Power Protein Breakfast: Waffles, Greek Yogurt, and Fruit

Besides Weetabix, this has become one of my go-to breakfasts when I have enough time in the morning. It’s packed with protein and fiber, sending you ready to kick butt on the day ahead. Now, typically, store-bought waffles aren’t the best for you. But that all changed when one day I was craving waffles while we were grocery shopping, and I scoured the frozen section for some decent waffles. Tip: always pass up the Eggo’s. Another tip: NEVER PASS UP THE VAN’S.

Yep. The name of this natural brand of waffles is Van’s. And no, I did not receive any money from them for this post (though, I wouldn’t mind a tip if they stopped by). Good nutritional value at 180 calories per 2 waffles, 10g protein, 2g fiber, 6g sugar and no saturated fat. Can you say, “YES PLEASE.” But there’s more to this power protein breakfast. What’s a breakfast without greek yogurt? Alright, enough chit-chat–look down for this 5-10 minute breakfast recipe.

Ingredients

2 Van’s protein waffles
2 dollops of 0% Fage Greek yogurt (or any kind you have)
1/2 tsp butter (optional)
100% pure maple syrup OR agave nectar
2 strawberries (but any fruit will do)

[I’m literally salivating as I write this–it’s that good]

Directions

Put waffles into toaster/toaster oven for 5-10 minutes (or until golden brown on both sides)

If you want to, spread a minuscule amount of butter atop the two waffles and plate them.
Put a spoonful of greek yogurt on each waffle

Pour your syrup or agave on top (however much you’d like)
Cut up your fruit and put on top

And DIG IN. I literally look forward to this the night before I know I have time in the morning to make it. It’s a perfect-sized breakfast with enough protein to start the day off deliciously and will keep you satisfied more than that bowl of Raisin Bran. Next time you go waffle shopping, try Van’s. It is so worth it. This is a mouth-watering breakfast that doesn’t leave you feeling guilty or heavy afterwards. I have a very active job (I’m a personal trainer after all…) and this is the perfect thing to start the day right. This is a meal that will encourage you to be…hungry and fit! ENJOY!

I mean, come on, LOOK AT THAT

BONUS KITTY PIC

Nymeria being lazy and tired…and cute

Mar252013

The Easiest Healthiest Dessert Recipe Ever: Sweet Baked Pears

I really need to cut down on these title lengths. Anyways, to the recipe. I discovered this recipe through a program I work with at the YMCA, called MEND. It’s a free program to fight childhood obesity and change the lifestyle to a healthy one at home. It’s been very successful! During each session, the participants get a MEND “cookbook”–a compilation of MEND-friendly (aka HEALTHY) recipes. This is from there. This is a guilt-free recipe. It’s basically fruit, cheese, and cinnamon. ENJOY!

Finished product

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients [serves 6-8 people]

6 pears (if you’re less-hungry people, you can use less)
1 1/3 cup ricotta
1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp agave nectar (or honey)
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
Wash the pears and cut them into halves

Scoop out the seeds and most of the middle

Put the pears on a baking sheet (no oil required) and put in the oven for 20 minutes
Let’s now turn our focus to the mixture. Put all the other ingredients (ricotta, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and agave/honey) into a small-medium bowl and mix! Feel free to taste

Put the mixture into the fridge to chill until you serve.
Take out the pears from the oven after 20 minutes
When ready to serve, put dollops of mixture in the hollowed part of the pears!

And that’s IT! Seriously amazing, delicious, and you don’t feel bad eating it because there isn’t any crap in it. This is a recipe I will be frequenting. I whipped it up very quickly after a gym session before we went to a friend’s house for dinner–it’s amazingly simple for how delicious it is. Enjoy!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Someone’s sleepy…

Mar072013

Alana’s Almost-Tropical Smoothie

Since Chris got me some flavorless protein powder for V-Day, I was ready to hit up the smoothie-making business. One day after a workout, I decided I wanted to break the seal and use the new protein powder, instead of a new expensive gross (in my opinion) one that Chris got. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a ton of smoothie fruit in the house (I mean strawberries, bananas, blueberries, etc.), but we still had some of our staples. So I whipped this together, giving Nymeria and Sajah scraps of fruit along the way.

Ingredients

1 scoop Jarrow’s whey protein
1/2 cup milk (I really didn’t measure this)
1 banana
4 clementines
ice

Directions

Put ice and milk in blender, ice crush!
Put in the scoop of protein powder
Break the banana and half and add in. Peel the clementines and add in, whole or cut
Blend until smooth!

blending blending blending

And enjoy! Makes about two servings, I couldn’t finish all by myself so I saved it for later. I call it almost-tropical because we didn’t quite have the pineapple or guava or passionfruit to kick it into tropical gear. But this tastes great anyhow. Feel free to mix and match with whatever fruit or protein you have. Cheers!

BONUS KITTY PIC

“Feed us!”

Dec122012

Berry Delicious! HEALTHY Berry Whole-Wheat Pie/Crumble

First of all, yes, yes, I know…brilliant title. I thought of it myself. And second of all, it IS healthy and GUILT FREE. Why? There’s barely any sugar in it. It’s weird. But I don’t lie. And for record, this is my first pie/crumble/whatever-you-want-to-call-it that I’ve made by myself from scratch. I took it from here, but as usual, modified. It didn’t take too long either. It was a very pleasant process.

Ingredients (Pie Filling)

2 boxes of blackberries
2 boxes of raspberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons flour

Ingredients (Crust)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1.5 sticks butter
1 teaspoon salt
12 teaspoons cold water

So first, let’s take care of the pie filling (will take approx…2 minutes!).

Directions (Pie Filling)

Put the berries, flour, and sugar into a bowl (take note that it’s just the 2 teaspoons of flour)

Directions (Crust)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Combine the flour and salt in a big mixing bowl (this time 2 cups flour)
Cut up the cold butter into little pieces and place in flour mixture

Next, add enough cold water for the flour to stick together and can be rolled into a massive ball of dough.

Place in the freezer for 15 minutes
Take out of freezer, and use glad wrap or wax paper to really roll it out as thin as you want the crust
Once the crust is rolled out, place half of it on the bottom of your pan (or whatever you may use)

Next, get that fruit filling in there, to make it look truly beautiful.

Using the rest of the pie dough, make the top of the crumble/pie

Put in the oven for 35-45 minutes. Mine took about 42 minutes I would say.
ENJOY!

Even though the crust wasn’t perfect, I definitely had two servings. Have fun!

Oct222012

The Most Important Meal of the Day: EAT IT!

There’s a problem in this culture. For as much as we over-eat, so many of us do not eat breakfast. What’s the deal with that?! Meals are always something to look forward to in my day. Maybe because I have a slight obsession with food. Whatever. I’m here to tell you to EAT YOUR BREAKFAST! Just eat something: oatmeal, pancakes, yogurt, trail mix, bagels, fruit, something.

Why?

Well, boys and girls, let me talk a little about metabolism. You want a good, high metabolism. Why? Because the higher your metabolism, the faster your food is digested and nutrients absorbed. It means your body works faster and better. You see a lot of people with high metabolisms are usually thin, even though they seem to eat a normal (or more) amount. It’s either genetics or they know how and when to eat.

Structure of adenosine triphosphate, a central intermediate in energy metabolism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you don’t eat breakfast, (just literally breaking your fast) your metabolism won’t wake up. For it to boot up and start trying to make you have less fat, you need to give it something to start on. Otherwise it’s going to be very slow. And when you do finally eat lunch (which is usually bigger than breakfast), your metabolism will be slowed down at that point and you won’t absorb nutrients or digest as quickly.

We like to go big on breakfast when we can. This is (not necessarily our typical) our ideal breakfast: whole-wheat Kodiak pancakes (or waffles), eggs, whole wheat toast with jam, Morningstar Sausage Links, and a big fruit salad. Sounds like a lot? You can bet our metabolism is going to be booted up from the start? And yes, I usually can’t finish everything so Chris gets to clean my plate.

Not in the mood for a big breakfast? When I don’t have a lot of time before work and Chris is still asleep, I’ll usually make oatmeal, or greek yogurt with fruit and nuts, or an egg on toast, etc. Those all have plenty of protein and carbs for me to last until lunch or snack time.