Macro Friendly Sweet Breakfast Cakes!

Welp folks, it’s the 13th of March and we are snowed in!  Snow days make me want to snuggle up on the couch in my sweats and watch movies, so that is exactly how I started my day today!  But it isn’t complete without a hearty breakfast.  We had our eggs, but to accompany them I threw together this quick recipe for Macro Friendly Sweet Cakes (Pancakes)!  Took about ten minutes to make… Check it out!

Ingredients

1/4 Cup + 1 Tbsp Coconut Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

2 Large Eggs

1 Scoop Gold Standard Vanilla Whey Protein

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 Cup Almond Milk

1/4 Cup Water

Optional Ingredients Below:

1/4 Cup Blueberries (Fresh or Frozen, I used frozen here)

1 Tbsp Cream Cheese

1 Tbsp Strawberry Jam

Dollop of Whip Cream (I use Reddi Whip cause that shit is the bomb)

Directions:

Combine all of the required ingredients (Everything above the optional items).  Mix thoroughly so batter is smooth.  Heat up a skillet and spray with cooking spray.  Scoop your batter onto the pan as you normally would for pancakes.  When the pancakes start to rise and develop little bubbles, toss in some of the blueberries before flipping the pancake.  Now, of Course you can add these into the batter if you prefer to do so, but this is the way I prefer to do it for a few reasons… One- it prevents the batter from turning blue!  Two- It prevents the batter from separating around the blueberries (which sometimes distorts the shape of pancakes and can cause uneven cooking).

One the pancakes are done… If you choose to add the optional ingredients as I did… You can zap the cream cheese in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.  Don’t cook it, just warm it so it doesn’t make your pancakes cold.  Same thing with your Jam.  If the jam is in the fridge, give it just enough heat to prevent it from making your pancakes cold.  I spread the cream cheese and strawberry Jam between two pancakes, then topped with a little whip cream.  And that’s it!

You can enjoy these without the fruit and jam and cream cheese- substitute a little cinnamon for the blueberries, or enjoy with just maple syrup.  Or even try other fruit… Banana Pancakes are the bomb if they can fit your macros, and are even better with cinnamon and walnuts…. Strawberry banana are a great combo as well!

Macros (without Jam & Cream Cheese, but including Blueberries):  Makes 3 Servings – 150 Calories per serving, 5.4g fat, 10.2g Carbs, 4.5g Fiber, 14g Protein.

Anyways, hope everyone has a great snow day!

Over and Out… – RPTrainer 🙂

Keto Brownies

Hi Everyone!  Happy weekend!  So this weekend’s sweet treat was brownies!  We were feeling like Brownie and Ice Cream Sundaes for our weekend sweet cheat, but still like to try to stay as close to keto as possible, so returning to our normal diet isn’t too difficult.  So here is MY version of Chocolaty Keto Brownies! 🙂

Ingredients

1/4 Cup Almond Flour

1/4 Cup Coconut Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder (I used 50% Special Dark Hershey’s, 50% Regular Cocoa Powder)

2 Eggs

5 Tbsp Butter (soft or melted)

4 Tbsp Coconut Oil (Liquid state)

1/4 Cup of Swerve (You can use another sweetener if you prefer, but may alter the macros- so calculate accordingly)

1/4 Cup Black Coffee (Fresh Brewed)

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

Step One: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  And spray a baking pan (I used an 8×8) with cooking spray.

Step Two: Combine dry ingredients listed above- Almond Flour through Cocoa Powder, sift with a fork so no clumps. (Not including the swerve)

Step Three: Combine wet ingredients listed above- 2 eggs through Vanilla Extract (except the coffee! That comes later).

Step Four: Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix until fully combined.

Step Five:  Slowly add in the hot coffee and stir until fully combined.

Step Six: Transfer the batter to the baking pan and cook in the over for around 20 minutes.  I’m honestly not entirely sure on the exact time because most of the time I forget to even measure the ingredients which makes it hard to share a recipe! lol.  So I will say roughly 20 minutes… You can tell when they are done because A- The batter does not jiggle and might even have a few cracks in the top, and B- A toothpick test (stick a toothpick in the center of the brownies when it is just about done.  If the toothpick is clean then the batter is cooked.)

Step Seven: Remove from Oven, let cool slightly and serve warm or package for later 🙂

Makes 12 Servings: Macros: 113 Calories, 11.2g of Fat, 5.9g of Carbs, 1.8g of Fiber (so 4.1 net carbs) and 2g of protein.

Please note- These brownies were moderately fudgey.  To make a fudgier brownie, simply increase the butter by about 1-2 Tbsp.  But I’d try my way first, as there in my opinion were perfect!  Please remember to adjust the macros accordingly as the above will no longer apply if you alter the recipe.

Hope you Enjoy! 🙂

The above Brownie Sundae is made with my homemade brownies, Halo Black Cherry & Vanilla Ice Cream and Reddi Whip Whip Cream! When hot fudge is added to the sundae, we try to keep it to a minimal or choose a healthier option, taking into consideration the sugar, carbs and calories).

#ketobrownies #rpbakes #Ketodesserts #Ketorecipes #ketodessertrecipes #rptrainer #ketolife #ketodiet #healthalternatives #cheatclean

Finding the diet that is right for you…

There are a lot of different types of diets out there (and no I don’t mean fad diets like shake diets or miracle diets). You have the typical 1-2-3 approach, zig-zag dieting, you have carb-cycling, low-carb/high protein, low carb/high fat (keto), reverse dieting, intermittent fasting… So many different diet approaches. Choosing a diet that is right for you depends on your current diet, your activities, and your goals. Sometimes, you might switch from one approach to another. I personally have done all of these at different stages in my training. Some I failed at, and some worked great for me. Let’s briefly discuss these…

1-2-3 Approach- This is the most common, easy to follow plan. It involves balancing out your meals so they are 1 part fat, 2 parts protein, and 3 parts carbohydrates. While many people believe carbs are the enemy, they truly are not. Carbohydrates are our body’s main source of fuel. They are required for brain function, many metabolic processes in the body, energy, etc. It’s not the carbohydrate that is the problem, but rather the type of carbs we eat and the way we eat them that causes problems. Carbohydrates can vary in complexity based on their molecular structure. If you over consume carbohydrates and your body does not need them, then your body converts these to fat and stores them. Balancing out your meals and portioning them properly, coupled with spacing them out throughout the day – will regulate insulin levels, energy levels, and keep your metabolism in check. This diet is usually easy to follow and involves little you have to “give up” since you still get to enjoy foods like breads, pasta, potatoes, etc.

Zig Zag Dieting involves eating a set, structured weight loss meal plan (balanced out macros) for a period of time (such as 3-5 days), then increasing your overall caloric intake to normal for a short period of time (1-2 days) and returning to the diet plan, then repeating this process. The idea and studies behind this plan show that the participants lost weight on the diet plan, gained a little weight back on the increase, but lost more weight each time they returned to the diet plan – thus overall achieving their goal weight without A- depriving themselves of the foods they love, and B- while training their body to adapt efficiently to the fluctuations. So your BMR is adjusting to the changes, rather that adjusting to just the new lower caloric intake.

Carb-Cycling is not for everyone. But before I even get into this, let me say that there is a difference between carb-cycling and carb-loading and right now we are talking about carb-cycling… So Carb Cycling is great for vigorous training… But I wouldn’t recommend it to someone that leads a more sedentary lifestyle. This diet involves reducing your carbohydrate (and often overall caloric intake) for typically 1-3 days, then increasing your carbohydrate intake for 1 day that follows, then repeat the process, reducing again for 1-3 days, increasing again for one day, etc. Long term this is not really an efficient method of dieting as the former two are. In short it can prevent plateaus in weight loss/progress. When I did carb-cycling, I found the more low-carb days I had, the more effective it was. I did this in two programs- one was 2-3 low carb days followed by a high carb day, and the other was every other day was a high carb day. In the diet where I was every other day high/low carb, I wasn’t burning the carbohydrates fast enough. My low carbohydrate day was still 75g of carbohydrates on a reduced calorie diet (1200 calories) and 187.5 carbohydrates on my high carb days. I found my stomach was crampy and uncomfortable and it was effecting my overall performance in the gym and my energy levels. So again, great technique for athletic conditioning, not recommended for everyday lifestyle, and not recommended long term.

Low Carb/High Protein Diets are very popular. Protein is the building block for muscle and a metabolic staple in the diet world. There are so many different types of protein sources available, so this diet can fit many different dieters (vegetarian, vegan, carnivorous, grain-free, gluten free, etc.) The downside to a low carbohydrate diet however, is protein is not typically used as a fuel source for energy. In the short, this is a great program to burn off some excess body fat. Because the body is deprived of carbohydrates it will tap into fat stores for energy when carb sources are low or depleted. However, long term studies show that it lacks proper nutrition, and people were reported with fatigue, muscle weakness, headaches, cramps, diarrhea. The other downside to long term, is most people can’t stick to it forever! They miss the carbohydrates and want to enjoy them, and there is nothing wrong with that, other than when the carbohydrates are being re-introduced into the diet (often too rapidly) people put the weight right back on. If the rate of carbs are increased too quickly the body doesn’t have a chance to adapt to the change and naturally stores them as fat thinking it is a temporary supply.

Low Carb/High Fat Diets, also known as the Ketogenic Diet are typically high fat, moderate protein and low carbohodrate. This diet is designed to use fat for fuel as opposed to carbohydrates. When the body is low on it’s main fuel source, carbohydrates, it will use fat for fuel (whether provided or stored). Protein is typically a last resort for fuel for the body, as it is required for more important processes in the body – like building muscle, repairing tissue, growth and development, etc. A Ketogenic dieter should use healthy fat sources, and try and choose nutrient dense vegetables with their meals that provide fiber. There are always cons to every diet, and it is important to remember that nutrient deficiencies are common in diets like this. Some side effects could include constipation (because the diet is low in carbohydrates, it may be lower in fiber which is why it is important to pay attention to the nutritional makeup of the foods you choose), nausea, bad breath and hair loss. Women also sometimes struggle with this diet due to hormonal imbalance. Again, every person will have different results and effects with a diet. Risk of side effects can be reduced if the dieter is aware of their nutritional needs and what the diet lacks. Supplementation of vitamins and minerals may be required. Ketogenic diet is not for everyone and can be dangerous for people with type 1 diabetes. It is important to consult with a physician and dietitian if you are unsure if this or any other diet is right for you, and especially if you have any health conditions.

Reverse Dieting can be done on any diet plan. The process involves starting yourself at a set number of calories and slowly increasing your caloric intake over time to adjust your metabolism to be able to burn more calories more efficiently. So for example, if I started my diet at 1600 calories for a week or two, the follow week I may increase it by 100 calories to 1700. If no weight is gained, my body has successfully accepted the change and I can attempt in the following week to add another 50-250 calories (depends on size of person/diet/etc.). If weight is gained, the following week I may reduce it to only 50 calories, so 1650 instead of 1700. Everybody’s bodies react differently to changes in the diet. So the results will vary and it may take one person 5 weeks to go from 1600 calories to 2500 calories, and it may take another 10-12 weeks to get comfortable with that same adjustment to caloric intake.

Intermittent fasting is the last diet I would like to mention on here. This diet has been around for a really long time and can be coupled with other diets/methods. This process involves fasting for an extended period of time, typically in the beginning of your day to allow the body to tap into carb and fat storage for fuel. It is not for everyone. Some people prefer eating every 3-4 hours starting from the time they wake up. People that work rotating shifts may not like this diet. It really just depends on the person. On intermittent fasting you should still consume water during your period of fasting, some people also incorporated BCAA’s or a BCAA /Electrolyte Blend. Staying hydrated will keep your metabolism in check, so you don’t confuse the body into thinking it is starving. When the body feels starved, it slows down your metabolic rate, to preserve energy.

An important outlook on any diet…

It is important to understand not only your body, but the diet you choose. Every person is going to react differently to different diet techniques. What works for some, does not always work for others. There are so many factors that play into the results and success (or failure) of a diet. Things like lifestyle and habits, climate, allergies, body type, digestion, stress, genotype, etc. Just so many things that play into your results. This is especially important to know when you read about research studies that involve dieting. If it works for 75% of a control group, it still might not necessarily work for you, and that is okay! No reason to be discouraged, you will find what diet approach IS best for you! The body doesn’t understand what you’re doing, it’s like a machine or vessel, constantly running all these metabolic processes, chemical reactions and building and breaking down compounds to efficiently run and survive. It’s like when you’re driving your car… If you’re two minutes from a gas station and out of fuel, the car doesn’t know “hey I’m only two minutes away I can make it”…It just knows it’s missing a component of what it needs to run…Fuel. The body is very similar. It doesn’t know what you’re doing, it just knows how to use what you provide it with. So having a nutrient rich, healthy diet is important. If you choose a diet that may have vitamin or mineral deficiencies, consult with a doctor or specialist and find what supplements you will need to nourish your body so it does not feel deprived.

Lastly, the idea of dieting shouldn’t be torture. Find an approach that will help you be successful. Be comfortable with it. Embrace the change and the challenge. Believe in yourself. And love yourself and your body. Fuel it right, no matter what the diet approach.

Sources:

ISSA Text: Sports Nutrition Fourth Edition – Daniel Gastelu MS, MFS; Frederick C. Hatfield, PhD

https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/what-keto-diet-it-right-you-ncna847256

https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-carb-cycling

https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040902/low-carb-diets-work-safety-still-issue#1

http://www.eatstopeat.org/who-created-fasting/

Keto Friendly Homemade Chicken Soup with Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

Good Morning!  I know some of you saw the photos on my instagram (rptrainer425) of this delicious chicken soup.  So here is the recipes for both my homemade soup, and a recipe I tried for Cheesy Garlic Biscuits to serve with the soup!

The Keto Chicken Soup is my recipe.  I went to the grocery store for our meal prep shopping on Friday and thought… “What can we have in chicken soup that won’t knock us out of ketosis?”  It has been rather dreary the last couple of days here… We are having rainy, snowy, cloudy days most of this week, so I was thinking comfort food.  With this weather honestly, Panera Chicken Noodle with a huge hunk of baguette, is a weakness of mine.  Haha.  So to avoid ordering Panera on my way home from work, I opted to make some soup.

Ingredients:

10 Cups of Low Sodium Chicken Broth

2lbs. of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (This is my preference, you could also use a different type of chicken meat, or even tofu if you wanted.)

3 Celery Sticks Chopped

1 Small Onion Chopped

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Butter

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1 Bunch of Kale Chopped (my bunch worked out to be about 2 cups of Kale)

Directions:

Step One: Cook your damn chicken!  – I did mine in a crock pot.  I prefer the chicken to be sort of shredded like a pulled chicken.  It’s easy and moist, and compliments the soup well.  But you can bake your chicken or even boil it if you prefer.  I clean up my chicken- removing any tough spots, fatty pieces, tendons, etc.  and toss into the crock pot with a little oil and seasoning of my choice.  I personally like BBQ rub or rotisserie seasoning because it gives it a nice flavor, but will be mild enough (because I am cooking it in the crock pot) that it won’t take away from all of the other flavors in my chicken soup.

Step Two:  While my chicken is cooking,  I set up a large pot on the stove with the butter and minced garlic.  I turn it on medium heat and let the butter melt and the garlic get frangrant before I add the 10 cups of chicken broth.

Step three:  Wash your veggies and chop ’em up!  I cut up the kale, onion and celery and add to the chicken broth.  (Note:  I keep the largest onion skin pieces and toss them in the soup while it cooks.  This adds flavor and color to the soup.

Step Four:  Bring the soup to a boil then add seasoning of your choice and simmer.  For seasoning I added a little garlic and onion powder, black pepper, a little oregano, and a bay leaf.

Step Five:  I let the chicken soup simmer, until the pulled chicken is done.  I drain the crock pot and shred my chicken (not too fine, but rather fairly large shreds).

Step Six: Slowly add the pulled chicken and stir into the soup.  Let it simmer another 10-15 minutes.

Step Seven:  Remove the onion skin and bay leaf from the soup.  Package or serve and enjoy!

Makes 6 Servings:  Macros: Roughly Per Serving: 212 Calories, 5.7g Carbs, 1.2g Fiber, (4.5g net carbs) 9.2g Fat, 27.4g Protein.

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits Recipe was served with these (shown in photo).  This recipe is delicious and pair well with the soup!  Here is the link…

Link: https://www.isavea2z.com/low-carb-biscuits-recipe-keto-friendly/

Mini Pumpkin Keto Cakes

One of the advantages to being a baker and a macro counting fitness fanatic is that I often find ways to make the sweet treats we love into something that fits our diets.  This morning I was starting our meal prep, and realized I had a cup of pumpkin in the fridge from a few days ago.  Pumpkin doesn’t really last long once you open the can.  So I was trying to think, how could I use this?  And this was the result…  Mini Pumpkin Keto Cakes!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Pumpkin

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

1/4 Cup Coconut Flour

4 Large Eggs

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1/8 Tsp Nutmeg

1/2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 Cup Swerve Sweetener

1 Scoop of Gold Standard Vanilla Whey Protein

Pre-heat oven to 350, and spray a 9×9 or 9×13 baking pan.  Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, and wet ingredients in another.  (If Coconut oil is solid, melt it to a liquid state.)  Add the wet ingredients into the dry.  Mix thoroughly.  Transfer the batter into your greased baking pan.  Place in oven for 30-40min.  Toothpick to test!

Remove from oven and let cool.  Cut the cake into squares and enjoy! (Optional Frosting Below)

Makes 12 servings: Macros without frosting: 133 Calories per Serving, 11.4g Fat, 4.5g Carbs, 2.3g Fiber, 2.2g Net Carbs, 4.4g Protein

Optional Frosting for Keto Cakes: Now depending on the caloric intake, some keto-dieters may opt for no frosting.  The cake is delicious both ways!  Here is the optional frosting recipe:

3 Tbsp of Butter

1 Tbsp Heavy Cream

1/4 Cup Swerve Confectioners

Combine ingredients for the icing in a bowl and mix with a mixer until well combined.  If the icing is too soft add an additional Tbsp of swerve to thicken.  (Other thickening agents can be used as well – if you prefer)

Frost the Keto Cakes and sprinkle with a little cinnamon and stevia.  Enjoy!

Macros for Frosting: 12 Servings:

My Personal Review of my cake recipe:  The cake is good.  Not too sweet, was moist and flavorful.  The frosting I wasn’t crazy about.  I used swerve for the first time, and don’t love the product.  I wanted to give it a try as an alternative for baking fit friendly snacks.  If I were to make the recipe again, I may opt for a cream cheese frosting instead so I could use less swerve confectioner sugar.  🙂

Also, please note this recipe is keto because that is the diet I currently follow.  You can easily alter the recipe and substitute the coconut oil and the eggs out, to have this fit a lower fat diet.

Hope you guys enjoy this recipe!  Stay tuned for more!

Pre-Meal Prep Pep Talk…

Meal Prep seems to be the hot topic lately… When people reach out to me, often times their number one struggle is diet. Sometimes they ask for easy recipe ideas for family dinners, other times they ask “where do I start”. So I am going to try to share more meal prep posts both on my Instagram (Rptrainer425) and on here.

For Starters, the key to success on a diet or meal plan is meal preparation. You need to plan ahead and be aware of what fits your diet if you plan to stay on track. I use myfitnesspal, but there are a variety of apps these days you can use to track your meals. Plan your day-to-day meals and even plan your cheat meal(s). You have to be willing and able to pack your snacks or meals if you leave the house for long periods of time – for work, or errands, or an afternoon out with friends or family. You have to remember to stay hydrated, and keep enough water on you if you’re out and about.

Trust me, I know it’s hard… It takes practice, and self-discipline. It takes courage, and time and patience. It takes a strong desire to overcome challenges and achieve greatness. True story… My coworker ordered a pizza a couple of weeks ago and put it right outside my office door, and repeatedly offered me some. I didn’t have any. The same coworker brought in a bunch of Girl Scout Cookies and left those also right outside my office door. Again, I didn’t have any. And then on Friday, my office had a going away party for one of our employees, and ordered a bunch of pizza, salad, and cookies. I sat for the entire luncheon with them, but managed to not touch a thing! I ate the lunch I brought, and drank water. Trust me, I know it’s hard… But in time you develop strength; You develop will-power; You develop a desire to put your goals ahead of temptation. And you realize what is worth it for you.

Hopefully this post got you guys realizing that being in the right mindset is an important part of success, even more so than meal preparation. We all start somewhere, but the difference between those who are successful and those who are not, is often the commitment or lack their of. So today I’d like you to reflect on this, and get committed to your goals. Write them down, prioritize them, learn them, get comfortable with them. Repeat them to yourself regularly. Then we can get into types of diets, and proper meal preparation for them in my new few posts! So stay tuned!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. 🙂

Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals

The diet and exercise roller coaster ride in life can be frustrating and exhausting, leaving you feeling defeated time and again.  Now, while failure is a healthy part of learning and growing as individuals, success is also an important (and healthy) part of our growth.  How do we achieve this with our health and fitness goals?

Now from a  broad outside perspective, a lot of individuals that ask for my advice or assistance are either stuck in a plateau phase, not really sure where to begin phase, or sometimes in the “I want to have a muscular hot bod without having to change my diet and not having to exercise too much” phase.  The last one is the only one I don’t typically take on as clients.  This is because they are in the wrong mindset.  People in this mindset are not ready to commit to change.  So I tell them honestly what they need to do, and I say, “when you are ready to make the change to better yourself, contact me, and I will give you the tools to be successful”.  I don’t believe in “Get Fit Quick” Schemes, or Miracle Shakes or Pills, or Body Wraps or “Detox Diets”.  I believe in balance.  I believe in fueling your body with the right foods so you can enjoy that occasional slice of pizza or ice cream cone without feeling like dog shit.  I believe in reasonable exercise, and getting enough sleep at night.  Hydrating and nourishing the body, loving and respecting yourself.  Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and really learning about yourself.  There is a famous quote floating around that says, “If you want something you have never had, you have to do something you have never done”.

For my clients that come to me and are ready and are committed to their goals and just want help getting there, I do my best to assist in each situation to make it as easy as possible.  Change is tough!  And we are creatures of habit.   I start with something I learned in my earliest years at school for personal training back in 2010.  I start with S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

S- Specific      M- Measurable        A- Attainable      R-Realistic       T-Timely       Goals

By setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals, I know my clients are choosing goals within reach.  Think of it as stepping stones or climbing a ladder or staircase… You have to take one step at a time.  So we set S.M.A.R.T. Goals, and work to achieve them, and once we do, we set some more… And before you know it the client is exactly where they want to be and feeling positive and motivated and hungry for more!

So I want to end this entry by asking you what your goals are?  Are they S.M.A.R.T. Goals?  If not… Maybe take a step back and re-analyze them.  Prioritize and figure out how to make them work for you.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Nacho Business… Or is it? ;)

A healthy alternative to a traditional Fall Football Season Dish! NACHOS!!! 🏈 😍

Now FTR, I know there are a million even healthier ways to make these (i.e. Substituting peppers for chips, or toasting pita bread) but seriously? I like chips. A pepper will never taste like a chip, sorry. So I just picked the healthiest tortilla chips based on nutrition info. Ok, so here’s the “scoop” 😂:
The easy way is to pre-cook the meats another day when you do your usual meal prep, and store in fridge so you can reheat! These Nachos I made, are half pulled chicken and half ground bison (you can use beef, or ground turkey or chicken also). I take my pre-cooked pulled chicken (which you can find the recipe in an earlier post) and my ground bison which I just cooked in a skillet, and I put them each into their own skillet to reheat on the stove top. Add taco seasonings of choice to the meat and a little water/oil so it’s not dry. Once the meat is reheated, turn off the burners while you prepare your nacho pan.
*Pre-heat the over to 350, middle rack.
*Line a cookie sheet with foil (or two or three if you’re making tons of nachos)
  (NOTE: If you make sloppy nachos then use a little cooking spray, if you make neat and organized nachos, you won’t need the spray – up to you.)
*Lay out your chips on the foil on top of the cookie sheet.
     -I used tortilla scoop style chips because they hold the meat and veggies but do your thing! Pick what you like! 🙌😊
*Use a tablespoon or small spoon to scoop the seasoned chicken and beef into my tortilla chips. (I make neat and organized nachos, haha. But if you chose sloppy nachos then just try to get the meat onto the tortilla chips and not all over the place, that’s the goal.)
*Now the Veggies!!! Load on the veggies I used diced jalapeño, tomatoes, peppers and onions. Black olives or beans are another popular topping but not on ours shown.
*Lastly, sprinkle with fancy Mexican blend cheese! Toss in the oven!
   -This takes about 12-15min or so, but I usually judge by how melted the cheese is. ✋
I served mine with Fresh salsa, guacamole and fat free plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. 💯💕
Enjoy!  Happy Football Season! 🙂

Vanilla Protein Cupcakes

I know you guys have been patiently waiting for this!  Here is the recipe for my Vanilla Protein Cupcakes 🙂

Because Everyone Loves Donuts!

You always see fit people chowing down on donuts on social media. Not entirely sure why this a favored cheat meal by the fitness population but maybe it’s just because everyone loves donuts! So in honor of National Donut Day last week I decided I was going to use my talents as a baker/cake decorator and my knowledge as a personal trainer and athlete, and try to create a “macro friendly fit donut”. So this is one of my latest projects. Haha. These aren’t quite ready to be recipe shared, since this was the first time I made them and I would like to try a few variations to make sure I get the best recipe before I share! The photo below shows three types of donuts I created from scratch, a cinnamon sugar donut, chocolate glazed, and a chocolate peanut butter (of course). These resemble the old fashion cake like donuts, and are baked rather than fried! While they are not exactly low calorie, they are low carb, low sugar, and are high in protein and fiber. Stay tuned for more variations to my homemade donuts, and for the recipe! 🙂 #Happynationaldonutday #nationaldonutday #donuts #ilovefood #cleaneating #fitchick