National Blueberry Month - Blueberry Protein Microwave Mug Cake and More

July is National Blueberry Month. It seems to be a really good year for them too. Here's some weight loss surgery friendly ways to celebrate!

Shelly's Blueberry 5 Minute Protein Cake

1 Egg, beaten
3 Tablespoons Milk
2 Tablespoons Sugar Free Vanilla Torani Syrup
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
2 Tablespoons Shelly's Blueberry Sauce
3 Tablespoons Multigrain Pancake Mix
2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Coconut
1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
Pinch salt
1 - 2 cup Measuring Cup or Microwave Safe Mug

In a measuring cup or microwave safe mug, Mix egg, milk, syrup, oil, blueberry sauce and combine thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix pancake mix, coconut, protein powder and salt. Tip dry into wet and stir till combined. Nuke in microwave for about 2 minutes (my microwave is getting old and needs 20 seconds added now - strength varies so start with 2 minutes and add 20 seconds at a time till no longer damp on top)

Let it sit for three or so minutes (it pulls away from the sides) before tipping the cake onto a plate. Yields 4-5 slices. Allow to cool. Slice & serve with a squirt of No Sugar Added Homemade Whipped Cream and drizzle of additional Blueberry Sauce if desired.

Shelly's Blueberry Sauce

1 cup Blueberries
2 Tablespoons Sugar Free Torani (I used SF Vanilla)

Wash blueberries and place in a glass microwave safe bowl. Add syrup. Microwave for 3 minutes. Using a fork smoosh any remaining whole berries. Can also be done on the stove-top.

Protein cake slices are also great topped with a scoop of Protein Ice Cream. A scoop of Blueberry Cheesecake Protein Ice Cream or Blueberry Cobbler Protein Ice Cream would be delicious on this cake. A slice of this toasted is a great grab & go breakfast.

More Eggface Blueberry Love:

Shelly's Blueberry Protein Mini Muffins
Shelly's Apple Blueberry Crumb
Shelly's Red, White & Blue Strawberry Cannoli
Shelly's Red, White & Blue Breakfast Parfait
Shelly's Blueberry Oat Bars
Shelly's Blueberry Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Shelly's Blueberry Cheesecake Protein Ice Cream
Shelly's Blueberry Banana Protein Smoothie
Shelly's Blueberry Cobbler Protein Ice Cream

Leftover Lunch Bento

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Mine's been pretty low key. Hit the Farmer's Market as usual. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, nectarines, pluots, onions, garlic, cauliflower. It was summer squash heaven. I bought a bunch of different varieties of those. Thinking maybe Calabacitas or a foil packet dinner on the BBQ this week. The berries are destined for batches of my Fluff Stuff.

People watched at coffee for awhile. Dropped off my market haul at the house. Filled my super cool bento box up with leftovers and walked to the park. Soaked up some sunshine, read a magazine, ate my yummy lunch then head home to do some gardening. Looks like today will be the last cooler day for awhile. We are finally going to heat up here in Southern California. Darn it. I figured I'd better get the weeding done I've been putting off before it's too hot to move. Wish someone could explain to me how my lawn is dead and dry looking despite watering and fertilizing it but the weeds will grow knee high.

Pink Box (top left): Grilled Zucchini
Green Box (top right): Sugar Free Lemon Pudding topped with Blueberry Sauce
Blue Box (bottom left): Lemon Pepper Chicken
Orange Box (bottom right): Nuts and (in the little blue container) Shelly's Greek Yogurt Sauce for dipping chicken

Shelly's Blueberry Sauce

1 cup Blueberries
2 Tablespoons Sugar Free Torani (I used SF Vanilla)

Wash blueberries and place in a glass microwave safe bowl. Add syrup. Microwave for 3 minutes. Using a fork smoosh any remaining whole berries. Can also be done on the stove-top. Sometimes I add sliced almonds and if the berries are too liquidy I thicken things up like this. Great on top of pudding, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, protein ice cream, ricotta or cottage cheese.

I showed you guys my 6 foot tall tomatoes before but I haven't showed you my grapes. It's a good year. Hopefully the birds won't spot them before they ripen. I'm feeding them seed on the other side of the yard in hopes of keeping them occupied and away from the grapes and tomatoes. Of course all that darn seed they toss all over is contributing to my flippin' weed situation.

Post Weight Loss Surgery Menus: A day in my pouch

Breakfast: Spent most of the day on my newly cleaned patio working on a computer project. I brought outside a variety of items in my super cool bento box for breakfast and snack.

Pink Box (top left): Shelly's 5 Minute Coconut Cake
Green Box (top right): Nuts and Dried Cranberries
Blue Box (bottom left): Mixed Berries (Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries)
Orange Box (bottom right): Pineapple Cottage Cheese

Lunch: I grilled some Lemon Pepper Chicken Skewers and Grilled Zucchini. The skewers are just white meat chicken tenders threaded on wooden skewers and sprinkled with lemon pepper seasoning. The zucchini is brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with Greek seasoning.

I dip almost all meats. Moisture is key post weight loss surgery to helping things keep headed in the right direction. So I also made a Greek yogurt dipping sauce for my chicken skewers.

Shelly's Greek Yogurt Sauce

2 oz. Fage Greek Yogurt
1 Tablespoon Mayo
dash Seasoning Salt
1/2 teaspoon Greek Seasoning

Mix together.

Dinner: I had a lot more zucchini leftover than I thought I would so I tossed my original plan of meatballs and tomato salad and made this Quickie Lasagna creation.

From top to bottom the layers are...
Provolone Cheese
Bruschetta Sauce (found near fresh pasta or Trader Joe's carries a jarred version)
Fresh Basil
4 slices Grilled Zucchini
Ricotta Mixture
2 Cooked Turkey Meatballs, sliced (I nuked for a minute)
Bruschetta Sauce
Fresh Basil
Ricotta Mixture
2 Cooked Turkey Meatballs, sliced
4 slices Grilled Zucchini

Shelly's Ricotta Mixture

1 cup Ricotta
2 oz. Herb Goat Cheese (Alouette or chive cream cheese will do in a pinch)
1 Tablespoon Parmesan Cheese
1/2 teaspoon Oregano
dash of Kosher Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Milk to thin

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes till golden brown and gooey.

Snacks: Oodles of coffee, the nuts (from my breakfast bento) and 2 scoops of Shelly's Vanilla Coconut Cookie Protein Ice Cream with a drizzle of Sugar Free Fudge Sauce. Nom.

Shelly's Vanilla Coconut Cookie Protein Ice Cream

1 cup Vanilla Soy Milk (or Regular Milk)
2 scoops Vanilla Protein Powder
1 Tablespoon Sugar-Free Torani Syrup (I used SF Coconut)
2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Coconut, toasted
Optional: 4-6 Sugar-Free Coconut Cookies, (I used these) broken into pieces

Toast unsweetened coconut (available at health food stores, organic markets or online) on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for a few minutes till golden stirring every minute or so. Set aside to cool. Store cooled, extra coconut in a Tupperware. Unsweetened coconut tastes so much better and waaaaay more coco-nutty then that sweetened shredded stuff we are used to.

Mix together milk, coconut, syrup and protein. I used this gadget to mix it up. It makes it airy and lump free. No groovy gadget... just whiz on super high in the blender. Pour into ice cream maker. Follow your machine's instructions for freezing. 5 minute before done add optional cookies.

You can eat it right away it is soft serve-ish but I like to put it in the freezer (in a Tupperware) to set for an hour or so.

Birthday & Burrata

My Mum's birthday was Monday. Her answer to "What do you want for your birthday?" is always the same... "Nothing, save your money." I don't know why I go through the ritual of asking her each year because the answer never changes.

This year I got her a bunch of books. She's an avid reader so I hooked her up with the latest from her favorite authors. I made her a basket of some of her favorite treats. British stuff like shortbread, licorice allsorts, Cadbury's. I got her a gift certificate for lunch at her favorite restaurant we'll use next week sometime. Though in true Mum fashion her absolute favorite gift (and the cheapest) was this photo. I took one of the shots of us in New York City (still waiting on more pictures from Progresso), blew it up and framed it. Mum's are so easy pleased. I BBQ'd steaks for dinner. She had a nice day.

While I was BBQing I noticed the patio could use a good scrub. So yesterday I spent outside cleaning. I mean really cleaning. Standing on a step ladder scrubbing down the garden canopy/gazebo thingee, hosing the house down, scrubbing patio furniture. I ache today in areas I didn't know I had muscles.

After everything was put back into place we sat outside and had one of my favorite treats. Burrata Cheese. If you haven't tried Burrata. Do it. OMG it's worth every stinking fat gram. Burrata, "buttered" in Italian, is a specialty of the Puglia region of Italy (the heel of the boot.) It's basically a hollow ball of fresh mozzarella filled with panna (a cream that contains scraps of mozzarella left over from the mozzarella making process.) When you cut into the ball the cream oozes out and my excited heart skips a beat. A few bites of this and you are dreaming of being on a balcony in the sun-drenched south of Italy.

You'll find it in specialty cheese shops. Henry's and Whole Foods carries it too. Trader Joe's is now carrying "Burrata" in a 2 ball container but my initial taste test verdict is: Mr. Joe is off his rocker while I love most things at TJ's what he's calling Burrata is not Burrata. Skip it. My favorite brand is Il Pavone.

You'll want to use it fast, it's fresh and should be eaten with a few days of purchase. Sometimes I serve it savory with a bruschetta like topping of chopped fresh basil and fresh tomato. This time I did a sweet variation of grilled Farmer's Market peaches (brush with oil, toss on BBQ, chop up) and a drizzle of agave nectar (SF Vanilla Torani would work great too.) Seriously though it's so good it needs nothing but a spoon.

Practice moderation. It's not a low fat cheese. If you've read my blog for awhile you realize I don't do lowfat. Here's my theory of post weight loss surgery fat grams. I eat full fat cheese. Fat = flavor. With lowfat or non-fat cheese, yeah I'd get to eat more but whoopity-doo, all I think is how it tastes like cardboard and I sit wondering when I can have my next meal. Instead I have a few bites of the full fat good stuff, savor the utter deliciousness and move on fully satisfied. My premium pouch space is reserved for only the tastiest stuff.