Currently... 01/13

Hello, hello! Happy Thursday! 

So, despite my WIAW absence this week, I totally feel like blogging today! It was convenient that I just so happen to see this survey-type-thing on Heather's blog, and felt like it was a current must-do! 

Current book: we're reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom in English IV, and I love it so far. I'm not much of a reader (unless it's a blog... or about food...), but this book is genuinely interesting and thought-inducing! Totally a recommended must-read.

Current Music: Ho Hey by The Lumineers.

... and maybe some Beauty and A Beat by Justin Bieber.

(Sorry, I love me some Biebs! Not so much Nicki Minaj, though...)

Current Guilty Pleasure: Arizona Heat spicy mustard! Holy guacamole is it good!

Also, the combination of cinnamon sugar anything with cream cheese... Which calls for one of my newest creations... (Inspired by these babies!)

Cream Cheese Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Protein Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 scoop (28g) cinnamon roll (or vanilla) protein powder

1/4 c (26g) ground flax

2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon

1-2 tbsp sweetener

1/2c (113g) plain Greek yogurt
1/2c liquid egg whites

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 large ripened banana (or just microwave it without the peel for about :30 to soften if it doesn't seem ripe enough)

Cream Cheese Filling:
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 tbsp powdered (confectioner) sugar

1-2 tbsp milk of choice (I used almond)

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a loaf pan with non-stick baking spray.

In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients aside from your sweetener.

Now blend yogurt, sweetener, egg whites, vanilla extract, and banana until smooth or desired consistency.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Combine ingredients for filling.

Pour about 3/4 of the batter into your loaf pan, then spread your filling through the middle. Use a spoon or spatula to evenly distribute, then pour the rest of the batter on top. Distribute the rest of the batter the best you can, then sprinkle extra cinnamon and sugar on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

(Inspiration and adapted recipe/directions from here.)

Current Nail Color: Simple glitter nails!

Strobe Light by Sally Hansen

Current Drink: Sugar Cookie Tea

Saying I'm obsessed is putting it lightly! I've gone through over 5 packs of these since October... 

Current Food: smoothie bowls, inspired by Heather herself...

Oh, and Cascadian Farms' organic Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

Holy WOW is this stuff so delicious! CTC is my favorite, and this tastes almost identical! It's so nice to have the flavor and deliciousness minus the sugar and continuous processing.

Current Favorite Show: Full House or Zoey 101!

Current Wish List: Zuzana Light's new DVD, and maybe some new nail art "stickers"...

I LOVE these things!

They work and stay on AWESOME! And the best part is, you don't have to wait for them to dry!

Current Needs: more time... and to do better in pre-calculus... a 40% is not a good way to end math in high school! 

Current Triumphs: I... I don't know! I've been quite confident lately, and I've been feeling so much stronger... Do those qualify as "triumphs"?? 

Current Bane of My Existence: math!!!!! Math, math, MATH!! Ahhhh!

Current Celebrity Crush: ironically enough, me and my friend were talking about this in class today!

I guess I can say Louis Tomlinson...

*Drools* 

Current Indulgence: does cereal count?!

This stuff is the equivalent to crack.

I mentioned how Cinnamon Toast Crunch was a love of mine, but this stuff tops that by a long-run! I used to eat Blueberry Muffin Top cereal, but then they stopped existing out of the blue and I have been craving them ever since! This 'Blueberry Crunch' from Target is just as amazing.

If not, then definitely PB2. Not much of an 'indulgence', but I add it to nearly EVERYTHING!

I just got two new jars, less than a month after purchasing the first two!

Current Blessing: Heather said it perfectly! My health, life, family, friends...

Current Slang: "is this real life?" "Did that really just happen??"

(Hahahaha... It's okay to laugh at me. I can't help but laugh at myself!)

Current Outfit: I started off wearing this while typing the beginning of this post...

(+ shorts and neon sneakz)

and am ending it wearing THIS:

Current Excitement: to finally hangout with a close friend this Saturday! We're going to Applebees' "half-price apps" to get some half-priced appetizers for some ultimate snackage on Saturday night with her friend that she wants me to meet so we can all be the three best friends that ANYONEEEEEE can have! (High fives and kudos to you if you know where that's from! ) I also get to conquer some "fear foods" that night and I am READY!

Current Mood: happy, but quite hungry... Putting a whole new meaning to HANGRY!

 Current Link: uhhhhm... hmm... What about my current favorite boy & girl YouTubers!?

Rachel & Byron Talbott and Nikki & Dan Phillippi!

Merry Pan-mas!

Sorry for the lame title, but... MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Since today is Christmas and all, I decided to share two more protein pancake recipes with you all... (Yes, two more. Because I don't have anything better to do than create new and improved pancake recipes!)

First up: sugar cookie tea-infused protein pancakes

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 whole egg

2 tbsp whole wheat flour (can sub for different flour)
2 tbsp dry oats, ground into flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
dash of cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar cookie tea, steepened
2 packets of sweetener
1 tbsp cinnamon roll protein powder (optional, for added protein. Can also sub with vanilla!)

Directions:

Mix all the dry ingredients very well.

Stir liquid ingredients into dry, then stir again until completely mixed.
Cook on medium-low, flipping halfway through.

Top with desired toppings and devour in a messy fashion.

Next, purely delicious banana nut bread protein pancakes stuffed with cinnamon roll protein cream. These were some of my favorite pancakes to date. They were that good.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp whole wheat flour (can sub with other flour)

3 egg whites

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
dash of cinnamon
1 packet of Stevia
1/2 tsp light brown sugar
1/3 large banana, melted in the microwave for 1 minute then mashed
Cinnamon Roll Cream:
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tbsp cinnamon roll protein powder

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients.

After microwaving your banana, stir (with wet ingredients) into dry VERY well.

Cook on medium-high heat.

Mix the ingredients for your cream, then stuff in between your stack of delicious banana bread pancakes.

You can also add granola and/or nuts to these to make them banana NUT bread pancakes! I added a sprinkle of Kashi granola cluster cereal, and it made them even better.

I hope some of you guys like these pancake recipes I've been posting lately! I've regained my love for pancakes, so you might just see some more stacks-on-stacks being posted!

Anyways, enjoy your Christmas and/or your Tuesday, everyone!! Make sure to appreciate everything you have/everything you've gotten, and realize how lucky you are! I can't believe it's already basically 2013 already... Seriously, 2012 was the fastest year EVER!