I don’t know about the rest of the world but our family enjoys having breakfast for dinner quite often.  My kids love banana pancakes, I wish I could say that I make them from scratch and they are incredibly healthy but I can’t.  I use Krusteaz pancake mix, bananas and if I’m feeling crazy I add cinnamon 😉  Since those amazing pancakes aren’t ideal for my meal plan I make protein pancakes so I can still enjoy breakfast for dinner.  Enjoy!

Banana Coconut Protein Pancakes

1 medium ripe banana
1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
1/2 tblsp coconut flour
1 tblsp unsweetened coconut
3 egg whites

Mash banana in a bowl, add egg white and whisk together. Add dry ingredients and mix until batter forms. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or pan (I use coconut oil) over medium high heat. Pour the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/3 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot. Makes about 3 pancakes.

I’m on my 5th day of my 21 day challenge where I can’t have sugar (dying), refined carbs, & alcohol…so pretty much I’m doing the paleo diet for 21 days.  I’m not a huge fan of the paleo lifestyle just because it’s not convenient and it takes a lot of effort, and I’m all about fast and easy which is why I love this dinner and I’m sharing it with you!  It’s fast, delicious, and the best part is that my kids will devour it.

RECIPE

10-15 skinless chicken tenders
1 package of bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap 1 piece of bacon around each chicken tender. Place seam side down in a baking dish. Place in oven, after 10 minutes I turn each tender over and bake for another 10 minutes. Then I turn the broiler for about 3-5 minutes to get the bacon a little more crispy (watch to make sure it doesn’t burn).  Easy Peezy!!

Per tender: 90 calories, 3.8g of fat, 0g of carbs, 0g of sugar, 15g of protein

So I’m kind of in a funk:( I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been training for races for the past 5 months and now that I don’t have a race until March I’m a little lost/bored or if it’s the crazy, somewhat disappointing Thanksgiving I had…we had no power for 2 days, my lineman husband has been gone since Wednesday and his return is nowhere in sight so my five kiddos and I had a mini Thanksgiving dinner on our own Friday night (I know I’m blessed and so many more people have it much, much worse than I).  Either way I found myself eating pumpkin pie for breakfast, lunch and possibly dinner.  Yes this is my lame pity party…ugh how gross am I?!

Here’s a little delicious, light, and refreshing salad to help us get back on track from all the holiday treats and overeating we all did.

I grabbed a bag of kale from Costco, drizzled a little olive oil on it, then squeeze half a lemon on it, making sure it is over all the salad.

Then sprinkle garlic salt to taste, making sure you toss the salad so the salt is evenly distributed over the kale.  Put salad in a gallon baggie, place in refrigerator for a minimum of an hour, just to kind of marinate the salad.  You can add some type of protein to it if you want or just enjoy as is!

So keeping with the pumpkin flavored theme, I decided to spice up my almonds today.  I like to snack on whole natural almonds usually in the afternoon to hold me over until dinner, sometimes they can be a little bland and boring so I decided to concoct a recipe to make them super delicious. Hope you enjoy!

Recipe

1 tsp coconut oil

1 Tbls honey

1 1/2 pumpkin pie spice + extra dusitng

2 c whole natural almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Microwave the coconut oil and honey in bowl until oil is in a liquid form.  Add the almonds to the bowl, stir ingredients making sure the almonds are covered completely with the oil and honey.  Then add the pumpkin spice and stir, again making sure the almonds are covered with the spice.  Pour onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.

I sprinkled a little more pumpkin pie spice before putting them in the oven.

Found these pumpkin spice condoms for all you die hard pumpkin lovers!  Haha just kidding, couldn’t resist.  They aren’t real, sorry 😦

Having five kids makes dinner time a little complicated and stressful pretty much every night!! I have one child that won’t eat any fruits or veggies, one that won’t eat any meat, there’s always something that someone doesn’t like.  Alas, there is one dinner that all my kids will eat other than pizza…score!!  Sometimes I forget about my meatloaf recipe but when I do remember, it’s always a hit, super easy, and most likely I always have the ingredients…score again!!!  Tonight I decided to make the meatloaf with half ground beef and 1/2 ground turkey, which I’ve never done before and it turned out amazing and packed full of protein!

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground turkey

Meatloaf is seriously the easiest meal, it’s as simple as throwing all ingredients in a bowl, mixing it up and throwing it in the oven.  Here is the ground beef and turkey, eggs, onion soup mix, eggs, and oatmeal.

All ingredients mixed together

You have to jump in and get your hands dirty.  I mix all my ingredients really well with my hands, much easier than using a utensil.  Don’t forget to wash your hands!

All finished!  Mmm I love this classic dish full of awesome protein and there were plenty of leftovers for lunch! Woot woot

Recipe

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground turkey

1 package onion soup mix

3 eggs

1 1/2 c dry oatmeal

2 tsp dijon mustard

Combine all ingredients and mix (using your hands) until ingredients are completely combined.  Add meat mixture into a loaf pan, cover with tin foil, and place in oven.  I left the meatloaf in for 45 minutes but took the foil off for the last 5 minutes.

Per serving: 151 calories, 4.5g of fat, 7.1g of carbs, 14.3g of protein

There is so many reasons why I love the fall…the beautiful leaves, chilly weather (perfect for running and getting my workout on outside), fun fall clothing (especially boots & scarves) and most importantly all the delicious pumpkin food and drinks!!!  I love all things pumpkin, instead of indulging in some sinful desert that will leave me feeling guilty and bloated (damn I wish sugar was good for you), I turn my boring ol’ protein shake into a yummy fall treat.

Pumpkin Protein Shake

Recipe

8-10 ice cubes

Vanilla protein powder (I use About Time protein powder)

3 tbsp Pure Pumpkin puree

1/4 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

1 cup water

Blend and Enjoy!!