eureka.

hi, friends! how was your monday? mine has been jam packed.

my title refers to a recipe i just made up and pulled out of the oven.. and IT. IS. AMAZING. eureka! i can bake on a whim! i will share that experiment with you later in this post.

thank you, thank you for all the super nice comments about my first carrot cake baking experience and my easter feast .  i have had an absolute blast reading everyone’s easter recaps. it looks like several of you had visits from the easter bunny, went on egg hunts, ate delicious eats and sweets and had a great time enjoying the holiday with your friends and families. i genuinely love to see everyone having such a great time :)

today was off to a rocky start because i was only able to get five hours of sleep due to roomies having a late night easter party. that is definitely something that comes with the territory of having roommates, so i don’t really mind. i just was super tired the whole day through.

the day started with my usual monday sales meeting meal at the original pancake house.  it was unseasonably (or i guess, for what utah is turning into, seasonably) cold this morning so i was craving a warm bowl of oatmeal.

meal 1: egg beaters & oats @ 8:00 AM

the restaurant always brings out an unreasonable amount of oatmeal, so i managed to eat about half of this. i wasn’t able to finish my eggbeaters, either.. i think i was still full from yesterday’s feast!

i downed about 4 cups of coffee during breakfast (which didn’t help my sleepy factor one bit) and i even snagged a coffee to-go. unfortunately for me, their to-go cups are the same size as a dixie cup that the dentist gives you to rinse your mouth with. coffee fail.

when lunch time rolled around, i was finally hungry enough to actually hear my stomach growl. while i was in my carrot cake coma last night, i honestly never thought i would be hungry again! my mom even mentioned how weird it is that we were all so full yet we would be ready to eat again in the morning! i am definitely my mother’s daughter.. i find the whole hungry/full process fascinating. call me weird, i already know that i am.

meal 2: stacked turkey sandwich + 1/2 luna bar @ 12:00 PM

i haven’t plugged my food into the daily plate today, so i won’t have any nutrition stats for you in this post. sorry to those of you who like to see that. i imagine this sandwich clocked in at about 275 calories, 25g protein, 25g carbs and 3g fat. just a guess.

the right side of the sandwich (i hate the word sammie, yet whenever i start talking about a sandwich i say it in my head thanks to blogger lingo. i seriously loathe the term. i am cursed.) had sprouts and columbus low sodium herb roasted turkey (you should all check out sami’s review of the turkey!).. the left side had mustard, nayonaise spread, cucumber, romaine and spinach.

i also ate 1/2 of a vanilla almond luna bar as lunch-dessert. slipped the camera’s eye!

great lunch!

my hunger is definitely off today, because by the time 3 o’clock rolled around i was not even close to hungry for my snack and i had a somewhat small lunch.  i knew i should eat a little something to power me through my upcoming workout, so i went with something small, simple and balanced.

meal 3: low fat string cheese + hard boiled egg + red pear @ 3:00 PM

get used to seeing those easter eggs! there are 10 more where that one came from. well, actually, there are nine. marshall stole one this morning.  this snack clocked in at about 230 calores, 16g protein, 26g carbs and 8g fat. why the fat, you ask?

i do NOT pass up a perfectly hard boiled yolk! yum!

i went home to change for my workout but i was still SO incredibly tired, so i snuggled with penny and randy for about an hour before heading out in the cold, rainy weather to make my way to the gym. it is so much harder to go to the gym when it is pouring down rain! i couldn’t do my insanity workout because roomies were watching TV, so going out in the elements was my only option.

today was a cardio high intensity interval training day. i was slow to get going but once i started running i really got into it! here is what i did:

20 minute HIIT on treadmill:

minute #	speed (MPH)
0-1	6.0
1-2	6.0
2-3	6.5
3-4	7.0
4-5	7.5
5-6	8.0
6-7	6.0
7-8	6.0
8-9	6.5
9-10	7.0
10-11	7.5
11-12	8.0
12-13	6.0
13-14	6.0
14-15	6.5
15-16	7.0
16-17	7.5
17-18	8.0
18-19	9.0
19-20	3.0

whew! this was a heart pumpin’ interval workout. i maxed out at 182 BPM on the ol’ heart rate monitor. i logged 2.25 miles in the twenty minutes.

i wasn’t done yet. i felt like i needed some stairmill in my life so i did ten minutes on the stairmill @ level 8 on the fat burning interval pre-set program..

and then i finished up with 5 miles on the bike in 25 minutes while reading my latest issue of real simple. i received the issue in the mail weeks ago but haven’t had a moment to read it. i was so glad to finally take some time and enjoy reading it! i LOVE that magazine!

i did five minutes of stretching after the bike.  my total workout was one hour and i managed to burn 400 calories.. not too shabby. the funny part is 230 of those calories were burned in the first 20 minutes during my high intensity run. i am telling you guys, intervals work!!

i came home to LOTS OF FUN MAIL!!

woo! i received some fun items sent to me from mezzetta that i will be trying and reviewing this week (after some meal planning!), a new batch of lizzy’s POWWOW bars to sample and review, the winnings (cereal, cinnamon and nut butter) from clay’s giveaway (weird, it said he deleted his blog?), and last but by NO means least.. that ADORABLE heart box is from the lovely lauren! she was so sweet to snag me a couple trader joe’s goodies on her last trip!

THANK YOU EVERYONE, I LOVE MAIL! ha. it was a great day in the mail department. i am beaming with happiness.

dinner was easter leftovers and i am definitely not complaining! you guys know how i love leftovers!

meal 4: easter ham, danica’s healthy scalloped potatoes & asparagus amandine @ 7:30 PM

mmm. just as fabulous the second time around.

after dinner i got to work on my project: mastering protein coffee cake!!

national coffee cake day happens to be this wednesday.. and i happen to LOVE coffee cake. however, it is not exactly the *healthiest* for you.

i perused a few coffee cake recipes and adapted one to become higher in protein, lower in carbs and BFL-friendly.

behold:

protein apple cinnamon coffee cake with almonds!!!

not gonna lie, i am pretty dang proud of myself! i will be posting a recipe page for this soon!

check out the cross section:

fluffy, cakey goodness.

and there are granny smith apples baked right in the middle:

i am really impressed with the taste and texture of this coffee cake. i can’t wait to try different variations such as blueberry coffee cake or pumpkin spiced coffee cake… OHH or CARROT coffee cake! with fat free cream cheese glaze! yes.

the recipe makes six servings, each serving is 179 calories, 6g fat, 17g carbs and 14g protein which is pretty dang balanced when it comes to body for life! yes, a tad fat heavy (it is a protein/carb/fat ratio of 31/37/32) but the fat comes from olive oil~ so it is healthy fats!  i am sure i could tweak the recipe a bit in the future, omit some of the oil and up the egg whites to boost the protein.. but for a first attempt, i am pretty stoked with the results!!

i am now enjoying meal 5 as i type this.. which is pretty predictable..

meal 5: protein apple cinnamon coffee cake + coffee with almond milk @ 9:30 PM

i am one of those people who can go right to bed after drinking a cup of coffee. does that make me strange? probably.

but you guys. OH MY GOSH! this coffee cake is to die for! i could have easily eaten the whole batch.. but i will restrain myself ;)

recipe page coming in a few. i will edit the post to add the recipe when i have it up!

i have a bunch of things i wanted to share with you, including goals, a product review, a fun quiz and some random facts.. but i am afraid this post is already long enough! oh well, at least i have plenty of writing material for the remainder of the week.

i will leave you with some food time saver tips i read in real simple magazine tonight!

• use a lemon zester to mince garlic
• keep a few marshmallows in your brown sugar bag to keep it soft
• use a coffee filter to strain wine from a bottle with a broken cork
• you can make a last minute lasagna by combining store bought ravioli with jarred marinara.. recipe here.

for more time-saving tips, check out my source, the real simple anniversary page.

i will be back tomorrow with some ramblings on my goals for april. hope you all enjoy your tuesday!

Qs~

1. do you have any time saving or cooking/kitchen/food tips to share with the class? this one i learned from marshall, believe it or not. to prevent your pasta water from boiling over, spray it with some cooking spray or throw in a splash of oil.

2. how does caffeine affect you? do you drink caffeine or avoid it? does it keep you up, does it give you the shakes, or can you drink it by the gallon and hit the sack immediately after.. like me..

xo. janetha b.

edited to add: recipe for apple cinnamon protein coffee cake with almonds.