Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cake + WIAW

January 15, 2014 By Laura

It’s rare that I repeat a meal.

Except dessert.

Variety is one of the keys to staying on track. I know this is different for everyone, but if I don’t stay entertained by what I’m eating it’s not pretty. Which is why I’m shocked by this story about a woman eating nothing but Starbucks for a YEAR.

The 40-year-old woman, Beautiful Existence, is a mother of two. Yes, that’s her legal name. She still cooked for her kids, but – even on holidays – only ate Starbucks food.

She said she spent $500-$600 a month on meals, and ended up saving money and losing weight. Her first non-Starbucks meal? Fish and chips from Seattle restaurant chain.

I would’ve done a lot better than that after year of bagels!

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This WIAW I did not eat at Starbucks. I did repeat a meal, and for that I am ashamed. Kidding, kidding.

Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else’s delicious creations!…

Easy Oat Flatbread

January 13, 2014 By Laura

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.

…

Coconut Curried Chicken + WIAW

January 8, 2014 By Laura

No one likes a complainer.

Especially me.

I’m making an exception. It’s COLD. This arctic tundra has got to go. I live in the South. I should never see this:

Ice in my shower is something else I should never have to see. I left my faucet dripping just like the newsman said because we hit a record low of 6 degrees in Atlanta. When I woke up, I was rewarded with an ice-lined tub.

Try motivating to shower for work when faced with this:

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This WIAW I am FINALLY back on track. I had the biggest meal prep in weeks on Sunday and felt ready to get back to the “real” world of having a routine.Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else’s delicious creations!…

Top 13 in 2013

January 1, 2014 By Laura

You guys like dessert.

I guess that’s why we get along?

Happy New Year!!!

As I looked back at the top posts of 2013, I knew there would be a lot of sweeter dishes. But whoa. Of the top 13 2013 posts, 6 were sweet recipes. What I didn’t realize was that the Work It Out posts are popular too! I’ll do a better job to writing more of those in 2014 – I’ve been pushing it at the gym, but slacking on the writing.

Thank you to everyone for all of the visits, comments, and many, many laughs in 2013. I’ve loved getting to know so many awesome people this year, and look forward to continuing these relationships for years to come.

Enough much! Here’s the lucky (top) 13 to start out ’14…

Top 13 in 2013…

Read More »

Insta-Mallow + WIAW

December 4, 2013 By Laura

Instagram is everywhere.

No judgment – I’m 100% addicted.

There is a printing company in the UK, Boomf, that has developed an app allowing Instragrammers to print their images onto marshmallows.

So you can take a picture of your food, print it onto another food, and eat it. Would that be considered leftovers?

The service isn’t available in the U.S. yet. They’re trying to work out how to get it through customs.

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I didn’t eat any marshmallows for WIAW, but still managed some good stuff. I’m out of town the rest of the week, so this is one of those “eat everything in the fridge” days. Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else delicious creations!

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Breakfast:

As always, the day began with my apple cider morning cocktail. Still searching for a new amino powder I like…

Breakfast was a little random. A delicious banana-peanut butter fluff wrap, heated in the microwave. The peanut butter fluff was a mix of peanut flour (from iHerb – use discount code USO924 for $5-10 off your order!), vanilla protein powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and Stevia. With a side of turkey because it was going to go bad.

Mid-Morning Snack:

I am oddly addicted to this Matcha bar found at Whole Foods. It’s almost buttery with its healthy fats! Really good pre-workout fuel with a side of almonds.

Lunch:

Shredded rotisserie chicken (naked from Whole Paycheck) mixed with kale and a really random “dressing.” It was the end of a cottage cheese container, mashed avocado, nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic power, and pepper. I mixed it up the night before and used half here and half in the next snack.

I discovered the toaster at work, so I’ve been loving hot Ezekial sesame toast. Today’s was slathered my favorite Roots spinach hummus (also a Whole Foods find).

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

The other half of the afore-mentioned cottage cheese mix was used in a turkey salad with broccoli slaw. I’m pretty surprised and how good the cottage cheese mix was, now that I think about it. I wish we had a toaster oven at work so I could crisp it up…

And then I had a pity party. I’m getting a cold. Extra water, green tea… and a Snickers should fix it, right?

Dinner:

Dinner was rotisserie chicken tossed with BBQ sauce, with a side of roasted mushrooms and crisped kale.

I turned my roasted buttercup squash into dessert, tossing it in a sauce of peanut flour, cinnamon, Stevia, and almond milk. And chocolate chips.

Dessert:

Pumpkin-Zucchini Bread Batter was my midnight snack. It was another “use all the foods” creation that turned out better than expected! I love using protein powder in these – it really lends to the batter consistency.

Pumpkin Zucchini Bread Batter

1/2 C shredded zucchini
1/2 C Greek yogurt
1/4 C Pumpkin purée
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (I use Growing Naturals rice protein)

Mix everything together and top as desired. I went with a cocoa powder sauce, popcorn, and cacao nibs.

***

I’m headed to San Francisco for work, and then to Portland to see my sister for the weekend. Any good Portland restaurant recs?

What would you like to print your Instagram pics on? I want Insta-bacon!

What is the strangest clean-out-the-fridge dish you’ve ever made?

Apple Peanut Butter Soufflé

November 22, 2013 By Laura

Soufflé is really a fluffy egg dish.

Winter makes me want fluffy things.

A soufflé is a “light, fluffy baked dish made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients.”

If you can fluff an egg in the oven, why not in the microwave? It sounds strange… but it’s good! And quick.

Since my competition, I have quick eating chicken first thing, but I have yet to stop running late and ~~shoveling down~~ eating breakfast in the car. A microwave breakfast is just the thing to make on the fly and go.

What better combo than peanut butter, apple, and egg? Protein and sweet, carb-y fruit to begin the day right. I love berries, but I missed heartier fruit during prep!

I scooped this out into a to-go cup after taking pics.

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Apple Peanut Butter Soufflé

1/2 C egg whites
1/4 tsp no-salt baking powder
1/4 tsp butter extract (or vanilla)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
2 T peanut flour*
1 small apple, chopped

In a small (cereal) bowl, beat eggs, baking powder, and extract.

In another small bowl, combine remaining ingredients, tossing with apple pieces to coat. Add apple mixture to the egg, stirring to combine. Microwave for 1-1.5 mins.

Remove and top as desired (I used more apple and freshly grated nutmeg).

*Note: You can also use coconut flour or a combo of the two here – just as delicious but a more cake-like texture.

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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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Reminder: next week there will not be a #strangebutgood link up. Being around family should be enough strange, and hopefully it’s a good time for all! 😉

What is your favorite quick breakfast?

Do you have a favorite breakfast fruit? I like apples at breakfast and cherries for dessert.

Back to Reality with Sizzlefish + WIAW

November 20, 2013 By Laura

Competition diets aren’t realistic. long-term

Disclosure: The following post is sponsored by Fitfluential LLC on behalf of Sizzlefish.

Eating like I have been leading up to my competition was a short-lived reality… again, it isn’t how you should eat forever. This week I’m thrilled that food is back to being fun again this week. I haven’t had time for a proper grocery store run, but I’ve had some help!

Sizzlefish provided me with a Sizzlefish sampler of their Omega-3 Protein Mix. It included Coho salmon, Atlantic salmon, sablefish, rainbow trout, catfish, Atlantic cod, haddock, and catfish.

Did you know that studies have shown that a diet high in fish, particularly fish high in Omega 3 fatty acids, enhances athletic performance and health?

My fish were frozen at the peak of quality, pre-portioned, and shipped on dry ice to have on-hand when I was back to “normal” food. After cutting fat, I couldn’t bust into this fast enough!

I came home late from a crazy work day, it was the perfect thing to quickly cook up. I was surprised by how fresh the frozen fish was! Check out my dinner below for more.

Side note: wouldn’t this make a an awesome holiday gift?! Mamma may be received a Christmas shipment from Sizzlefish…

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Since I haven’t done a full re-stock yet, this isn’t quite a normal WIAW, but it’s much improved from last week!

Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else delicious creations!

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Breakfast:

My healthiest addiction began my day – Aminos and ACV morning cocktail.

Breakfast is not long turkey or chicken – hooray! I traveled all the way from Colorado with this almost-empty jar of Justin’s almond butter in order to make overnight oats in a jar. Can you believe Heather’s hubby was going to throw it away?! All that nutty deliciousness hiding at the bottom of a mixture of oats, Greek yogurt, and goji berries laced with cinnamon and ginger.

Mid-Morning Snack:

Lisa, my competition buddy and co-worker, surprised me with homemade cocoa cookie bites. I asked if they were “healthy” and she said they are all-organic. Works for me! 😉

See the black dot on my pinky? That’s where I slammed a weight on my hand 3 weeks ago! Blood blisters are the gift that keeps on giving.

Lunch:

A quick trip to Whole Foods the night before resulted in a lunch of smoked rotisserie chicken mixed with shallots, paprika, nutritional yeast, ACV, and pepper over a slice of sesame Ezekial bread, mustard, and spinach.

This was the first time I’d seen smoked chicken at Whole Food – it is the best rotisserie I’ve ever gotten there!

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

Think Thin was nice enough to send me a little treat a few weeks back. I hadn’t gotten to dive into the box yet, but it has come in handy this week! I really enjoyed the Caramel Fudge flavor as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. With the rest of the cookies from earlier…

Dinner:

Dinner was when I enjoyed my Sizzlefish. I got home really late, but was still able to have a good dinner! I couldn’t decide whether I wanted salmon or trout, so I had both. Life is short, why choose?

I had put them in the fridge the night before to haw, so when I got home I tossed them under the broiler with lemon juice and pepper for about 7 mins along with roasted veggies I’d picked up from Whole Foods.

Dessert:

I feel really lame… but I wasn’t hungry for dessert after eating dinner at 10pm. Instead, I had another holiday kombucha and called it a night.

***

I am so very excited to buy all of the foods at the international market this weekend! Grocery shopping should be an Olympic sport. I’d medal.

Have you ever had frozen seafood? What is your favorite?

Have you started thinking about holiday shopping yet? Would you gift food? I couldn’t believe it when I realized Thanksgiving is next week!

The One Where Food Became Fuel

November 13, 2013 By Laura

Food, in the simplest of definitions, is fuel.

I missed that memo.

Food, for me, has always been entertainment. It’s art. It’s an experiment. It’s what I do when I’m sad, happy, grumpy, tired, bored… I love food. End scene.

You might imagine that a limited diet is my worst nightmare. I’ve been trying to prove you can still be creative on a competition diet. You can… but the last week of cutting is HARD. You’ll notice from last week’s WIAW at 4 days out, I still had a lot of variety. This time around I decided to try something new. Being more ~~boring~~ traditional.

I cut fat and am sticking to lean proteins (mostly tilapia). My main veggie is asparagus. My carbs are oatmeal in the morning and sweet potato after that. I’m not hungry at all… but my palette is bored out of its mind. Food has become fuel.

Why am I doing this? Quite simply, to see if it’s necessary. I want to compare last weekend to this weekend. Will it make a difference if I eat more like everyone else the week before a competition? Only ~~my abs~~ time will tell!

The fascination with experimentation is what’s keeping me on track this week!

I almost feel like I should apologize for the repetitive nature of this WIAW. I am 4 days from my 4th figure competition. It’s the last one for a long while… I promise next week will be more interesting.

Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else delicious creations!

Breakfast:

I still start the day with my Aminos and ACV morning cocktail. I swear it’s more energizing than coffee.

Breakfast was oatmeal with a ton of cinnamon, honey, and pomegranate atop a homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausage Patties. I really do love the turkey “sausage.” It’s something I would make in the off-season too – they’re a great clean, low-sodium alternative to the store-bought stuff.

As usual, I ate it in the car on the way to work. Turkey-oatmeal coffee mug parfait!

Mid-Morning Snack:

Surprise, surprise. Tilapia. I did add some variety with cucumbers, red bell pepper, and purple sweet potato chips (with cinnamon).

Lunch:

Fish variety at lunch – I had Perch with my asparagus. The asparagus I sautéed during food prep with shallots, garlic, lime juice, and herb. I’m really loving the perch – it’s super mild.

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

Tilapia. Again. Added some variety in two ways: I used purple asparagus and I made it into ribbons! Purple asparagus is thicker, so it makes it a bit easier to shred into ribbons. Fuel can be fun. Ish.

Dinner:

Dinner was is my favorite treat – Sea Bass. It even makes asparagus taste better. Purple sweet potato is like dessert. I topped it with some nutritional yeast for a nutty accent.

Dessert:

It’s not really dessert anymore. Tilapia topped with a blend of Mexican spices and cucumber with salt-free mustard. Nom.

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I prepped all my food to take to Denver today for this weekend’s competition. Tilapia and curry-roasted asparagus are on tap for the plane. Others on the flight are going to love me. #sorryimnotsorry

Do you view food simply as fuel? Fun? Something else?

How do you keep it interesting in the kitchen?

Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cake + WIAW

Easy Oat Flatbread

Coconut Curried Chicken + WIAW