Chocolate Banana Protein Pancakes

With the many changes I have made in my life over the past month or so – comes the ability to really get creative in the kitchen. Almost everyday I see delicious stacks of protein pancakes and have always wanted to try one of the recipes. So, my best friend Chelsea, and I decided to have a #bakedate on Friday night after our favorite spinning class to try one of our very own recipes.

I researched several recipes, because there are honestly hundred of flavors you can go with when making these, to determine what flavors and style of pancake we wanted to go for. For our first time we wanted to keep in simple – we both LOVE chocolate, we wanted to tons of fruit and obviously packed full of nutrition and protein. With this is mind we decided to make our very own Chocolate Banana Protein Pancakes.

The recipe is so unbelievably simple and the outcome is so unbelievably to die for! Chels and I go in to our workouts together pretty pumped and after we killed our spinning class Friday night – I hate to say it, but I think we were even more excited when we got to indulge in our stack of pancakes. Enjoy!

• 4 eggs (you can also us egg whites 3/4 cup)
• 2 bananas
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 scoop – chocolate protein
• 2Tbs – cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• strawberries
• bananas
• blueberries
• honey (we used cinnamon honey)

1. Combine eggs, banana, oats, protein, cocoa powder, cinnamon in a blender. Pulse until completely blended and looks like liquid.

2. Use a 1/4 cup to scoop and place in medium to low skillet.

3.Top your stack of pancakes with strawberries and place banana and blueberries around. Drizzle with honey.

Photo guide:

This recipe is SO easy. Literally just throw all the pancake ingredients in a blender – we didn’t chop, slice or reduce anything.We found that it was much better to keep the pancakes small – much easier to stack that way!We placed sliced strawberries on top of our pancakes and saved the remaining fruit to disburse along the plate – these are a good fork pick-me-up while you are eating!

To top it off, what makes baking/cooking/eating/working-out/ whatever you are doing so much better – good friends!

 

Log What You Eat, Love What You Eat.

I have always been a healthy eater. In the past I would indulge occasionally and now even less, but healthy eating has always been a good habit of mine. Yet no matter what, I still felt like I could do better. What my problem was is just over eating.  I was eating all the right food, but again just too much.

I tried plain and simple eating less but found I was not holding myself accountable. It wasn’t until I used simple resources around me that I found myself on the perfect health and fitness track.

First, I changed my style of workouts. Before I was working out alone everyday. Now, I am working out with others, along with doing my own works and taking a one rest day throughout the week. This was a great new method for me. It was through working out and sharing my health and fitness journey with others that I was able to learn of great resources that I am constantly surrounded by, but never thought to utilize to benefit my health. Naturally attending multiple group fitness classes each week has really helped! From spinning, Insanity, Circuit Training, Ballistic Core, PiYo and more – the variety of workouts I am doing has now greatly increase. With such great motivation from those I see at our workouts on the regular basis (#fitfam) I am now even more motivated to hit the normal gym by myself. Both my cardio and weight training intensity has increased!

Second, my phone. Sounds a little strange but, oh man is technology useful! I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app. This has become very useful now that I am tracking my macros, as well as eating more portion controlled meals. It allows me to track my food and nutrient intake – which is vital for the #IIFYM eating habits.

Another tool that I am using on my phone is my camera. Now I have been known to be somewhat of a #foodie, but good or bad, I have taken it to another level. And while I am not posting everything I eat on social media I have my own library of meals. On top of the easy to use MyFitnessPal app, I take photos of my food. Think about it, taking a look at an app and reading ” 4 oz. chicken breast” is not nearly as fun or effective than looking at a picture of a 4 oz. chicken breast. It has allowed me to enjoy healthy eating even more. Taking the photos and tracking my food has become a habit, it works well for me, and it is something I enjoy. Below are two examples 

Breakfast – my morning shake and handful of blueberries.

Lunch – 1 1/2 cups lentil, vegetable, bean soup

Afternoon snack – Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/4 strawberries, 1/2 teaspoon of chia seeds, 1/4 cup granola.

A specific workout, eating and life plan is different for everyone. This has not only been working for me, but is making me feel absolutely great! What resources, apps or tools work for you?

How To Deal?

So I have been at my job almost nine months now and finally feel like I am learning the ropes of daily duties, as well as my own responsibilities. I have gained quite a bit of knowledge and feel like I have a decent understanding of the complex industry that I now work in.

Each day I can see myself grow as a marketer/comm. gal/social media guru. I am becoming more confident and have increased my ability multi-task and handle a greater load of work. With a larger load, an increase in the ability to multi-task AND a boost in confidence it should be smooth sailing, however I have found it to be quite the opposite. My life has become more stressful, or after channeling my inner G, scressful. But seriously, for a while there I thought I was making a turn for the better compared to my high-strung attitude I had in college. Yet, I have surprisingly been able to stay rather calm? I don’t know, it all very confusing to me too.  However, it is absolutely impacting me, so much so, that I am having medical issues due to it. WHHHATTT!

YA, I know. Anxiety is something that I am convinced has been genetically passed down to me, but pain and discomfort due to stress? While any medical issue will be delt with and cured, it just made me think how being too in control can make you lose control.

If anyone knows me they know I like to take charge and be in control of almost everything. Yet, in my new position I have had to painfully allow others to take on that role – which I believe allowed me to be harder on myself and my own ability to be in control. Not only that, in my own time at work I have mentally ran around like a mad lady trying to be so organized and in control of my own work that it has stressed me out – no wonder I leave work each day mentally exhausted!

We all deal with stress and certain situations differently, but is there a way to ease this overwhelming feeling? Trust me, I have heard all of the inspirational quotes about how stressing never benefits anyone or situation, but if you lose sight of that it may be something you absent-mindedly lose sight of.

How do you deal with stress? Or, when you find yourself overwhelmed, becoming subconsciously stressed is something you realize after the fact. If so, now what? How do you prevent this from happening in the future?