As May draws to a close I am thrilled that my Salad-a-Day challenge is coming to an end.
Not because I hate salads or am put off them – I still love them and love how the challenge encouraged me to really have salads on a very regular basis (I can’t imagine not having them 4-5 times a week now), but I will really enjoy not HAVING to have them every day. Especially as we had some pretty chilly, rainy and generally crummy weather last week and I felt far more like a veggie stew than I did a salad. Despite the fact that the veggie servings would have been the same, I’m really stubborn when it comes to sticking to goals I’ve set, so I stuck at it. As you will see in today’s What I Ate Wednesday post!…(thanks to Jenn for hosting).
As it has been chillier here than usual, I went with some comfort food for breakfast (despite it being completely out of season). Ah well.’
BREAKFAST:
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Pumpkin Protein Pancakes (my vegan version), topped with a smear of Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, buried under a layer of Greek yogurt and topped with a drizzle of maple syrup. A protein-rich, healthy fat-rich, carb-rich way to load up at breakfast and keep me going for the day. Whenever I have this versus regular oats, it takes so much longer for me to get hungry!
And folks – this is the quickest breakfast ever. On the weekend I just doubled my recipe and cooked up a whole bunch of pancakes. Then I freeze them in serving sizes (2 pancakes for me), wrapped in wax paper and in a sandwich bag. In the morning I just pop ’em in the microwave for 1 minute 15!
SNACK:
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My mid-morning snack was my usual cuppa tea (not pictured) and a (half-eaten!) slice of the most delicious cinnamon protein cake in the world…courtesy of Gina. Just over 100 cals a slice and more than 8g of protein! I am seriously wowed by this cake. You’d never know it wasn’t regular, high-sugar high-fat protein cake (I subbed coconut sugar in for the turbinado sugar. It worked out perfectly!)
LUNCH:
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Lunch was a Swiss cheese and veggie sandwich that I threw together with some Trader Joe’s hummus salad dressing to make it extra tasty. I needed some crunch without all the junk, so I had a 100-cal Doritos snack bag on the side – I threw them in my shopping basket last week on a whim. It has been so long since I had potato chips of any kind – I forgot how more-ish these are! Thank goodness they are in portion-controlled bags…!
Ooh and for dessert and to keep me going through the afternoon, a mini fruit salad of blueberries, raspberries and red grapes. Yum!
SNACK:
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Cake batter flavoured protein shake. But not just that! A LEMON POPPYSEED cake batter protein shake. Ooh yeah. All inspired by the fact that I didn’t have any sprinkles in the house (they really make a difference, and even I can handle the sugar in a teaspoon of sprinkles!) and I had just received a shipment of my newest obsession – NuNaturals lemon stevia (thank you NuNaturals!!):
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I added a few drops of this instead of the packet of stevia I usually throw in my smoothie. It tasted just like lemon muffin batter, straight from the bowl! So I threw in some poppyseeds to make it really ‘authentic’! Add some xanthan gum to really thicken it up and it was like eating batter straight from the bowl – except, being the dignified soul I am, I used a spoon and not my fingers ;).
If you want to make the recipe, follow Katie’s recipe here. I only use half a scoop of protein powder and I omit the pudding mix and it’s great! Kept me going all through Zumba :).
DINNER:
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Dinner was a delicious homemade spaghetti squash lasagna (recipe coming on Friday, I promise!) and side salad – yup, got my salad in!
DESSERT:
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I usually have this 2-3 hours after I’ve eaten, depending on how full I am.
Protein ‘ice cream’ – pretty easy, doesn’t even really need a recipe! Cottage cheese blended with some soy milk and ice, a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder and some stevia to sweeten. I add xanthan gum to get it thicker (or you can just add more ice), put it in a bowl and place in the freezer for 30-60 minutes (however long I can stand to wait!). I then top it with 1/2 tsp coconut oil melted with 1/2 tbsp chocolate chips, drizzled over top for my own homemade Magic Shell. Delish!
QUESTION:
Apparently I was craving protein today…I don’t usually have two heavy protein snacks like a shake and the ice cream, but I just felt like it. I have to finish off my night with protein as it keeps me full till morning.
- Any routines you have food-wise that help keep you going throughout the day/night?
The Guiltless Life 
I have been loving the lemon stevia too, in fact I emailed them to send me more! ❤
Love your dessert! YUM!
Happy Wednesday girl!
It’s so good, I was really surprised – sometimes lemon flavours can taste soapy, but this was right on!
i just have to say. i LOVE that you had doritos and a sandwich at lunch. how…..normal! like you, i’m sure, i try not to eat processed foods like that, but sometimes girl – that is all i want! so great to see that other healthy living bloggers do this too. 🙂 all about balance, no?
Hehe yes I haven’t had chips in so long (I’m more of a sweet junk food girl than a savoury) but I was in the supermarket and saw the 100-cal snack packs and thought, why not? Ultimately I had forgotten how good Doritos are! Ooh and I used the Trader Joe’s hummus salad dressing as a spread on the bread instead of butter, and it’s suuuuper good! Try it if you can!
The pancakes sound delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I can’t wait to try them at home!
You’re welcome, they are my faves! I actually forgot to include the sweetener last time I made them and thought I’d ruined the batch, but they’re great even without! I just put maple syrup on top and they’re delish…! (In case you don’t want to add sweetener yourself).
I LOVE new protein-filled recipes so these all look like great things to try! (Especially the protein/pumpkin pancakes… I’m obsessed with all things pumpkin and protein, so you can’t get any better than that!)
I just created a new blog and I’d love if you checked it out! http://workitoutblog.wordpress.com/
Michelle
Thanks Michelle, I’m glad I could satisfy some of your cravings! Pumpkin is the best :). I look forward to checking out your blog!
I hear you on the “committing to goals” thing. It’s why I don’t do cleanses or salad-a-day things anymore. I can’t stick to them, & I usually end up mad at myself, and not really enjoying my food 😛 so I just take it day to day.
I saw another blogger try the lemon stevia in her smoothie! I will have to try that 🙂 the protein ice cream looks soooooo good!!
It’s sooo good. You could just use soft tofu instead of cottage cheese to veganize it, because I did that once when I had tofu and no more cottage cheese and it was just as good!
I was all ready to participate in WIAW today and before I knew it it was lunch and I hadn’t taken any pictures! Opps– next week? haha
xo
Ha that happens to me all too often, that’s why I tend to only manage them once every other week at most!
Yum!!! That lemon poppyseed cake batter protein shake looks amazing! I’m going to have to try that out!
Ooh do it’s one of my faves!
Gosh, all of your food looks yummy! We definitely have similar taste buds Anna :-)! I just got some stevia drops in the mail yesterday, so I will definitely be sweetening things up :p. Your lunch and dessert looks especially awesome!
Thanks Cara! If we have similar tastebuds, I can’t wait to check out your WIAW post!
Love all the protein! I just ran out of my nunaturals liquid stevia and I’m so sad! 🙂
But I’m especially excited for that spaghetti squash recipe!
I recently got some NuNaturals lemon and orange too, I’m definitely giving that lemon poppyseed smoothie a try! You had me at cake batter 😉
that lasagne looks great
Mmm the pancakes sound great, I am glad you shared the recipe Anna, now to make for myself 🙂
Seriously Anna, I love your WIAW’s! 🙂 love love love
And I love you too