Protein Power Ups

Hey guys, long time no see. I've been a busy girl but I've been keeping up with all the recipes I've made along the way. Some of them are more Paleo than others but I'm going to work my hardest to get them posted.

So, what's going on in my life you ask? I have another figure competition approaching very quickly. Actually it's in two weeks! I've been playing around intermittent fasting. It seems like it is working so far because I'm not eating quite as strictly as I was the first time but I'm already leaner.

I know that protein powders are controversial in the Paleo world, as they should be. Many of them are made with less than optimal ingredients. I have chosen to include them in my life up to a certain point. I have a hard time eating enough protein without feeling like I'm going to blow out my stomach. I use Carnivor, which is a beef protein, and it actually tastes pretty good. I personally like chocolate the best and cooking with it is awesome!

The other day I ran across a website called Proteinpow.com and I was so excited that there are so many ways to bake and cook with protein powders. I'm not a huge fan of just putting them in a shaker bottle and drinking. That's boring. There was a recipe on the site for strawberry protein bars and I was intrigued. The only problem is that it called for strawberry whey protein, which I don't use, and chocolate, which I can't have during contest prep. So.... I made a verson that I can have! I made a few different flavors including pumpkin pie, chocolate peanut butter (my favorite), mocha, and orange cream (which was my least favorite). Keep in mind that this is not 100% Paleo.

"Chocolate Peanut Butter"

Ingredients:

• 2 scoops Carnivor chocolate protein powder
• 3 Tbsp coconut flour
• 2 Tbsp PB2 (can use almond butter, sunbutter, or other nut butter)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (use less if you are using a regular nut butter, play with it until you get the right consistency)

Directions

1. Mix the dry ingredients together.
2. Start adding the coconut milk to the dry ingredients a little at a time while stirring. Once it has a dough consistency, stop adding the milk. You don't want it runny. 
3. Take a teaspoon and dip out a portion a little smaller than a golf ball.
4. Using your hands, roll the dough into little balls. There should be enough to make 10-12.
5. At this point you can get creative and roll the balls in shredded coconut, more PB2, or a mixture of unsweetened cocoa and stevia.

Coconut Butter

In a previous lifetime I was a huge peanut butter fanatic, I could sit and eat a whole jar in one sitting and be perfectly happy. Nowadays I would feel slightly guilty about that! I've gone through many nut butter phases but right now I'm on coconut butter kick. I love coconut butter plain, I love it with flavors mixed in, I could eat it with anything! Unfortunately there is a very large price tag that goes along with the little jars of heaven. What is a girl to do? Well, she makes her own for a quarter of the price of course! It's so easy too!

You can mix it in with mashed acorn squash, use it as a topping for paleo cupcakes or doughnuts, eat it with fruit, mix it in with creamy soups to add extra texture and flavor, melt it and dip frozen fruit pieces and stick back in the freezer to make a shell, use it as a topping on ice cream. The uses are endless!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups shredded coconut (or as much as you like, I like to use about 6-8 cups so I don't have to make it as often. Buy it in bulk at Whole Foods)
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

1. Place one cup of the shredded coconut in your food processor and turn on. Keep it running until it turns starts turning liquidy. Then add the rest of the coconut and continue blending until it is smooth all the way through, scraping down the sides several times. In the end it will look like thick milk. Don't try to scrape down the sides while the processor is running, you might lose your spatula...
2. If it doesn't blend all the way, add the coconut oil and continue blending until smooth. It will have a slightly grainy texture.

*I like to get creative and add flavors according to my mood, my favorite being what I call midnight mocha madness. After the coconut butter is done I add a Tablespoon of cocoa, a half teaspoon of instant coffee, and 1 tablespoon liquid Stevia, then continue blending until it is all incorporated.

Chocolate Sunbutter Swirl Cheesecake Bites

Life is funny sometimes. For months I was going full force at 110% with working out and accounting for every piece of food that I ate to make sure I was in top shape for my figure competition. After the competition I let myself have a few indulgences before I was ready to get right back to it for another show in June. Then a series of unfortunate circumstances set me back to a point that I haven't been able to work out for 3 weeks and might not be able to for another couple weeks. On one hand I am relieved that my body has been able to rest, but on the other I feel like I need to be going going going!

One good thing that has come out of my extra time is that I am able to write and test recipes! I have missed this so much!

My co-worker and friend, Megzilla, had a birthday recently so I decided to make her a little treat and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy them as much as she did :)

Ingredients:

For the crust

• 6 Sweet Potato Biscuits
• 4 Tbsp Stevia in the Raw
• 2 Tbsp grassfed butter, melted

For the filling

• 1 package cream cheese, softened
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Stevia in the Raw
• 2 heaping Tbsp Sunbutter
• 2 heaping Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

Directions:

1. Prepare the sweet potato biscuits as normal (link is above).
2. Keep the oven on at 350F.
3. After biscuits are cooled, crumble 6 of them unto a bowl with the melted butter and stevia. Combine until thick and crumbly.
4. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and ration the crust evenly (should make 12). Then press the crust firmly into the bottom of the liner with a spoon or shot glass.
5. Place the crust in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until it starts to brown on top.
6. While the crust is baking, cream the cream cheese with a hand mixer, then add in the yolks, coconut milk, vanilla, and stevia. Blend until very smooth, at least 2 minutes.
7. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the filling and place in a separate bowl.
8. In the original bowl, add the sunbutter and mix with the hand mixer until smooth.
9. In the other bowl, add the cocoa and mix until smooth.
10. Take the crust out of the oven when finished and let cool slightly but not all the way, about 5-10 minutes.
11. Divide the sunbutter filling evenly between the 12 cups and spread to cover the crust.
12. Dollop the chocolate filling on top of the sunbutter filling and create swirls with a butter knife.
13. Place back in the oven for 10 minutes.
14. Let cool before serving and store in the refrigerator.

Honey Dijon Mustard

Things are finally starting to settle down in my life again and the one thing that I have been missing the most is creating new and fun recipes. The same ole fish and kale was getting pretty boring. I have to say that I'm still not opposed to eating fish or kale, just not at every meal!  There are a few things that I would love to eat at every meal though, one of those being chocolate!!!

One thing that I hate is people that don't mind their own business. I live in an apartment and have two cats and a dog. No I didn't pay the pet deposit because it is an outrageous amount of money that you don't get back. I'm not saying that having animals in an apartment without telling is completely right, but when a maintenance man reports all the animals without ever coming in the apartment (to my knowledge) or knowing if I "registered" them is so annoying. Now I have to part ways with my animals for a while. I'm going to miss my cat Buffy. She is my snuggle buddy.

As for the recipe, I made this marinade/dressing/dipping sauce that you can basically put on anything from chicken to salads to dipping veggies in it. It tastes very similar to the honey mustard at Chick-Fil-A... Not that I should know that :-/

Ingredients

• 1 cup Coconut Cream (I used Trader Joe's)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Directions

• Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
• Refrigerate until used; up to a week.

I tossed some chicken breasts with the dijon mustard for an instant main course.

I'm Cacao for Coffee

Anyone that knows me know that if I don't have my coffee fix at 5 am, they aren't going to get a peppy Sam. I walk into the gym with a blank stare on my face right past everyone straight to the coffee maker. I love anything that is coffee flavored, ice cream, cake, cookies, milk shakes... I have even gone so far as to put coffee in my sunbutter. I like my coffee hot in the morning and chilled in the afternoon, especially on a hot summer's day. Mmmmmmmm coffee....

Blended with ice

I started putting cacao in my coffee for flavor and antioxidants and came up with a delicious treat. I have been drinking Bulletproof coffee for a while and this is my version:

Ingredients

• 1 cup brewed coffee
• 1 tablespoon cacao
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• stevia to taste

Directions

1. Brew coffee as you normally do.
2. Add all ingredients to blender and blend on high speed for 30 seconds.
3. Pour into mug and enjoy or pour over ice for a cold treat.

Sunflower Seed Butter AKA Sunbutter

Since peanuts are a no go and aren't actually nuts, I had to turn to other means to quelch my cravings. One of them is sunflower seed butter, which is packed with healthy fats. Of course you can buy this in the stores but it is so expensive!!! I can make a huge jar for only $2 which is a quarter of the store price. That is totally worth it when you are on a tight budget. Another plus is this tastes so much better than store bought because it is fresh.

Ingredients:

• Roasted sunflower seeds (I used the 1 lb bag from Trader Joe's)
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

1. Pour the bag of seeds and the coconut oil into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. You may need to scrape down the sides a few times. Yes it is that easy!

* You can get super creative and add in stevia and cacao for an indulgent chocolate treat but beware, it is addictive!

My First Figure Competition

The moment I had been waiting so long for has now come and gone and what an experience it was! So many things go into training for a figure competition that you just many not think about from the way you eat to the way you train from week to week. I was eating a very limited Paleo diet that consisted of egg whites, tilapia, ground turkey, green veggies (spinach, kale and chard) some sweet potatoes and sunflower seed butter. Not a whole lot of recipes coming from that combo, just throw in a pan, cook, and eat.

I did mostly Crossfit style workouts consisting of heavy lifting and cardio. The heavy lifting trickled down to more light weight and high reps toward the last couple weeks, just enough to get a pump.

My life consisted of work, eat, workout, eat, and sleep for a couple months and it payed off because I placed third in class for my first ever competition! Not too shabby. I have decided to do another one in June because I'm not stopping until I place 1st overall, I'm stubborn like that :)

Here are some pictures from the show:

On stage doing one of my poses

Holding my 3rd place trophy

In the line up (I'm on the very right)

Me and the Ninja

Since most of my recipes are so simple I haven't taken the time to post any but along the way I discovered that a certain blend of spices really tickles my taste buds more than others so I thought I would share. I use this combination on my meats and in my egg whites to give them an extra kick. Everything I do is to taste so I don't have any exact measurements.

I take a pinch each of smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt and sprinkle it on my food while it is cooking. Today I had sliced turkey tenderloin and Power to the Greens from Trader Joe's all sauteed in a pan with my seasonings and it was awesome! Take a look!