Sweet Potato Pancakes...dang.

I keep playing with recipes.  I'm still loving all the ideas I get from people on Instagram.  It's amazing how Instagram has become a place of fitness/cleaner eating encouragement.  If you are interested in seeing some - search #clean or #protein on Instagram.

The past few weeks I've been adding baked sweet potato to a lot of recipes recently.  I slice the sweet potato into rounds and then bake them till they are soft.  Then I add a few slices to my recipes.

Baked sweet potato slices!

My favorite way has been in my oat protein pancakes! (original recipe here)

I feel like I am cheating when I am eating!  So decadent and so flippin moist!  Seriously people - you should try them.

I added zucchini this morning too.

Want to try them?

Here's my Sweet Potato Zucchini Protein Oat Pancake recipe for one:

I mix all of this in my mini ninja that my amazing mom gave me for Christmas.

1/2 cup of old fashioned oats
1/2 scoop Vega Sport Vanilla
3 slices baked sweet potato
1 egg
1 tbsp ff yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon or more to taste
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp of water

I also added 1/3 cup zucchini this morning.

Let sit for a few minutes.  Heat up pan and add 1/4 tsp coconut oil for each pancake you make.
Then eat!

My amazing mini Ninja

I topped mine with natural peanut butter today but that changes depending on my mood.

Breakfast this morning. So good!

Pancakes. I love pancakes. (Waffles too but I don't have a waffle maker right now)

One of my favorite recipes from Niki G's Meal Plan is the oat pancake.  I started making something similar a couple years ago but I forgot about them.

Here's Niki's recipe:

Oat Pancakes 
1 egg, 3 whites mixed with
½ cup dry oatmeal (I use the old fashioned oats because they are less processed then the 1-minute version)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 packet stevia
Cook on medium heat in skillet
Top w/Barlean's - Strawberry Banana Omega Swirl Flax Oil, 1 Tbsp


Part of Niki's plan is that you eat the same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner  for an entire week.

My prep a couple weeks ago!

One week would look like:
Breakfast - Oat pancakes with fruit
Lunch - Turkey Chili
Dinner - Cashew Butter Chicken

I prep ALL (or as much of it that I can) on Sunday/Wednesdays so that I have NO excuses for what I choose to eat.

I started following her plan back in January and now I'm experimenting with all of the meal ideas.  I've added new things and tried different fruits or veggies or seasonings depending on what I like or have been craving.

I have played a lot with the Oat Pancake and have a basic recipe that I've changed a bit from Niki's.

Em's Oat Pancakes
1/2 cup oats - ground up into flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tbsp ff plain yogurt (sometimes this is greek - depending on what else I'm making that week)
1/4 tsp baking powder
2-3 tbsp water if it's not runny enough

I let this sit for a couple minutes and then cook in a griddle with 1/2 tsp coconut oil.  YUM!

Optional add ins:
1/2 banana
1/2 scoop protein powder - I use Vega Sport Protein (Previous post about why Vega here)

Oat pancake with Natural peanut butter.

Marathon Training and Clean Eating

I'm in the middle of training for the Country Music Half Marathon on April 26th. I ran 10 miles yesterday and then ate baked sweet potato fries and greek yogurt tzatziki.   I am trying to be prepare for how I will train AND what I'm going to eat while training for my 8th full marathon this fall.

I've run the Akron Marathon for the past 5 years to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in honor of my younger sister. I really am not a marathon runner but I feel that as long as I can run a marathon - I'd like to so I can continue to raise awareness and money for MS.   This year she won't be in town the weekend of the Akron Marathon - so I have been trying to figure out where else to run my fall marathon.  I haven't picked one yet.

BUT I am already thinking about the training and the nutrition.  One of the reasons I don't think I'm a marathon runner even though I've run 7 marathons already - is that I get sick after I run.  ***TMI warning!*** I've had runners trots, needed to throw up while running and my body feels achy for hours after I run.  I had a colonoscopy in 2010 to see if there was something wrong with me but I have a healthy colon.  So each year I work on what I eat while I'm training and then specifically what to eat the week of the marathon.  Last year I made it through the entire marathon without feeling badly and then I one light beer.  And almost immediately felt horrible.  I made my own protein bites to eat instead of nutrition filled with artificial ingredients.  I only drink water and take Hammer Endurolytes.  Those three things seemed to work pretty well for me last year.  Until the beer...

I'm also working on cleaning up all of my eating.  I've been following a cleaner eating plan since the beginning of January with Niki G's Fitness - my boot camp community that I joined when I moved to Nashville. But I know that once I start into my full marathon training - I will have to add foods to my current eating plan.  I crave protein when I am in full marathon training mode - last year I ate a lot of hard boiled eggs and salads with avocado.  Yummy!

All of this to say - I haven't found a lot of info online for marathon runners and clean eating. That doesn't mean it isn't out there - send me links if you'd like!  But because I'm not finding a lot of it - I am going to document some of what I am going to be eating over the next year.

I have found a lot of information on Instagram about cleaner eating by people who are training for bikini competitions or are into Crossfit type fitness. I am so thankful for that info!  But I want to use as much whole foods as possible and if I use any kind of protein powders then I want to know exactly what is in them.  I don't want to gain weight while training this year.  I want to fuel my body efficiently and still enjoy what I'm eating!

Healthy.  Strong.  Cleaner. Here goes...

I passed my dad last year at the Akron Marathon. Akron, 2013

3 oz Flank steak, sautéed zucchini, yellow squash, mushroom & sweet onion on a fresh salad! 

Protein Powders - Cleaner?

I have spent a lot of time reading through different protein powders to find one that is cleaner.

I haven't bought it yet because I still have a few samples to try but I think I am going to use Vega Sport Protein as my protein powder.  I like to add a little protein powder to smoothies or pancakes or bars every once in a while and I really wanted one that is less processed and has very little additives.  Or none.  This one is plant based - and it seems to have ingredients that make sense to me. And it's sweetened with Stevia!

I have also used Whey Protein from Jay Robb.  It's sweetened with stevia and I feel like I recognize the ingredients.  But I'm trying not to take in Whey Protein for now.

I realize that there are probably others out there that are cleaner - and I'd love input from people who have tried some!

This journey into cleaner eating has meant that I read a lot of ingredients.  I still don't know a lot of what I need to pay attention to - I'm learning as I go.  But I definitely feel like I have a much better idea of what I am putting into my body these days.
 

Protein powder pancakes with strawberry yogurt syrup, March 2014