S'mores Baked Oatmeal

S'mores Baked Oatmeal

OK this recipe is freaking awesome!  It has the perfect S'more-sy deliciousness without the guilt!  :-)  It is the perfect breakfast, especially this time of year when we need a reminder that summer is sort of far away!  Enjoy!

1/2 cup Rogers Porridge Oats
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar free Vanilla Jello pudding powder
1 Tablespoon of Graham cracker crumbs
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon Toasted Marshmallow Sugar free syrup
1 Tablespoon Dulce de Leche Sugar free syrup
1 Tablespoon chocolate chips
13 mini marshmallows

Stir together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients, stir. Pour into dish sprayed with nonstick spray. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and marshmallows. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Let cool for 10 minutes. Dig in!!!

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Coconut Protein Fudge

OK so this is going to be the easiest recipe. EVER.  Ready?  Wait for it......

You might want to play around with protein powders but I used Trutein.

1 scoop Peanut Butter Marshmallow Trutein protein powder
1 Tablespoon of Coconut Manna (I used Nutiva..I melted in the microwave for about 15 seconds, power level 8)
A bit of cashew milk to mix, if needed.

Mix together, put in a small greased dish (think fruit bowl size).  Throw in the fridge to cool.

I used half as one serving.  

Seriously.  AMAZE.  ING.

PS...my son ate the other half and asked if there was more.  I think I am trying Red Velvet next.

You are welcome.   

Chocolate Chia Protein Pudding

I frigged around with this recipe for 3 days.  Too much liquid, not enough chia...and so on.  Day 3 was a charm and this is totally perfect now and SUPER easy to whip up.  And some extra protein and super foods to your day with this creamy concoction of delirium! :-)

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup water (you can use almond, coconut, hemp, etc milk)
1 Tablespoon whole chia seeds, not ground
1 scoop protein powder (I used Trutein Vanilla)
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
splash of caramel extract (that is just what I felt like today...you can leave it out or experiment with others)

Throw everything in a bowl, whisk for about 30 seconds and refrigerate for about 2 hours.  It will thicken during that time.  Grab a spoon, dig in!!

PS:  I topped my pudding with 1/2 tablespoon of Lily's Chocolate chips.

You are welcome, BTW!

Want to see a quick video on how I threw it together?  Watch here:

 

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Have you ever tried Chia pudding before and if so, what did you think?

"WTH Did She Do Last Week" Sunday Oct 26th, 2014

OK, let's just lay it out here....moving sucks.  Ass.  I have been a bit preoccupied with the cardboard and the ripping and tearing of my basement, but with the aid of my BFF, Juan Valdez, we are getting through it and making poop happen, DESPITE it all!  It takes a special kind of crazy (I know that) to get through this.

So this week I am back on track with the posts and making a bit of a tweak to include some other facets of my journey like fitness and Personal Development and maybe even throwing in some of my fave things to perhaps inspire you to try something new.

Since I am all about the food, lets get this party started with what I ate.  And of course my bevvies of choice.

Throw in my Shakeo and the day is complete!

Let's talk about the food, shall we?  Mmm, Hugh Jass salads and Pumpkin pancakes and bacon, oh my!  Eating for this competition has been nothing less than enjoyable so far.  I know it will change but I will take my nut butters while I can.

Now about those workouts.  This week I felt really strong.  I felt muscles and saw muscles I have never seen before.  I also weighed in 3 lbs less this week, which is rather mind blowing.  Since I started, my goal was to get my body leaner.  I am sitting at around 13 lbs less that when I started working with my coach.  This has been a slow and steady journey but I have loved every single minute.  Patience is a virtue I am learning well!

Heading to other news, to keep myself on track, focused and fired up I do daily personal development.  It not only fuels my drive but it helps me be a much better leader to my team.  It keeps me inspired! 

This week I have a been a podcasting, book reading, webinaring freak.  Chalene Johnson's Build Your Tribe is on the top of this list! She is SUCH a blast and is one of my mentors.  If you haven't looked her up, DO IT now!  :-)  Throw in my book, "Influencer" and I have a well rounded mental feast.

So as I head to the kitchen to make my afternoon coffee & coconut oil, I am once again feeling fired up to kick ass and take names this coming week.  Maybe it's the caffeine....or maybe life is JUST that great! 

She's got thighs...

I am pretty sure I am not meant to be a size 4. Or a 2. Hmmm, I think I was skinny once...when I was 3. LOL. I have decided I really don't care about those numbers. I have other numbers in mind. 

How about putting a focus on the number of times we move our bodies. How many days we sweat and feel like we conquered the world because we ran 10 miles. Or PR'd our deadlift. Or how many times during the week we made healthy choices for our bodies instead of choosing crap...when there is so much of it in our face 24/7 to sway us. How many times were YOU strong when you went out to eat, passed by that bagel shop or drove on by the Golden Arches?

Those are the numbers that matter. Sizes, schmizes. They mean nothing. There are beautiful, wonderful, amazing, healthy fit people in EVERY size imaginable and I am one of them. I have friends that are power houses and they are wrapped up in these tiny packages but size is deceiving. They are strong. They can kick ass!! I also have some friends that society might consider overweight that could throw me under the train in any race and fitness competition. They would mow. Me. Down. 

Healthy is not a cookie cutter thing. One size does NOT fit all. I am surrounded by fit friends of all shapes and sizes and honestly they inspire me. We don't need to be labeled by a number on our jeans. That is SO 1980's!

I believe if we wake up and track the numbers that count...like how many times we make better choices, how many days we wake up with a wonderful attitude, how often we show those we love that they matter, the times we give to those who need it more, the moments of random acts of kindness....that our notches we have marked off would be way more significant at the end of the day than a tag sewn to denim.

Wait...I am woman. With strong-ass thighs. Hear me roar.  

Are you proud of your strong legs too?  I would love to hear your answers below in comments!  

Don't Speak

There are some things that I almost never speak about on social media.

One of them is my weight.  Or even more so, the fact that I need to lose it.  TO COMPETE in a figure competition.  Not because I am overweight but because stage weight is a whole lotta different than every day normal living weight.  

There have been several times in the past that people who were never a follower before (or a brand new one & didn't know my story) on either of my Facebook pages, randomly saw either a pic or a post of mine referring to the fact that I "had work to do" and I was basically attacked.  I realize from their standpoint and a person looking in for the first time, that what I said may have come across as a slap in the face to them.  For that I apologize.  It still was not pleasant or pretty and they accused me of having a myriad of issues instead of taking time to get my story.  Geeez, man....I mean "never assume" is how that old saying goes. You know the rest.  Oui??

I work with people every single day that have weight issues.  I understand where they are coming from if they look at me and my body right now.  Yes, I am fit.  No I am not overweight.  What the actual FACK could I possibly be talking about, right??  But it could have been solved with ONE simple question to me.

Yes, as I progress in my journey to the stage I have been pretty tight lipped.  I share my successes with my hubby, my family and my closest friends, period.  I just feel less drama is what I need in my life, not MORE!

I digress because I wanted to chat a bit about where I sit right now.  This week has been pretty insightful in many aspects of my life, to start.  Today I got on the scales as I do now every Sunday because I need to know my weight to tell my trainer.  I am down now 10 lbs since starting with John (he rocks, FYI).  I have been working with such a great coach and he is not only doing things to help me get to my goals but he is teaching me the WHY involved in getting there, that I just never had before.  If you have ever graced my presence you will know I am a questions kind of girl.  I need to know shit.

I also, instead of rushing to make the freakin MAGIC happen am trusting the process and am LOVING the process.  No magic or wands waved...just hard work, dedication and sweat.

When I started training earlier on this year I had concocted some kind of fairy tale image in my mind that in several months I should darn well be looking like Andreia Brazier, don't you think?  I mean much to my chagrin when I looked in the mirror and HOLY SHIT, there were no abs, a lotta cellulite, and no visible pumpage of muscles or veins popping. Again....what the actual FACK? 

Oh did I mention I may occasionally curse like a trucker?  Sorry...I am from the East Coast...I was born with it.

Let's carry on shall, we? 

I had a reality check.  I know it takes now not months but YEARS of training to get muscularity of that level.  I was SO impatient, trying to rush my way to competing that I didn't have time to stop and simply take in what was happening to my body (and also what wasn't).  My life was also on NOS at that point and I had too much on my plate in every facet of my life.  Wow, for being a smart girl, I sure was making some not so smart choices.  Apparently I was Wonder Woman...but only in my head.

Today I have never felt more amazing and assured that every step I take is in the right direction.  Will I be ready for November 1st?  I am not sure.  Will I wait if I am NOT ready?  Yep...I am not stepping on stage til my body is there.  If that means a spring show, then so be it.  But I WILL be on that stage.  I want it and I am prepared to wait til my body is where is should be.

It only took me 45 years to come to this conclusion.
 
Shhhhh, don't tell anybody.  :-)