“Almond Joy” Pancakes

1/2 cup coconut flour
4 eggs
1 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tsp of stevia extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons expelled coconut oil
Organic cacao nibs
Sliced almonds
Walden Farms Syrup optional*

In a medium bow mix together coconut flour, baking soda, salt and cacao nibs. Add in eggs, almond milk, vanilla, stevia and with a hand-mixer,  blend extremely well. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Heat frying pan or griddle with coconut oil (heats VERY quickly, do not burn or it will ruin your pancakes!)

Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter and spread SLIGHTLY with spoon. Since there is no flour, these will not rise all that much, so don’t spread to thin!!!

Cook until golden on each side, add coconut oil to pan as necessary.
Stack and top with sliced almonds, cacao nibs and walden farms syrup!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

8 small organic mushrooms, chopped, 3 ounces
1 stalk organic celery, chopped
2 tablespoons organic onion, chopped, about 1 ounce
2 tablespoons grass-fed butter
1/2 cup organic mushroom or chicken broth
3/4 cup organic heavy cream (you can use half and half for less calories)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Sauté the mushrooms, celery and onion in butter until veggies are tender.
Mix together broth and cream, then add. Bring to a boil, then simmer until thickened, stirring often.

Makes about 2 servings.

Per serving: 437 Calories; 45g Fat; 4g Protein; 5.5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 4.5g Net Carbs

Cinnabun Pancakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

2 scoops Arbonne vanilla protein (5g per serving or less)
1/2 cup Ogranic Bob Mill’s almond flour
4 eggs
1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter
1 heaping tablespoon of Walden Farms cinnamon peanut spread
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
4 tsp organic stevia extract
2 tsp oragnic coconut oil
4 tsp water (add more for or less for desired thickness)

Mix dry ingredients first. Than add eggs and wet ingredients.
Cook in a heated frying pan with butter!

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup plain cream cheese (not fat-free!)
1/3 cup of organic heavy cream
A few drops of stevia extract
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Mix with a hand stander or food processor.

Spread alllll over your pancakes and enjoy!!!!!!

I’MMM BACCCCKKK!!

Ladies & Gentlemen, the blog is back!

Bathing suit weather has arrived which means its CRUNCH time – working on my diet, increasing weights, cardio and all around health and wellness! I Also just joined a boot camp, check it out Yosco’s Badass Boot Camp; I’m looking forward to it!

Progress pictures to follow!

WATER.

If you know me, you know I used to despise drink water. It’s boring, tasteless, and I always thought it made me more hungry! But I’ve found that being in Ketosis your body craves water, and you consume it because you want it, not because you have to. Sometimes I’ll add a few drops of MIO in there to add potassium but I try to keep it clean most of the time. I also found these really interesting facts about water that I though I would share!

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.

2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 30%.

4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

WEEK 5.

Down 3 more pounds in a week munching on bacon, cheese, cream in my coffee and much more deliciousness!!!! This morning I added a drop of vanilla extract, truvia, and cinnamon to my coffee, warmed up some heavy cream and enjoyed a perfect keto latte! I wasn’t even hungry for breakfast!

I did have a cheat day Sunday, and I have been doing a lot of research on intermittent fasting for carb up days and “cheat days”. I basically knocked myself out of Ketosis with fruity drinks on Sunday so fasting Monday for 12 hours and some cardio, than a regular keto meal put me back in! I will advise NOT to do any kind of fasting unless you do your research because it can be dangerous – I loaded up on water and green tea all day =)

Last night I cooked up  baby shrimp alfredo and a side salad, perfect leftovers for today’s lunch! Recipe to follow, of course!

HIIT Cardio Week 5
Day 1 – Sprint-1 min Recover-1 min Reps-6x
Day 2 – Sprint-2 min Recover-2 min Reps-4x

This weeks HIIT was pretty tough but it feels amazing to accomplish it. I never thought running 7.0 on a treadmill would come easy to me but it has. I try to keep my sprints at an 8.0 and my recover between 3.5 and 4 but sprinting for 2 minutes at 8.0 is rough. So I started at 7.0 and worked my way up!Since my schedule is coming to an end, I’ve started doing my research on different HIIT workout to continue with!

BACON

For all my ketoers!!!!

Brussel Sprouts and Bacon!

I knew Easter would be a tough holiday to get through with the Italian easter pies, pasta, and of course, desserts! So I offered to bring something of my own ..

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons crushed garlic

5 strips of bacon, fried
(save the bacon fat!!!)

1 (16 ounce) package trimmed Brussels sprouts

salt and ground black pepper to taste

garlic powder to taste

Heat a small pan and cook bacon strips until crispy.
Remove strips from here and place aside to cool
Slowly add olive oil to pan with bacon fat over medium heat until the oil shimmers, and cook garlic, stirring often, until golden brown
Add Brussels sprouts to the skillet and cook without stirring until the undersides of the sprouts turn golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
Stir sprouts over, and cook other sides until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes.
Cut bacon into bits or desired size and add to sprouts and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes
Season with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.

ENJOY!!!!

This dish goes great with an aioli dip =)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ciao-america-with-mario-batali/aioli-recipe/index.html

WEEK 4.

Starting to see some pretty awesome results!!!! Not only was this week the hardest week, but it was a short work week which means more of a chance to cheat =X BUT – I did pretty well! Saturday was my birthday which did stall me a bit – my dad came home with my favorite (former) breakfast, a croissant loaded with nutella and a cappuccino HMM HMM!!! I couldn’t pass that up, but to make up for it I fasted for a few hours after and went for a run!

My best friend made me the best keto birthday “cake” to help me celebrate, and since I love mexican food, whats better than a Mexican Cake!!

Taco meat, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and birthday candles!

WEEK 3. DAY 1.

Almost half way through my 6 weeks! Weighing in tonight so we’ll see what happens since I’ve lowered my calorie intake per day. I did extremely well this weekend considering I worked Friday and Saturday, my fat macros where somewhat elevated since I housed some guacamole at work and had to get fast food on Saturday (bunless cheeseburgers only!) Today I skipped breakfast because I wasn’t hungry at all, had some chicken and broccoli for lunch and a handful of almonds for a snack. Heading to Houlihans for dinner with my cousins tonight, no idea what I am going to order!!!

Running tonight if the weather in Jersey lets me!