Protein Banana Squares

This is definitely a hearty snack or quick breakfast. You can definitely put this recipe in a loaf pan but remember it will yield less protein per serving!

Ingredients:

1c rice flour
1c vanilla protein powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 ripened bananas
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2c butter (or coconut oil)
3/4c brown sugar 
3 heaping tbsp fat free sour cream

Preheat oven to 325 F.

In a bowl cream butter and sugar then add eggs, vanilla, bananas and sour cream. Add all dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined.

Pour batter into lightly greased 9x9 pan and bake for 60 mins or until inserted knife comes clean. Cut into 9 equal squares :)

Nutritional info per square:

Calories 341
Carbs 31g
Fat 18g
Protein 11g

Your outsides will get quite dark but don't be alarmed it doesn't taste burnt! 

I enjoyed a slice with a nice dollop of natural peanut butter, heavenly! 

Would love to hear how you liked it, comment below!

#90days2nudity: what i've learned in 30 days

first of all, let me just say, i can't believe it's already been

30 days past. 

i'm slowly but surely seeing the physical changes of 

all this hard work but more important than that, i'm

seeing the mentality changes in me too.

while it may all sound so monotonous: wake up, eat healthy,

snack healthy, work out, eat healthy, snack healthy, workout again, 

eat healthy, snack healthy and then wish you could eat that bag of cheetos

in your pantry... it now all makes sense to me.

when you start eating healthier, you realize how much

you used to depend on eating as 'something to do'

"oh i'll just hop on the laptop and snack on some

(insert junk food here)" 

"picking up my kids from school, i'll bring some

crackers with me for the road"

oh, this is just me? not you huh.

damn.

well my point is that when you start learning about what

fuels your body and gives it proper energy and what

percentage of those types of food you should be eating, you kinda

start looking at food a totally different way.

yes, the plain and simple, 'oh that stuff has too many calories'

will get you at first, but then you start looking at carbohydrates

and how much of that is actually fibre, not sugar. fats, you'll start

looking at what kind of fat and where its coming from and whether

or not that's a good or bad source. then protein, does it have

too much or too little.

then knowing all of these things makes you want to put together some

awesome meals which i'll share in coming posts.

not only that, i am learning how my body

reacts to certain workouts, where i'm a total bitch (glutes & triceps)

and when i own the gym: (biceps, hamstrings & abs). knowing 

my strengths and weaknesses pushes me to go harder

on my workouts even when i know i'm dreading it.

in the words of bob and jillian (biggest loser) i strive to make

each and every workout a 'last chance workout' and 

make sure that i leave that gym with my heart in my throat

and my body sweaty.

but. if i go back home from that workout

and say to myself "gee you deserve ice cream cuz

you just killed it at the gym" then i'll completely nullify 

everything i worked so hard for at the gym.

while it sounds so tempting to reward all of those

calories burned with something calorie laden, it's

counter productive (duh) and it'll make those pounds even

harder to lose!

60 some odd days left to go..can't wait for the reveal!

welcome back!

phew! our disneyland vacation has come and gone already and while i'm in the process
of compiling photos and blogging about our road trip experience (oh, and i still have to post about
my vegas trip..sleep is for the weak right?) i wanted to share some exciting news!

i am about to embark on a 90 day challenge that will be a test to my strength both mentally and physically.

seriously, 30 is where it's at!! in my 20's i learned what it meant to be a wife and mother and making personal sacrifices in order to make -what i thought- a good life for my husband and kids. i realize now that the person who needed the good life the most was me, but i junk fooded my way through life and randomly exercised and i now pay the price of that.

now before all of you go pssh what is this girl talking about?! while i am in relatively good shape, and have shed a few unwanted pounds, i want (note: WANT) a leaner and tighter physique. is that too much to ask? NO! but you definitely don't wake up one day looking like jillian michaels or dwayne "the rock" johnson. (lmao i have NO idea why i chose those references but you get my point)

this kind of change requires hard work and dedication. it means that in order to get to your goals you do have to make certain sacrifices but the payback will be HUGE.

day 1 is june 8th. if you've ever been somebody who's been thinking about getting into fitness and making a positive, long lasting change in your life, join me!! accountability is everything! i'm happy to say that my hubs is going to be with me on this journey and i can't wait to see how we come out in the end!

you can find out more details here:



                             

can't wait to feel good naked!!!

family swim fridays.

today, the girls had their second swimming lesson session at the surrey sport & leisure center and they had such a blast! even with just one lesson under their belts, they seemed a lot more confident in the water this time around. last week, the hubster took olivia for her first lesson and he kept saying how much olivia loved splashing around so it was nice to switch it up this week and have a chance to see her reaction for myself.

being only the second session, the instructor got serious and showed us how to 'dunk' our little ones into the water. the nice thing about our class is that it consists of two students -olivia, and my niece chloe. so we get all the attention and direction to make sure we're doing things right. so he instructs us to count to 3, give a big blow of air to their faces and dunk head first into the water so as not to get any water up their noses and then once they're out give plenty of positive remarks. this was quite funny because he was actually telling us in a high pitched tone of voice what to say...as if mothers don't already know what to say to console our children lol!

so 1st attempt: success! she was a bit dumbfounded by the whole thing, but no tears which is excellent! we proceeded to play 'ring around the rosy' and dunk them a few more times and each time was just as good as the first. since literally her very first bath, olivia has been obsessed with trying to drink the water. whether it be from residual drips after rinsing her hair with water, finding a toy that has water pooled in it, or just downright bending over to drink the water..its just been her thing. so its no surprise that since we're in a pool, she's trying to be tricky so she can drink the pool water! (yuck!) once i managed to distract her, it was nothing but shrieks and squeals from her. another water baby! yay!

once our half hour session is over, its emma and my nephew jacob's turn. i guess we picked the best time to have lessons because they also have a private class of just the two of them! its totally awesome because the instructor focuses on just them and they're actually learning rather than being distracted by other students. i could see that they were learning how to hold their breaths under water. they were definitely having a good time!

after seeing kids the same age and even younger than emma frolicking and actually swimming, i knew it was high time that i sent her to swimming lessons. with all of those horrific stories of people drowning last summer made me think how unfortunate it is that people out there don't know how to swim. i guess one could say that they don't ever go out into the water therefore knowing how isn't necessary..but you just never know and from that i knew it was a skill my children had to learn.

once the classes were over, we all got dressed and picked up some shamrock sugar cookies and chai lattes from the cafe. mmm chai lattes- an excellent way to warm you up after a swim. then we head back to our place to fill up our tummies with a polish dish called bigos (polish sauerkraut stew) that my mom came over to drop off (hi mom!) the kiddies played and i prepared dessert: some red velvet cake with cream cheese icing (leftover from a cake i made earlier in the day) and some paczkis (polish jam filled donut)..its safe to say we were in heaven!

all in all an excellent friday night..looking forward to next friday!

thankful to be sore.

yesterday i went to a carl c. cardio kickbox class by myself since my sister and mom weren't available. it's kinda cool, we always go to his classes on mondays and thursdays -a mother and daughter thing- and get our butts kicked every single time and love every minute of it. there's definitely strength in numbers because i certainly felt like i was carrying the weight of accountability by going alone.

carl c is amazing. one definitely goes through a series of emotions while in his class. excitement, regret, determination and relief. it's an addiction! he expects everyone to push it to the next level. i've taken community center aerobics classes and there is nothing like his. this year in his class we celebrate the law of effort. we work hard to get the end result. it's never one and done, if you did it 75% this time, he'll expect 100% from you next time.

thanks to taking his class, along with some sensible eating, i've managed to lose roughly 10lbs in the last 2 months. i can only imagine where i'll be 2 months from now! anyhow, i'm thankful to be sore because i know a goal like this takes hard work and determination. it's making a committment to delayed gratification. my goal is to be my healthy weight by the time i turn 30. i've got a year and 8 months..i know i can do it!