Nuzest

Hello cupcakes! 

I hope you all are having a great week. Hopefully I can make your week even better by giving you the recipe to this delicious and nutritious Healthy Apple Crisp pictured above. 

First I want to start this blog post by telling you about one of my favorite protein powders. It's called Nuzest. Many of you already know I have food intolerance and stomach problems. This is one of the few protein powders that does not upset my stomach. It's dairy free, gluten free, soy free, nut free, egg free, sugar free, and free of artificial ingredients. The protein base is made from golden peas, so it is also a great protein choices for vegetarians or vegans.  This protein also contains all the 9 essential amino acids to aid in energy, recovery , & repair. Theses flavors of Nuzest mix well and are very versatile. I've drank them as smoothies, protein shakes, and I have also baked with them. 

Nuzest has 5 flavor options: vanilla, chocolate, cappuccino, strawberry, and natural.

Here is the Cappuccino flavor:

What I like about this flavor is I get my coffee flavor and also my protein. When I have this in the mornings, I don't miss my morning coffee. This flavor is smooth and delicious. If you are a coffee lover, this flavor is for you. I mixed mine with unsweetened almond milk. 

The next flavor is Strawberry: 

What I really like about this flavor is there is no red dye used to make this a pink color. I had the strawberry flavor mixed with unsweetened almond milk as well, but I think this flavor would be so good mixed with a frozen banana in a blender for some homemade banana ice cream. 

The next flavor is Chocolate:

I mixed one chocolate Nuzest packet with 1 banana, 1-2 T Justin's Maple Almond Butter, ice, and water in a blender. This is the perfect way to get in fats, protein, and carbs. I would even throw in some spinach if I had it on hand. It is also a great way to curb cravings.

The last flavor I am reviewing is the Vanilla:

I love how you can use vanilla for so many things. This flavor tastes great just as a protein shake. I think there is the perfect combination of vanilla to make it satisfying and light. This flavor would also be great to use for protein pancakes or waffles. I used this flavor for baking. I used it for my frosting for my healthy cinnamon rolls (recipe here: Gluten Free/Dairy Free Cinnamon Rolls) and I also used it to make this Healthy Apple Crisp below. 

Healthy Apple Crisp

Ingredients: 

Apples:

• 4 apples
• 1 T cinnamon
• 2 T chosen blend oil (or oil of your choice)

Crust

• 1 c. Organic Gemini Tigernut Flour
• 1/4 c coconut oil
• 1/8 c egg whites

Topping

• 1/2 c Tigernut Flour
• 2 T coconut oil
• 1/3 c pumpkin seeds
• 1 T egg whites
• 1 t Flavor God Pumpkin Pie Flavor

Glaze

• 1 container of So Delicious Coconut Vanilla Yogurt
• 2 scoops Nuzest Vanilla Protein Powder
• 1/2 t Flavor God Pumpkin Pie Flavor
• Date Lady Caramel Date Syrup

Directions:

Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add the oil for the apples. Slice the apples into thin slices and add to pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon & cook until apples are tender. Stir frequently.

Grease a small pan with cooking spray. I used Chosen Foods Avocado Oil Spray. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Here are some of the ingredients:

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the crust. Below is what the mixture will look like. Once completely combined, add the dough to the greased pan. You may have to use your fingers to spread out the crust. Place in the oven and cook for 12-15 minutes.

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While the crust is baking, you can make your glaze and topping. Combine the coconut yogurt, pumpkin pie flavoring, and protein powder in a bowl. It will be kind of thick. If you want it sweeter, you can add date syrup. For the topping, combine all ingredients in a bowl & stir until combined and crumbly. 

Here is what the crust looks like after it is baked. 

Top the crust with the cooked apples. 

Top the apples with the crumble topping. Next, place the dish back into the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the crumble starts to turn a golden color.

Once you remove the dish from the oven, drizzle with Date Lady Syrup. I used the Caramel one. 

Here is what the apple crisp should look like:

Now this part does not make the apple crisp look as pretty, but it does increase the protein in the dish. I also think it adds another dimension of texture to the dish that I find very satisfying. 

What do you guys think of this recipe? I had some for breakfast this morning!

Later Taters

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

YUM!

*If you would like to buy any of the products mentioned in this blog post, there are links on the side of my blog for some of them. For the others, follow the links below:

Flavor God Pumpkin Pie

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Cinnamon Rolls

Good morning cupcakes,

I want to share a new recipe with you! Friday I made some gluten free, dairy free, nut free, and soy free cinnamon rolls. I've been wanting an "as close as possible to normal cinnamon rolls" recipe. This one is the closest I've gotten to a normal cinnamon roll. It can be hard when you have food allergies or an intolerance, so I hope this helps some of you out! 

I've been seeing some posts on IG about Bob Red Mills Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix Cinnamon Rolls. Kroger had some of this mix when I went grocery shopping in my hometown. Here is the back of the mix:

I adapted the recipe a bit to fit my own personal needs. So here is my version:

Dough Ingredients:

-1/4 c coconut oil

-1/4 c honey

-2 eggs

-Yeast packet

-1 T sugar of choice 

-1 c warm water

-3 1/4 c GF Pizza Crust Mix

-Extra mix for dusting 

Filling Ingredients:

-Cinnamon

-Date Lady Syrup

-1/4 c coconut oil

Frosting Ingredients:

-1/2 container of So Delicious Coconut Vanilla Yogurt

-Honey

- 1-2 scoops of Nuzest Vanilla Protein Powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add 1 T of sugar of choice to warm water (I used honey). Sprinkle the yeast packet on top of the water and let sit 5 minutes. Cream together the coconut oil and sugar for the dough. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to blend in completely.

Add the yeast mixture to the coconut oil/egg mixture and blend. Add the pizza crust mix; blend two minutes. Heavily dust a two foot long sheet of wax paper with the gf pizza crust mix or rice flour. Spread the batter over the length of the wax paper; about 19 inches. Using warm water, wet your hands and press the batter outward to fill the sheet. Keep your hands wet. Once the batter evenly covers the wax paper, brush melted coconut oil over the batter from edge to edge. 

Sprinkle cinnamon over the dough to your liking. I used A LOT of cinnamon! Probably 4-5 T of cinnamon. Next, drizzle the dough with Date Lady Pure Date Syrup. Here is what it should look like:

Pick up the short end of the wax paper and begin carefully rolling the batter over itself like you would a jelly roll. Cut the roll into 1 inch pieces and gently place the disks into a 8X8 greased pan. It is okay to crowd them. 

Let the rolls rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, cool until the filling stops bubbling. Here is what the rolls look like after baking:

To make the frosting, stir together the coconut yogurt, protein powder, and honey to taste. Spread/drizzle the frosting on top of the cinnamon rolls. 

 Makes 8-12 cinnamon rolls. 

I also made some of a fellow BBG girl's  (Kim) Whole30 turkey blueberry breakfast sausage. I had this for breakfast one day with my oven roasted potatoes & Teami Skinny Tea. 

Here are some links for the ingredients used for these Cinnamon Rolls:

NuZest Clean Lean Protein, Smooth Vanilla, 1.1 pounds (Amazon link) or Nuzest (actual product website)

Date Lady Organic Pure Date Syrup, Squeeze Bottle, 12 oz (Amazon link) or Date Lady Date Syrup (actual product website)

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust, 16-Ounce

Also, do you know all of the wonderful benefits of cinnamon? To find out more, check out this post by Nutri Inspector: 23 Health Benefits of Cinnamon

I've been on a salad kick! This one had cabbage, grapes, avocado, homemade dressing, and homemade coconut crusted chicken. I also read all of the Fifty Shades of Grey books over Christmas break. 

Here is another breakfast I had: zoats! (Not Paleo or Whole30 because of the gluten free oats I used). 

I hope you enjoyed this post. I get so excited to share new recipes with you! Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Later Taters

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

Long Random Recap

Hello cupcakes,

I have a full recap for you today. I apologize in advance, the pictures are not in chronological order. I have so many photos on my phone currently to catch you guys up on....

So here goes nothing...

My breakfast one morning was leftover oven roasted potatoes and 2 eggs. I also had Teami Skinny Tea. I LOVE tea, so I was excited to try this brand out. It has been blowing up my Instagram page recently, and many of my BBG sisters recommend it. I'm excited to try some of their other teas in the future. Let me mention one thing here though. "Skinny" teas and "detox" teas are not a quick fix for weight loss. It takes hard work, dedication, healthy eating, and exercise to lose weight in a healthy manner. I simply enjoy drinking tea, and I think it really does make my insides and outsides feel better. I fell in love with this Teami tumbler because I can put the loose tea leaves in the bottom and the strainer at the top makes just the tea come through the top. If you would like to check out this brand, follow this link: Teami Tea

I also have been reflecting on this past year, and let me tell you what... I truly appreciate the life I have been given. I am excited to see what the future holds for me. I am excited to follow my passions and dreams in life. If you have been a reader of my blog for awhile, you probably saw all the pictures from my Charlotte, NC adventures. My boyfriend (of almost 3 years) moved there in May 2015. He recently got a new job, and he will be moving to San Diego, CA! Say What!? I will be moving there with him once I graduate with my Master's Degree this July. I wanted to share this picture below because I was so excited to move to Charlotte because of all the cool things to do there. I loved hiking up this mountain and I completely fell in love with the Carolinas after visiting my boyfriend a few times last year. BUT I am getting even more excited to start the next adventure of my life with Cory in California. I have heard so many wonderful things about the San Diego area. One thing that makes me excited is the weather! Its going to be warm and beautiful all year round which is a huge switch up from Indiana. I am also excited for the beach, mountains, fresh produce, and much much more!

Here was a salad I made for lunch one day. I have been on a salad kick lately. This salad has cabbage, romaine lettuce, carrots, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, nuts, seeds, raisins, and my coconut flour coated chicken (recipe below). I topped the salad with my mom's homemade casa dressing. Who wants me to share that recipe?

Coconut Flour Coated Chicken

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts, cut into strips
• Coconut flour
• 2 eggs
• Unsweetened Almond Milk
• Seasonings

Directions:

Place all of the chicken breasts on a plate or in a bowl.

Combine the eggs and a splash or two of almond milk. Here is what the mixture looks like:

Next, in a bowl combine some coconut flour and seasoning to your preference.

Here is what my coating looked like:

Next, dip a chicken breast piece into the egg mixture. Let it drip off a bit, and then dip into the coating. The whole chicken breast piece should be coated. Here is what that looks like after all the chicken is coated.

Place chicken on a lined baking sheet. Cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until the inside of the chicken is no longer pink.

Here is another salad I made for dinner one night. I did not have any prepped protein for this salad unfortunately. It still tasted wonderful though!

I usually share all my successful recipes, but you guys don't get a chance to see my fails. I thought I would share this one with you. This was a failed attempt at Paleo Powder Zucchini Bread. It did not stay in in a loaf or bread slice, it was just a pile of crumble. It did taste delicious though, so I am going to try to adapt the recipe a bit once I get more Paleo Powder. Stay tuned for this recipe.

I LOVE eggs and I LOVE breakfast. Here were my two dippy eggs I made for breakfast one morning. These turned out perfect (which does not happen all the time... haha!).

Here was my foot at my second follow up appointment. Sorry for all of you with weak stomachs. The doctor said it looked really good and he went ahead and casted it. I will be in my cast until Feb. 2nd.

Then I will go to a boot for 6 weeks plus physical therapy. I cannot wait to get back in the gym and continue BBG.

I've been doing some modified workouts. My theory is NO EXCUSES! I want to try to keep some of my strength. This day I did some ab work with modified push ups.

Toe Touches

Crunches

Modified Push up from Knees

Here is my complete modified workout using Kayla's workout circuit pattern:

Circuit one:

1. Toe touches X 20
2. Modified Push Ups X 15
3. Crunches X 20
4. Commandos from knees X 12 each side

Circuit two:

1. Bicycle X 20
2. Lay down push ups X 15
3. Straight leg sit ups X 20
4. Tricep Dips X 20

Repeat each circuit for 7 minutes. In other words, set a timer for 7 minutes and complete as many rounds of circuit one exercises in that seven minutes. Then move on to circuit two and do as many of rounds of the exercises as you can in 7 minutes. Then repeat the two circuits. So in the end you will have completed 4-7 minute circuits for a total of 28 minutes.

Christmas Day dinner: my dad made shrimp and fillets on the grill and it was heaven on earth!

The fillet nearly melted in my mouth!

My Teami Skinny Tea again!

I also have been dying to tell you about this protein powder. I will save that for whole blog post on it's own, but if you would like to purchase some for yourself, you can look on the side of my blog for the link to Amazon.

Here is a picture of my foot 1 week after surgery. I actually think this picture looks better than the 2 weeks after surgery picture.

This was a couple days after surgery. I read 2 full books, watched many movies, and took lots of naps!

I hope you enjoyed my LONG recap! Let me know if there are things you guys would like to see more of or would like me to talk about (in the comments below).

Later Taters

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