Brownie Batter Protein Pancakes

My sweet tooth has been off the charts for the past couple days. I've been trying to keep it in check, but all of the christmas treats are pulling at my heart strings.

If I'm being truthful, this sugar craving has been in overdrive since I saw the PC Candy Cane Fudge Crackle Ice cream hit the shelves. By the time my cheat day came around, it was all sold out. 3 weeks later and my grocers have yet to restock my holiday fave.

With a heavy heart, I've turned to other sweet treats, and while they fail to match my beloved PC CCFC, this morning's breakfast came close.

Had these decadent, chocolatey pancakes not been born under the looming shadow of PC CCFC, my praises would be ringing out with much more enthusiasm because they're everything a chocolate lover could want in a healthy, protein-packed breakfast recipe.

Alas, dark clouds hang over my PC CCFC-less world, and I drown my sorrows in these fudgy pancakes of resentment.

Ingredients:
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 egg
- 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
- 1.5 tbsp ground flax
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- sweetener to taste (I use 1 tsp honey)

Directions:
1. Mash ingredients together
2. Cook on med-high for about 3 minutes.
3. Flip when small bubbles stay formed and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.

I ate mine plain and they were chocolatey and delicious. If you are feeling extra indulgent, add chocolate chips to the batter, or spread some peanut butter or nutella while they're still warm. Either way, chocolate-brownie goodness will calm your soul.

Chickpea Curry

Cheat meals in this house used to be Sundays, but the residual effects of food-overdose made us sluggish on Mondays. Now we cheat on Friday or Saturday, and but Monday we've fully recovered and are back on track.

I love having my Sundays free so I can spend some time trying new recipes that I don't normally have time for during the work week. Weekday food is simple: lean protein, veggies, and some complex carbs.
Lucky for me, there are more than enough leftovers from tonight's meal to make tomorrow's lunch interesting.
What's even more exciting is how delicious and hearty this meal is with minimum effort, so you can make it any night of the week. Even better, this recipe makes a ton of portions so you can easily incorporate this curry into your meal prep.

Friends, don't be afraid of spice. I promise it won't hurt you.
This curry is bold and flavorful. The aroma wafting through the kitchen is warm and cozy, perfect to lead into winter.

And if this all sounds too good to be true, you'll be pleased to know this entire dish is filled with high-quality nutrients to fuel your body.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
- 2 cans chickpeas (no salt added, rinsed and drained)
- 2 tomato, diced
- 2 cups water
- 1 yellow onion, diced small
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- pinch of ground cloves
- lemon wedges *adds a delicious zip, don't skip this!*

Optional:
2 cups shredded chicken breast, chopped cilantro for garnish, basmati rice, naan bread

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a deep pan. Cook onion on med-high for 5 minutes.
2. Add tomato, garlic, and spices to pan and cook for 1 minutes.
3. Add chickpeas and water into pan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes.
4. Remove lid, cook on high for ~5 minutes to reduce liquid.
Serve with fresh lemon wedges.

If adding chicken, mix shredded chicken into the curry just before serving.

4 Ingredient Banana Pancakes

Ok, mid week breakfast time: wake up, get some, and get going.

These pancakes require minimum effort, 4 simple ingredients, and 10 minutes of your time.
These pancakes taste subtly of banana breads. They're light but filling, and a recipe worthy of adding to your arsenal...
Give them a try:

Ingredients:
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp ground flax
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Heat a touch of coconut oil in a pan on medium-high.
2. Mash banana, mix in the egg, cinnamon and flax.
3. Ladle batter into 3-4 pancakes, cook for 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
*serves 1 person

If you want more punch, try topping these pancakes with nut butter, a sprinkle of chocolate chips, some leftover berry coulis, or maybe some nutella if you're feeling naughty.

No flax? No worries. Substitute the flax with 1/2 tbsp of chia seeds, or 2 tbsp oats.

Clean Pumpkin Oatmeal Bites

Anyone else love muffins? Unfortunately they are usually full of gluten, oil, sugar, and whatever else the companies throw in them. But I still miss them.
These little bites are healthy and heartyl great for a quick breakfast or an on-the-go snack!
Give them a try:

Ingredients:
- 2c old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4c chopped pecans
- 2 tbsp ground flax
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2tsp baking soda
- 1/4tsp sea salt
- 1 ripe banana
- 15oz can pumpkin puree
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup almond milk (or other milk)
- 1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease muffin tin.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl together. Set aside.
3. Mash the banana. Add the egg. Whisk in remaining wet ingredients (vanilla, pumpkin, milk, honey)
4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together.
5. Pour into muffin tins and bake for 25 min at 350.
*makes 12 medium-sized muffins

If you would like a sweeter muffin, add 1/4c brown sugar, or baking stevia, or sprinkle in a few chocolate chips!

Almond Flour Waffles with Berry Coulis

Dinner makes me sad for the sole reason that it generally means my food consumption for the day is ending. For this same reason, breakfast is my favourite. To be honest, I usually fall asleep thinking about all the delicious food I get to eat when I wake up.

This morning I woke up in a slight panic. I found myself without any of my usual go-tos: bananas, pumpkin, peanut butter, omelet toppings, nor cereal: bad, right? I felt very vulnerable and under-prepared.
I had some almond flours and eggs which would suffice for pancakes... But they couldn't stand alone as breakfast, they needed something more... Something fresh, to brighten my breakfast anxieties...

I thought of the Costco-sized bag of frozen berries and breakfast suddenly evolved into Almond Waffles with Berry Coulis.

Then, and only then, I got out of bed.
And holy sh*t was it worth it!

Original recipe makes 2 generous servings.

Ingredients:
Berry Coulis:
- 1 cup frozen berries
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- 2 tsp honey

Waffles:
- 1/2 almond flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 2 tbsp flax meal
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp almond extract *optional*

Directions:
Berry Coulis:
Add ingredients to a small pot and simmer on medium-low, stirring frequently. Remove from heat once coulis is the desired consistency.
Refrigerate unused portions.

Waffles:
1. Preheat waffle iron. Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then incorporate together
2. Lightly coat waffle iron with coconut oil (or oil of choice); ladle 1/4 cup of mixture onto waffle iron. Proceed using waffle maker's guidelines (approx 3-4 min per waffle).
Serve waffles, topped with berry coulis.

It's totally worth it to make a double or triple batch of the berry coulis and store it in the fridge to use it on toast, oatmeal, or future pancakes and waffles... It's that good.

Chipotle Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Right now I'm working on perfecting what could potentially be the healthiest, most perfect blueberry muffin recipe known to man. With that being said, this weekend I baked 2 separate batches of muffins... Which means I've eaten 8 muffins over the course of 36 hours this weekend. Don't give me that look, I'm doing this for us.

In other news, I have a simple recipe bursting with flavour. My man was so thrilled with this meal that he scraped the baking pan clean. And with that, I will share my Chipotle Chicken and Sweet Potato recipe with you.

The smokey chipotle flavour perfectly compliments and enhances the natural sweetness of the potatoes.

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to serve more people, or to prep some tasty meals ahead of time.
Original recipe makes 2 generous servings.

Ingredients:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 small sweet potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Rub:
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp vinegar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Toss sweet potato in olive oil and scatter across roasting pan. Lightly season with salt/pepper and roast for 15min.
3. While potatoes are roasting, mix ingredients for the rub.
4. Wash and dry chicken, rub both sides with seasoning, and place atop roasted potatoes. Bake for an additional 25-30 minutes.

Serve this dish alongside some fresh vegetables; this would work really well alongside some collard greens or spinach, I only had some green beans on hand and they paired up just fine.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal

Hunger pains? We've got the cure! Kitchen Abs is bringing you simple, wholesome recipes to excite your taste buds, build lean muscle and drop the pounds.
Are you ready to get started on your way to a healthy, happier you?

Let's get right to it: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal. It tastes like it was crafted by the voices of a choir of naked angel-babies. You need this in your life.

* Makes one decadent serving

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup quick oats (gluten free if desired)
- 1.5 tbsp natural peanut butter
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking stevia
- 1/3 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Mix ingredients together in a bowl.
2. If oatmeal is too thick, add more water. Sweeten to taste.

Enjoy your bowl of heaven!

Turkey Carcass Soup

Anything I can eat with a shovel-like took is a win in my books - maybe that's why I like soup so much. There's nothing like it.

If we ever have leftovers, we make soup. Sometimes we'll roast an entire turkey for meal prep - and the carcass makes a rich, delicious soup.

Ingredients:
- 1 picked-over turkey carcass
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 large white onion, diced
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 4 medium carrots, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 cups wild rice
- 1 tsp sage
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 3 bay leaves
- 1.5 cups frozen green peas
- salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a large pot, combine all ingredients except the rice and peas. Add water to cover the bird, if needed. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour.
2. Remove bay leaves and turkey carcass. Clean remaining meat off the bones and return to pot.
3. Stir in the rice, bringing to a boil and reducing heat to medium for another 15 minutes.
4. Add green peas. Cook for another 10 minutes or until rice is tender.
Garnish with some fresh parsley and enjoy!

Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal

Alright, here's the story: my boyfriend and I were eating way too much junk. The crap we were eating was draining our energy, and ruining our progress at the gym. We know better, but sometimes bad food just tastes so good (I'm a pig).
We started cleaning up our diets, but food started getting repetitive and dull - and for a pig, that just won't do. Now I'm on a quest to find simple healthy recipes to knock our socks off, and I want to share them with you!

Dessert for breakfast? Is that even a question ... The apple pie baked oatmeal I cooked up this morning is exactly the recipe I was looking for to launch my blog. It's rich and bursting with flavour, anything baking with cinnamon is heaven in my books.

The recipe can easily be doubled, just increase the baking time to 35 minutes and use an 8x8 pan.
Original recipe makes 2 large servings.

Ingredients:
Wet mix:
- 1/3 cup of almond milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp ground flax
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
- 1/2 tbsp baking stevia (or sweetener of choice)
Dry mix:
- 1 large apple, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup almond milk (set aside)
Optional topping:
- 2 tbsp chopped walnuts, 1 tsp honey, sprinkle of cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F and grease 8x4 loaf tin.
2. Mix wet ingredients in a bowl. Set aside for 5 min.
3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl
4. Combine ingredients in the loaf tin, spreading evenly.
5. Pour remaining almond milks on top. Sprinkle with walnut topping if desired.
6. Bake for 25 minutes. Broil on low for an additional 2 minutes.