Protein Chocolate Banana Pancakes (Low-Carb)

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You know I think Breakfast is the meal of the champions... right? Well, I'd gotten into a bit of a rut with it. I suppose I just wasn't much of a champion for a while, there. I mean, I was eating breakfast, but... I'd sacrificed flavor and excitement in favor of protein and numbers. I began having two hard boiled egg whites and two pieces of toast with fiber jelly. Healthy? Absolutely. Delicious? Not so much...

And then I stumbled across Tone It Up's Protein Pancakes. I've seen a few recipes for what is supposedly the same pancake... and ended up deciding to try the version they created for St. Patty's Day... minus the spinach, of course (which wouldn't change the flavor but sure does make your pancakes green!).

Why is this special? It has 31.5 grams of protein (that is pretty insane) and only 17 carbs. Talk about a great ratio of carbs to protein, my friends. If you're already on some kind of workout plan, these pancakes will take it to the next level and get you sleek and toned for summer! Take a bite!

The Tone It Up recipe calls for brown rice protein powder... well, not only do I not own that, but I'm also too lazy to run to the store and spend money when I have perfectly good food in sight. So I turned to my trusty old Double Rich Chocolate Protein (get it here for almost half off)... Justin and I picked up a FIVE pound jug of it a few weeks ago and it is just begging to be used.

The recipe also called for blending all ingredients in a blender to make it smooth... but, until I read that step, I'd been envisioning small, golden, delicious pieces of mashed bananas showing up in my pancakes... and I wasn't willing to give that up! So I opted to just mash the banana and mix with the other ingredients.

Protein Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Servings: 1
Calories: 205
WW Points (Old): 4
WW Points Plus: 5
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Adapted From: This Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tbsp Stevia (Truvia)
• 1/2 Banana, mashed
• 3 egg Whites
• 1/2 tbsp Almond Milk (or skim milk)
• 1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder
• Optional: 1/2 tbsp Flax Meal

Directions:

1. Mash banana
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well
3. Pour pancake batter 3-4 inches wide (It's best to make these pancakes on the smaller side). Cook until each side is slightly brown.
4. Garnish with strawberries and blueberries and optional small amount of honey

While you're sitting around today, here's my "song of the day" (which is funny because I don't do that...). A great reminded that all of these beautiful things (food, music, sunrises, sunsets, the color of your partner's eyes) are made beautiful by the ultimate creator... God! :)

Bad Salad. Good Salad.

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Salad.  It seems like a good decision, doesn't it? Sometimes salad can seem like a fortuitous nutritional decision but actually turn out to be a huge mistake. Don't believe me? Here are a few examples..

• T.G.I. Friday’s Santa Fe Chopped Salad has 1,800 calories (MSNBC).
• Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad has 1,310 calories, 93 grams of fat, and 1,470 milligrams of sodium (MSNBC).
• California Pizza Kitchen's Waldorf Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing has 1,570 calories, 30 g saturated fat, and 2,082 mg sodium (MSNBC).

On your way to a dinner date?  Here are some salad-ordering tips:

• Mexican Themed Salads = bad.  They're usually loaded with thinly cut tortilla chips (bad), lots of fat-saturated meat (bad), and an abundance of cheeses (also bad).
• Creamy Dressings = bad. As far as dressing goes, if you can't see through it, it's bad.  That's a good rule of thumb to keep you away from heavily cream or mayonnaise/fat based dressings.  Steer clear of Blue Cheese, Ranch, and Thousand Island.  Head, instead, for vinaigrettes - my favorite is balsamic vinaigrette. 
• No Croutons!  They seem harmless but are actually tiny little packages of carbs and calories.
• Similarly, stay away from tortilla crisps, crispy noodles, etc.  Anything bread-related (even bread cousins like noodles and chips) should NOT be on your salad.

Or... stay home and make it yourself! Here's a salad recipe I came up with after having this delicious salad at Basil Leaf Cafe in Lincoln Park:

Here's my improvised version...

What You Need:

• Spinach (Mixed greens in these pictures, but I prefer spinach)
• Strawberries (Cut into thin rings)
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Feta cheese
• Sliced almonds or pine nuts
• Dressing:  Balsalmic Vinaigrette

How You Do It:

• Alright, salads are pretty much just about throwing stuff on a plate, right? So... do that!

Here are some links for further reading:

MSNBC 5 Restaurant Salads That Are Worse Than A Whopper

Men's Health 20 Salads That Are Worse Than A Whopper

Men's Health Best Bottled Salad Dressings

Asian Lettuce Wraps

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Just about everyone I know is obsessed with the lettuce wraps at P.F. Changs.  After seeing an attempt to crack the secret here, I was inspired to create my own.

    

The recipe below will yield what I made last night.  I fed five people, everyone got as much as they wanted, and there was a tiny bit left over.  If you're cooking for two people, and are only eating this as a side, I made a note next to each ingredient suggesting how to alter the recipe.

WARNING:  This recipe breaks my low ingredients rule by a long shot.  It has almost 10 ingredients and requires a lot of slicing and dicing.  That said, it's full of vegetables and low carb, so I suppose that combined with its sweet amazing tasty goodness will make up for the work it takes.

What You Need:

• Large pieces of iceberg lettuce (to use as a wrap)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil [1/2 tablespoon for side]
• 16 ounces of ultra lean ground beef [4 for side]  (Can substitute chicken here)
• 1 large green pepper, diced [1 small green pepper for side]
• 2 cups shelled & steamed edamame beans [1/2 for side] (I couldn't find shelled edamame beans at the grocery store, so I actually did the labor of steaming them and then squeezing the beans out of the pod.  It wasn't horrible - but I'd still recommend pre-shelled beans if you can find them).
• 3/4 cup soy sauce [3 tablespoons for side]  (If you don't have this much, it's alright to under-do it a bit on the soy sauce).
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds [1/2 tablespoon for side]
• 1 large cucumber, diced [1/2 cucumber for side]
• 1 cup chopped green onion [1/4 cup for side]
• 2 handfulls of cilantro, chopped [one small handful for side]
• Lime juice from 2 limes [1 lime for side]

How to Make it:

1. Using a saute pan, cook ground beef with the green pepper and the canola oil.
2. While beef is cooking, chop the cucumber, green onion, and cilantro, and juice the lime.  Set this to the side (to be used in a few minutes).
   
3. Once beef is cooked, add the steamed edamame beans, sesame seeds, and soy sauce.  Stir and heat for a few more minutes.
   
4. Remove from heat and put into your serving bowl.  Add the chopped cucumbers, green onion, cilantro, and lime juice.  Toss together.
   
5. Serve with lettuce pieces!

Enjoy!

Chocolate, Chocolate Cake! Oh My Gosh! Let's Bake A Cake!

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Give me a reason and I'll bake you a cake. Seriously. I'm always looking for reasons to bake a cake.  One summer, when my friends and I were sitting outside on a summer night around midnight, my friend Jimmy said, "Man, I really wish we could have cake right now!"  Well, guess what, ladies and gentleman? I baked the man a freaking cake.

Guess what this post is about?  Have you guessed it yet?  5 points if you guessed "CAKE!" Such a smartypants.

The Story:
On Fathers Day, my father was in Boston, getting my little sister oriented for her college career.  So, naturally, there was a cake waiting for him upon his return...

Along with these cards on his bedroom door (I took this before we'd even finished, so there are a few missing).  Yes, let's just say that I tried to make some of them look the way my handmade cards looked when I was 5.  Quit judging, already!

Anyways, back to the whole cake thing... When it comes to baking, the challenge with my dad is that he doesn't like food that tastes healthy.  This isn't necessarily because he is anti-health (is anyone?), but more so due to the fact that he doesn't want to get slighted in the taste department just to score well in the health department.  Since it was his cake, I had to oblige his taste buds.  

The man likes chocolate.  The man likes fruit.  Hmm.  Do the noodle dance.  

Eureka!  Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse frosting and strawberries.  

What you need for the cake:

• 1 box of Sugar Free cake mix (or regular, your calories not mine!)
• 1 can La Croix

How to bake the cake:

1. Start with the cake mix and 1 can of La Croix.  Mix with an electric beater. (Can substitute 2 bananas & 1/2 cup water... Or you can follow the box directions and use eggs/milk/oil etc)
2. Pour into a pan (whatever size cake you're going for) and bake according to box directions.  Check the cake with a toothpick on the earlier side of the timeframe the box provides (Ya know how boxes always say "35-42 minutes" or something like that?  Go with the 35).  Take it out when the toothpick comes out dry. :)
3. Let the cake cool while you make the "frosting" aka mousse

What you need for the frosting:

• 1 box of Jello's Chocolate Mousse
• 1 cup of Skim Milk
• (Optional Strawberries)

How to make the frosting:

1. Mix "Mousse"  mix with Skim Milk using an electric mixer.
2. Pour into one large bowl (or just refrigerate your mixing bowl for less cleanup).
3. Refrigerate
4. Once the cake is fully cooled, spoon the "Mousse" on top and smooth out
5. Add sliced strawberries.

Why did I use Chocolate Mousse instead of real "frosting?"

The short answer:  It's healthier and saves a whole lot of calories.  I hate when I make a healthy cake only to ruin it by smothering it in icing.

The real answer:  Frosting is jam packed with sugar, fat, and calories (and, even for those who aren't trying to be 'calorically' healthy, the sugar rush and eventual crash are just not good for your system). Mousse has a similar consistency to a fluffy frosting but has so much less crap in it (excuse my French). 

 

A jar of frosting has around of 1400 calories in it... but, by making mousse (which actually gives you more volume to work with, anyways, so your frosting on the cake is thicker), you're working with about 430 calories (if you use Skim milk -- 2% would only bump that up to 480).  To put it in perspective, you're saving ~1000 calories in the cake by switching to chocolate mousse.

Okay, that's all folks!  See you later with some pics from a Chicago adventure!