Macadamia Catastrophe, Turkey Chili, and Daily Manna! 1/13

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had excellent, healthy, and happy weekends. Today is an exciting day because I get to share TWO recipes with you! The first one is a funky new recipe that came out of a baking mishap! I had a silly baking experience last night and I have entitled this incident, (and this recipe), the macadamia catastrophe. It all started a few days ago when my friend Kelli, over at http://hungryhobby.net (you guys should all follow her blog, it is fantastic!) sent me a Macadamia Nut Banana Cookie recipe (http://immaeatthat.com/2014/01/10/macadamia-nut-banana-cookies/) because of my obvious obsession with this combination since getting back from Hawaii. I had all the ingredients I needed to try it out last night, except for the oats, which I decided to substitute with my protein powder instead. Obviously, I did not end up with cookies, but something more like a cake/muffin batter. I decided to roll with it, added an egg and some greek yogurt, and ended up with a macadamia nut banana flatbread cake square thing! They are flat, cakey, and crunchy but taste DELICIOUS! So I thought I might as well just share my version of the recipe!

Makes 16 squares, one 8x8 glass baking dish

3/4 cup macadamia nuts, unsalted

2 scoops vanilla protein powder

1 banana

1/3 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt

1 T coconut oil

1 egg

1/4 cup low sugar maple syrup

1 t cinnamon

1 t vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. First things first, place the macadamia nuts in the food processor and chop them up until they are coarse.

Mash the banana and add that to the bowl as well. Then add all the other ingredients, and it will form a batter. Spray your 8x8 dish and pour the batter into the dish. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Considering this recipe was a disaster in the making, I think that by adding a few of the tweaks, it turned into a great breakfast gluten-free bread option! I enjoyed two of these as my pre workout snack this morning, and they were delicious! I'm so glad I didn't just dump the batter out and tried to work with it because it turned out to be a yummy, crunchy flatbread!

Anyways, on to the rest of my day...

As I mentioned, I woke up, did my quiet time, and ate 2 of my macadamia catastrophe squares before my workout! ;)

My workout consisted of 30 minutes on the elliptical and 25 minutes on the bike, totaling 6 miles towards my 150 miles by V-day challenge. So far, I am at 70 miles! Woo! I'm feeling great even though I am not being able to run. Don't get me wrong, I really really miss running! But I think the variety of the elliptical and bike, plus all the strength training I've been doing, has been really enjoyable! I have been seeing results in my strength and am absolutely loving the benefits of weight training!

After my cardio, I worked on my triceps and shoulders, then did the leg press and inner and outer thigh machines. I stretched, and then headed to whole foods to grab some coconut flour! I was determined to try the paleo tortilla recipe by Danielle Walker at Against All Grain (www.againstallgrain.com) and that was the only ingredient I was missing.

I HIGHLY recommend this crepe/tortilla recipe if you are looking for a gluten and grain-free tortilla that is paleo friendly! They were so easy to make and so delicious. The recipe is in the Against All Grain cookbook, as well as on her website! Check it out! http://www.againstallgrain.com/2013/01/26/crepes-grainfree-paleo/

I decided to make my post-workout omelet into egg tacos, so I stuffed three of these tortillas with some egg whites, kale, peppers, and pico de gallo! Delicious!

I also loved that you can hold these tortillas and they don't fall apart! Which is such a plus when you are eating a gluten and grain-free product.

After my meal, I read my book for a bit, then headed to my physical therapy appointment. It's only my second appointment and they basically just did some leg exercises with me. Which is good, since all of those exercises are at the gym and I could do them on my own time as well!

When I got back home, I had crazy energy, and decided to do my TIU workout for the day before lunch! I am doing the Love Your Body challenge at www.toneitup.com and today's workout was the Love Your Total Body 2! I love these workouts because they range from 15-20 minutes while targeting each muscle group in your body! Check it out if you want to try it (it is under the workout schedule for Monday!)

http://toneitup.com/2014/01/love-your-body-with-your-weekly-schedule/

After my second workout of the day, I was finally ready for lunch! I got some ground turkey yesterday at the grocery store and wanted to make a turkey chili that could last me a few days! I threw a bunch of things into the pot and simmered the chili for about 30-40 minutes, while enjoying a quick salad as an appetizer.

Here is the ingredients list and the method for my easy peasy turkey chili! (makes about 3 servings)

8-10 oz ground turkey meat

1.5 T olive oil, separated into 1 T and 1/2 T

1/2 t cajun seasoning

1-14oz can of diced tomatoes (fire roasted and low sodium is better!)

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup chopped sweet bell pepper

1/2 cup kale

1/2 t cumin

1/2 t garlic salt

Start out by heating 1 T of olive oil in a pot, then adding your turkey meat. Grind up your turkey meat with a flat edged wooden spoon until it is in itty-bitty pieces. Add the cajun seasoning while it is cooking, and cook the meat until its browned. In a separate skillet, heat up a 1/2 T of olive oil and add the kale and the chopped sweet bell pepper. Sauté these until they are tender.

Once the turkey meat is cooked through, add the kale and peppers, the can of crushed tomatoes, the chicken broth, and the cumin and garlic salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then set the heat on low and let the chili simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Then, bowl it up and enjoy! The easiest chili I've made yet. If you are into beans, you can obviously add some black or kidney beans to this chili as well!

After lunch, I decided to finally attack my desk. My desk has been in desperate need of cleaning and reorganizing. I emptied out all of my drawers and organized all my books. I am a huge organization nerd, so it felt so good to have everything cleaned out and cleared away!

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. I sipped on some green tea while reading, got my nails done, got my phone fixed, and had a yummy dinner! Unfortunately, my phone getting fixed prevented me from taking anymore pictures the rest of the night. So dinner will remain a mystery! :) Just kidding, we went to a yummy restaurant by my house called Pita Jungle. I had a Greek salad with a garlicky-lemon dressing, which was so light and delicious. I also added some of my mom's chicken that fell out of her wrap to my salad. They stuff those wraps with SO much chicken that she ends up not eating half of it, so I definitely took advantage of her scraps!

Well, that is all for today! I am feeling so exhausted at the moment and can't wait for bed! I hope you all had a great start to the week!

Good night! :)