Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Mug Cake

A few weeks ago I got an email from BzzAgent asking if I'd be interested in reviewing some products from EAS. Since I always love me a good protein powder, I said yes! 

While I received these products for free, all the opinions are my own.

I as really excited when my box came in the mail, I was impressed buy the variety of products and the fun shaker bottle. It;s purple and I like purple. I received several packets of the protein powder and 2 of Lean 15 protein bars.

I immediately busted into the protein bars because chocolate and peanut butter. Yum...

The main ingredient is soy protein and since soy gives me an upset stomach, I only had 1 bite. Oh my, that one bite was ridiculous. 

Did you ever have a Whatchamacallit? If not, you should because they are AMAZING and this protein bar tastes just.like.them. The only thing missing is the caramel. But I can live without the caramel. It was really tasty and I gave the rest to Kev. He loved them too and used the other bar to refuel after a tennis match.

I wanted to do something a little different with the protein powder and decided to use it in my go-to late night snack, a protein mug cake.

The ingredients: 1 serving of protein powder, cocoa powder, PB2, Egg Whites, Almond Milk and Baking Soda (unpictured)

Dump the protein powder in a good sized mug, add 1 tablespoon of cocoa and one tablespoon of PB2, and 1/4 tsp of baking soda.

Then the wet, 3 tablespoons of egg whites, and enough almond milk to mix it into a cake-like batter. It's about 2 tablespoons but add more if needed.

Mix it all up and put in the microwave for 1 minute, You'll probably need to cook it a little longer but do it in 10 second increments. It can go from tasty to overcooked in a few seconds.

There's no way to take a good picture of a mug cake but trust me when I tell you that you have to make this. You can also add a dollop of peanut butter on top for added yum and protein.

With the EAS protein clocking in at 25 grams, the eggs at 5 and some in the PB2 this little treat will only cost you less than 200 calories but you gain 32ish grams of protein. AND it's tasty as can be.

Really, you need to make this as soon as possible,

Oh look it's Thursday!

I had some amazing intentions to work on this blog post last night. Then Chubbles jumped into my lap and decided that I wasn't going to type.

I know I could push him off or lock myself in another room but when he's on my lap at least I know he isn't wrecking havoc or peeing on anything. Yes, my cat is a terrorist. Actually it's more like Stockholm Syndrome, He keeps me hostage but I've learned to love it.

Today I wanted to share some things that I'm kinda loving right now. Yes, I know that I could bust out a five favorite thing post on Friday but ooooo look at me, I'm changing things up, what what???

First up, if you are on Instagram, and you totally should be, check out @tindernightmares  It's kinda inappropriate but there is nothing that cracks me up more than horrible pick up lines.

Dying, seriously dying.

Also, check out @crazyjewishmom. Again, dying. Kate's mom is a trip and more than a little batty, love it. Oh, and if you like that picture of my cat, there's more where that came from on my Instagram @ljn162!

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For years I always followed the SAME skin care regime, I literally wiped my make-up off with Stridex pads and that was it. I know, awful. I just really hate splashing water on my face.

The older I get the more I realize that I have to use some nicer products and my skin got super dry this winter. I found the Yes to blueberry face wipes at Target and I'm really in love. They're super awesome. And the Yes to Blueberry face cream is spectacular too, So worth it.

I sound like a dufus when I say that a pen has changed my life but these might be the most amazing pens ever created. Fine point, multi colored and the case, Oh my the case is perfect and each pen has it's own little slot. And you can angle the lid so it props up the case at an angle. Swoon,...

I might have already talked about my obsession with May Books. I'm on a huge stationary and paper kick this year. I realized I can't keep track of everything on my phone and I need paper. If' you're going to take notes, it might as well be in cute notebooks.

I love that they're small and cute and customizable AND you can get them made with graph paper. I love writing in tiny boxes. Funny story, I think 50% of the women at our last CAB meeting had a May Book. You should totally sign up for their e-mail and facebook because they run 50% off sales periodically and it's so worth it to pick up a few at that price!

Have a great rest of the day!

Linking up!!

The Annual Super Bowl Party

Raise your hand if you're having a rough Monday. (hand raised) There might not be enough coffee to get me through the day, especially if I want to go to the gym and make it to the meeting I have at 8pm tonight.

After several months I'm so excited to finally see my article for the Angelos in print! The Angelos is the magazine published quarterly by Kappa Delta. I few months ago I wrote a blog post and it was seen by the editor of the magazine. She asked me to condense it for the article. I was absolutely shocked, I never thought I'd have an article published, let alone in the Angelos!

If you happened to come over from the article, WELCOME! Thank you for taking the time to look at the magazine and actually type the blog address in your computer! The original blog post that started the whole thing can be found here. Again, thanks for stopping by!

We had our annual Super Bowl party last night and the weekend was spent shopping, prepping, cooking and finally partying. Word to the wise, never, ever, go to Costco on a Saturday, at noon, the day before Super Bowl Sunday. There were 20 people deep around some of the sample stations. It's a tiny spoonful of cake people! Don't push people out of the way for half a bite of cake. The pizza and mozzarella stick station was pretty brutal too.

I did find peace at the last stop of the day, the liquor store.

The moonshine was amazing and there isn't s drop left. I literally put it in my red solo cup with some ice. As for the Fireball, I'm a fan of cinnamon flavored adult beverages but everyone who went to college in the 90s had a bad Goldschlager experience. Fireball is all of the delicious and none of the bad decisions. 

 Bright and early Sunday morning I got to work making the food. On the menu we had pepperoni rolls, sausage dip, meatballs and slider buns, shortbread cookies, butter cookies, muddy buddies, oh and we ordered a 3ft hoagie.

In the morning I shaped the bread dough into slider buns, made my pepperoni rolls and set them out to rise. I had to put them on cookie sheets, cover with plastic wrap, then cover with a dish towel. I made a little morgue of bread dough.

For those of you who aren't familiar, pepperoni rolls are freaking awesome. It's just pepperoni and cheese rolled in bread dough and baked but OMG, they're awesome. They're really popular where I grew up and I was surprised that no one had ever heard of them down south

There's nothing better than taking a warm pepperoni roll and dipping them in marinara sauce. BUT it has to be the right sauce. So I ordered marina sauce from the Pennsylvania Macaroni company in Pittsburgh. The sauce was totally on point.

I was really disappointed with the meatballs though. When they arrived, I discovered that there was soy protein in them. Yuck. There wasn't anything on the website to warn of allergens and the ingredients weren't listed. Meatball fail.

Keeping with the tradition of ordering too much food, we got a 3ft hoagie from the NY Deli around the corner. We totally threw back to our northern roots and kept the sandwich cold on the back porch. Because that's what you do in the North, keep stuff cold by leaving it outside. There's still a bunch of beer on the porch.

Everyone had a lovely time and I couldn't tell you anything about the game or the commercials, except for the last 30 seconds.

Needless to say, I brought a crap-ton of food to work today. Hopefully someone will eat it and put me out of my misery. 

Oh! I almost forgot, I finished my cross stitch just in time for the party.

Words to live by....

Linking Up!

Confession Time

Wednesday Confessions! I looooove me some confessions and I love me some hashtags too.

I'm sitting her with a wheezing cat who sounds like he needs a CPAP machine. I really want to get him one. I also want to do a day in the life of my cat. It look something like this.

8am - 7pm: Sleep on the bed
7pm - 10 pm: Sit on Lara's lap and make typing awkward
10pm - 11pm: Lick crotch
12am: Beat on the bedroom door while everyone is sleeping
12:15 am: Come into the bedroom, lay on Lara's legs making it impossible to roll over
2:15am: Beat on the door to go got
2;45am: Beat on the door to come in
3 am: Get thrown in the upstairs bathroom
7am: Get out of the bathroom and trot to the food bowl

#MyCatIsAJerk

Alright, on to confessions.

1. I have almost lost hope on being able to find decent employees to interview. Yesterday one of the guys said "dick". As in, when asked where the college he attended was, he said "Not to be a dick but it's on blah blah street." Le sigh, now you don't get a job.

2. This is kind of a big confession but Kev and I are considering moving. is mom has been thinking about living down here part of the year and wanted to build an extension on our house. We chatted and I think it makes more sense for us to move to a house that has a 1st floor master or a separate suite, I love where we live but there are a lot of things I would change about this house and honestly, moving might be better. #Ihatemoving

I can't. And I want an updated kitchen with dark cabinets and light granite counter tops. 

3. I DON'T understand the obsession with 50 Shades of Grey. I just don't. Let me be a little blunt and break it down. It's porn. Or Erotica, whatever you want to call it. Let's just call it what it is. You can find porn, practically everywhere now days. If you want to watch porn, awesome, watch all the porn you want. Want to read porn? Go to town. Just because there's a tie on the cover, and not a chesty blonde doesn't make classier. #Ivesaidporneightytimesandimgoingtogetallsortsofspam

It's like when romance novels realized that when they only put a male model on the cover that the sales skyrocketed. Why? Because women imagined themselves with the studly man. #Fabiowasthefirst

4. I have a fleece blanket with a giant Big Bird head on it. I call it the Birdy Blankey and it lives on the floor of my bedroom and I put it over just me when I get cold. It adds an extra layer that Kev doesn't want. I've had that thing, no lie, since college. A bunch of us bought them at maybe Wal-Mart for $10. That dang thing has held up a really long time.

5. I hate birds. Really, I hate all birds with their little bodies and light bones that let them fly. Hate, hate, hate. You know why else? Because after an admittedly long time I got my car cleaned on Saturday. THEN on Monday 17 birds had a poop party all over my car. It's in different places and I KNOW more than one bird was responsible. Birds are jerks.

Kinking up with the Weds Crew!

 

Low Carb Pancakes and a non-eventful Weekend

Back to the grind for another week of work. Thankfully I really like my job, even though I have to write reviews this week. Oh the joys of review time. Right now I'm trying to blog with a cat on my lap and one curled up next to me. They have no sense of personal space. Everything is their space.

My exercise was pretty non-existent this week and I'm OK with that. I had a busy few days and the evenings I had free, I didn't feel like adding another thing to my day. Sometimes you just have to make peace with it and just accept that you can't do all the things.

Instead I tried to catch up on some blogging and KD stuff. I mostly succeeded. :)

Friday night Kev and I went out to dinner. We tried to go to Vinnie's for steak but didn't have a reservation, which was no bueno. Instead we went to Couquette which was super disappointing, I ordered the steak tartare which I always get and it was gross. They added WAY too much mustard and it was over powering, I sent it back and the chef said, "too bad, that's the way we make it". Seriously? I've eaten it there before as well as at may other French restaurants and it never tasted like that. Ewwww.... I remember working in restaurants and dealing with cocky chefs, they're a pain but it really put a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the meal. We won't be back.

Saturday morning I had an acupuncture appointment and when I got home I sat on my butt most of the day and worked on my cross stitch. I can't stop and I want it finished. The end is in sight and I already bought the frame to hang it in my bathroom. Let me tell you, my fat cat loves nothing more that to sit awkwardly on my lap and bat at the string as I'm working. It's the only exercise he gets aside from stuffing his face and beating on doors, so I guess it's a good thing.

I also made these killer low carb pancakes that are really really close to the real thing.They even look like real pancakes!

Kev had to leave early Sunday morning so it was just me and the animals all day. I went grocery shopping, bought the dog some treats and me some new running sunglasses.

Headed out for my run around 130 and I think I did 3.5 miles. My Garmin wasn't charged and I used my Nike+ app. I ran the trail and I KNOW that from the start of the trail to the bathroom it's 1.87 miles. That's what my Garmin always says. The app said it was 1.75 miles and that my pace was 12:35. No, it wasn't. Add in the extra distance and I'm faster. 

Can I just take a minute to again comment on the ridiculous people on the Greenway? The last 2 weeks there have been tons of people on their kids, which great for them. Let the kids get out and get some fresh air. However,  I will push your 4 year old out of my way when they dart in front of my running self. I'm not falling on the trail because your kid is swinging a stick. 

AND what is up with the people feeding the seagulls at the lake??? Don't feed them an entire loaf of bread, they are poop machines and will dive bomb runners. Running through a flock of seagulls (heh heh) is never awesome and I swear if one of them poops on me I'll wipe it on your bread bag.

It was almost 60 degrees when I finished my run which is ridiculous in January. Just plain crazy, I didn't need a long sleeved shirt.

After I got home and showered I took Cleo to the dog park and she wanted to leave almost immediately. Why? because I gave her a new chewy treat before going on my run and she obsesses over them. She's convinced that the cats are going to steal them. Sigh....

Low-Carb Awesome Pancakes!

1 cup cottage cheese

1/3 cup Quest Nutrition Baking Mix

4 eggs

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 Tsp Coconut flour

2 tsp sugar or 2 tsp Truvia Baking mix

Blend until smooth in a food processor. Spread sum butter on the griddle and go to town! Add a few blueberries for a little added sweetness.

That's my weekend! Did you do anything exciting???

Linking Up withBLoved Boston!

and

Five Thing Friday!

Hello Friday!! I don't know about you but I am so ready for the weekend! Kev is out of ton a little and it's just me and Cleo and the cats. In case anyone is considering coming over to rob me... my really cute dog is super protective and doesn't take kindly to strangers.

If you happened to come over from the Angelos article, WELCOME! Thank you for taking the time to look at the magazine and actually type the blog address in your computer! The original blog post that started the whole thing can be found here. Again, thanks for stopping by!

On to 5 thing Friday! It's super random... love me.

1. If you hadn't deduced from my last post that I've been doing a lot of interviewing, you're right. So many people and so many bad resumes. I confess, I judge your grammar and sentence structure. Especially on your resume. My friend was telling me that when she interviews her favorite question to ask is, "What would you do in case of a zombie apocalypse?" I have 2 interviewees tomorrow and believe me, I'm asking it to both of them.

2. These are AMAZING! I'm typing this post with sea salt, truffle delicious fingers. Go to Trader Joe's, buy them and eat them.

3. Yesterday I made breakfast for my team. Ham, egg and cheese bake, apple french toast, blueberry muffins and lemon bread. You know what they like the best? The egg bake, "OMG, what was in it?" Eggs, cheese, ham, salt and pepper. "Ohhhh it must be the salt and pepper". Are there people in this world who DON'T put salt and pepper on their eggs???

4. A few weeks ago I had a nutritionist do my macros and she told me to eat 148 grams of carbs per day, Do you know what happens when I eat 148 grams of carbs?  I am STARVING all the time. Carbs make me more hungry which is absolutely ridiculous. For 3 weeks I couldn't stop eating. 2 weeks ago I gave up on the macros and went low carb. Since then I'm considerably less hungry and my pants are fitting much better. Kev went low carb and in 9 days lost 10 pounds.... Men...

5. As part of my #BeMoreCreative resolution I started doing something I hadn't done in a while, cross stitch. But I didn't want some boring cats/lighthouse/rainbow scene. Instead I found Grannie Panties on Etsy. Seriously, this is some needlepoint I could get into.

This will be my first creation.

It's going to be hung in my downstairs bathroom.

Stop by and say hi to Amanda! Have an awesome Friday!

Thankful Thursday

If you happened to come over from the Angelos article, WELCOME! Thank you for taking the time to look at the magazine and actually type the blog address in your computer! The original blog post that started the whole thing can be found here. Again. thanks for stopping by!

This week I wanted to drop by super quick and play along with Rebecca's Thankful Thursday!

1. I'm thankful that hopefully some people still stop by and read my blog even though I haven't been the best reciprocater in the last few weeks. Work is kicking my butt and I;m usually organized enough to have a little procrastination time during the day. Not so much anymore.

2. I'm thankful that I work for a company who is experiencing tremendous growth and is able to create multiple new positions and expand departments. I really like being able to give other people the opportunity to join out team

3. I am also thankful that someone sat me down and showed me how to write a proper resume before throwing me out into the world. And this was a time before Internet where we had to speak with people and get their opinions.

A few of the things I learned not to do:

• List "Create flyers" as one of my areas of expertise on my resume. I actually make a pretty sweet flyer but you know what, it doesn't go on my resume.
• Ignore spell check.  PLEASE, click on the little spell check button before you send a resume to a hiring manager. It's a small thing that means so much. You know what, I'm going to spell check this post right now.
• Properly format my resume. Maybe print it out before sending, do all the fonts match? Oh wait, why is this thing bold? And this bullet clearly is a different font from the rest and much better written. You copied that from somewhere else. 
• Spread it out over several pages. I had a small break down when my resume went to 3 pages and I've been working for quite some time. When you have 4 retail jobs, you can put all that on 1 sheet of paper. 
• Don't smoke all the weed before an interview. I'm not dumb, I know you were high.

4. I'm super thankful that my boss listened to the small panic attack I had over the quality of resumes and interviewees I've had to deal with the last 2 weeks. I'm going to recruit my own people. I need to go to some networking events and find me some people who refrain from lighting a bowl until after the interview.

5. I hate even numbered lists. Thank you mild OCD.