This chocolate protein chia pudding is the perfect make-ahead breakfast. Simply prep it the night before, and this creamy, chocolate-y gluten-free and vegan pudding will be waiting for you when you wake up.

Hey friends! How’s the day going? I hope you’re enjoying the morning. I’m so happy you’re excited about Spring Shape Up! 200 of you have already signed up 🙂 Make sure to grab your spot now if you’d like to join in the fun.

For today’s post, I’m re-sharing this recipe because it’s something we’ve had so often for breakfast lately!

Chocolate Protein Chia Pudding

With our crazy morning schedules, I’m a huge fan of anything I can make in advance for breakfast. We love things like the breakfast cookie, this protein oatmeal bake and this vegan peach oatmeal bake. When breakfast is waiting, it guarantees that I’ll have something to eat in the morning, because sometimes it’s too busy around here to make the usual egg scramble until after both kiddos are dropped off.

Here’s a chia protein pudding recipe that our entire family loves! It’s protein-packed, full of healthy fats, and high in fiber, so when I pair it with a side of scrambled eggs I’m full and satisfied for hours. You can customize it by adding any fruit or toppings you’d like. My go-to’s are berries, cacao nibs and unsweetened coconut.

Here’s the healthy recipe if you’d like to give it a try!

Ingredients For Chia Seed Pudding:

• chia seeds
• vanilla or chocolate protein powder
• cinnamon
• sea salt
• maple syrup (can also add a splash of vanilla extract)
• almond or coconut milk (use less for a thicker pudding)
• granola, berries, coconut, hemp seeds, cacao nibs, peanut butter, gogi berries, etc.

Broiled Tilapia with a lemon garlic marinade is quite frankly the easiest and some of the best fish I have ever made.

Broiled Tilapia

The garlicky lemon marinade was absolutely perfect for the tilapia. I can imagine using this marinade again and again with all kinds of different meats.

I was inspired to try broiling tilapia after I saw this recipe over at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I’m so glad I tried the broiler because it turned out perfectly. This recipe is a keeper for sure.

How To Broil Tilapia

Tilapia is finished cooking when it flakes apart with a fork and is opaque or white all the way through. Remember that fish will keep cooking once you remove it from the oven, so be sure to remove it a minute or two early.

For those of us in the midwest, Tilapia is a great way to change up meal time and enjoy seafood in a rather budget-friendly way. Tilapia is a freshwater farm-raised fish that is high in protein and considered low in saturated fat.

I have found it to be super simple to prepare and it tastes fantastic with a simple marinade and cooks in less than 10 minutes, sometimes less than 5 minutes. Fast and flavorful, I think we can all agree on the awesomeness of that combination.

How Long to Broil Tilapia

Broiling has become my favorite way to prepare fish. It takes just minutes and (as long as I watch it closely!) it almost always turns out well. If the broiler intimidates you, did you know that you can broil with the oven door open? You may need to add a minute, but it still works beautifully.

Depending on the size of your Tilapia filets broiling for this recipe takes very little time. I have found the sweet spot to be about 4-7 minutes depending on the size and thickness of the filets.

Join us for a fun and totally free 2-week fitness event: Spring Shape Up 2023! Details below and you can join here.

Are you ready for a lil fitness motivation and mojo?

Spring Shape Up 2023 is on the way and I’m so pumped to be doing this with you all!!

SSU is one of the best times of the year, and I always look forward to our amazing community, cheering each other on, and sharing some amazing prizes with some lucky participants.

You know you’re in?

Grab your spot here. Totally free and invite any friends or workout buddies to join in!

(If you refer a friend, send me an email to gina@fitnessista.com with their name(s) and each referral is an entry for a $100 Amazon gift card. I’d love your help welcoming some new friends into this fitness community if you’d like to spread the word!)

If you’re new to my Shape Up challenges, you’re in for a treat! I’ve been running this challenge on my blog since the very beginning, and every year it evolves into something different and better than the year before. This is 100% in thanks to all of you: your support and shared motivation with one another, check-ins and awesome comments keep this thing going. You help each other along the ways to your goals, and as your cheerleader from the sidelines, it’s heartwarming and inspiring to see.

Spring Shape Up 2023

So what is Spring Shape Up?

2 weeks of fitness plans, meal ideas and motivation to shake up your routine and get killer results from your efforts. It’s 100% FREE and always will be. Many similar programs are available for a subscription fee or one-time payment on other sites. Not here. Shape Ups are complimentary, and you get the advice and structure from a certified personal trainer, weight loss specialist, and Integrative Health Practitioner all in one spot.

What to expect:

A complete fitness plan + meal ideas for 2 weeks. You will get login access instantly when you sign up. Everything is available on the Kajabi app, and is beautifully organized and ready for you. The workouts and meals will appear on Feb 24 so you’re ready to go! (There are some tips for getting started, a playlist, high protein recipe ebook, and a couple of bonuses already waiting for ya in Kajabi)

We rock and roll Monday, February 27.

How to set yourself up for success:

Gather your supplies.

You’ll need the following to

Have affirmations and manifestation had a trendy new rebrand? Or is there something more to the new #LuckyGirlSyndrome trend taking over TikTok?

We’re constantly finding new ways to rebrand our habits, experiences, and ourselves. #LuckyGirlSyndrome has taken over as the latest trend, with over 396 million views, as of February 13 2023. In recent times we’ve seen buzzwords like quiet thriving, halo and horn syndrome, and even quiet quitting gain traction. But are these just shiny new words to describe everyday behaviours, habits and reactions? Or is there really something behind the latest trend that can help us to make meaningful changes in our lives?

What is lucky girl syndrome?

Lucky girl syndrome started taking off in popularity in early 2023. Hailed as a new way of manifesting your goals, in essence, it uses affirmations (positive statements that impact how we think and behave) to influence what our minds focus on and to refocus on positive self-talk over negative.

Find out more about what affirmations are and do they really work.

The goal is often centred around having everything work out the way that you’re hoping it will - whether that’s having career opportunities open up, monetary success, or just believing good things will happen to you. Assume success and positive outcomes, and things will start to work out.

Some believe there’s neuroscience behind how lucky girl syndrome works. As some experts have pointed out, lucky girl syndrome can be seen as a rebranding of positive affirmations – a tool known for helping shift our mindsets and achieve specific goals, but not something in and of itself that can act as a magic ‘insta-fix’ or ‘cure-all’.

Regularly practising positive affirmations can help us to trick our brains into thinking we are actually experiencing something. It’s why you might feel more excitement in the run-up and planning stages of a holiday than you do on the actual vacation itself. Or why if you’re really anxious about an interview, creating a mental image of it going well can trick parts of your brain into thinking it has actually had a positive experience. Doing this over and over can help you to avoid self-sabotaging thoughts, behaviours, or habits, helping open you up for success.

All the ingredients we love in classic Chinese Egg Rolls come together in this Egg Roll Stir Fry recipe. This is an irresistible bowl of deconstructed egg rolls and you’re going to love it.

Don’t skip the crispy fried wonton strips on top to give your meal a true egg roll flavor and crunch!

Egg Roll Skillet

It’s not exactly a secret that I love Chinese food. From Kung Pao Chicken to Egg Drop Soup, very few things make me happier than all those garlicky savory-sweet flavors coming together in one meal.

Most of the time, I prefer to skip the take out order and make my own favorite Chinese inspired recipes at home–it’s usually just as fast and way more budget-friendly.

However, when it comes to egg rolls I don’t always have the time or patience to wrap the filling in individual egg roll wrappers.

That’s where this deconstructed egg roll comes to the rescue! This dish is everything I love about pork egg rolls made in a quick and easy Egg Roll Stir-Fry.

If you could happily eat a whole meal of just egg rolls then you’re going to LOVE this Egg Roll in a Bowl! 

Deconstructed Egg Rolls

Cooked in a skillet, this easy weeknight meal is exactly what the name suggests: an egg roll unwrapped, deconstructed and served in a bowl.

While you could make a similar eggroll in a bowl with ground beef or ground turkey, I’m partial to the ground pork in this version. The pork is cooked with fresh ginger and garlic for that authentic flavor I can’t get enough of.

The ginger and chili paste in this egg roll stir-fry give the dish a bit of a kick that replicates the best egg rolls from my favorite Chinese restaurants.

Soy sauce and 5-Spice complete the irresistibly savory flavor profile while just a touch of cornstarch helps the sauce thicken up to the perfect texture.

I used a bag of coleslaw mix to make this even quick