~paleo friendly mini blueberry muffins~

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a mixer, blend: 3/4 cup egg beaters 3 T. honey 2 T. coconut oil, melted 2 T. coconut milk 1/4 t. salt 1/4 t. vanilla In a separate bowl mix the following: 1/4 t. baking powder 1/2 cup coconut flour Add the dry mix to the liquid mixture, and blend. Add 1/2 cup fresh blueberries. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This is a small recipe. Mine made 8 mini muffins at 103 calories each. Melaine

~espresso protein shake~

I was craving something sweet this morning so I whipped up a concoction and it turned out delicious!

Enjoy!

Melaine

~the best homemade pesto recipe~

I love pesto, especially on sandwiches, or crackers, or pasta......

Here's one for you to try!

Nutritional info per 1 Tablespoon:

fat: 3.6 grams

sat. fat: 0.4 grams

sodium: 2.7 mg

cholest. 0 mg.

carbs: 1.4 grams

fiber: 0.6 grams

sugars: 0.3 grams

protein: 1.3 grams

Melaine

~a couple recipes~

Kale Chips:

Wash and dry your kale. 

Tear apart leaves and toss in a bowl with sea salt, olive oil, and garlic.

Put olive oil on a cookie sheet and spread the kale leaves out in a single layer. 

Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through. 

Let cool. They will crisp up as they cool.

 Pumpkin protein muffins:

Mix together 2 scoops vanilla protein powder, 4 tablespoons pumpkin puree, 2 cups egg whites, 1 1/3 cups oats, 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice, and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. 

Bake at 350 for approx. 20-25 min. 

Makes 9 at 95 calories per muffin~give or take depending on your protein powder.

Enjoy!

Melaine

~PB2~{and another smoothie recipe}

 I discovered PB2 not that long ago, and found it is a great alternative to high fat peanut butter. 

You can order and read about it here.

I bought the plain powdered version, but am anxious to try the chocolate.

I tried the recipe below yesterday and it was so good, I finished it off before remembering to take a picture for you. Yes, it was that good.

This is not a very low cal. option, but good for after a hard workout.

It says it serves 2, but I drank the whole thing.

Here is the list of ingredients from powdered PB2. As you can see the calories in 2 Tablespoons are only 45, compared to regular peanut butter which has about 190. 

Quite the difference.

I shared a cookie recipe using PB2 on my friend Tessa's blog a while ago.

  Here is the link if you want to look that up.

I have found that getting enough protein in your diet is very important.

It not only helps keep you full feeling longer, but it also helps in building and repairing muscles.

If you are wondering how much protein you should eat per day {it's more than I bet you think}

bodybuilding.com has a way to calculate it. Go here for that info.

I've found it tricky finding high protein and low fat foods. Here are a few of my favorite choices:

nonfat greek yogurt

turkey jerky

southwestern egg beaters

egg white frittata

PB2

supreme protein bars

nonfat milk aka tall nonfat vanilla latte at Starbucks :)

chicken and hummus plate at Starbucks

protein plate at Starbucks

are you seeing a trend here? 

So, calculate your protein intake for the day and see how many you are consuming.

It's hard and you have to gradually work your way up.

Good luck!

Melaine

INGREDIENTS:

Roasted peanuts, sugar, salt.
Serving size: 2 Tablespoons (12 grams)
Servings per container: 15
Calories: 45
Calories from fat: 13

Value and % Daily Value*

• Total fat 1.5 g 3%
• Saturated fat 0 g 0%
• Trans fat < 0.01 g
• Cholesterol < 0.01 mg 0%
• Sodium 94 mg 4%
• Total carbohydrate 5 g 2%
• Dietary fiber 2 g 8%
• Sugars 1 g
• Protein 5 g
• Vitamin A < 1%
• Vitamin C 0%
• Calcium <1%
• Iron 0%

~the easiest dessert for that sweet tooth~

Sorry, I know this recipe contains bananas and y'all asked for non banana desserts.

More to come, I promise.

This one was just too easy not to share.

Simply mash 2 ripe bananas, add 1 cup oats and 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for 15 min.

Enjoy!

Melaine