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Appetites and Adventures

Bacon, Bloody Marys and Pumpkin Parfaits + WIAW

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How much bacon is too much?

Bacon coffee?  Add some protein powder and you could drink your hot breakfast!  Of course, then you would need to brush your teeth again.

Seattle’s Best Coffee hosted its Red Cup Showdown for the best coffee creations.  The winner created a  “How to Win a Guy with One Sip” drink that combined coffee with “caramelized bacon and subtle hints of pumpkin pie spice.”  Click here for the full story.

Not filling enough?  Have a Bloody Mary.

[Photo: Midlex / Reddit – click for link]

More than a Bloody, its hangover heaven.  This beast is adorned with pepperoncinis, jalapenos, tater tots, steak, a slice of toast, and a hard-boiled egg. you get all of that for $16… including a 6oz of pepper vodka and a Beef Strawto drink from.

This monstrosity can be found right around the corner from my building at The Nook.  No, I have not ever tried it.

Jenn is saving us from bacon mania with another heath-conscious  What I Ate Wednesday theme: “Fall Into Good Habits.”

I really love this idea because this time of year I have a tendency to slack a little.  The weather is cooler, the beer football is aplenty, and those first-of-the-year resolutions seem far away.

Fall doesn’t have to be like that!  This year I’m going to be inspired by Jenn to make fall a time for refocusing on my goals so that I don’t feel the need to desperately make resolutions for 2013.  My plan is for 2013 to be a continuation of good habits and a time for reaping the benefits of hard work.

Speaking of good habits, this WIAW was a successful day of protein-filled clean-eating in preparation for figure competition.  Check it out and then click here to visit Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to see how everyone else is making their fall about good habits!

 

Meal 1:

As usual, I enjoyed my morning cocktail with the added 1 tsp of glutamine.

Fall  was in the air this morning – it was gray and rainy.  I actually got chill bumps when I stepped out on the deck!

Obviously, this means it’s time for pumpkin!  I took  my Tiramisu parfait idea, but created a special pumpkin cream filling to make a Pumpkin Tiramisu Parfait.

I added a few extra spices to make it more pie-like.  The creaminess of the pumpkin and yogurt mixture was like a legit pie filling.  Paired with layers of mocha-flavored oats… I actually prefer this to pie crust.  I can’t decide which version I like better, but you should be your own judge ASAP.

Recipe at bottom. 

Meal 2:

No, this isn’t yogurt.  This is the container left from my breakfast.  I was making my mid-morning snack while eat breakfast, so I just recycled the container.

What was in the container was no salt added cottage cheese, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, stevia, Sun Butter, and chopped up apple.  Cottage Cheese Apple Pie.  *swoon*

Meal 3:

I had good intentions of branching out more, but last week’s tequila-lime marinated tilapia was too good not to do again.

Eaten out of tupperware conference room-style with a side of Chipotle BBQ Beanitos (thank you Blend Retreat for introducing me to these) and raw zucchini sticks.

Meal 4:

Tuna salad is a great way to pack in protein without adding carbs or fat.  This isn’t your mom’s tuna – I mixed mine with Greek yogurt to add moisture (ewwww… moist) and even more protein.

Then I went crazy with my spice cabinet.  Paprika, tarragon, garlic, turmeric, and fresh lemon juice all went into the mix, along with fresh red pepper, broccoli, cucumber, and a little bit of pickle.  Adding all the veggies makes this tune truly a salad.

Meal 5:

On my Instagram last night I promised to post the toppings for this grab-everything-in-the-veggie-drawer Mexican Tilapia Pizza.  I had something completely different planned, but when I got back from the gym all I wanted was more of that Tequila-Lime Tilapia… this time with a tortilla.

I crisped a low carb tortilla in a pan and topped it with a mash of black beans and chipotle sauce, spinach, parsnip rice, sautéed portobellos and red pepper, heirloom cherry tomatoes, cilantro, and goat cheese.

Yep – cheese.  That was forbidden but because I need to gain more weight, I get an extra “cheat each day.  You better believe I’m using it well!

Meal 6:

I couldn’t go all day without the incredible, edible egg!  You guys know how I love my Carrot Cake Batter … and my PB & Jeggs creations are a favorite addiction.  Last night I decided to try for a marriage of the two: PB & Caggs.

This was made just like the Jeggs, but with grated carrot.  In my peanut sauce I used a full teaspoon of cinnamon, some fresh nutmeg, vanilla stevia, and a bit of brown sugar extract (ordered online).

I’ve done this in a spicy-savory way before too… it’s hard to say which is better.  I guess it depends on your mood!

Meal 7:

The blog world is abuzz with the onset of Starbucks’ seasonal pumpkin beverages, but I’m hosting my own pumpkin fest over here.  Thank you, Vitamix, for completing my life.

Pumpkin Pie Casein Protein Ice Cream

  • 1 scoop GNC vanilla casein protein powder
  • 1/4 C pumpkin puree
  • Handful spinach (optional)
  • 1/3 C vanilla unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 in piece fresh ginger
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp allspice
  • 1/8 tsp guar gum
  • Ice, to taste
 Topped with Kashi Cinnamon cereal, cinnamon, and peanut flour fluff (peanut flour and almond milk).

Pumpkin Tiramisu Parfait

For the Oats:

  • 1/3 C rolled oats (use gluten-free to make GF)
  • 2 tsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 C water
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • 1/4 cup strong brewed, cooled coffee
  • 8 drops liquid stevia (adjust to desired sweetness) 
For the Cream:
  • 1.5 oz plain Greek yogurt (use soy or almond yogurt to make dairy-free/vegan)
  • 1/4 C pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp ginger
  • 5-6 drops vanilla stevia 

For the Oats:

  • Combine the oats, cocoa powder, cinnamon, extracts, and water in a bowl and microwave for 2-3 minutes, or until the liquid is (mostly) absorbed.
  • Add coffee and stevia. Stir to combine.
  • Cover and place in the fridge overnight (or at least 2 hours). 
For the Cream:
  • In a small bowl, combine yogurt, pumpkin, stevia, protein powder, and spices.
  • Stir until well combined.
  • This can be done the night before, or at time of serving. 
To Assemble:
  • Place a spoonful of the oats in a cup, followed by a spoonful of the yogurt mixture.
  • Repeat until you’re out of each.
  • Optional: Top with fruit of your choosing. I chose melted blueberries (cherries microwaved with a few drops of lemon stevia for ~20 secs). 

***

Protein count for the day: 190.2g from good, clean eats!  That’s record!!!

Bacon.  Is it really the ultimate flavor? I know even my vegan friends dig tempeh bacon and bacon Torani syrup.

What good habits are you going to “fall” into?

Comments

  1. Holy protein Batman! Nice job.

    I have made something very similar to your Cottage Cheese Apple Pie (of course I have!) and it is awesome (of course it is!).

    I am in complete denial that summer is ending and I am not willing to delve into pumpkin just yet. We had corn on the cob with dinner tonight and watermelon for dessert. Fall schmall.

    On our recent trip to Victoria BC we went in countless downtown shops and in one found bacon lip balm, bacon flavored floss, bacon scented bandages, and bacon flavored breath spray. Ew. That is just wrong, but then, I am not a fan of bacon. (Although tempeh bacon once in awhile isn’t so bad.) 🙂

    • I had a watermelon the other day that was incredible – I can’t believe how good the late season fruit is.

      Bacon breath spray?! That seems like a dog training tool…

  3. Bacon coffee, bacon toothpaste…whaaaaaat is this world coming to! I am not much a fan of the regular bacon (i.e. pork) but I love me some turkey bacon…mm even better with eggs! I can completely vouch for that cottage cheese/apple combo- it really does taste heavenly…even better with some vanilla protein powder- apple pie a la mode anyone ;)?! Looks like you’ve kicked off the season with some great habits already..I noticed my eating started to get a bit too lax recently but for the last week I’ve been making an effort to eat more consciously (i.e. don’t just grab handfuls of nuts/spoonful of PB every time I’m in the kitchen).

    • Did you see my apple cupcakes? I topped apple with cottage cheese and protein powder blended together. It seriously lasted like cake batter.

  4. Eh bacon toothpaste, that may be the nastiest combination I’ve ever heard of it! Okay Okay, I’m sure i’ve told you some of your other WIAW posts may of been my favorite.. but I’ve lied because well this one is now the official winner!! I can’t get over all the deliciousness. Seriously, the pumpkin parfait & ice cream… to die for!

  5. I LOVE that it is pumpkin season again.. although I must admit I still bought cans every week so I could always have it on hand!

    I honestly am indifferent about the flavor of bacon but truly think I would GAG if I ever tried that stuff!

    Good Habits: Teaching FIrst. Blogging Second. Prioritize.

  7. OMG OMG OMG all of these eats look fantastic!! I’m lovin the cottage cheese apple pie thingy, totally gonna recreate that today 😀 Same goes for the ice cream AND the parfait nommmm
    Hope you have a wonderful day girl!

  8. we have a cafe that sells a bacon latte. Its delicious. Not gonna lie. I drank it! and i love me some bacon.

    and i love me some bloody mary, but that one, whoa! i might have some major indigestion after.

    Love the protein packed meals friend.

    • It’s hard to take them of myself! I’ll have to get someone to take one at posing practice. 🙂

      Weight is about the same… but my muscles are bigger. Bah.

  13. You have got to be the most creative contest-prepper ever, at least in terms of food!

  14. Loving all the recipes that are starting to come out using pumpkin – so so tasty, only annoying thing is we cant get canned pumpkin puree in the UK :/ so I just have to use butternut squash and roast it myself! Heck we can barely even get pumpkins other than at Halloween!

  15. I loved bacon back in my non-vegetarian days, but bacon coffee?! Really!? Don’t knock it til you try it I guess!

    And I’m really trying to drink more water. I was doing really well a few months ago and have fallen out of habit.

  17. I love bacon…not because I eat it, but when I cook it for dinner, that means we can have pancakes too! That’s the deal here for me to have breakfast for dinner. Nice job on the protein! You are killing it!

    Oh and that pumpkin parfait is totally happening this fall. I’m restraining from buying pumpkin and waiting until we go to the pumpkin patch so I can roast it up fresh. I ran out a couple of months ago from last years stash. I’m a bit of a pumpkin addict and have to restrain myself or I will look like an oompa loompa!

  19. Oh my that coffee, toothpaste, and bloody mary all look a little gross. I have been quite amazed at the “bacon-mania” that is taking hold…little piggies better watchout.

    On a different note, I made the socca (yes it stuck, but I salvaged it) and it was FABULOUS! I featured it and linked back in my WIAW post today!

    Happy Wednesday Laura 🙂

    • I’m so excited you liked the socca! It looked fabulous. But yeah, you cannot over-lubricate the pan.

  21. I do love my tempeh bacon, but I’m not sure if it tastes like “bacon” or “liquid smoke.” Mmm, liquid smoke. And BEEF STRAW? What does that even involve? I don’t want to know, do I?

    • Probably you don’t want to know… sucking one a piece of beef to get tomato juice and vodka just seems… nauseating.

  22. Can it be fall already? Can’t we just flip a switch and turn summer off? I have a deep need to wear boots and warm a frozen nose with the steam coming off of a hot cup of coffee.

    I am definitely on the bacon love train. I would drink that coffee and brush my teeth with that toothpaste in a heartbeat. No Bloody Mary’s though. Tastes like vodka salsa.

  23. Good habits I’m going to fall into.. meh right now all i can think about is vacation! haha I’ll answer this later. maybe. How do you eat raw zucchini? I tried it once and hated it. I like raw squash though… it makes no sense!

    • Raw is my fav way to eat it! It seems nutty and sweet to me. Raw squash is the one I can’t get in to. 🙂

  26. I love the idea of Greek yogurt with tuna. I’m totally trying that the next time I make a tuna salad. The parfait looks excellent too. Pumpkins haven’t fully arrived here yet, so I’ll have to wait a bit to try it. I am going to make your cabbage and lentil salad tomorrow though. (Or something like it)

    I really don’t like bacon and don’t understand its appeal. The texture and flavor are all wrong to me. I love smoked ham, but bacon – shudder. Even the smell of bacon cooking makes me a bit nauseous.

  31. Baby! This is the ONLY post I’m reading today 🙂 (I guess that just shows you how much I love you…)

    Anyyyyyywayyyyyyys

    I really needed to “hear” from you today. Your WIAW’s always help me <3 Thank you. I cannot wait for our Skype/Facetime date OMG.

    I'm having a tuna salad for snack right now <3

    It's awesome that you say how much protein you have in a day. I've always enjoyed that. It's even COOLER this time bc that's EXACTLY how much I have per day! 😉

    Seriously, cannot wait for our upcoming chat. I love you, miss

  32. Ick, bacon toothpaste?! Why do companies do these things.
    That pumpkin parfait looks super duper awesome. I am in love with all things pumpkin and squash. And my skin is starting to turn a little orange I think…yikes. I can’t lay off of it though ha ha. Too darn delicious!

  33. OMG Bloody Mary’s are totally my drink!! That looks soooooo amazing! Um, I think I’m going to need to make a trip to Georgia JUST to try that Bloody Mary. Let me think of a cover story to tell my husband… 😉

  40. Yikes. That’s a beast of a Bloody Mary. I’ve been toying with the idea of adding Sriracha to the basic Bloody Mary recipe. I’d call it the Bloody Mary Legare. I’ve tried tempeh bacon, and it was surprisingly comparable to the real thing, in flavor and texture. I made a killer BLT with that bacon, and instead of mayo, I used plain Greek yogurt. I made a variation of your tiramisu parfait. It was most enjoyable! But now you’re throwing pumpkin in the mix? Geez. I can’t keep up. Hahaa but I’m looking forward to throwing pumpkin into my daily routine. Fall rocks.

    • They add sriracha to Bloodys all over ATL – most places have a whole menu of options!

      I’m glad you liked the parfait! I love making some BLTs too – with tempeh. 🙂

  41. Ok wow I have seen people love their bacon not become absolute obsesses over it 😛
    Great WIAW as always – I devour your food through my screen 🙂

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  42. I honestly believe that you have at least 33 hours in your day. In the name of all that is holy, how do you manage to create so many new recipes, work, work out, type up recipes, write your insanely long blog posts, and have energy for anything else? You’re such a superwoman!

    (And I want to eat everything. EVERYTHING. Except perhaps the cottage cheese creation, because the idea of cottage cheese in sweets still kinda makes me feel icky.)

  44. 190 GRAMS?! Holy crap girl, that’s AWESOME! And omg, everything looks so good, I don’t know what to comment on first! Let’s see…well, you HAVE to know that pumpkin tiramisu is going DOWN soon…like tomorrow…yeah, definitely tomorrow! 😀 And holy spice cabinet! Talk about a way to jazz up a boring tuna salad! I hate it when people ask me how stuff tastes (I totally suck at describing things…I always wanna be like “it’s like Apple Jax…it’s just GOOD!”), but you seem to have a knack for explaining flavors…how does tarragon taste? I’ve never had it.

    You’re green smoothies always look so good! Perfectly creamy with just the “mutant” tinge of color! And I’m totally digging the pumpkin…I used to LOVE the pumpkin lattes at Star(take my)bux but now, they are just WAY too sweet for me! I’ve even tried doing less sugar syrup and well…I wouldn’t touch the sugar-free crap with a ten foot pole…so I’m left with a pumpkin-sized hole in my heart each and every season! I just saw on PInterest that Angela (Oh She Glows) posted a pumpkin smoothie too…guess that means I can finally break out some pumpkin recipes? I’ve been DYING to dig into my stash, but was worried it was still too soon!

    I used to like bacon…I never “worshipped” it like some, but could never deny a mad bacon craving whenever it hit. Weirdest thing though, a few months ago, I was frying up some for BB and I got so disgusted. Even though I’ll admit the kitchen was smelling quite lovely at the time, all I could see was a limp, fatty piece of meat laying there, bubbling in a puddle of of it’s own grease…and my stomach turned! Haha, maybe I’ve been hanging around you veg heads too much…you guys are rubbing off on me! 😉

    PS, bacon toothpaste…barf! And all I can think when I see that bloody mary is that I hope the person is close to a phone to call 911 in case they go into cardiac arrest! LOL

    • Tarragon is a hard one to describe. it’s a little sweet, a little anise… maybe a hint of mint… it’s fantastic on eggs!

      Dude – it’s all about the guar gum to make it creamy. That stuff is a miracle drug… errr… ingredient. Angela’s smoothie looks divine!! That’s almost what I do, but no banana or molasses. I don’t really like the stuff. I know, I know… terrible blogger.

      Limp bacon is never acceptable. Never. Ever.

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