{Healthy Protein Cookie Dough}

Hello cupcakes!

I've been on the self-care train lately, and I honestly have taken a little break from blogging. I think this will help me be a better blogger and better person in general. I've started journaling each night before I go to bed to reflect on myself. I watched Em Duncan's YouTube videos last Monday and I fell in love with her self-respect, self-esteem, and self-confidence. She mentioned how much journaling has helped her. So far I really love it. I love ending my night on a positive note. I can share more if you are interested in hearing more about my journaling. 

I did not get a picture of this recipe, but I wanted to share it with you because it is my current addiction. I am so in love with it; it's my guilty pleasure. Maybe I will add a picture eventually. 

{Healthy Protein Cookie Dough}

Ingredients:

21 g plant protein

26 g brown sugar truvia

53 g whole wheat flour

78 ml unsweetened almond milk

4 ml vanilla extract

4 ml butter extract

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients. Next, add wet ingredients and stir until combined. That's it!

Makes 3 servings

Each serving

109 calories

.8 g fat

21.8 g carbs

7.3 g protein

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away."

P.S. I get to visit my boyfriend in California in 13 days and I am so so excited. Only 89 days until I graduate with my Master's Degree (and officially move to California)! Whoo!

{Meal Prep Featuring Salsa, Texas & Paleo Powder}

Hello cupcakes!

Who else is loving this awesome weather here in Indiana? This weekend it was finally sunny and in the upper 70's. I took full advantage of the natural sun light to get some awesome food pictures. 

Here is my meal plan for this week:

Post workout: 3/4 c. Puffin cereal with 1/3 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk & 2 egg white muffin cups

Snack 1: 1/2 c Bob Red Mills Gluten Free Rolled Oats with 2 scoops Rich Chocolate Nuzest Protein Powder

Lunch: 4 oz. Salsa, Texas Salsa Verde Chicken, 100g asparagus, 1/3 c cooked quinoa

Snack 2: 2 rice cakes with 1 T Justin's Honey Almond Butter

Dinner: 5 oz slow cooked Salsa Verde Chicken, 113 g yellow squash, 1/3 c cooked quinoa

_________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a picture of an omelette I made this weekend.

 In a skillet add 1 tsp. coconut oil. Once the pan is hot, add broccoli pieces and 2 chopped asparagus spears. Place a lid on top and let the veggies cook. Add 2 eggs to a bowl with 2-3 T of unsweetened almond milk. Whisk together. Once vegetables are cooked and tender, add the egg mixture to the pan. Wait until the eggs are set on top and then flip the omelette. Fold the omelette over and top with Salsa, Texas Hot Salsa. 

Here is a picture of my lunch I prepped for this week.

Slow Cooker Salsa, Texas Chicken

Ingredients:

3-5 lbs chicken

1 jar of Salsa, Texas Salsa Verde

1/2- 1 c water

Directions:

In a slow cooker, add the chicken. Top with the jar of Salsa and water. Place on low for 6 hours. After 6 hours, open the top of the crock pot and shred the chicken. Return the chicken to the crock pot and let the chicken cook in the salsa mixture for another 1-2 hours. 

Asparagus: 

Cut the ends off the asparagus and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Top the asparagus with Paleo Powder. Roast the asparagus in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender.  

Quinoa:

Cook according to packaging instructions

Egg White Muffin Cups

Ingredients:

Eggs

Green onions, chopped

Salsa, Texas Hot Salsa

Directions: 

Separate the eggs so that you are left with the egg whites. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a few green onion slices in the bottom of a silicon muffin pan. Place the silicon muffin pan on a cookie sheet to make it easier to transport to the oven. Next, add egg whites to each muffin cup until it is almost full. Top each muffin cup with 1 T of salsa. Bake for 30 minutes or until the eggs are set. 

This was the same meal, I just used yellow squash instead of asparagus. I cooked it the same as the asparagus above.

Here are some links:

{Salsa, Texas}

{Paleo Powder}

{Paleo Powder & Fast Meal Prep}

_________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday! 

Let me know if you have any questions below in the comments. 

Also I am looking for ideas of thing you would like to see more of... so let me know!

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away." 

Lenny & Larry's

Hello cupcakes!

Today I want to share a new fun food find with you. I have been seeing Lenny & Larry's Cookies all over Instagram lately, so I knew I had to get my hands on some ASAP! I went to my local Vitamin Shoppe and they were even on sale. I picked up 6 cookies: 2 oatmeal raisin, 2 double chocolate, 1 birthday cake, and 1 coconut chocolate chip. I'm going to do a review of each one for you.

Oatmeal Raisin

One serving is 1/2 a cookie. Each serving has 180 calories, 4 g fat, 28 g carbs, 4 g. fiber, and 8 g protein. There are no eggs, dairy, or soy. They are also vegan and non gmo. The only caution I have for people with food allergies is there is gluten in these cookies from wheat flour. 

These cookies are HUGE! I think that is why one serving is only 1/2 the cookie. They are also super thick, which I love. The oatmeal raisin is a little crumbly, but has awesome flavor. It is not my top three favorite flavors, but I would probably buy this again. 

Check out this view of the cookie. It is a healthy treat that I will be having for my cheats during my cut for my vacation. If you want some thing sweet, but don't want to sabotage your fitness progress, I highly recommend these. Also let me just say: this is not a paid post. I actually went out and bought these cookies for myself. I simply like sharing healthier foods with my readers that can help them live a healthier life. 

Coconut Chocolate

I am a huge lover of everything coconut and chocolate. One thing I love about this cookie is the coconut does not taste artificial. This cookie was more chewy and a win in my books! This flavor has the perfect amount of chocolate chips! I will definitely be buying this flavor again. 

The macros per serving for this flavor are: 180 calories, 8 g fat, 22 g carbs, 4 g fiber, & 8 g protein

Double Chocolate

Oh my goodness... Let me just say these are freakin' BOMB! I am a huge chocolate lover so this cookie really hit the spot. Since I cannot consume dairy I don't get to have chocolate quite as often as I use to, so I can see these cookies in my future for sure! This flavor was the perfect amount of chewy. They were so soft. I love the big chocolate chips in the cookie too. This is hands down my favorite flavor!

The macros per serving of this flavor are: 190 calories, 6 g fat. 27 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 8 g protein. 

Birthday Cake

I loved this flavor as well. I have always loved birthday cake flavor of everything. I had my mom and sister try this flavor and they told me it tasted like play-dough. I guess everyone has different taste buds, but I am obsessed with it. I actually just recently bought the single serving cookie at the Vitamin Shoppe and ate it post workout today! I will be buying this flavor again! One tip I like to follow is consuming these cookies post workout because your body is a burning machine. I also do cardio fasted, so I like to fuel with the cookie post workout with egg whites. I know this is not the healthiest option because it is a packaged food, but I only live once right!? I wouldn't want to live life without these Lenny & Larry's Complete Cookies.

The macros per serving are: 180 calories, 4 g fat, 27 g carbs, 4 g fat, 8 g protein

There are also a few other flavors:

Snicker doodle Cookie- Just bought a single serving cookie of this flavor

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Peanut butter Cookie

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie- I tried this flavor! It was more crumbly like the oatmeal raisin. I don't think this is in the top three flavors for me. It wasn't bad it just isn't my favorite.

Lemon Poppyseed Cookie

Pumpkin Spice Cookie- Just bought this flavor yesterday to try!

Coming soon: Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cookie

So Lenny & Larry's just recently released single serving cookies! I am so obsessed. I feel like when I open the normal cookies (which have 2 servings in them) I eat more than one serving. This can be a problem for my macros. So what I am trying to say is if you have a problem stopping eating something this delicious, I recommend the single serving cookies!

I am so tempted to buy a whole box of these suckers!

What flavors have you tried? OR What flavors are you dying to try? 

Comment below and let me know!

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away."

Protein Muffin Variations

Hello cupcakes!

Today I want to share a fun recipe with you (at the end I will list some adaptions to create different flavors).

Birthday Cake Protein Muffins

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/4 c oil

1/4 c honey

2/3 c oats

3 T arrowroot flour

3 T cassava flour

2 scoops Sun Warrior vanilla protein powder

1/4 c water

sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend the wet ingredients until combined. Next, add the dry ingredients and blend together. Stir in the sprinkles. Transfer batter into a silicone muffin pan. This will make 5-6 muffins. Bake in the oven for 18-22 minutes or until the muffins are cooked through. 

Nutrition per muffin (if you make 5 muffins):

296 calories

14 g fat

31.8 g carbs

11.7 g protein

Variations:

To decrease the calories per muffin, you could sub the oil for 1 mashed banana & you could cut back on the honey. These two things combined will really decrease the calories per muffin. 

Chocolate Espresso with Dark Chocolate Chunks:

3 scoops Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Powder

2/3 c - 1 c arrowroot flour

3 T cocoa powder

1/4 c oil

2 eggs

1/4 c sweetener of choice

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1-3 tsp ground coffee beans

2-4 squares of 90% dark chocolate, broken into pieces

1/4 c- 1/2 c water

Espresso with Dark Chocolate Chunks:

3 scoops Sun Warrior Vanilla Protein Powder

2/3 c - 1 c arrowroot flour

1/4 c oil

2 eggs

1/4 c sweetener of choice

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1-3 tsp ground coffee beans

2-4 squares of 90% dark chocolate, broken into pieces

1/4 c- 1/2 c water

Banana Birthday Cake Muffin: 

2 eggs

3 T honey

1 1/2 mashed banana

2/3 c oats

3 T arrowroot flour

3 T cassava flour

2 scoops Sunwarrior vanilla protein powder

1/4 c water

sprinkles

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

Let me know if you have any questions or if you make these muffins with any other combination!

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away."

{Meal Prep & Macros}

Hello Cupcakes!

I only have 14 weeks of graduate school left! It's so hard to believe. This semester is coming to an end, so I am slowly starting to have more time for fun stuff like cooking and blogging. I am also on a mini cut, so I thought it would be fun to share a day of eating with you. I prepped these foods to eat all week, so it takes the guess work out of my macros during my work/school week. 

Pre-workout: 1 rice cake

Breakfast (post workout): 1/2 Lenny & Larry's Cookie & 2 egg white muffin cups

Snack: 2 oz chicken & 1 T Justin's almond butter

Lunch: 1 T Salsa Verde (Salsa, Texas brand), 5 oz chicken breast, 100 g asparagus

Chicken recipe:

Overnight, marinate chicken in juice of 3 limes, cilantro, salt, pepper, garlic powder, & onion powder. I chose to cut my chicken into smaller pieces. The next day, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil & place chicken on top. Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked through. Top with Salsa, Texas Salsa Verde. I was planning on grilling everything for my meal prep, but it was so cold and snowy in Indiana. 

Snack: 1/2 c gluten free oats, 100 g chopped zucchini, 1 scoop vanilla Nuzest protein powder

Dinner: 100 g zucchini, 1/4 c pasta sauce, 45 g brown Jasmine rice, 4 oz chicken breast

Other: 3 pieces of sugar free gum, L-carnitine, 2 calcuim gummy vitamins

Macros

Total Calories: 1,290

Carbs: 147 g

Fat: 29 g

Protein: 112 g

Everyone's macros are different, so I do not recommend completely following mine. Let me know if you have any questions below in the comments and I will try to answer them to my best ability. 

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away."

{Low Calorie, No Added Sugar, Protein Muffins}

Hello cupcakes!

I have some macro friendly muffins to share with you today.

This weekend was a such a relief for me. The past week has been pretty crazy with graduate school projects. I have also been a little stress because I finally figured out counseling is not exactly my career path. It stinks to go through so much school and not really know what you want to do with your life. One of my passions in life is fitness and nutrition, which you probably already know if you are reading this post. I am also a huge planner & organizer. These passions of mine just aren't quite fulfilled in the counseling field. I am currently working on piecing together all of my passions to find my dream job. I want to do what makes me happy. I want to wake up and be excited to go to work. As of right now, I am trying to be at peace with the unknown. It is also part of my adventure of moving to California after I graduate. Right now I am looking into director or manager positions and thinking about getting certified as a personal trainer and getting my nutrition certification. 

Anyways, let me share this awesome muffin recipe with you...

Macro Friendly Muffins

Ingredients:

124 g. of unsweetened applesauce (1/2 c.)

48 g. egg whites (3 T)

sprinkle of baking powder

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I used my homemade version)

2 scoops Vital Protein's Collagen Peptides

65 g. Otto's Cassava Flour

*if you want your muffins sweeter, you could add 3T of honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar but this will change the macros*

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add wet ingredients and stir until combined. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small muffin pan or use muffin liners. Scoop batter into 4 muffin cups. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins are starting to get golden and the tops are springy to touch. 

Makes 4 muffins 

*You can double the ingredients for 8 muffins or triple recipe for 12 muffins*

Macros for 1 muffin:

96 calories

.3 g fat

16.7 g carbs

6.1 g protein

I've had some questions about where I get my specialty flours and ingredients. Honestly, I order most of them online. Amazon is one of my go-to places!

If you would like to order the collagen, follow this link Vital Proteins: Collagen Peptides

You can also search on Amazon for "Vital Proteins"

If you would like to order the cassava flour, follow this link: Otto's Cassava Flour

I also have previous posts about the benefits of these two products:

{Paleo Tortillas & Otto's Cassava Flour}

{Mug Cake & Vital Proteins}

I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away." 

{Rootz Nutrition}

Hello again Cupcakes!

I'm here to share with you some new Paleo Products. It is so hard to find products in the fitness and nutrition world that are Paleo, but {Rootz Nutrition} is one of them!

They have two products: Pre-workout & Post-workout supplements. 

Paleo Energizing-Superfood

Raspberry Lemonade

"Our Paleo Energizing-Superfood is a blend of natural superfoods, plants, and herbs that aims to provide sustained energy and the proper nutrients for high intensity exercise. This product is loaded with vitamins and minerals, and contains plant-based energy enhancers that will provide an extremely powerful boost for an amazing workout, and a sense of well-being that will continue well after taking this product."

The only down side of this pre-workout is the mix settles at the bottom of your cup. Make sure you shake or mix well before taking a gulp! The flavor of this pre-workout was good. I wouldn't say it tasted amazing, but I could tell that there were no artificial ingredients or sweeteners. Most artificial ingredients have a weird after taste, but this pre-workout did not have that! I drank this pre-workout before doing cardio and I did not get as tired. 

Here is the link if you would like to purchase or read about the ingredients of this product: {Pre-workout}

Paleo Protein Superfood

Chocolate Banana Nut

"Our Paleo Protein-Superfood contains egg white protein, hemp protein, and sacha inchi protein, combined with a blend of all natural superfoods to provide delicious post-workout nutrition that promotes the growth of lean muscle mass and overall health. This product contains only the cleanest ingredients available, and can be consumed as a post-workout protein shake or as a complete low calorie meal replacement at any time during the day. The Paleo Protein-Superfood contains a full spectrum of nutrients that will rejuvenate your body and get you ready for your next workout."

I like that this is dairy free! Many of you know I cannot have lactose and it can be hard to find a variety of protein powders that are dairy free. One thing I really like about this powder is the amount of fiber. Most other protein powders have no fiber. The macros are also really good!

Here is the link if you would like to purchase this product or read the ingredients: {Post-workout}

Harrison is the creator of Rootz Nutrition. To read more about his inspiring story, follow this link: {Harrison & Rootz Nutrition}

Enjoy your day!

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away." 

*This is not a paid post, rather I am hoping to show my readers that eating healthy and clean does not have to be boring. I like to be real and honest with you, so I will only share products I have personally tried & ones that meet my expectations* 

{Salsa, Texas}

Hello cupcakes! 

I hope you are having a wonderful day so far. If any of you know me well, you know I am a sucker for some good chips and salsa! My sisters and roommates used to make fun of me for eating salsa out of a bowl with a spoon. I just love it that much! 

I recently got the chance to taste some award winning salsa.... so you know I was pumped! This brand of salsa is called {Salsa, Texas}.

There are four flavors: Mild, Medium, Hot, and Medium Salsa Verde

I love that there is a variety of flavors. I know I personally like things a little spicy, but my mom cannot do hot things at all. The mild would be perfect for her. 

Mild

This flavor is perfect for people who do not like any spice at all. It has a smoky Texas flavor to it and the tomatoes in it have a ton of flavor. This salsa is on the chunky side too which is a win in my books!

Medium

This flavor is so versatile. I could literally use it on everything! Here are some of my ideas: topping for eggs, topping for taco salad, add to spaghetti squash for a sauce, add to zucchini noodles for a Mexican lasagna, and add to chicken/ rice stir fry. I also could probably eat a whole jar of this with some chips. The medium flavor also has a smoky hint to it and I am completely falling in love with it. 

Hot

The hot salsa was also amazing. I have nothing bad to say about this line of salsas. "A rich combination of fresh vegetables and serrano peppers, fire roasted over a grill, create an incredibly smoky, robust flavor." That is a quote from Salsa Texas' website. I think it describes the flavor of all these salsas. 

Medium Salsa Verde

I love green salsa! This was actually the first kind I tried out of all 4 flavors. This is the perfect amount of spicy. If you don't like super spicy things, you could still eat this. The spicy is not overbearing. 

I topped one of my meals last week with the Salsa Verde and it was heaven. I never wanted this meal to end. I had brown basmati rice, stir fry veggies, and slow cooked pulled pork & topped it with the salsa. Isn't it a beauty?

We are having a game night at our apartment, so this was the perfect snack to set out. I put both the Mild and Medium flavor salsa out with some {Jackson's Honest} Blue Corn Tortilla Chips. Everyone loved it!

To read more about Ron & Denise's story, follow this link: {About Salsa, Texas}

One thing I really enjoy about their website is the link to recipes: {Salsa, Texas Recipes}. There are so many ways you can use salsa!

Comment below and let me know your favorite way to use salsa.

Later Taters

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away."