Bikini Comp Round 2

     As many of you know, I did a bikini competition around this same time last year. I placed in the top 10 back then and was generally happy with how I did for my first time. It was a tough experience but definitely worth it. Since then I had that fire under my butt pushing me to do another one. My main goals were to gain more upper body muscle and a little bit bigger booty :) and of course actually place this time around! 
     Well I just competed for the second time 2 weeks ago and was pretty happy with how I did. I placed 5th in my class which definitely was an improvement from last year! However, I felt that this prep was SOOOOO much harder than the first one. I went into this one thinking it would be easy because I had done it before but boy was I wrong. I had a lot longer of a time to prepare for this one so I felt like I had all the time in the world compared to my last show. This kind of led me to bing a little more lax on my diet for a while which was a bad idea probably! 
     The beginning phases of my prep was what's called 'bulking' (I hate that word btw). For those of you unfamiliar with the term 'bulking' it really just means that you eat more than normal and lift a lot to essentially gain more muscle hence the other bodybuilding term 'gains'. Bulking was hard for me, I in turn gained weight, and although I knew it was necessary to build the kind of muscle I wanted to but I still felt like crap because I had never weighed that much before. 

     In the end it was worth it though don't worry.  I got my cardio on mixed with a much stricter diet and I eventually shed down the fat while keeping on the muscle I had gained, woo hoo! In all honesty though, I didn't give 100% effort during this prep. I had cheat meals more often than I should have, I skipped workouts every once in a while, etc. It was really tough mentally to get through the last month. I definitely have a lot to work on mentally and physically if I want to do another show, but for now I don't have any plans for future shows. We shall see! Anyways.. here's a few pics of the day!

          

     

 

Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Hi!! I'm back and I am sharing the most delicious and EASY Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancake recipe. It's October and that means pumpkin everything, amiright? I wish I could make every single pumpkin recipe I find on Pinterest but unfortunately I don't have enough time to wait for 47 minutes for bread to rise or to make my own  pumpkin puree, etc. Aaaand the fact that 90% of the recipes are packed with sugar, cream cheese, and more sugar also makes me a little less inclined to make them.  So I decided to make up something just as delicious, only a lot healthier, and much much quicker!

Recipe (makes about 2-3 pancakes)  * 1/3 C Kodiak cake pancake mix * 2 Tbs pumpkin puree * 1/3 and 2 Tbs water * 1/2 tsp pumpin pie spice *1/2 tsp cinnamon *Chocolate chips   Just mix it all together and add water if you need to make the consistency a little thinner. You can make them as pancakes or waffles, either will work great! I eat them with Walden Farms 0 calorie pancake syrup and fat free Reddi Whip. Hope you like them :) 

Fish Taco Salad

As of yesterday I started my competition prep for my bikini competition in October. I've got just about 15 weeks to be prepared. My diet is going to be a lot more strict now where as I am going to be gradually leaning out. Finally all the hard work I've been putting into the gym will show once I get my body fat down a little. I've gained a lot of muscle since my last competition in October 2013 and I can't wait to see all the changes I will have made in a years time. Anyways... back to the food. I have a set meal plan and my goal this time around is to not get bored of it. That's why I made up this quick and easy little recipe.  As of right now, I can basically have unlimited veggies, so I am going to try and incorporate as much as I can into the staples of my diet (Fish, Chicken, Rice, etc). Here is what I used for this recipe, Ingredients: *Tilapia *Ezekiel Tortillas *Brussel Sprouts *1/4 Red Onion *Lime *Cajun Seasoning *Olive Oil *Garlic Salt *Avocado I turned the Ezekiel tortillas into chips by heating them on a pan until they were crispy. I usually don't like any kind of tortillas, especially super healthy ones, but these were delicious once I turned them into 'chips'. I marinated the fish in a little lime juice, olive oil, and cajun seasoning, and while the fish was grilling I made the brussel sprout mixture. I think I would have normally used cabbage instead of brussel sprouts but I didn't have any cabbage and I figured that they were basically the same, and it ended up tasting awesome! I just sliced the brussel sprouts, diced the onion, and squeezed some lime juice on top of it, then added a little garlic salt to taste. Mix it all together and you've got a delicious, competition friendly meal! Or just a delicious meal, I know most people actually reading this aren't crazies like me and like to walk around in high heels and a sparkly bikini :) Either way, ENJOY!  p.s, you might want to use some kind of dressing on this, I just used lime juice and it tasted great but I think a little something extra, even just some salsa would make it even better! 

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

This is the bomb. That's all. I have always loved banana bread. I'm not necessarily a banana bread maker by any means, but if there's ever banana bread already made, I'm always down for a slice. I've always wanted to try to make a healthy banana bread recipe, but I've never really found one that looks super yummy. I came across this recipe from Bloglovin' and it most definitely wasn't healthy by any means so naturally I made it my own by substituting a lot of healthier options, and I must say it was delicious. Even my husband who isn't a big cake/bread/dessert fan loved it so I took that as a big compliment. You've got to try this! Who doesn't love banana bread and chocolate? Combine the two with a healthy twist and you've got a guilt free delicious treat! Ingredients: - 3 Medium/Large ripe bananas - 1/2 C melted coconut oil - 3 Tbs honey - 1 Large egg - 1tsp vanilla extract - 1tsp baking soda - 1/4 tsp table salt - 1/2 tsp cinnamon - 1/2 C oat flour - 1/2 C coconut flour - 1/2 C cocoa powder - 1 C dark chocolate chips

 Heat your oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with a nonstick baking spray.

Mash bananas in the bottom of a large bowl. (You’ll have a little over 1 cup mashed banana total.) Whisk in melted coconut oil, then honey, egg, and vanilla. Place baking soda, salt, cinnamon, flours and cocoa powder in a separate bowl as whisk to get rid of any lumps (could also use a sifter), then add to the wet ingredients. Stir dry and wet ingredients with a spoon until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out batter-free. (A melted chocolate chip smear is expected, however.) Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The banana bread will keep for up to 4 days at room temperature. I keep mine wrapped in foil. It goes without saying that it has never actually lasted that long. Hope you love it as much as I did! 

Teriyaki Chicken Stir-Fry

          I was getting pretty bored of just my usual chicken and rice and broccoli meal so I decided that I needed to switch things up a bit while still incorporating a lot of veggies. I love flavorful food but a big problem with this is that when you go out to eat, a majority of that flavorful food has a lot of excess calories. My goal with this meal was to capture the teriyaki flavor without all the added sugar. Have you ever looked at the ingredients of just a regular bottle of teriyaki sauce? Or any store bought sauce or marinade for that matter? Go ahead and look, you'll find that either the first or second ingredient is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. Yep i'm not joking. I went to Smith's the other night and looked at over 7 different bottles and literally each bottles main ingredient was just that. So basically that made me disgusted and that is how I came up with this much healthier recipe for teriyaki sauce.  Ingredients:

Sauce: * 1/2 C Liquid Aminos (soy sauce substitute) * 1 1/2 C Water * 1/2 tsp ginger powder * 2 tsp minced garlic * 3 tbs Truvia  * 2 tsp Honey

Veggies: (you really can use whatever veggies you want or happen to have) * Snow peas * Red, Orange, and Yellow Bell Peppers * Bok Choy (similar to celery) * Red Onion * Broccoli  * Water Chess Nuts

Chicken:  * 3 chicken breasts cut into cubes 

To make the sauce I really just mixed everything together in a pan and simmered on low heat. My Sauce was very liquid-y but if you want it to be thicker or stickier I suggest adding a Tbs of corn starch or arrow root powder. Once the sauce is simmering I put the chicken in a pan and poured a little bit of the sauce over it while I cooked the chicken. While the chicken was cooking I cooked the veggies in a separate pan also cooking them with the teriyaki sauce. Once both are done you can mix them together and pour over rice. That's it! Enjoy :)