FitQuick Protein Waffles!

I recently discovered the Rise & Resist podcast. It's a show about veganism, feminism, body image, and fitness hosted by rad vegans/fitness coaches Lacy Davis and Holly Works. And I'm kind of obsessed. The show has been running for more than a year, so after listening to a couple new episodes and deciding that I loved it, I'm now going back and starting from the beginning. I've literally listened to an episode almost every day for two weeks (and more than one episode on a couple days where I had road trips).

I actually saw Lacy speak on a Vegan Fitness panel at Vida Vegan Con in Austin last year, but somehow, I didn't realize she had a podcast until I read about it in the new Driftwood Magazine (issue #2 is out now!). Lacy overcame an eating disorder in her 20s, and now she's a CrossFit champ and Olympic lifter. Holly power lifts, owns a plant-based gym in Oakland, and runs her own protein waffle company called FitQuick. 

When I first heard a mention of FitQuick Protein Waffles on the podcast, I googled, found them for sale on Vegan Proteins, and immediately dropped way more money than I probably could afford to on two bags of FitQuick Protein Pancake + Waffle Mix! They arrived in a box with a little picture of me lifting weight! Yay! Vegan Proteins is such a cool company.

I'm not a lifter (yet!), but I'd like to get into that someday. I am a runner though, and for years, I've been enjoying protein-packed smoothies (usually made with Vega One, Plant Fusion, or Manitoba Harvest protein powders) after my runs. And I'll probably never really tire of smoothies (or smoothie bowls!), but since I run four days a week, I've thought that it would be nice to mix things up. I could probably make my own protein waffles using the powders in my pantry, but I doubt they'd be as good as the FitQuick mix because Holly is a waffle pro (and former chef).

Each serving of FitQuick has 22 grams of protein, and they're soy-free, gluten-free, and vegan (duh). There are all sorts of amazing flavors on offer, but for starters, I picked Birthday Cake and Pizza! Seriously, PIZZA WAFFLES, y'all. I love a good savory breakfast, so these are a nice change. In one of the older podcasts I listened to, Lacy suggests stuffing your pizza waffle by pouring a little batter in the wafflemaker, adding pizza toppings, and topping with more batter.

So that's what I did! My Pizza Waffle is stuffed with Daiya mozzarella, chopped spinach, and chopped kalamata olives. And I topped it with pizza sauce. THIS WAFFLE WAS THE BEST THING EVER. Seriously.

I just had to order the Birthday Cake Waffle mix because the package has a unicorn. And everything is better with unicorns. The mix is loaded with rainbow sprinkles, and it actually tastes like birthday cake! I had one this morning, and I topped it with Miyoko's Creamery Cultured VeganButter, maple-agave pancake syrup, CocoWhip, and more sprinkles.

I partied like it was my birthday at breakfast this morning. For real. It's really hard to believe this is health food! I mean, I added vegan butter and syrup, but they were the kind with the highest quality ingredients.

FitQuick Waffles are pretty much my new favorite thing, and eventually, I want to try all the flavors! They also come in Dark Chocolate Raspberry, Lemon Poppyseed, Java Chip, Double Chocolate Brownie, and Vanilla.