White Chocolate Wonderful

Oh look! ANOTHER food post!!

Ok don't judge, I'm not one of those dieters obsessed with food because I can't eat a lot. I just truly enjoy cooking. It's very therapeutic and I love the freedom to create since I'm not restricted to an old-school bodybuilding diet anymore.
The best part about it is the reaction you guys give to me when you lay eyes on my social media posts. I love knowing I'm making foods that others want to re-create. Or maybe it just makes them drool on their screen. Whatever it does, I enjoy it!

So here was a pancake stack I made A week ago.

Yeah...that just happened.

White Chocolate Blueberry Pancakes

Pancakes:

25g Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes mix

4 egg whites

80g canned punpkin

1/8 tsp baking powder

2 packets stevia

Toppings:

30g P28 White Chocolate Peanut Butter

40mL almond milk

35g blueberries

Walden Farms blueberry syrup

Mix and cook pancakes over medium heat. 

Heat white chocolate pb in the microwave and whisk in the almond milk, then pour alllllll over that stack.

Heat blueberries in the microwave and mix in a little blueberry syrup. Then dump that on top.

And voila!

Oh man...now I have to make these for my next meal...which is coming up shortly as a matter-of-fact. (WHOO HOO!!)

Macros: 35.3p/31.8c/14.4f

Blueberry Bliss...and a little potty talk.

So my girlfriend and I were discussing bathroom issues and what she's been eating to try to regulate herself. 

Yes...this is really how today's post is going to begin.

And she tells me she's been incorporating more flax seed into her diet. So far so good she says. Which then gives me an idea to create a flax seed dish in her honor. She is, after all, one of my bridesmaids. 

Oh yeah...I'm getting married in September 2015. Been so focused on food...and The Arnold...and food...and...food. I don't think I ever mentioned my wedding except in my bio haha. 

Sooooo back to the food. I've decided to create dishes in honor of all 5 of my bridesmaids. Starting with my little pooper. 

I went to bed last night thinking about donuts, so naturally I woke up thinking about them as well. And this is what came from those donut thoughts.

Blueberry Flaxseed Pronuts 

Oh yeahhh...that's a white chocolate glaze baby. Necessary? No. Heavenly? YES. Which pretty much makes the white chocolate necessary. 

31g vanilla whey

30g oats

7g ground flax seed

20g fat free cottage cheese

1 egg white

20g blueberries

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp vanilla

2 packets stevia

20g white chocolate chips

Blend everything but the chocolate chips, and pour batter into a mini donut maker. (Or you could use a donut pan in the oven but it'd be on you to figure out the cooking temp/time. Me? I prefer the easy way with my donut maker.)

Ooooo dey so cute!

Melt the chips in the microwave and dip each donut into the goodness. I got 20 donuts out of this batter, so I didn't have enough chocolate in my macros to dip them all. But no worries, I smothered the rest in Walden Farms blueberry syrup. Life can now go on. 

Macros: 36.1p/40.5c/11.9f

Hummmmmm I could live off of these things. FO. SHO.

I friggin love flexible dieting dudes. I still can't believe I went through two preps on an old-school bodybuilding diet. I'm leaner than ever and eating stuff like this. Yeah, I'm leaner...wanna see? No problem! Behold today's check-in shots for coach B.

BOOM. Flexible dieting works friends. There is no specific food that will make you leaner. It's all about your total amounts by the end of each day. I'm 10 weeks out and couldn't be more pleased with my progress. 

Ok now back to the food. And more flax seed and blueberries, or #bloobs as they're affectionately known on Instagram. 

Blueberry Cheesecake Pancakes

17g vanilla whey

25g Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes mix

13g ground flax seed

90g canned pumpkin

3 egg whites

30g blueberries

28g fat free greek yogurt

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking powder

3 packets stevia

Stacks on stacks yo.

Mix everything but the yogurt, vanilla and 1 stevia packet and cook over medium heat. 

Mix yogurt, vanilla and stevia packet and spread however you'd like over and in between your pancakes. Or just dip em into it- who's gonna judge?

Macros: 37.5p/32c/6.4f

I decided to add Walden Farms blueberry syrup because I like to drown my pancakes. 

WHEW!! I'm #bloobed out. 

Ok I lied...I already have more pancake batter waiting to be made into tomorrow's breakfast.                          

Red Velvet Pancakes and Booty Shots

So let's just kick things off the right way shall we?

BOOM! IN. YOUR. FACE. 

Ok really, the purpose of these back shots is to show my 2 week progress. 2 WEEKS?!!? Holy crap, no wonder my spandex leggings have been so baggy. It amazes me because I'm actually a pound heavier in the second shot. Just goes to show you that the scale isn't always the best way to determine progress. Photos always win. I can't wait to see what I look like 2 more weeks from now!!!

And once you've wiped the drool from your mouth, we can go onto the food. Whoops...more drool.

Sunday was my final huge refeed day because starting Monday, coach finally dropped my macros. *sniff* But it's all good because I don't want progress to stall. Gotta dig deep and keep truckin'. So I celebrated with a carb and sodium fest that had me waking up 3lb heavier Monday morning. 

Totally worth it. Bye bye carbs- nice knowing ya.

So of course, it had to be a red velvet breakfast. And this is what emerged from my brain:

Red Velvet Cheesecake Pancakes

Pancakes:

20g Archer Farms Red Velvet Pancake Mix

30g Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Pancake Mix

2 egg whites

15g Chocolate Protein (I used Cellucor Cor-Performance Molten Chocolate)

60mL unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Filling:

20g fat free cream cheese

15g low-fat cream cheese (only because I ran out of the fat free stuff)

5g vanilla whey (I used Forza Pro)

1 packet stevia

Toppings:

Walden Farms chocolate syrup

6 mini Candy Cane Oreos

Mix pancake ingredients and cook over medium heat.

Mix and warm up filling ingredient and plop in between pancakes

Drizzle syrup over errrthang and finish with some crushed oreos! (Or keep em whole if you're too hungry to make it pretty.)

OHHHHHHH SOOOO GOOOOOOOD. I can still taste them. I'll have to figure out a lowered macro version because there's no way I won't want these again like asap.

Great, now I'm hungry. You know you're dieting when you're forced to reach for coffee/tea, gum and sugar free jell-o. *sigh* 12.5 weeks left!

Baked Oatmeal at Less than 14 Weeks Out

So unless I have another weight drop this week, coach is probably going to lower my macros at my check-in on Sunday. So I'm relishing every single bite this week just in case. So when Nicolette posted her Blueberry Cheesecake Protein Baked Oatmeal on Instagram...I knew I had to create a version for myself.

Would I love to create her exact masterpiece? DUH. But sadly, it's just too much for the wee macros I'm allowed to work with. So I adjusted some ingredients and VOILA! Prep friendly.

BAKED CINNAMON BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE OATMEAL

30g oats
1 egg white
75g canned pumpkin
60mL almond milk
30g nonfat plain greek yogurt
25g vanilla protein powder
1/4 cup blueberries
33g fat free cream cheese
couple glugs of Walden Farms calorie free blueberry syrup
stevia to taste
pinch of cinnamon




Preheat oven to 350.
Mix everything but the cream cheese and pour into a small, round baking dish that's been sprayed with non-stick spray.
Bake for 30 min.

Mix cream cheese, stevia, cinnamon and a teeny more syrup will you get the right consistency. Pop into the microwave for 30 seconds then #drizzlewizzle that goodness right over the top of the oatmeal.

Macros: 35.5f/37.3c/4.7f
Add #nutbutta on top if you want higher fat!

It's so good I want like 5 more batches of it..but I'll settle for breakfast tomorrow. I'll definitely be having baked oatmeal dreams that's for dayum sure. 

Also took some progress pictures this past Saturday, since I was officially 14 weeks out from the 2015 Arnold Amateur Figure Competition. I'm taking photos each week so I can see my progress and work on posing. 

Lookin' good so far but still so many tweaks to make! I'm having trouble with my right side pose, and it's because my lats are so tight.  Hoping my massage therapist can fix that up at my Saturday visit! I've heard active stretch techniques are amazing for really bringing out the physique so I'm forcing myself to go on a regular basis. I didn't focus on keeping my body functional during my last two preps and I paid for it with tight muscles and eventual injuries. So THIS time, I'm taking steps to avoid that. Yes, I strained my pec muscle, but that was my cue to begin getting worked on. Since then it's been so much better.

Competitor or not, it's so important to take care of yourselves!!!

FOOD, FOOD...AND MORE FOOD!!

So let's talk about #porncakesundays for a min. (Yeah, I hashtag in my blog...deal with it.)

Sundays on Instagram have now become flooded with stupendous photos of the insane pancake creations people come up with. Are they healthy? Yeah, some. But most are just covered in tons of syrups and cookies and #drizzlewizzle madness. Not complaining over here tho!

Since I AM The Pancake Queen, (or so I tell myself) my Instagram is pretty much full of beautiful pancake and waffle creations. However, once prep began, I was met with the harsh reality that I no longer was able to top my #porncakes with oreos and cookie butter mounds due to my drastically lowered carbs.

WHAT'S A PANCAKE OBSESSED GIRL TO DO?!?!

I tried to tweak things and use more egg whites and zucchini and Walden Farms syrups. But alas, the creations just weren't as awesome.

And then the light bulb went off. I GET A CARB REFEED DAY!!! Once a week, coach almost doubles my carbs, which allows my depleted muscles to fill up and gives my metabolism a boost. Perfect day to indulge in a pancake creation. BOOM.

Now I'm back in action, and am here with this Sunday's stack-o-yummy.

HEAVEN. NUFF SAID.

White Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Pancakes

Pancakes: 

53g Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes 

20g Prozein Caramel Pretzel Protein 

Water to desired consistency 

White Chocolate Filling: 

8g ff/sf White Chocolate Pudding mix 

30g ff plain greek yogurt 

Toppings: 

@waldenfarmsinternational caramel syrup 

16g pb 

13g crushed pretzel sticks 

Mix pancake ingredients and cook over medium heat. 

Mix filling ingredients and distribute in between pancakes however you wish. 

Melt pb and drizzle over your stack along with caramel syrup and crushed pretzels. 

IN. YOUR. FACE. 

Macros: 38p/52.1c/11.2f & 462.2cals

And since I'm not used to all those carbs, I ended my day with pretty much just protein and carbs left...a lot of carbs.
SOOOOO I went to old faithful...Arctic Zero Ice Cream sundae.

Yeahhhh that's pretty much like 4 cups of Arctic Zero in that bowl. Topped off with chocolate syrup and fat free Reddi Whip. (Real syrup BTW since it's just carbs.)

And I know I always joke that I never count the macros in my Reddi Whip, but seeing as how I'm in prep for a major show...I count them now. Or weigh them as I should say. Still, it was a pretty huge bowl.  So huge that by the end of it I actually felt guilty lol.


14 weeks till showtime and I still don't feel like I'm in prep. I mean...would YOU with all this delicious food??

Pancake Sundaes and Chocolate Chip Zoats

FOOOOOOOD GLORIOUS FOOOOOOOOD. (Can you tell where my head's been?)

Can't even blame it on lowered macros since coach hasn't touched them in over a month. Guess it's just my body attempting to adjust...or could be all the holiday food I've been seeing.

Speaking of which, I'll be bringing my own food to Turkey Day and Christmas. Last time I prepped during the holidays I was on a strict bodybuilding diet, i.e. chicken and broccoli. But this yearrrrrrr I'm counting macros!!! So I'll be eating turkey breast, roasted squash, asparagus, carrots and dip, pop tarts, ice cream and cookie dough dip.
It's all about balance people. And by bringing a mix of foods, I'll eliminate my urge to pick on the food everyone else brings since there's no way I'd be able to calculate unknown macros.

But onto the stuff you came here to see...my latest creations.

Behold...the chocolate-covered strawberry ice cream pancake sundae. *faints*

YEAHHHHHHHHH OMG IT'S SO AMAZING IT CANT BE REAL BUT IT IS!!! 

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Ice Cream Pancake Sundae

40g Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Mix

2 egg whites

20g Cor-Performance Molten Chocolate Whey

30mL almond milk

102g chopped strawberries

65g Arctic Zero strawberry ice cream

Walden Farms No Calorie Chocolate and Strawberry Syrups

Mix Kodiak mix, egg whites, whey and almond milk together, and cook in a pan like you would pancakes.

Layer with chopped strawberries, and top with ice cream and syrups. Who cares how messy it gets. One bite into this baby and you'll forget trying to make it pretty and will turn to shoveling it down your pie hole.

It's been like dessert cravings all week...so here's another! 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Zoats

30g oats

120g shredded zucchini

40g vanilla protein powder

50mL almond milk

15g pb

vanilla and butter extracts to taste

10g chocolate chips

Mix everything but the chocolate chips, and microwave until mixed and hot enough. Then top with chips and enjoy! Simple, delish and addicting.

With all these dessert meals you'd think I'd be a piggy by now...but nope! I'm still sticking to my macros and the physique is coming along nicely. I posted this on Instagram yesterday and it's pretty cool to see.

Yeah, I'm leaning out and I'm proud of that, but what really excites me is the fact that right before I took this second photo, I had finally deadlifted and hit a new PR...while dieting. Normally it wouldn't be so exciting but I had been unable to deadlift for a month due to a pretty bad pec muscle strain. So finally it's feeling better yayyyyy. 

Let the gains begin!!!

Oh wait...I'm dieting. DOH!

It's amazing how much more fun this prep has been now that I'm more concerned with what my strength is instead of just the ascetics of the sport. If you're new to bodybuilding or haven't had much mental success with it thus far, just remember...

You're only on stage for a few minutes. But you still need to live the rest of your life.  

Christmas on my Arm Deserves Strawberry Chocolate Fluff

It's Saturday, which means I traveled to another LA Fitness to get swole with my INOV8 teammate, Emily. Today we had a third swole sista join us, Cheyenne. This girl is a BEAST. She's recovering from knee surgery and crutched around with us as we killed delts and arms. No excuses right?!?

Midway through the workout she mentioned I had a little Christmas tree of veins coming out to play on my delt...so naturally...#selfie. (Yes, I hashtag in my posts and I don't care.)

Say hello to "Emily". Yep, I name my veins.

So since I've been on a protein fluff kick, I created today's flava of chocolate-covered strawberry goodness. Now, keep in mind, I'm dieting...so the macros are going to be super low on this. Feel free to adjust and add real strawberries and other things if you wish. I don't have much to work with lol. 

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Protein Fluff

• 5 ice cubes
• 2g xanthan gum
• 45mL unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 47g Cor-Performance Molten Chocolate Whey
• couple glugs each of Walden Farms chocolate and strawberry syrups

Blend together till it blows up in size and looks a lil somethin' like dis:

IT'S SO FLUFFAYYYYY!!!!!

Put into a giant bowl and dump in 33g of rice crispies (or whatever cereal you're craving) and top with sprinkles. 

Why? 'Cause. That's why. 

I topped with a another drizzle of chocolate and then had this loveliness:

Mmmmmm the colors man!!

Macros for my creation: 35.8p/34.8c/2.5f 

Mmmmkay time to feast! 

The Quad Pops and Protein Fluffs

Tomorrow I'll be 15 weeks out from the 2015 Arnold Amateur Figure and I was feeling not-so-ready today. (I know I know...you're probably like, "Amie you're nuts, you have 15 friggin weeks!!") To which I say 15 weeks is not a lot in the bodybuilding world. It flies by. But sometimes you just get into one of those moods and it causes you to doubt yourself.

My chest/back workout today just furthered my funk.  Since I naturally get leaner up top before the bottom can catch up, my initial strength didn't drop, which is awesome, but by my 4th set I had to lower the weight...on almost every move. Anyone else have that issue? Competitor or not, I'd love some feedback.

So I slumped into the aerobics room to practice posing...and had to take a selfie.

Um hey quad WUSSUP?!? For those who have been following me on Instagram, you know my quads have been my trouble area and my main improvement focus. So to see them begin to pop at 15 weeks out is just amazing to me.

Suddenly I mentally bitch-slapped myself in the face and remembered that I just have to keep grinding.  Some days aren't going to feel awesome, but as long as I keep pushing and working my hardest, changes will happen- inside and out. It's a great thing for all of us to keep in mind, no matter who you are and what your goals are. As Dory said in Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming."







So to celebrate my quad finally coming out to say hewwo, I skipped (ok drove) home to make myself my other newest food obsession- protein fluff.

The pic just doesn't do that giant bowl justice. Basically, protein fluff is when you combine protein powder, milk, (I always use unsweetened almond milk) and a TEENY bit of xanthan gum to thicken it up. Then you blend for a few min till it basically quadruples in size and you have this giant mound of fluffy goodness.

NOTE: I stress TEENY bit of xanthan gum because you only need a gram or two to thicken nicely, and if you use too much, your stomach will HATE you for the remainder of the day. (Think pain, gas, bloating and then a date with the toilet...yuck.) So do yourself a favor and use your food scale...because my first attempt wasn't so pretty. 

To make this post-workout feast even more awesome, I added a bit of Walden Farms calorie-free chocolate syrup, rice crispies cereal and of course...#spranks lol. 

Thinking of trying a fruit flavor next...maybe chocolate strawberry? Throw me some flavor ideas people!!!!

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Baked Zoats Discovery (how have I never made this before?!?)

So since I'm about 15 weeks away from the 2015 Arnold Amateur, I'm already in a caloric deficit.  This means high-volume food finds are going to be my best friends from now till I hit that stage.
Luckily, the lovely folks in my Facebook groups had a slew of recommendations for me. One of which being zoats.

What are zoats you ask? Well basically it's a mixture of oats and shredded zucchini cooked together as you would oatmeal. The zucchini creates huge volume and cuts down on the carbs. And yes- it's delicious. Case in point: my baked zoats creation from this morning's breakfast.

It was a fluffy, soft and yummy hot bowl of power food, topped with my current obsession, Biscoff cookie butter. (I've gone through 3 jars in less than 3 weeks. Intervention maybe?)

Dieting or not, check out my recipe. And the macros are on point people. (But of course, adjust depending on your needs.)

Amie's Cinnamon Baked Zoats

• 150g shredded zucchini
• 20g quick oats
• 4 egg whites
• 18g canned pumpkin (because I wanted to use it up)
• 25g Cellucor Cor-Performance Cinnamon Bun Whey (or any protein of your choice)
• 30mL unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• a few glugs of Walden Farms caramel syrup
• 1 packet stevia
• 2 dashes cinnamon
• 2 dashes low-sodium baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, then blend everything together. Pour into any small round (or square- get crazy!) dish that's been sprayed with nonstick spray, and bake for 30 min. 

I topped it with 25g Biscoff cookie butter, but you could use nutella, nut butter, coconut butter or just omit completely. (Which I'll probably have to do eventually once coach drops my macros low enough.)

Enjoy and let me know how yours turns out! I welcome your changes to make your own creations. The more tweaks there are, the more options that are available!