Tasty Tuesday: Banana Bread Smoothie!

Dieting sucks. Because food is one of the best things in the world. And when you can't eat what you want, life feels hard.

Something that's helped me is attempting to recreate unhealthy foods in slightly healthier ways. I'm not talking about Bobby Deen-type stuff like "300 calorie mac'n'cheese" (maybe the blandest thing I've eaten in my life) and other low-calorie recipes based on comfort foods. Because to me, that's kinda blasphemy.

I'm talking about...say...a banana bread smoothie. Still has all the good stuff that banana bread has. It's just in the form of a blended drink versus a sugar-packed, dense, heavy bread.

The other day, my mom used the 4-5 brown bananas sitting in our kitchen to whip up one of her best baked goods. Delicious, ooey gooey, coconut pecan banana bread. (Salivating as I type.) I've been snacking on this banana bread ever since it popped out of the oven (which likely explains why my weight is just ridiculous right now, but that's another story.) Anyhow. Today I decided to say NO to banana bread. To curb my craving, I invented my own version. Smoothie style.

I didn't take a picture because it wasn't pretty. It was, however, delish. And it allowed me to stay away from the banana bread today!

Recipe: Banana Bread Smoothie

1 small banana

1/2 cup plain vanilla yogurt (or Greek yogurt, if you're into that)

10 almonds

1/4 cup milk (almond milk would be great)

1 TB sugar free vanilla pudding mix

1/2 cup ice

(opt.) 1/8 cup shredded coconut

Mix it all together in your trusty blender and sip slowly whilst pretending your healthy smoothie is actually a warm, fresh slice of Mom's famous banana bread.

Have a fabulous Tuesday :)

-Ellen

HAPPY 2000 PAGEVIEWS! :) Glad someone out there is enjoying my blog!

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I suppose you can say I "spiced it up" today by trying a new cookie decorating technique I've been wanting to do for ages.

Tah dah! Those are the best of 'em. Lots are not quite as pretty. But I will tell you, it was hard work! Not too shabby for a first attempt, but I will definitely be trying it again soon and improving as I go :)

The bad part about making cookies, even if the intent is to feed them to other people, is: you always end up nibbling on them yourself! Tiny bits of dough here and there, one or two "sample" cookies. You get the picture. Not easy to estimate calorie-wise. I was worried about going over my limit so I went on a brisk evening walk to (hopefully) burn off those extra few calories...

I also made a really yummy lunch that I thought I'd share. However, I should note, this isn't a normal lunch. It's definitely more of a breakfast. But it worked for me, and it was so packed full of protein that I was seriously too full to finish it. And this was before the cookies! :)

 

This is just 1 cup Kashi Go-Lean, 1/2 cup blueberries, and 1 container Yoplait light vanilla yogurt. Delicious, healthy, filling, and great for a sweet tooth!

Yours truly,

Ellen

Tasty Tuesday: Zucchini Lasagna!

 Today I made something I've wanted to try for a long time: Zucchini lasagna!

 This zucchini lasagna represents me because, while highly unphotogenic, it is beautiful on the inside. Ha! Just kidding guys :) This stuff was really good though! Next time I will add more zucchini because I didn't find it super filling/substantial, but the taste was great! I mean, how could you go wrong with delicious ricotta and mozzarella cheese, basil, and tomato sauce? Mmm.

I'm going to link you to the recipe because I don't feel like typing it all out, but I did make a few adjustments. I didn't add ground meat because I hate it, and I made a much smaller serving in a little Pyrex (I think 6" by 4"?) and then ate half. Also instead of making the sauce I just dumped in some Classico tomato & basil. #lazychefprobz

It did take a fairly large chunk of time to prepare and cook, but I think it was worth it.

Here is the recipe!!!

Good luck :)
-Ellen

Spice it Up Saturday: Meal Times

 Howdy :) Today's Spice it Up Saturday was kind of a minor change, but definitely impacted my workout!

I've been reading a little bit about how the timing of your meals affects your weight loss. I'm not totally sure if anything has been 100% proven here, but apparently, if you workout on an empty stomach, your body has to dig into it's fat "reserves" and burn an extra amount of body fat/calories. (If you're interested in reading more about this theory, here's an interesting article.)

I figured it couldn't hurt to switch up my eating times a little bit today. So I decided to workout before breakfast. But the thing is, I'm not really a normal person who gets up at a decent hour to workout and start the day. I got up at 11:30, worked on a paper for an hour or so, then began my workout. I figured since I was going to be awake for a while before my workout, I'd need just an itty bit of sustenence to get me through my paper writing. So, first thing in the morning I drank a glass of water and ate an ounce of mixed nuts.

When I was ready to workout, I was definitely hungry. My tummy was grumbling a little bit. I did a new 10-minute cardio video from YouTube that was very disappointing and probably burned like 70 calories. Boo. Then I did my regular 20-minute cardio video and 15 minutes of abs/arms/legs/random calisthenics. And I will tell you, I was sweating way way more than usual. But I was also getting tired way way more quickly than usual. I still did what I needed to do, but it took a lot more out of me. After I finished, I rushed upstairs to make a protein shake because I was sooo hungry.

Based on my experience today, I would say that yes, working out on an empty stomach probably does burn more fat. However, I prefer working out when I'm not on the brink of starvation because that way, I feel more energized and motivated to complete my workout.

Oh, side note. It's Memorial Day weekend. One of those food-based weekends where potato chips and burgers on the grill are the norm for most families in America (or at least mine!). It's really going to test my abilities to use portion control and to say no to foods I don't need! I already told mom I'd like a chicken breast while the rest of the family eats burgers. But I really can't go a full Memorial Day weekend without indulging in some of her amazing pasta salad! Maybe I'll step up the cardio so I can have a little more than two bites ;)

Balance + Moderation!

Enjoy your long weekend :)

-Ellen 

P.S. Here's the recipe for my protein shake if anyone is interested:

• 1 scoop Right Size lean cocoa bean powder
• 1 banana
• 8 oz. skim milk
• 1/2 cup ice

(221 calories, 12g protein)

Thankful Thursday: Food & Fitness

This evening as I was making my almost-nightly visit to the Health & Fitness section of Pinterest, a thought struck me: How lucky are we to have to worry about something like fitness?

If you think about it, fitness is a complete and utter #firstworldprob. Millions of people don't know where their next meal is coming from or how they are going to make ends meet. Meanwhile, countless young women--like me--are stressed about counting calories and doing enough crunches every day to get as skinny as possible. It's sickly ironic that while so many struggle to find enough sustenance to live, most Americans are fretting about overeating because of the abundance of food in our society. How many people in this world would do anything to be fat?

I've heard a proverb that goes "If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd quickly grab ours back." This statement is really hitting home for me. If the problem that keeps me up at night is worrying about how I'd look in a bikini, I'm pretty sure that makes me one of the luckiest people in the world. And that's something to be thankful for.

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Health update: Had a great day! Treated myself to some spaghetti from Noodles & Co. at lunchtime and had some fun bonding time with my fellow camp counselors :) Had my first protein shake and loved it, and also created an amazing frozen strawberry/white chocolate smoothie for a late afternoon snack! My workout today was a P90X video that was waaaay too hard for me. Luckily I was able to modify some of the moves and still burned a ton of calories.

Today I'm officially 3 pounds down which I'm feeling great about. My goal was to lose about 1.5 pounds per week, which is exactly what I've done! If you wanna see updates on my weight loss, you can check the right sidebar or the My Story page :)

 Smoothie: 1 cup frozen strawberries + 1 container Yoplait lite strawberry white chocolate yogurt

Dinner: Rosemary flatbread with grilled chicken and feta, 1 cup broccoli with salt and pepper

Ellen: Um, pure unadulterated sexiness? Clearly. #werkthatupdo

Have a great evening and remember to be thankful today!
- Ellen ♥

Feel Good Friday: Dinner Date

Today I'm going on a dinner date with my dad! We're going to an awesome steakhouse that I haven't tried before, so I'm really excited! I know that Feel Good Friday is supposed to be about indulging in things other than food, but can't food be involved juuuust a little bit? ;) Plus, it's more about spending some quality time with my dad anyway.

I think one of the keys to maintaining a healthy diet is to plan your cheat meals. Nobody is perfect. Everyone likes to eat yummy food every once in a while. So, if I want to go out to dinner with my dad and order a filet mignon, it's totally fine, as long as I don't go overboard and add on mashed potatoes, broccoli au gratin, Bearnaise sauce, and chocolate lava cake. (May or may not have just started drooling while typing that.) Just a little prep work is all that's required to make sure my treat doesn't ruin my progress.

To prepare for my 333 calorie, 40g protein, fatty, delicious steak, I did a little extra cardio this morning (Just 10 extra minutes) and did the full arms+abs workouts from the "Summer Health Plan'' I posted about earlier. (This one!) Until today I've only been doing half of each workout, and even that was kinda tough. But today I pushed myself and completed the whole thing. (Over 50 pushups...?? Yikes.) Hopefully I'll be feeling that tomorrow! In other news:

 Image from the Chiquita Banana website...Mine wasn't that pretty ;)

I also made this awesome protein shake for breakfast and thought I'd share the recipe! I know it's not Tasty Tuesday, but why not make every day a little tastier? :) I adapted the original recipe by only using half of the ingredients so it would all fit in my Magic Bullet blender. Still really filling and only about 200 calories! Enjoy:

• 1   whole Banana
• 1   cup Ice
• 1/6   cup Yogurt - I used Chobani Greek, apple cinnamon flavor
• 1/4   cup Cooked oatmeal - I used Quaker instant oats, maple & brown sugar Heart Healthy flavor 
• 1/6   cup Almonds

 Blend together and enjoy! (Click here for link to original recipe)

Have a fabulous Friday and do something that makes you feel good!!
-Ellen :)

Tasty Tuesday: Oatmeal-Banana Pancake

Today I attempted to make a single serving oatmeal-banana pancake for breakfast. Key word: Attempted.

 

Beautiful, right?

I made it according to the directions, but accidentally forgot the baking powder. That being said, I don't really think even baking powder could have saved my little monstrosity of a pancake...

 The egg whites didn't really combine into the batter, as you can see in the photo. Also, one side was fairly dark (almost burnt) and the other side was kinda mushy. BUT all-in-all, it was atleast edible. I finished the whole thing, and it really wasn't that bad! Definitely a healthy and diet-friendly breakfast. Measures in at around 200 calories. Great before a workout.

The banana slices on top really helped. Next time I try this recipe I will make sure to follow the instructions. Also, I will cook it at a lower heat, making sure to check on it more often to prevent burning/under-cooking!

The original recipe can be found here: Click here!

1/4 cup instant oatmeal
1/4 cup egg substitute (or 2 egg whites)
1/2 of a really really ripe banana, mashed
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 packet of sweetener
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water, milk, or juice

Instructions: Mix everything together and pour into a non-stick skillet. Cook on medium-low heat for about 2-3 minutes on each side. I sliced up the other half of the banana and added the banana slices on top of the pancake!

Good luck and happy eating :)
-Ellen