Favorite breakfast, blogging tools and more

Hi, friends! Happy Friday! How has your week been? Mine’s been good. It’s been full of the usual stuff, like working, sweating, teaching BODYPUMP and Bootybarre and a few other things. But today, it’s all about the favorites. Shall we?

*This portion is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. Thanks for supporting our sponsors.

My favorite breakfast: Bob’s Red Mill Waffles

A couple of weekends ago, I woke up before Dave on a Saturday morning and went downstairs to the kitchen and made us both protein waffles using my brand new bag of Protein Pancake and Waffle Mix, which my friends at Bob’s Red Mill sent me. And let me tell you what — for some reason, making waffles seems MUCH easier than pancakes, and I didn’t know that until now. In fact, I would have thought the reverse.

Dave and I have had a waffle maker stored away in a cabinet that hasn’t seen the light of day in years, and it worked like a charm that morning. I must say that it was very satisfying to see my waffles come out cooked to perfection, because oftentimes, my pancakes come out ugly (although still tasty). I mean, this is a pretty breakfast, right?

Dave and I thoroughly enjoyed our waffles that morning, and I liked making them so much that I had waffles for breakfast (and once for dinner) all week long until the bag of mix was gone. Whoops! I mean … they are yummy, and this pregnant lady loves carbs, protein and easy-to-prepare meals.

This particular mix by Bob’s Red Mill is so easy to make. All you have to do is measure out one cup of the mix, 3/4 cup of water (I used half water, half coconut milk) and 1 tablespoon of melted butter or oil (I used coconut oil). You heard that right — mix, water and oil, and that’s it. So simple, and that recipe will get you two waffles! But if you do it anything like I did, the first waffle will be much bigger than the second, every single time.

The mixture combines easily in a bowl, and then you throw it on a coated waffle maker, close the thing up, and let it do its thing. (You can also make pancakes with this mix too, but I stuck with waffles.)

So you know it’s easy, but what else do you want to know? How about the ingredients? The mix is made from stone-ground whole wheat pastry flour, one serving has about 15 grams of protein from pea and whey sources and of course, it’s non-GMO.

I’m a fan! And if you like to make a special pancake or waffle breakfast for you and your family on the weekends, this is a very easy (and healthy) way to do it.

In my latest shipment from my friends at Bob’s, I also had the chance to try the latest chia and protein nutritional boosters from the brand, which I love, and I continue to use the Bob’s Red Mill nutritional yeast on my meals every single day. These are some high-quality and healthy products, my friends. Yay for Bob’s Red Mill! Keep your eyes peeled for these ones in your local grocery store, or you can order online.

*Thank you to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this mention. While I received free product and compensation, all words and opinions are my own.

My favorite blogging tool: Blogger Summer Camp

I don’t talk a ton about blogging on the blog (except for that time I wrote this post about the five blogging rules I break every single day), but I do have to let you guys know when there’s something out there you may be interested in, because I know for a fact that a few of my loyal readers have thought about starting their own blog one day — so you don’t want to miss this.

Remember in the beginning of the year when I was gushing about all the stuff I learned during the Food Entrepreneurs Virtual Summit (affiliate link) and how it encouraged me to do a few new things like create the A Lady Goes West Friends group on Facebook and more? Well, that’s why I’m so excited about the upcoming Blogger Summer Camp, which is another virtual workshop, by the same creator, Nicole Culver.

And here’s the deal: If you’ve ever thought of starting your own blog, or are a blogger and want some help growing your business and brand online and in your local community, Nicole is offering a FREE 5-day mini workshop called the Shake Your Money Maker, which is taking place BEFORE the Blogger Summer Camp, to give you a chance to see what you can learn when you take part in these courses. This first free course will offer mini lessons each day from June 26 to 30. You can sign up for the free courses here.

If I’ve learned anything this year about blogging, it’s that you have to INVEST in yourself to make more money and grow your business, and that has helped me to keep working hard and even to launch my first ebook. In fact, I was so empowered to try new things after finishing up the Summit in February, that I redid a bunch of my back-end blog documents, like my media kit, and also started offering a free download on the blog in order to get more people to sign up for my email list. (Didn’t sign up for my emails? Please do — head to the bottom of this post or the sidebar, and you’ll get a free gift!)

But back to the courses: the awesome thing about this offer from Nicole is that you can enjoy the Shake Your Money Maker lessons for free before deciding if you want to pay for the Blogger Summer Camp, which is taking place July 10 to 28. However, if you choose to do them both from the outset, you’ll get a better deal, as the initial price for the Blogger Summer Camp is $67, but it’s going up to $97 by the weekend, so it’s in your best interest to act fast. I’ve already bought my ticket and will be taking part in both workshops!

By the way, if you use any of the links above, I’ll get a little credit in my account from your ticket purchase, which I’ll use to buy more workshops in the future, so thank you! Happy blogging!

My favorite links from the week

A few good things from around the web …

• This article is right up my alley, as it’s all about how every workout doesn’t have to be so hardcore. I tell you guys all the time, that if you have a high-stress lifestyle, HIIT workouts may not be the best way for you to exercise, because all they will do is add to your stress. Check out this one on slowing down.
• Yay! Thank you to The HA Recovery blog for sharing my story! 🙂 
• Is there anyone out there NOT obsessed with Kate Middleton? I didn’t think so. I love that she wears totally affordable clothes and repeats outfits too. Apparently THESE are her favorite sneakers, and I totally want to get my hands on them. Perhaps they will be a future Friday Favorite!
• I’m in full agreement with all these healthy eating tips, including buying pre-cut veggies, ordering healthy meal-kit services and getting your groceries delivered. Whatever it takes!

And in case you missed anything on A Lady Goes West this week …

• Warriors games, SoulCycle, weekend highlights and my weekly workouts
• My take on what the first half of your second trimester of pregnancy feels like
• GIVEAWAY: And here’s a SWEET giveaway I’ve got going on Instagram 

Hope you have a fabulous day and weekend, my friends! You can catch me over on Instagram until we meet again here. And by the way, there are affiliate links in this post.

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Questions of the day

When is the last time you invested in yourself?

What’s your favorite weekend breakfast?