Dem Cakes Of Love.

So a recipe. Yeah, it’s been a while but out of request from Alona, I will post up the ‘recipe’ for those Valentines Day Protein Pancakes I made Friday night for my housemates.

I put the word ‘recipe’ in astricks because it’s not really anything special or measured out. When I’m making things like donuts, muffins, pancakes and such I tend to go on consistency and eyeball most things so please forgive my approximations.

Anywho here they are. I will let you know substitutions as well following the recipe.

Love Cakes

Makes about 2 servings or 5 large ❤ shaped pancakes

In a medium bowl, whisk together the following:

• 1/2 cup raw oats (grind into a flour)
• 1/4 cup raw oats (left whole)
• 3 tbsp coconut flour
• 2 tbsp flax meal
• 1 scoop Red Velvet Cellucor High Performance Whey protein powder
• 2 tsp baking powder

In a smaller bowl, crack and whisk one whole egg then add:

• 1/4 cup liquid egg whites
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (plus more if your batter is too dry)
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional Add-ins:

• 1/2 a brownie Questbar, cut into chunks OR chocolate chips

Directions: One those two bowls have been combined separately, add the wet to dry and fold until combined. If your batter is too dry, add more almond milk until you reach a very thick batter consistency. This batter should be spreadable in the pan not pourable. Thicker batter = cakier and fatter pancakes.

Preheat a pan on medium-low to medium heat maximum. You want them to cook all the way through, so low and slow is the way to go. Spray the pan with some non stick spray or use some coconut oil and spread two large spoonfuls of batter onto the pan and shape into a heart. Sprinkle your ‘chips’ of choice on your pancakes.

No bubbles will form in these pancakes so flip after 2 minutes or so or until you seeing that the underside is drying. DO NOT FLATTEN THEM DOWN! Let it cook on the second side until cooked through.

I like to gently press on the top of the pancake to feel for firmness, which would show a cooked inside, but in general, the second side takes a bit less time then the first side.

Cook all of the rest of the batter in the same manner and then top with whatever your heart desires. Personally, I think red velvet…and well it’s Valentines Day…cakes need chocolate so you can drizzle a homemade chocolate sauce over the top such as:

• Honey/Maple Syrup + Cocao Powder
• Unsweetened carob powder + Milk + Sweetener of choice Vegan and dairy-free friendly with a dairy-free milk
• Chocolate Protein Powder + Milk/Water
• Melted Dark Chocolate bar or chips with some milk if you want it thinner

To really make it more like Red Velvet, you can layer some greek yogurt or ricotta cheese or cream cheese in between each pancake then drizzile wizzle your sauce over top.

Finally, if you have some allergies or are looking for alternatives for ingredients, here are some suggestions.

• For a dairy free option: You should be able to sub the yogurt for a vegetable or fruit puree. Perhaps doing half and half, so 1/2 unsweetened apple sauce + 1/2 pumpkin or squash puree. Squash actually does wonders for pancakes and you cannot taste it. It just adds moisture.
• No Red Velvet Protein? You can make these whatever flavour you would like or you can dabble in the real red velvet thing thang by using beets and cocao powder. If anyone tries this and it works, let me know!
• No coconut flour. Hmm this one is tricky because, yes you can thicken the batter with more flax or more protein powder, but nothing gives them the cakiness that coconut flour does. It is available in most grocery stores now so try it out!

So there ya go. I hope you enjoy them if you make’em and share them with me! I love seeing and hearing from those who make my recipes. 😀

And to end this post off…

I’m happy to report that I’m reunited with my favourite Valentine.

Maggie. ❤

Sorry for the blurrrrrr…we were in the car and it was a movin.

Hope your Valentines Day was full of love and happiness! 🙂

-Chelsea

Stuffed Butternut Squash…Cajun Style

Hey Friends,

It’s been quite a bit since I have posted a savory recipe and I just so happened to induldge in quite a delicious lunch last week so I figured I would post it up for ya. Yes..more squash but hey, it’s not kabocha for once. 😉

Now normally I’m not the biggest fan of butternut. It’s not that I don’t like it, as I do, it’s just not my favourite. Despite all that, I happened to come across the cutest lil organic butternut squash at Fortinoes and just had to get it.

After some hummin and haaaing about what to make with said squash, I ended up with this plate of goodness:

Not too shabby if I do say so myself. 😀

Cajun Stuffed Butternut Squash

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 small butternut squash
• 3-4 ounces of ground extra lean meat of choice (I used extra lean chicken breast meat)
• 1/2 cup no salt added canned diced tomatoes
• 40g (or more of less) of cremini mushrooms, diced
• 30g of diced onion
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp coconut oil
• 1/2-1tbsp no-salt added Cajun seasoning
• 1/2-1 tsp chili flakes (adjust to your heat tolerance or omit)
• 1/2-1 tsp chili powder
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Avocado, diced for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Step 1: Roastin your squash.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut your butternut in half and scoop out the seeds. Hollow the squash out a lil bit by cutting out some chucnks from the inside carefully to make a nice well to hold your stuffing. You want to ensure that you still have a nice thick border around the squash and that there are no holes in the bottom. Lightly oil the squash half and the chunks with olive oil, dried rosemary, cracked black pepper and any other spices you would like. Place your squash half and pieces on a baking tray and bake in the oven until the squash has softened (but is not mush!) and is golden in colour. The time could be as lil as 20-25 minutes depending on the size of your squash so keep an eye on it. Once that is done, remove from the oven and set it aside.

Step 2: Cookin your stuffin.

This can be done while your squash is roasting. Heat a lil bit of coconut oil (or oil of choice) in a pan over medium heat. When your pan is hot, add your onion and garlic and saute until fragrant and the onions are translucent. Next, add your ground meat. Break it up so that you have small chunks and cook until there is not longer any visible pink. Add your tomatoes, a few tbsp of water, your roasted chunks of squash (they will cook faster than the half will) and seasonings and pop a lid on the pan to let the mixture simmer a bit to allow for the flavours to come together. Keep an eye on the pan to ensure the water doesn’t evaporate too fast as that would lead to you burning it. If the water cooks off too fast, add a bit more as you want to let it simmer for a few minutes. Remove from the heat.

Step 3: Puttin it all together.

Take your squash half and fill the cavity with the stuffin. As an option, you can choose to broil the whole thing to reheat the squash OR add some cheese and broil it for 5 minutes to allow for the cheese to melt. Top with avocado if you wish.

Nom it all up!

Now, in my world, you always have to have a veggie side dish. Your side dish can be totally up to you but I chose to have my favourite swiss chard saute. It’s really simple and always makes me a happy camper.

Curried Swiss Chard and Mushrooms

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 130g of swiss chard (about 2ish large leaves and stems)
• 30g chopped onion
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 40g chopped cremini mushrooms (or 2 small)
• 1/2 tsp coconut oil
• 1/2-1tbsp curry powder (to your tastes)
• 1 tsp or more of chili powder
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes

Directions:

Heat your oil in a pan on medium heat. Take your swiss chard leaves and separate the leaves from the stems and chop the stems into chunks. When your pan is ready, add your onions, garlic and stems to the pan and saute until the onions are translucent. Add your mushrooms and a tbsp or two of water to the pan and saute until the water has been cooked off. Throw your leaves into the pan with your seasonings and add an additional few tbsp of water (about 3-4). Stir to distribute the seasonings and cook until the water has been cooked off and the leaves have wilted down a bit. This will only take a few minutes. Remove from the heat and serve with your main dish.

So there you go. Meat. Squash. Greens. Spice. My kinda meal.

I hope you enjoy.

-Chelsea

Squash Cakes….Recipe Friday

Hey Friends!

As if I didn’t share enough recipes yesterday I had another one waiting patiently for Kierston’s Recipe Friday! Oh and guess what…it’s more squashy goodness. 😉

Thanks to Miss CandyFit herself for hosting this weekly gathering and go and check out her page here for many drool worthy recipe ideas. I’m already eying those beautiful ginger pear pancakes posted by Davida over at The Healthy Maven.

So I recently was inspired, once again, by Ellen over at Best Fit Body when she cooked up some wonderful pancakes using squash as one of the ingredients. Why didn’t this come to me sooner?? Squash would make for a lower carbohydrate and sugar alternative to bananas that would add the same amount of moisture and potentially sweetness (depending on the squash variety you use) to your ‘cake stacks.’ I knew from that second that I had to test it out for myself…

…AND voila! These babies were born…

These were reeeeeaaallly good. Moist? Check. Cakey? Check. Sweet? Check. Going to turn me orange? Probably…

Do I care? Nope. 😀

It’s surprising how much so little can do. I simply added 85 grams of steamed turban squash to my pancake batter and it gave all those benefits for a mere 7 grams of carbs and 3 grams of sugar! Oh and before you start wondering why I keep saying low carb, low sugar, I’m only putting emphasis on the nutritionals because I was happy that the addition of the squash DID NOT mean that I had to skimp on my yummy, fruity topping. 😀

The good thing about these cakes is that there are soo many squash varieties out right now to choose from and experiment with. I went with turban squash because I had a lil bit left over in my fridge. You could easily use buttercup or carnival for the same carbohydrate and sugar amounts OR if you want a little bit less sugar (but greater carbs overall) you could choose butternut or acorn OR for the ultimate sweetness, go with 85 grams of kabocha for 11 grams of carbs and 5 grams of sugar.

ONE last note, don’t peel your squash. PLEASE don’t. You are peeling away vital nutrients that are located at the skin layer. For the skin phobes, don’t worry though, even if you normally peel them (which I would totally recommend actually trying the skin as it’s delicious all crisped up when you roast your squash!), this recipe uses a blender so there will be no skin particles in your pancakes I promise.

Okay, now onto the important part…

The recipe 🙂

Squash Protein Pancakes

Serves 1

Dry Ingredients:

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp rolled oats

1 tbsp coconut flour

1/2 scoop chocolate whey (I used my probiotic whey in Swiss Chocolate)

1 tsp chia seeds (can sub for flax meal)

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon or to taste

Wet Ingredients:

85g cooked squash (I used turban)

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/4 cup liquid egg whites

1 tsp maple extract

1/2 tsp coconut oil (for frying)

Directions:

In a blender, blend your 1/3 cup oats (reserve that tbsp), almond milk, egg whites and squash. Dump that in a bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients (exception being the oil). You will get a thick mixture but that is good for fluffy pancakes! Preheat a pan with some of your coconut oil on medium to medium-low heat. Cook your pancakes as normal. When you have all your pancakes done you can stack and add your topping!

Topping:

90g Strawberries

1 tbsp peanut flour (or PB2)

1/2 tsp of lucuma powder (optional superfood)

1/2 tbsp raw cashew butter

Chop your strawberries and place in a cup. Microwave until melty (but still chunky) and add your peanut flour, lucuma and a lil bit of water if needed. Stir that up and drizzle on your cakes and top with the cashew butter (<-OH EM GEE that stuff is good!)

Enjoy! Happy Recipe Friday!

Favourite nut butter other than peanut butter or almond butter? That cashew one is new to me but it’s sooooo good!

Weirdest ingredient you have used in pancakes/waffles?

-Chelsea

I’m On A Quest

Hey Friends!

I have a new recipe for ya and this one was mind blowing good! I had wanted to combine my love of Quest bars and oatmeal in baked form for a long time and leg day was the perfect day to do so. I present to you:

Cookie Dough delight!

Oh she’s a beauty and the taste was out of this world yummy! Think ooey gooey banana and cookie dough pieces baked into a super moist chocolate cake topped with more melty banana, peanut butter and crunchy baked cookie dough nuggets. Did I sell you yet? Oh….and it’s clean 😉

Check’em facts out!

Low sugar? Check! Lotsa protein? Check! Aaannd it does in fact have fiber in it I just couldn’t calculate how much…This would make a wonderful breakfast for just about anyone looking for something yummy and filling (hello protein and healthy carbs!). I had this before my leg workout and it fueled me effectively for that purpose!

Well if I haven’t sold you yet, here’s some more FOODPORN for ya. Everyone loves foodporn right?

The first slice….

Look at that melty banana sliiiiddde down…

….and the last bite which I always ensure has a good amount of all the goods. Cookie dough? Check. Banana? Check. Lotsa peanut butta? Obviously! 😉

Sooo want the recipe yet? Here ya go…

Cookie Dough Baked Protein Oatmeal

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/2 cup +1tbsp Oats

1/2 scoop Garden of Life Chocolate Raw Protein

1 tsp Psyllium Husk

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

2 tbsp Liquid Egg White (or 1 egg white)

1/2 a Banana

1/4 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

1/4 cup Water

1/4 of a Cookie Dough Questbar.

1.2 tbsp Natural Crunchy (or smooth) Peanut Butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt 1/3 of your banana in the microwave then add your almond milk and egg white and stir up.
3. Then add your oats, raw protein, psyllium husk, cinnamon and a few tbsp of water and combine. Keep adding water as needed to get a smooth ‘cooked oatmeal like’ consistency.
4. Dice a 1/3 of your banana and your Quest bar and fold those in (leave a few pieces of the Quest bar for topping).
5. Pour into a greased/sprayed foil cup and bake until the top is firm and the edges are pulling away from the side slightly. Mine took about 20 minutes.
6. Once done, take out and let rest in the container for a few minutes before flipping out onto a plate.
7. While its rests, make your TOPPING: Mix 1/3 scoop of chocolate protein powder with some water until you get a thick icing consistency and spread that on your cake.
8. Top with the last 1/3 of your banana (nuked), left over quest bar pieces (I baked mine) and 1/2 a tbsp of natural peanut butter.
9. Faceplant and Enjoy!

I hope your tastebuds sing just like mine did with this delicious and healthy breakfast treat! 😀

-Chelsea