Eat Hard Work Hard: Meal Prep Monday - Banana Sweet Potato Pancake Bread and Sauteed Tempeh

I can't believe it's Monday already! This weekend was super short and kind of gloomy, but I did manage to get a PDR-setting 8 mile run on a grey Saturday. Not going to lie, it was kind of rough. And then I finished my training for this week's 10-miler plus wine tasting by going to Brews at the Beach, which was also a little rough. But I do have some exciting news!

As you may have seen on Diatta of Femme Fitale Fit Club's blog, I'm joining Femme Fitale Fit Club, The Frugal Exerciser, and Clean Eating Teen as a new co-host for the Workout Wednesday (WOW) Linkup! I've really enjoyed participating every week and have found a lot of great new blogs to read. Please stop by and join in on Wednesday!

Now on to the meal prep.

Breakfast

I really wanted to make these high protein cottage cheese pancakes from Ambitious Kitchen, but I wasn't capable of standing up long enough to make a week's worth of pancakes on Sunday. So I decided to make it into a baked good, and changed the ingredients based on what I had in the house. Here;s what I ended up with:

Banana Sweet Potato Pancake Bread

Calories: 273 | Fat: 5 g | Cholest: 75 mg | Sodium: 639 mg | Carbs: 41 g | Fiber: 5 g | Sugars: 8 g | Protein: 18 g

2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup multigrain pancake mix
2 egg whites
2 eggs
2 cups cottage cheese
2 very ripe banana, mashed
1 mashed sweet potato
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup almond milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix ingredients together until batter is mostly smooth.
Spread into a large, well greased baking dish.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the top begins to brown and the bread feels firm in the middle.
Makes 6 servings.

I think I like my Blueberry Pancake Bread better, but this is a nice change of pace. It's super dense and moist and not very sweet, and is low calorie enough to top with plenty of maple syrup or other sweet toppings.

Protein

I made tempeh again this week but changed up my cooking method. Instead of baking it, I crumbled the tempeh and sauteed it with a little coconut oil, amino acids, rice wine vinegar, and vegetable stock to get that ground beef texture and feel. It turned out pretty well and I think it'll make a great neutral protein for this week's meals.

Sides

I made a bunch of new veggies this week, including artichokes! I've never cooked artichokes before, so I just followed these instructions and roasted them whole in the oven. They're a little darker than the picture, so I think I over cooked them. They still tasted good, so I'm going to call it a win. I also cut up and roasted a kabocha squash, some turnips, and sweet potatoes, and boiled some fava beans.

Workouts

This week is all about the Chardonnay 10 Miler, so besides my beach volleyball leagues I'm going to do a little running and a lot of rest, and then trying to survive 10 whole miles!