Vegan Pancakes

Good morning all! What better way to kickstart your day than with some pancakes? And healthy ones? Un-heard of! Well, here I am, your saving grace! 

Look how precious these things are. Like yum, I know your jealous rn! 
They are really simple, really yummy, and totally adaptable to what you want to make them with! 

I’ll give you the base recipe here: 

Ingredients 

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tbsp of baking soda

1 cup of non dairy milk

1 tsp of vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbsp of oil

This is the general recipe, here is how I made the ones shown above! 

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1/2 cup of coconut sugar

1 tbsp of baking soda

1 cup of unsweet almond milk

1 tsp of vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbsp of coconut oil

*added vegan mini chocolate chips*

 (I recommend)

They were sweet, delish, perfect, I just loved them. I added a sliced banana on top and drizzles a little organic maple syrup, not toooo much. You don’t want to kick yourself in the morning with too much sugar. 

These were so good. This recipe can easily feed 3 people and keep them extra full. Any more and I would double it. I got 3 huge pancakes out of this and barely finished one. 
Let me know how they go for you! You can substitute any of the ingredients that you want, different flour, sugar, add ins, milk etc. make it custom to your liking! That’s what I love about recipes like this, make it how you like it, so you love it! 

Let me know how they come out. Comment below! I hope you get a great breakfast from this 🙂 

MJ

Simple & Easy Vegan Burgers

Hey guys! I haven’t been keeping up with my ‘Day by Day’ weight/ food journal, but I am here to bring you some recipes! I’ve been exploring healthy, vegan recipes and have found some great ones! I always put my own flair on them. Today I have for you, Vegan Veggie Burgers! 

Who doesn’t love a good ole burger? Well, here is the story behind making my own yesterday. My fiancé and I were watching the food network, as per usual, I mean what else is there to watch. We were watching Gordon Ramsay make a huge, juicy burger. My fiancé is not vegan, he loves meat, but has a very healthy diet to where he likes everything I eat so if he wants, when we go out he will have chicken or a burger, because I don’t make it at home. He was craving a burger, it was 10 pm so I wasn’t going to let him go get one because that’s not a healthy time to eat, but I decided to surprise him the next day and make him the full, healthy, experience of a burger! My style 🙂

He came home from work to find this, yummm! And he loved it! 
This was the first time I’ve made a veggie burger myself, so I will add what I suggest, and what I will do next time! 

Ingredients 

-1 can of black beans

-1/2 cup of corn

-1/2 onion

-1/2 pepper

-3 tbps of flour (I used whole wheat) 

-spices (I used garlic salt, paprika, pepper, Italian seasoning and rosemary) 

It’s a SUPER simple burger. Just mix everything together and mash it! Mine wasn’t as mashed as I will make it next time, but it was still delish! 

Once you mix it all together, put the patties into a skillet pan, or grill pan, and cook for about 4 min on each side, medium heat. Make sure you either coat the pan with a layer of oil, this will add some crispy-ness if you want, or just spray it with Pam. 

And that’s it! I did a bun-less burger, save some calories, and instead put the pattie on a bed of mixed greens with a light oil and vinegar dressing. 

The fries were super simple as well. I took 2 medium sized golden potatoes and cut them into slices, fry shapes, and soaked them in a cold water bowl for 30 mins. (The longer the better, overnight is the best. This adds the crispy texture your looking for in a baked fry.) 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Once the fries have soaked for at least 30 min, take them out, I didn’t dry mine, I just got most of the water off, and place on a waxed sheet. You can coat the fries with whatever you’re feeling, I used garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and nutritional yeast. I baked those for 25-30 mins and they are done! I broiled them for 3, I like them crispy! 
And that’s it! It’s a super simple meal with few ingredients. You can add more veggies to the burger if you want, I will. More peppers, onions, etc. Just keep the base of beans and flour. You could even add some cooked rice/quinoa if you wanted! And you could do the same recipe for the fries and substitute sweet potatos. The options are endless! 

I hope you guys try it and tell me how it goes! If you like this post, let me know that as well and I will try more recipes and let you know about them! 

Have a great rest of your weekend, 

MJ

Day 18

Man was today a DAY! I found a new love inthe workout world- TRX. 

Breakfast: Avocado Toast, as per usual. Topped with cayenne and garlic salt! 

After this I did the TRX class. 700 calories in 45 minutes!!!!! Say whattttttt???? Yea! It was amazing! Constantly moving and keeping the heart rate up. I LOVED it. 

Lunch: Banana and hummus pack. I had this before my workout, but after I also had a rice cake with pb, coconut, chia seeds and cinnamon. 

Dinner: this beauty. Man, this was the best sandwich I’ve ever made! It had mixed lettuce, tomato, nana peppers, roasted red peppers, spicy mustard, vegan mayo, sub sauce on Eureka Bread! YUMMOOO

I also went to a dance cardio class for an hour and burned another 550 calories. 

Total calories: 1,659 calories

Total workout time: 175 minutes

You today was awesome!! I also went to Publix and got lots of fresh veggies and fruits (ones I either already ate or didn’t get at the Farmers Market.) 

Keep up on your goals 🙂

Day 16&17

Hey guys! I hope you’ve had a great week so far! I’ll start with my food diary for days 16&17!

Breakfast: Day 16- banana pb toast with coconut, cinnamon and chia seeds. Day 17- a side ways Avocado Toast with cayenne pepper and garlic salt. Yums to both. I really could tell you which one is my favorite. But they both are my favorite things to have for breakfast! Simple and quick makes that keep me full for hours! Both provide a variety of health benefits unique to what they are! 

Lunches- Day 16- a veggie burger from the Cheesecake Factory. It was so good! Had all the toppings, no condiments. And nooo cheese  cake. Day 17- not pictured- a PB and J sandwich, and some peach green tea from Hillcrest Coffee in Lakeland. 

Dinner- Day 16- rice cakes with pb and banana  day 17- avocado enchiladas with vegetable sauce and rice/beans from Abuelos. These enchiladas were SO GOOD. The ranchera sauce was perfect with the avocado! Def will get again. 

Workouts: Day 16- elliptical workout for 30 min and then 30 min of ultimate frisbee with my boy. Day 17- 60 minute elliptical workout with arms. 

Both great days! I’m achieving my goals I set for myself this week. Are you? If you need an accountability partner I’m here for you! 
MJ

Back to college & goals for the week

Helllooooo, I’m starting my senior year of college at USF, whoot whoot. I’m planning on moving back Thursday so work with me on blog production! I don’t know if it’s just me or is college not everyone thing? 

Did you like college? What was something you were involved in that made your college experience? I really want to know! I rushed, wasn’t me, joined clubs, eh they are okay, and did trips with the school, nothing that stuck. What should I do! I want the college experience but I’m just not feeling it! 

Anyways, my goals! I wanted to share them with you to keep accountable! I think sharing goals can be a pivotal step in success! 

1. Clean, plant based eating allllll week. While camping in GA I fell of the plant based eating, and I could tell! I fell groggy and unhealthy. It’s crazy how your body can react to the food you put in it so quickly! 

2. Workout everyday! My thing is, even walking for 30 min is a workout, as long as your up and moving each day, you’re doing your body good. So whatever your definition of working out is, do it! Although I do say ‘workout’ 5-6 times a week. I’m planning on doing the Spartan WOD routines! The one I did a couple weeks ago KICKED MY BOOOTAYYYY. It was awesome. Let’s do it again! 

3. Keep a positive attitude. I recently found out I needed to push my wedding back a couple months because of some things and I am NOT happy about it! The thing is, I know I can’t change it. I need to try to focus my dissatisfaction of moving the wedding, towards excitment for the wedding! Change of perspective. 

4. Get Involved. As I am moving back this week to college, I want to get involved in something right off the bat! I can be so bad about making myself do things I don’t want to do, even if it betters who I am. 

5. Be present. I am a serious Type-A person. I get things done before they need to be done, and stay focused and organized while being extremely efficient. Being the way I am, I can get caught up in silly things, struggling from GAD doesn’t help either, but I want to become more present. Whether that is with my fiancé, my classes, my friends, whoever, I want to soak in the moments and focus on what is most important rather than worrying about something else. 

Those are my goals! 


What are your goals? 


What motivates you to succeed? My motivation is my future, whether that be with my fiancé, my work life, my family life, etc. 

I hope you all set goals for yourself and strive to follow them. Nothing, I repeat nothing, feels better than achieving something you set out to accomplish. 

Strive on, MJ


Alllll about Almond Milk!

Hey guys! As a plant based water, my go to milk is almond milk! I usually get unsweet vanilla from Silk. 

I love almond milk. Even before I decided to go plant based, I wasn’t the biggest milk fan. Other than icecream… mmmmm. Luckly there are almond and coconut based icecream so we are good! 

Almond milk is versatile and delectable. I enjoyed it this morning with a bowl of granola. 

Here are some health benefits Almond Milk provides! 

If you want, you can even make your own almond milk! I haven’t ever made my own, but I think it’s a great idea! I’ll be using this recipe too! 

Once you’ve tried making the almond milk, you’ll have lots of Almond pulp left. Here is a great article about how you can reuse the pulp and create a variety of things from it. Don’t throw it away!!!! Uses for Almond Pulp

I add almond milk to my cereals, oatmeal,  baking batters, and smoothies! And much more. 

I LOVE almond milk. It is the perfect animal milk substitue. 

Here are some recipes that incorporate almond milk! 

Strawberry Almond Smoothie!

 Recipe here


Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding

Recipe here

Tomato Soup! 

Recipe Here

Skinny Vanilla Iced Coffee! 

Recipe Here

When I’m having a cheat, I’ll dip plain graham crackers into the almond milk….delicious. 

Love always, MJ

Day 3

Good morning guys! If you didn’t notice, I won’t be blogging on the weekend, well most of the time! It’s time with friends and family so I try to keep the phone use to a minimum! 

Day three! 

Breakfast: Good Ole Acai Bowl – Frozen Acai Packet, Frozen Banana, Unsweet almond milk, raspberries, blueberries, almonds, chia seeds, and a little maple syrup. 

Lunch: Meal Prep of Rice noodles, tofu, onions, broccoli, cabbage, carrots and soy sauce! With some sriracha for heat 🔥


Dinner: Green beans, rice, and crusted tofu! 

My workouts today included:

My selfie shot post workout

I hope you all had a great weekend! I know I did. 

Love,  MJ 

Day 2

Good day everyone!! Day 2 is on the books! I started my day off with this morning workout: 

And then replenished with the delish avocado toast for breakfast:

Lunch: organic jalapeño corn chips, chickpea muffin Recipe here, and a stuffed veggie Wrap!



Snack: picture not featured- bowl of honey bunches of oats with unsweetened almond milk (I was starving after the 6 mile walk/run)

Dinner: Acai Bowl! 


*drinking lots of water in between*

Other than the morning workout I posted above, I did a 6 mile walk, and a 30 minute weight workout focused on legs! 

Here are my photos from this morning, no edit, first shot of each side. 

My goal is toning. Jiggly skin is not my thing, let’s get it 💪🏼

Allllll about Avocados! 

Good morning peeps! 

In hope you are having a good week…. it’s Friday!!!!! The best day of the week! And guess how I started my Friday out? A nice workout thennnn to replenish…. avocado toast! 

I used #Dave’sKillerBread the thin slices topped off with mashed avocado seasoned with pepper, paprika, onion powder and garlic salt! It is delicious. 

 Now that you know what I’ve had for breakfast, I know you all were dying to know, here are some pretty awesome health benefits of avocados! 


Amazing right?! And they are delish! 

Here are some ways to incorporating avocados in your diet! 

  • Avocado toast! Like my recipe above!
  • Guacamole!!!! Add some avocados, red onion, tomatoes, garlic, lime juice, and jalapeños in a bowl and mix! Adjust how you like. I don’t ever follow a recipe, I follow my taste buds!
  • Chocolate pudding? Yessssss guys. You can make chocolate pudding from avocados! Here is a link to one!  Chocolate Pudding
  • Avocado fettuccine sauce??? Yes! Click here for the recipe!
  • And MUCH more! My bff for recipes is Pinterest! You can follow me here! Maddiijohnson67

Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed eating my avocado toast!  🙂

Day 1

Hey guys! I’ve decided to do something a little different, I want to blog each day, my meals, a picture of my body, and a picture of my face andddd my workouts! I think it will be cool to see the progress EACH day throughout my next phase of weight loss. My goal this year: lose 30 lbs. So here we go, day one. 

Before breakfast, I did a quick 15 minute cardio/ arm workout to get my body up and moving. Uphill runs with 5lb weights and then an arm exercise downhill. X3 and then some extra arm exercises and abs. Quick and simple, planning on an afternoon distance walk/run and then evening weight session. 

Breakfast: #Dave’sbread thin sliced with #earthbalance coconut peanutbutter, a banana, topped with chia seeds. 

Lunch: Organic Jalapeño chips, sautéed sweet potato and onions, and romaine lettuce with a little white balsamic vinegar. 

Dinner: Organic Whole wheat pasta with spinach pesto, onions and sundried tomatos. 

*Drinking lots of water in between each meal and workout*

Photos:


These photos have no edit, first shot of each angle. I try and be completely unbiased when it comes to progress pictures. I don’t want to hid progress down the line because I didn’t like what I looked like in my ‘before’ picture! 
Day 2 tomorrow!