I'm A Foodie Pen Pal!

I have some very exciting news... I'm a foodie pen pal! November was my first month being apart of this wonderful event, and I loved it. I am absolutely doing it again! 

I was sent a food-filled package from the lovely Liz! She unfortunately doesn't have a blog, but she's still an avid food blog reader.

I came home from {my first official day of} work to a huge box on my bed. I already knew what it was, and I was SO excited to finally receive it! I've literally been looking forward to it the entire month of November!

Using children's scissors shaped as an elephant, I hurriedly cut open the box... along with the side of my finger... (I told you I was excited!) and found these:

This lovely note (horribly photographed -- my apologies!) followed by...

THESE!

(Don't let pictures deceive you -- that popcorn tin? Yeah, it's HUGE! I have no idea how Liz knew I loved popcorn, but she somehow knew!)

Inside the cute little star container was homemade pecan shortbread cookies drizzled with chocolate. Oh, yes, I did say "was". My family (mostly my mom!) ate the entire box on me... Thank goodness I got to try at least one prior!

The cookies were actually shaped as moons and stars! Most of the stars broke, but that didn't make them any less delicious.

I am so incredibly thankful for these gifts, especially because one was homemade! What beats homemade cookies? Nothing!!

Thank you SO much, Liz, for your amazingly thoughtful package! I loved every bit of it, and so did/does my family! The popcorn is freakin' incredible... You are fueling my caramel popcorn addiction and I don't even mind! 

Check out what I sent out over on Kristin's blog! Hope you enjoyed it, girly!!

I highly, highly recommend any food lovers to take part in Lindsey's monthly Foodie Pen Pal event. It's awesome. So awesome.

Snickerdoodle Protein Pancakes

Last pancake Saturday, I made one of my best pancake batches yet. And I've made a lot of pancakes.

Inspired by Heather and Katie and their recipes for snickerdoodle-inspired pancakes, I made snickerdoodle protein pancakes. Ooooh yes.

Look at that stack of healthy deliciousness.

When I have pancakes, I don't want 1. I don't want 2. I want a STACK of them! 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole wheat flour (you can sub with whatever flour you prefer)

1/8 cup (2 tbsp/half scoop) cinnamon roll (or vanilla) protein powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp (heavy dash) cinnamon
1 packet of Stevia/sweetener
1/4 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)

1 egg white (this is actually optional and just for added protein. You can omit it and just add more milk)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
tiny pinch of salt (don't omit!)

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients completely.

Stir in wet.

Cook on medium/high heat. Flip halfway through (when it starts getting all bubbly!)

Enjoy with whatever you please!

 I recommend some peanut butter stuffed in between. But, when don't I?!

So. Freaking. Good.

Aside from peanut butters, I stuffed mine with plain Greek yogurt mixed with milk chocolate protein powder, and topped them with gingerbread "sauce" made with unsweetened almond milk + a sprinkle of gingerbread flavored Duncan Hines Frosting Creations. (You would think I was sponsored by them because I rave about them so much... I'm not. Promise! )

What I Ate Wednesday #29

Guys... in three days, December is here.
You know what that means?
(Well, aside from the fact that it's already freakin DECEMBER!!...)

ABC FAMILY'S 25 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS STARTS!

But, even when it's (sadly) over on television...

It won't be for me!  (Thank you, mommy!)

Okay, now I think it's time to list some eats from recently, yes? (That's probably why you're all here anyways! Sorry for the blabbin'!!)

Post-Thanksgiving eats:

11/23/12 - Breakfast: healthy double chocolate protein egg white oatmeal with all natural gluten-free/nut-free chocolate granola + 100% whole grain cereal + banana slices + plain Greek yogurt + loads of White Chocolate Wonderful/Biscoff spread, topped with cinnamon roll protein cream + 100% clean chocolate sauce + an extra dash of unsweetened almond milk.

11/23/12 - Dessert/Snack: clean chocolate almond brownie microwave cake topped with peanut butter + cinnamon roll protein cream/frosting + banana slices + Christmas sprinkles! + strawberry sauce + chocolate granola, on top of small chopped apples + whole grain cereal + a bit of light Cool Whip (I’m addicted) + homemade gingerbread almond milk "ice cream".

11/24/12 - Breakfast: holy cow were these amazing! And SO healthy, too!

100% clean snickerdoodle (inspired by Chocolate Covered Katie!) protein pancakes layered with Biscoff spread + chocolate protein cream + banana slices + pumpkin flax granola, all topped with cinnamon sugar (cinnamon + PureVia) + light maple syrup + gingerbread sauce.

{Recipe is coming soon for those curious!}

11/24/12 - Dinner: can you say POWERMEAL?!

I decided to make my family a super delicious and healthy homemade dinner!

Mini lean beef (93/7) hamburgers/Salisbury steaks in sautéed mushrooms (in a mushroom/onion cream) with Skinny Taste's INCREDIBLE baked eggplant sticks/”fries” (spicy-fied!), and mashed cauliflower “potatoes”. I had my “fries” with a side of marinara, my "burgers" on top of some fresh spinach, and a microwaved sweet potato with diced garlic & onion tomatoes + plain Greek yogurt + feta!

This was delicious x100000000. I'll probably make it all over again soon!

11/24/12 - Snack: popcorn. And loads of it! Hehe.

I had some air-popped mixed with some of this.

11/25/12 - Breakfast: post-workout OIAJ!

Super thick & fluffy pumpkin protein/egg white oatmeal with a bit of natural chocolate granola + healthy cereal (and a sprinkle of caramel Cheerios) + banana slices + slivered almonds + plain Greek yogurt + cinnamon + a bit of Dark Chocolate Dreams + clean chocolate sauce + an extra dash of unsweetened almond milk, inside a nearly-empty White Chocolate Wonderful jar.

11/25/12 - Dessert/Snack: healthy gingerbread microwave cake layered with Biscoff spread & peanut butter + cinnamon roll protein cream, on top of small chopped apples + healthy cereals + homemade almond milk "ice cream", all topped with clean chocolate sauce & healthy strawberry sauce.

11/26/12 - Breakfast: strawberry "cream pie" egg white/protein oatmeal with some healthy cereals + banana slices + plain Greek yogurt + cinnamon + Biscoff spread + prepared vanilla pudding + slivered almonds + shredded coconut + clean chocolate sauce (added after the picture... It made it look ugly, haha) + an extra dash of unsweetened almond milk.

11/26/12 - ...Dinner? Snack?: my snack-ish dinner thing for my first day at work... Haha. It held me over, though, which is good! I love hard-boiled eggs. My first day working at Rite Aid was Monday, and all I had to do was watch horrible CBT videos (there is a total of 18 freaking videos, 10-40 minutes EACH!!!! HELL!). But, since I get paid for watching them, it technically counts as my first day! Haha.

And, normally, I’d use the opportunity of missing dinner time to restrict and skip dinner overall, but that's not me anymore.

Proud.

P.S. I finally got a name tag and it makes me feel so official!!

Third time job's a charm, I guess!

11/27/12 - Breakfast: "Phish Food"-inspired (By Ben & Jerry's!) protein egg white oatmeal!

Chocolate protein oats with caramel Cheerios + mini marshmallows + chocolate Goldfish + a bit of Biscoff & regular PB (I can never eat oatmeal without PB! Haha) + caramel Greek yogurt + an extra splash of unsweetened almond milk! SO delicious!

11/27/12 - Dessert/Snack: microwave clean/healthy fluffy pumpkin-nut mug cake stuffed with peanut butter + chocolate protein cream + banana slices, on top of small chopped apples + healthy cereals + homemade chocolate protein almond milk "ice cream", alllll topped with healthy chocolate & strawberry sauce! Oh, and just a litttttle plop of Fluff... Delicious is (or was?) a complete understatement.

11/28/12 - Breakfast: definitely one of those “looks gross but tastes incredible” bowls, haha.

Fluffy chocolate protein egg white oatmeal with healthy cereal + banana slices + slivered almonds + plain Greek yogurt + cinnamon roll protein cream + an extra dash of unsweetened almond milk, all inside a nearly-empty super creamy peanut butter jar. SO delicious.

Workout {Picture} of the Week:

(Can I make that a thing for now? It's a thing.)

The rest of my workouts can be found here!

P.S. Look forward to seeing my brand new theme coming soon! 

Calories don't count on Thanksgiving!

What?! Two "what I ate" posts in a ROW?!

That's right.

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Americans!

I'm so glad Jenn's letting us post double-the-fun this week! I'm excited to share some more little victories, and some good food with you all now! I'm that obnoxious overachiever that Jenn warned you all about. 

Let's start off with my night-before-Thanksgiving, shall we?

Holy. Homemade. Cookies.

I got to hangout with one of my all-time BEST BEST friends last night, for the first time in years...

 She has the same food/ED-related problems I do (literally the EXACT same aside from one thing), and we had THE greatest time just baking homemade cookies all night. Who needs alcohol when you have cookies?  While baking, I had 4-5 (PLUS dough!) since, you know, I was a taste tester and all! Hehe.

The amount I'm proud of myself for this little lame victory is incredible... Normal things like this usually stress me out so much. But I was so excited and willing to try them, without even worrying if the cookie was 100 or 200 or even 300 calories a piece. I liked that feeling. I missed that feeling. I didn't and still don't feel any bit of regret, nor do/did I feel “fat”. I just feel... normal, ya know? And free! Me and her are so much alike it’s ridiculous, and we both feel so much freer after challenging ourselves. It's so much easier to do when you have someone who knows EXACTLY what you're struggling with supporting you.

We made cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin white chocolate almond oatmeal cookies, and finally, snickerdoodles! Nearly 3 hours later, and they were all freaking amazing! Nothing beats a homemade, ""unhealthy"" cookie. Forrealsies!

Thanksgiving:

I actually woke up early no problem, around 7:20 am, despite getting home late and going to sleep at 1:30 am! So, I had a small pre-workout snack (un-pictured/uninteresting), then, I killed my workout!

I did Insanity Max Interval Circuit's warm-up, 2 ZWOW workouts, 1 BodyRockTV workout, and a short plank. I actually felt super body-positive this morning, which was super unexpected after last night. Despite my tummy ache, I was feeling amazing!

This... This beauty was my post-workout breakfast.

I made every one in my family an individual, personalized stuffed French toast.

Mine:

White Chocolate Wonderful, Dark Chocolate Dreams and Biscoff spread stuffed French Toast on 100% stone-ground whole wheat bread, stuffed with banana + shredded coconut + slivered almonds + cinnamon roll protein cream + cinnamon, topped with clean chocolate sauce + banana + a bit of shredded coconut + cinnamon + slivered almonds + some crushed cereal + a mini sprinkle of pumpkin flax & chocolate granola + a bit of maple syrup + powdered sugar.

Holy. Freaking. Deliciousness.

*Had an un-pictured, also uninteresting small apple + less than half a cookie... Hehe.*

THANKSGIVING DINNER! The best part!

Turkey (+ gravy), loads of vegetables, mashed cauliflower, mashed potatoes, stuffing (so addictive!), homemade sweet potato pie, and the EASIEST homemade whole wheat buttermilk biscuits!

I made a lot of this stuff on my own, and I am so proud of it! Everyone was happy and that proved success.

I also had about 4 servings and felt like I was gonna explode after. No regrets, though. No. Regrets.

Dessert-on-dessert-on-dessert.

I had so much dessert I can't even begin to explain. No regrets... again.

Cannoli "chips and dip", homemade cookies, frosted sugar cookies, brownies, white chocolate pudding pie, oreo pudding pie with an oreo crust, homemade pumpkin roll (SO good) with cream cheese, homemade pumpkin pie, and homemade s'mores pudding cake.

After dessert, I went back and forth with eating because I kept feeling on and off nauseous... and I really wanted to make the most of my Thanksgiving! 

Then, me and my cousin head out for our first Black Friday...

and boy, was it an experience...

We went to Target first, and it was absolutely RIDICULOUS! We ended up getting overwhelmed, buying nothing, and leaving...

We, then, went back to her house... ate a bit more leftovers (we clearly have a problem), then went to the mall and waited outside for almost an hour... Just to leave with one sweatshirt altogether! So not worth it!!

Why, you ask? Well... SHE MADE ME WAIT IN VICTORIA'S SECRET FOR FOR ALMOST TWO HOURS FOR THE THING! VS had terrible (and barely any) sales, yet they had more people inside than a club. It was overwhelming and just so uncomfortable. I wish I was exaggerating, too.

It was literally painful because I started feeling horribly nauseous and sick did way through, so I just sat in a random chair in there for an hour while bitching to my cousin how it's pointless waiting for one sweatshirt that had absolutely nothing significant to it! Haha. I got home around 2:30 am, and literally just got my pajamas on and went straight to bed, nauseous and all.

Never will I ever go out Black Friday shopping again... at least not with her!

But, this is how I spent my Thanksgiving...

And I hope you all did the same.

I hope you all had just as an amazing Thanksgiving as I had, and I hope you enjoyed every moment, every bite of food, and just everything about today in general! You all deserve it more than ANYTHING! 

P.S. A new theme for Life Like Fruit Salad is on its way!!