her my jicama nachos with shrimp, pico, yellow tomato, and #yolkporn. She save this #strangebutgood creation two thumbs up, which means the world since she is the one I have to thank for my love of food and creating in the kitchen.
Not just any muffins. I accidentally made Mocha Mint Protein Muffins.
These were going to be a version of my coffee pancakes. I accidentally added too much egg, so I decided to bake them instead. This is what a Thin Mint would taste like as a muffin. Talk about an awesome mistake!
I used Dunkin Donuts’ seasonal Mocha Mint coffee, but you could use any flavor and add extracts. I added peppermint extract because the DD coffee isn’t actually very mint-y.
In a small bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir to combine.
Pour into prepared muffin tins and bake ~25 mins.
Makes 2 muffins (or 3 squares in my slightly smaller silicone mold).
Note: I learned that this recipe can be doubled when I made more to have for breakfast this coming week.
This mistake was even sweeter because it gave me a recipe to link up to Heather’s MMAZ. She told me seeds could count as nuts.
It’s Halloween. You have candy coming out the you-know-what.
Just in case you want to give your blood sugar a break, I have a giveaway for one of my favorite bars. One of you will win a whole box of thinkThin High Protein Bars.
Normally a “thin” bar wouldn’t appeal to me; however, my dad actually got me into these. When he was getting chemo, all he wanted where the chocolate fudge bars. Random craving, right?
I came to love them. The 20g protein is perfect for a quick fix post-workout or on the run. It keeps you full, gives you a pop of energy, and has 0g of sugar. They’re also gluten-free!
My favorites right now are the Cookies ‘n Cream and the Chocolate Toffee Nut, but you can choose your own!
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I am literally back-to-back in meetings all week. Between that and gym time, blogging may be sporadic. Does anyone else think of Clueless when they use the word sporadic?
What is your favorite protein-filled snack to-go?
What was the last happy kitchen accident you had?
I am a kabocha nut.
Not a bad thing – it’s good – but time to branch out.
Admittedly, I got in a rut with it. I have been preparing it the same way for weeks. Tossed in this Mexican chocolate spice blend and roasted before being doused with a sweet peanut sauce, it has been my favorite “dessert.”
Possibly strange to “normal” people. Definitely good. But no longer unique. When Heather chose it was the “K” ingredient for the MMAZ link up, I knew I needed to step up my game.
Today I bring you a strange non-dessert kabocha creation. Not to worry – it’s still good.
Peanut flour again makes an appearance (I guess I didn’t branch that far out…) but this time it’s as a savory Asian-inspired dish. If you don’t have peanut flour, you can certainly use peanut butter!
Sriracha is my favorite way to add heat, and you could use it here. I avoid the sodium this close to a competition, so I added my own sriracha-esque ingredients to the peanut flour. Red pepper flakes and rice vinegar, plus garlic and a dash of cinnamon. Trust me on the cinnamon.
After a quick toss, I roasted my pea-nutty kabocha until it was nearly burnt nicely crisped. If you want to make it more strange, add in some cauliflower. It’s another dessert of the vegetable world – it tastes good in pancakes or spiced up.
Don’t forget to head over to Heather’s blog on Monday for everyone else’s kabocha creations!
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil.
In a small bowl, mix together first 5 ingredients.
Place cubed kabocha and cauliflower on baking sheet. Pour peanut mixture over the veggies and toss to coat.
Place in oven and bake for 20-30 min, stirring once half way through.
Makes 2 servings.
*I order my peanut flour from iHerb. Use discount code USO924 for $5-10 off your order!
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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This week has been insanely busy with work and travel. I’m so sorry I’m behind on replying to comments and emails. I promise to catch up this weekend!
What’s your favorite squash? Have you tried kabocha yet?
Do you ever eat your veggies sweet?
Crack is whack.
Thank you, Whitney Houston for that insightful quote.
After a long hiatus, I am jumping back into Heather‘s Meatless Monday link up!
I would never expose you to something whack, so this post isn’t actually about crack. It is a super-energizing smoothie though!
This week’s MMAZ link up is about making someone else’s recipe. Unfortunately, I am unable to follow recipes (or directions). Rather, I took inspiration from someone’s recipe.
Sarah created this vegan Mocha Chip Mousse last week. I loved how she used tofu to create a protein-rich healthy-ish dessert. It made me remember my favorite Carrot Cake Batter Shake, where I used tofu to get a milk shake consistency. Why hadn’t I done it with chocolate?! And coffee… this was a frapp waiting to happen! There may have been some strangeness too… I’ve been loving chocolate-beet smoothies lately and I carried that idea over to make this a Mocha Beet Frappuccino. 🙂
Recipe for this crack-like creation at the bottom…
First I have to share some marvelous!!! I had the pleasure of dining with one of my favorite ladies: Sarena! She invited me over for dinner with her family. I’d never met her crew before, but felt like I already knew them thanks to social media. Tony (her husband) said he felt like Instragram was coming to life. 🙂
If you’ve never tried any of Sarena’s gluten-free baked goods before, let me assure you this stuff is the jam. She made a loaf of gluten-free bread that was better than most of the “real” bread I’ve had.
We started with a salad, then for dinner enjoyed succotash, grilled pork, and homemade bread. And more bread. I wish I’d gotten a pic of the Pavlova Sarena made for dessert too. It was fantastic!
Also marvelous was a sunny Sunday run up Stone Mountain. Remember those booty building incline sprints? I’m back at it. 🙂
While we’re talking about booty, I finally picked up a pair of the Nike Pro booty shorts I see everyone on Instagram wearing. They are actually amazing – comfy and breathable.
I shamelessly wore them all day long. Including to 2 grocery stores.
Killer bicep/tricep workout, followed up with more crack.
Check out what else is marvelous in blog land this week in Katie’s link up!
Toss it all in the blender and mix until smooth.
Inhale. Bounce off the walls.
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Why don’t I ever remember that it’s a bad idea to run up mountains the day before leg day?! Doh.
Do you run around in your gym clothes all day?
Do you even gluten-free products even though you don’t have an allergy? I like trying all the foods!
Deciding on food is hard.
There are so many tasty options!
I saw 2 recipes I wanted to try (well, 3 really)… so I just made them all into 1 for an over-achieving Meatless Monday recipe!
This week we are supposed to choose a recipe someone else linked up using last week’s secret ingredient, dark chocolate. Hopefully Heather will forgive me for bending the rules a little. Especially since the first recipe I was inspired by was her own Tempeh Protein Muffins!
My version of the Tempeh Muffins
Inspiration recipe #2 was from the link up – Sarah’s Cinnamon Cocoa Mole with TVP Chorizo. She used her mole as a sauce for her chorizo… but I decided to mix it all in one, and use tempeh. And make muffins. Don’t you love the creative process?!
I’d made Seiten Chorizo in the past, so here I used that recipe and Sarah’s to inform my mix of spices. If you try this recipe, feel free to play around and change it up to suit your palate. My combo was a smokey, savory mole with a fun swirl of sweetness throughout thanks to the sweet potato.
I ate my mole muffins with a Mexican-inspired salad. Local arugula with red bell pepper, raw zucchini, and a drizzle of lime juice.
Lastly, I chopped up a few plantain slices I broiled with coconut oil, cayenne, and cinnamon.
Don’t forget to check out Heather’s link up to see what everyone else made this week. I wonder if anyone braved my Chocolate Avocado Cookies???
I think this ia all pretty marvelous… and I know my Diva girl, Katie would agree, so I’m joining her link up again this week! Check out all the Monday marvelousness:
Katie… we missed you this weekend at Blend!!!
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray & set aside.
place tempeh, egg, and lime juice in a food processor and pulse (I used my Vitamix). Add all remaining ingredients and pulse until mixed. Manually stir in sweet potato, leaving chunks throughout mixture.
Divide batter evenly between 6 muffin containers. Bake for 15 minutes, or until browned and set. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Using a knife, loosen the muffin edges from the pan and transfer to wire rack or plate.
Approximate nutritionals (per muffin): 108 calories, 3.4g fat, 29.7g sodium, 11g carbohydrates, 4.8g fiber, 1g sugar, 8.7g protein
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I’m still smiling from the marvelous Blend Retreat this weekend! I can’t wait to recap it all for you!!! 🙂
Have you ever made your own mole? Chorizo?
Do you make an effort to go meatless on Mondays?
A weekend without plans never happens for me.
I have such good intentions to relax…
This weekend it happened. And it was because I made a mistake. I thought for WEEKS that this weekend was the Food & Wine Festival. Last year it was on Mother’s Day weekend. This year it apparently is NOT. So suddenly I had a whole weekend, wide open. And it was marvelous.
Of course I worked out. My kickboxing streak continued with a lunchtime class on Friday. I rocked some shorts that may have more personality than I do.
I received these funky green bottoms from YMX as part of being a FitFluential Ambassador. More than the unique look, what makes YMX workout gear special is the fabric they use. It’s called MadKool fabric. It’s meant to regulate your body temperature, keeping you warm in cool weather and cool when you’re hot. The boxing gym is HOT. The fabric was as-advertised… AND it was so light and comfortable I felt like I wasn’t even wearing bottoms. Strange… but good. 😉
Totally asked the instructor to take a pic of me. At least I waited until AFTER class! #shameless
To get your own naked-feeling YMX gear click here. You move like a butterfly and sting like a bee comfortably too! Try this quick circuit:
Repeat until you pass out 3-5x.
After that you should refuel! To be honest I was a little mad at Lindsay when I received my first order of Healthy Bites. They are so amazing… I was pissed she didn’t MAKE me try them earlier. I swear I’m not just saying that.
These bites are the most delicious snack I’ve had in recent memory. They are filled with good, clean ingredients, they’re low-sugar, and they’re gluten-free.
My custom order included a protein-laced Reeses flavor, Cinnamon Biscotti, Coconut Caramel, and Birthday Cake. They are all amazing… but the Reeses were my top pick. Or the Cinnamon. Tough choices!!!
They are almost gone. Whoops!
Sunday I hung out with my amazing mom and grandmother. Mom is truly a rock. I owe my passion for food and for being active to her.
Before I left her house, my mom and my grandmother asked me to make them overnight oats to have in the morning! I made an oatmeal version of my Cherry Ginger Smoothie.
I’m a terrible blogger and forgot a pic… but I’ll ask her to send me one to post on Instagram tomorrow. 🙂
Speaking of IG… I also reached a marvelous milestone. My 2000th picture on Instagram!
Eggs from my local farmer’s market. If you’ve never had a farm-fresh egg, you must hunt them down. The difference in taste is astounding. They are more flavorful, the yolks are bright orange, and they make the best runny yolks.
These eggs were first used in my favorite way… #yolkporn! I cracked one into half a pre-roasted kabocha squash and put it under the broiler for a few minutes.
Served over a bed of arugula and smoked salmon with Greek yogurt cream cheese (made by Atlanta Farm Fresh, purchased at Whole Foods).
They also make killer pancakes. The creamy, dreamy pancakes below are laced with local strawberries and hints of lemon and then topped with sautéed berries and toasted coconut. I die.
Heat a non-stick pan medium heat and coat with cooking spray (I used coconut oil).
To a medium-sized bowl, add cornmeal, protein, baking powder, and cinnamon and stir to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg white until foamy. Add yogurt, water, extracts, and stevia and stir well.
Add wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Fold in mashed strawberries.
Spoon batter onto pan and cook 3-4 mins per side or until they begin to bubble on top.
Add toppings and enjoy!
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It’s also Meatless Monday! Check out all the links at Heather’s blog using this week’s ingredient: Dark Chocolate. I’m linking my #strangebutgood Chocolate Avocado Cookies from Friday!
Have you ever had farm eggs?
How did you celebrate Mother’s Day?
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