oh hello new year!

hi everybody!

like the new digs?

i thought the blog needed a bit of a face lift since so much else in my life has changed! although i'll never shy away from a good mama post, i realize that i have so many other facets that i'd love to share on my blog too.

i've added my cake details on a page, so have a look on there if you're interested in placing an order and inquiring about pricing.

as my love for living a healthy life grows, i'll also continue to share recipes and fitness tips and if you're ready, i'll invite you to get healthy with me! check out the 'gettin bzzy with jzzy' page.

for the time being, i've got a loooooot of catching up to do...(i recall a disney road trip that occurred last year, and a couple of kiddies birthdays that i spent so much time organizing that hasn't made it on here!)
so i hope you'll continue to enjoy my posts and comment! (did you know i love comments? i comment often..mostly on things i shouldn't comment on lol)

thanks for following friends!

xo,

jzzy

Banana Protein Pancakes

These pancakes are absolutely delicious complete with that fluffy, airy texture!

Ingredients

1 1/4c brown rice flour

1 c vanilla whey protein powder

1 c vanilla rice milk

4 eggs

4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp coconut sugar 

2-3 bananas, chopped

2 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let sit for a few minutes to activate the baking powder. Once your batter has thickened slightly, spoon 1/3 c onto pan lightly sprayed with coconut oil (or Pan)

Makes 12 pancakes.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

The season of pumpkins is upon us! What better way to enjoy them than in a yummy healthy breakfast.

This recipe will yield 14 pancakes if you use a 1/3 measuring cup to spoon into a non stick pan.

Ingredients:

5 scoops vanilla protein powder

1/2c almond meal

3/4c whole wheat flour

1 can pumpkin purée

2 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Water (to reach pancake consistency)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and spoon on to a med-low heat non stick pan. Allow to cook for 2-3 mins on each side to fully cook the pancake.

Enjoy!

Protein Power Ups

This is a pretty versatile recipe you can add whatever you like! As long as you have some binders to hold it all together you're in business.

To achieve the nutritional info like mine here is what you need:

1c dried cranberries

1/3c cashews

1/3c almonds

2/3c toasted unsweetened coconut 

2 tsp unsweetened cacao powder

2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder

2 tbsp flax seed (whole or ground)

4 tbsp natural peanut butter (melted)

2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil (melted)

In a food processor blend all of the dry ingredients until finely ground. Mix the peanut butter and coconut oil together and slowly add to the mixture using the pulse option to blend. It all might look dry but it should be enough to have it hold together. 

Use 2 tbsp of mixture to form 1 ball. This recipe yielded 12 balls.

Pop into the refrigerator for about 10-15 mins. Keep in a cool dry place.

Enjoy!

Let me know what you thought of it!

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!

90 days to nudity: how did i do it?

this is going to be a long one..better be prepared!!

these past 90 days have been quite the journey. 

here's me 90 days ago.  i was making it to the gym 

2-3 days a week and prior to that i was doing a lot 

of running to train for an 8k run at the beginning of spring.

in that photo, i weigh 145lbs. a year ago around the same time,

i was 155-158lbs and tired of it but didn't know where to start. my

dear husband suggested i sign myself up for a 5k race that

was at the end of the summer as a means to motivate me

to become more active. 

it was definitely the kick start i needed.

after that race, i continued to run a few days a week and 

even went as far as running a race on new years day!

shedding 10lbs made me feel really good and put

me in the frame of mind that i needed to get back into.

turning 30 last year was also a huge contributor to

my motivation because i knew i wanted to enter this

decade of life knowing that i was doing everything i

could to be a healthier me, not only for myself

but for my family.

i should mention though, that i even though i 

exercised, i didn't really change my eating habits. i realize now

that instead of fueling myself with enough good and wholesome

food, i was filling in the breakfasts, lunches and dinners

with junk. coffee and muffin for breakfast, sometimes i skipped

a lunch and a frozen pizza for dinner.

anyway,

then, i stumbled upon an account on instagram (@90days2nudity)

and was intrigued by her recipes and workouts

and this challenge that she holds quarterly.

 the concept was simple: you submit your body composition
information on day 1 and in 90 days you repeat the same
and if you're the competitor with the most body fat % lost,
you win!

how you get there though, is entirely up to you,
whether it be hire a personal trainer, follow an online
workout regimen, buy a weight loss shake program, whatever,
as long as you had those measurements, you were in.

so i thought to myself, what the hey. 90 days of my
life that i can sacrifice to get closer to my goals.
i bought into the challenge, found a moderate
12 week workout plan, figured out my meals
and off we went!

here's me 90 days later: 135lbs.

i've got some work ahead of me as you can see by my pear shape;

my weakest link are my legs and my butt (that i've so graciously

kept hidden!) so i'm definitely going to put more focus on that.

but seriously though, how did i do it?

well first off, i got rid of the excuses.

number one reason why people don't exercise and why *i* didn't

exercise?

"i didn't have time"

well of course i did..i had to WANT to make the

time in order for the time to be there.

it's just like really wanting that cup of starbucks coffee.

when you really want it, you`ll drive around hell`s

half acre to find the starbucks so you can order that caramel

macchiato regardless of how long it took you to get there

or what it cost you or how much time you lost by going.

ok so with the time excuse out of the way, 

as a mom with kids, what would naturally be the next

barrier to taking time for yourself to get healthy?

"i've got kids at home"

or if you don't have kids then it's,

"i have to work"

OR

if you have both then it's

"i have to work and then come home to my kids"

and hey i get it, you've put in a days worth of house work

or clocked in at your day job and then you have to

come home or make dinner and get the kids ready for the night.

you're tired and the last thing you want to

do is throw on your gym clothes and exercise.

i get it.

when you make big changes like this in your life,

and i mean BIG..like, life changing, you have to want it.

i said to myself, okay i am short on time, when do i 

work out?

 if i had my kids with me and i was alone with no

childcare, i took them to my complex gym (toys et al) 

kept them occupied while i cranked out an hour or

if it was sunny or decent out, we`d go to the park and i`d use the 

playground as a gym.

if i was alone i'd set aside time to put in

a solid workout (1.5-2hrs) and if i had to work

i worked out on my lunch break!! people! it can be done.

at work i would eat at a 15 minute break, workout on my

lunch for 20 mins (treadmill or HIIT) and then eat again 

at my last break. i had to improvise on those days

and my co-workers thought (probably still think) i was crazy

but i got it in, every day i had to work out.

the other part of the transformation is the eating.

i said good bye to all of my starbucks coffees (and switched

to skinny versions as occasional treats) 

pastries, saltys, fried, savourys

and sweets.

i refused cake at parties, going in on a pizza or

some other take out meal with co-workers and 

even went as far as bringing my own food

to certain events.

a few weeks before the competition started, i went out and bought

a bunch of reusable plastic containers to store meals that i would

prepare in advance. seriously people, meal prepping

is one of the easiest things to do and doesn't

require that much time once you've taken the time to plan.

i created a weekly meal plan and essentially

practiced how i would prepare these things so i could

figure out what would work for me and what wouldn't

(for example i meal prep every sunday and wednesday

so that it changes the menu and the food is fresh)

and make necessary adjustments when i needed to. my hubby was also

a huge help because he too was on board with this idea

that it became second nature to whip up a bit extra

of whatever meal and slap it into some containers.

i started focusing most of my shopping on REAL food.

none of this premade low carb, low fat food like products that you

find in the middle aisles of your grocery store.

i wanted to teach myself how to make great food

using natural products so that this could be a lasting 

and tangible change rather than relying on

"get rich quick" type schemes.

talk about discipline. did i give in at times?

yes i did. was it worth it afterwards? not really because

i became so used to eating so clean that 

unhealthy things just made my stomach upset. plus

i stopped feeling satisfied from eating foods like that too.

the tools i have learned during this competition

are things that will now stick with me and best of all

because the meals were home cooked, the kids

got into eating healthy too! (BIG WIN)

it's been so wonderful to hear from people that have

followed me on this journey get inspired and 

ask questions or tell me they're getting into a healthy lifestyle.

no word of a lie, it was damn hard. the amount

of food i had to refuse and the days where 

it hurt to sit on a toilet made it difficult to

slap a smile and want to do it all again the next day, but i WANTED

this change so badly i was willing to put in the WORK

to get the results.

i hope i have inspired you to get out there!

if you have any questions or want to know in

more detail what i did, feel free to leave a comment on this page

with your email and i'll tell ya all i know!

thank you for being so encouraging, it meant

a lot!!!

hooray for my 100th post! (giveaway!)

pop the champagne!

(okay fine, i can't drink that right now remember? 90days2nudity? ya.)

pop the sparkling water!

it's my 100th blog post!

i can't even believe that this blog started 2 and a bit

years ago and has grown and touched

so many different people in many

different ways.

i'd like to thank all you secret blog

stalkers for taking a moment to come and visit

me on here to read my rants

or find out how a vacation was and never

leave any comments.

real nice.

joking.

anyway, what's a celebration of this

magnitude without cake!?

and since i'm the cake mama, i thought a giveaway in honor of this

historic moment would be quite fitting.

one lucky blog visitor can win a 6" cake and 2 dozen

cupcakes with butter cream swirl (your choice of flavor) for your next

special occasion!

that's a $75 value folks!

here's how to enter:

1. like "thecakemama" on facebook.

2. share a link to this blog on facebook.

2. leave a comment on this post telling me what special occasion you'd

like a cake mama creation for and leave your email!!

winner will be selected and announced on the blog

on september 1, 2013.

oh and of course, there has to be some rules:

1. giveaway is open to residents of the lower mainland, british columbia, canada (but you can

like my facebook page nonetheless lol!)

2. the offer is what it is, may not be changed or rearranged 

or have it's cash value applied to a different order.

3. giveaway must be redeemed within 12 months of winning. 

4. winner must respond within 48 hours of announcement or another winner

will be selected.

that's it folks, thanks for following!