Monday, May 15, 2017

Baking Breakfast- Coconut Banana Muffins and Baked Protein Donuts

My typical breakfast is sweet potatoes I roasted on the weekend with one egg and two egg whites and broccoli... or a whole-grain English muffin with the eggs and broccoli. Both take less than 5 minutes to make and I am on my way.


On the weekends we like to mix it up, we make pancakes, sausage, waffles... and now I bought some donut pans to experiment with and Charlie and I worked on a new muffin recipe since we have so many rotten bananas. Yay!!! As I have discovered, any muffin recipe works in a donut pan, you just need to change the baking time. I bought my donut pans on Amazon for a total of $13 they are the Wilton 2105-1620 6 Cavity Nonstick Donut Pans (2 pack)- while usually I am not a fan of buying things for just one purpose, like donuts only, for the price and the fact that they don't take up that much room in the cupboard, I think these are awesome. 


Baked Protein Donuts- 

The first time I made these I used "A Big Man's World" recipe for Flourless Cinnamon Bun Breakfast Donuts- while they were good, I thought they were fairly dry and just not amazing. 


The second try I used a recipe I got from my friend Taylor and adjusted it to make 12 donuts, added some protein, and guestimated how to make her "frosting." These are awesome!

Kodiak Cake Protein Donuts

(makes 12 donuts)

Donuts:

- 3 Cups Kodiak Protein Cake Mix
- 3/4 Cup Milk
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 1 Egg
- 1 Egg White
- 1/4 Cup Sugar (or sweetener of your choice)
- 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Frosting:

- 1 Scoop Chocolate Whey Protein Powder
- 1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips, melted
- Water or Milk to thin out
- Sprinkles, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

1. Mix all of the donut ingredients together in a medium bowl. Using a spoon, or just fixing the donuts in the pan after you pour the batter, evenly fill 12, greased, donut molds. Tap the pan on the counter when you are done to get rid of any air bubbles. Bake for 7-9 minutes until they spring back when you lightly touch them. Let them cool completely before frosting.

2. Frosting- work fast! Lesson learned my first time! I melted my chocolate with a bit of milk in the microwave, stirring until smooth. Pour into the protein powder... thin out with more milk or water (if needed) until a thick, smooth, frosting is formed. Dip each donut in the frosting and let it dry on a cooling rack. The frosting will harden as it cools. 

Including frosting:
Nutrition Facts
Servings 12.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 187
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 5 g7 %
Saturated Fat 2 g10 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 32 mg11 %
Sodium 233 mg10 %
Potassium 55 mg2 %
Total Carbohydrate 26 g9 %
Dietary Fiber 3 g13 %
Sugars 12 g
Protein 11 g22 %
Vitamin A1 %
Vitamin C0 %
Calcium5 %
Iron5 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Coconut Banana Muffins

(Makes 12 Muffins)

One of the great things about muffins is that Charlie can help me... and she loves them... and now breakfast or snack is done for the next few days as long as I can keep Matt away from them.

- 1 1/4 Cup All-purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder (aluminum free)
- pinch of salt
- 2 Rotten Bananas, mashed
- 1/2 Cup Melted Coconut Oil
- 2/3 Cup Coconut Sugar (or regular)
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 1/2 Cups Shredded, Unsweetened Coconut, divided

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the banana, coconut oil, sugar, egg and vanilla, whisk again until smooth. Fold in 1 cup of the coconut. 
2. Using a non-stick muffin pan (I LOVE my Sur la Table ones) or grease a muffin pan... divide the batter evenly. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut. Bake for 20-23 minutes until the top spring back when you lightly touch it, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
Let them cool slightly before enjoying :) 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 12.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 296
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 19 g30 %
Saturated Fat 16 g81 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 16 mg5 %
Sodium 28 mg1 %
Potassium 81 mg2 %
Total Carbohydrate 29 g10 %
Dietary Fiber 5 g20 %
Sugars 15 g
Protein 3 g6 %
Vitamin A1 %
Vitamin C3 %
Calcium0 %
Iron3 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.


Thursday, May 11, 2017

Progesterone Injections... what WebMd didn't tell me

Most people are aware I have been doing progesterone injections once a week... I will be doing them from weeks 15 to 25 to *hopefully* make this pregnancy more successful than my last. After week 25 the baby has a much better chance of survival if something happens, and the doctors, Matt, and I will face whatever happens then and not worry about it for now. I will preface all of this by saying that doing these are completely my choice. Basically two things cause what happened in the Fall when my water broke prematurely... infection and an incompetent cervix. Progesterone keeps the cervix from opening and although what happened during that pregnancy was caused by an infection, I do not want to look back if something happens again and wish I would have done something different.

Like most people I know when a doctor suggests something, one of the first things you do is google it. I spent a decent amount of time scouring the internet looking for side effects, statistics on effectiveness, etc. It wasn't until I was experiencing some of my own side effects, and posting a photo on Instagram that I had a bunch of women share their experiences and gave me the symptoms I wish I would have been warned about online! So here it is, my summary of progesterone shots that WedMd didn't tell me. My doctor wrote me a prescription, not covered by insurance, and my options were to go to the doctor weekly to have a nurse give them to me, or since my sister is a nurse, she could give them to me... which honestly is easier and more convenient!

1) The serum, I will call it, is thicker than thick. It has a viscosity of like molasses. That being said it takes some pressure to do the injection. The needles the pharmacy gave me to use were massive... my suggestion would be to ask your Dr. for smaller needles so you don't have to use the ones they give you.
2) The injection will leave a huge knot. Similar to a tetanus or flu shot. Rubbing it right afterwards will help, I was told to ice by some people and not to by others because that just makes it slower. I don't know how to help you here because it seems like it'll exist no matter what.
3) The injection site will burn a few hours later. I do mine around 5pm... and when I lay down to go to sleep 4-5 hours later, if I lay on that side, I feel a burning from the injection site up my back. Not pleasant. It usually it only that first night, but when you are limited to sleeping on your sides and one of the sides feels like that, sleeping is difficult.
4) Itchy!! About a week after the shot, the injection site becomes really, really itchy. And will form a rash if you itch it too much. So on Tuesdays I have one itchy side and one painful side. Not cool.
5) Constipation... I am not sure if this is due to the pregnancy or the shots but my goodness is this not fun. I drink a lot of water, take my vitamins, eat all the fiber and vegetables, exercise and I still feel like a bloated blob that can't poop. Irritating. 
6) Backne. Again... not sure if this is the hormones or the pregnancy... but my back, only my back, not my face, is completely broken out. I am trying every wash and scrub out there and it is still embarrassingly bad. At first I was wearing tops at the gym to hide it, but at this point I am done being ashamed of anything that has to do with this pregnancy so oh well. I never had this in middle school so I guess it's my time!  
7) These are common... so many people I know have either used the progesterone gel or the injections at some point in their pregnancy, if not the whole thing. If the end goal is a healthy baby, then the itchy, burning, inconvenience of a shot is definitely worth  it. :)