Category Archives: protein powder

Protein Cookies

These were pretty good.  They are very dense, likely due to the oat bran.  ** One caveat  – I think you need to use either soy, rice, or some other veggie protein for these, as it acts as a flour agent.  If you use whey powder, the batter is likely going to be too thin, but you could probably bake in in a pan that way and cut it up. **

Ingredients:

  • 2 scoops (60 g) of strawberry soy protein powder
  • 1 cup (120 g) of oat bran
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 small banana (100 g)
  • 1/2 cup natural applesauce
  • 2 egg whites (56 g)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl, mix together the protein powder, oat bran, cinnamon, and baking powder.

In a small food processor (or Magic Bullet!), blend together the banana, salt, egg whites, vanilla, and applesauce.  You can just mash the banana and mix everything, but I wanted it really smooth so there would be no banana bits.

Add this mixture to the dry and mix well.  Portion out into 10 equal balls of dough and press flat onto a cookie sheet with parchment or silicone liner:

Bake for about 15 minutes and remove from oven.   This protein powder I have is actually really sweet, so I decided to top my cookie with a little plain cream cheese to eat.

Using protein powder that is 110 calories per scoop and 24 g of protein per scoop, the stats are as follows:

Batch makes 10 cookies (they were about 40 g each)

Each cookie (minus cream cheese) has 80 calories, 1.2 grams of fat, 12 carbs, 2 g of fiber, 7.5 g of protein.

I am interested in trying this with whole wheat pastry flour instead of oat bran.  I think that would make a more cake-like cookie.  Plus, different flavor powders will give you different flavored cookies.

Last day of the work week for me!  Thursday’s are run days for me.   I snacked on a couple pieces of protein waffles with jam before hitting the gym.  This was a nice snack.  It’s also good to know this recipe does well reheated in the toaster oven.

I ran with a download from jogtunes that was a 45-minute jog with a sprint section.  I did 10 minutes past the podcast and ended up at 5 miles today.  Felt really good.  I am surprised my hammies weren’t sore from the dead lifts yesterday, but I’ll take it!  Also as a side note, Robin from Running Circles Around the Turtle did a running Q&A with me for her blog.

Came home and made some oatbran today.  We got a new protein powder from Puritan Pride.  It’s soy and strawberry flavored.  I avoid sucralose like the plague and it was not on the ingredient list for this powder, and then after I made this bowl, I see that it has acesulfame potassium in it, which is another type of artificial sweetener.  Grrrr….  Tastes way better than Splenda, though, although it made this bowl very sweet to me with only a 1/2 scoop in there.  It has beet powder in it for color, so my oats were a little pink:

Also note that if you make the ricotta/protein powder combo – the soy versus whey makes a huge difference in moisture content.  Here is some made with soy powder.

I actually had to add some water to get this consistency, too.  It almost looks like ice cream, doesn’t it?  Just a heads up.

Regarding all that chocolate from yesterday, almost all of it is up high and out of reach of my hot little hands 😀  Just the bars are in the pantry, which I am okay with (for whatever reason – who knows how my mind really works).  The nuggets are what would be most problematic for me, so they went up last night out of reach:

Lunch time included a fun combo.  I knew we were going out for dinner and I wouldn’t get my broccoli, so I had it with lunch today.  I made an egg/egg white puff in the microwave and put it on a corn tortilla with laughing cow and topped with hot sauce!

Yum.  I love hot sauce.  Those are some peanuts on there.  I was nibbling those while I cooked.

Work went pretty smoothly this afternoon.  Always nice to end on a good note for the week 🙂  Of course, snack time always makes things better.

John doled me out one treasure to eat with it.   Then I realized I didn’t have any fruit with lunch, so I got a kiwi out.

Tart!

Since it is my Friday nights of sorts, we decided to have an inexpensive dinner out.  That means one of our favorite local pizza spots: East End Eatery

We both started with a side salad, which was really small, I have to say.

And then we split a cheese calzone.  Normally we get the pizza wraps, but decided to go for this one.

I usually guesstimate about 500 calories or so for the 1/2 calzone.  It is soo good here.  The staff at this place is really friendly, too.  I am very glad John will split one of these with me, because I could eat a whole one myself, but it would be way too much.

Trying to decide how to spend my night now, either a netflix or just some vegging in front of the TV with my jammies on!

Question: Are you a Splenda lover?

Protein powder FAQ

Let’s chat protein powder, shall we?  Protein powder doesn’t have to be just for body builders.  One of the great things about protein is that it can help keep you satisfied for longer, so adding a protein element to some carbs (like oatmeal), help them to last even longer.  There is a crazy variety of protein powders out there from whey to pea!  :mrgreen:   Even vegans can find a protein powder to use.

Types:

Soy:  Pretty self-explanatory.  Soy protein is pretty high in protein and lactose-free, so a good choice for vegetarians,vegans, and lactose intolerant people. Due to it’s nature, it actually works very well in baked goods, and you can cook it into oats without it curdling.  Downside is it can have a somewhat strong taste.  Contains approximately 20 grams of protein per oz *

Whey:  Whey protein is made from the whey left over from cheesemaking.  It is very easily digestible (unless you are lactose intolerant) and mixes really well into smoothies and shakes.  Contains about 25 grams of protein per oz *. While whey is really good in general, it will make baked goods a little on the tough side.  It will also curdle in hot things like oatmeal.

Egg: Made from dehydrated egg whites.  Or really it is just dehydrated egg whites, although you will also see it sold in flavored form.  Naturally fat free and quite tasteless.  Great to mix into things.  It can also give a little lift to baked goods, but more as an add in, rather than flour replacement.  Average of 20 grams of protein per oz.

Hemp:  Approximately 20 gram of protein per oz. * Hemp can be pretty clumpy depending on the brand.

Rice:  Brown rice protein is gluten free, soy free and vegan.  It is made using an ezymatic process, and keeps all of the natural proteins in whole grain brown rice.  Pretty cool!  It contains approximately 24 grams of protein per oz. *  Brown rice powder is great for baking because you can sub it for flour easily.  In foods like smoothies, it can have a starchy taste and has a bit of a gritty texture if you use a lot.

Pea:  Who knew that you could get protein from peas?  Pea protein powder comes from yellow peas.  It has a very good protein profile like whey of 25 grams per oz * Very strong taste, however.

Of course, there are also blended proteins that combine many of the veggie powders to give a more complete protein profile.

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Other than in shakes, you can mix protein powders into pretty much anything.  With the brown rice and soy – you can sub half of the flour with the protein and see quite good results.  We like this better than using whey.  Whey protein is a bit heavier and makes baked goods chewier, although if you leave out any egg, that helps.

Here are some recipes we have done with protein powders:

Lara-type bars (Loribars!!)

Banana Chocolate protein cake bars

Chocolate Oatmeal bars

Cranberry Pumpkin Oat bars

* Note with all protein powders, various fillers and flavors can change the amounts of protein and calories per serving.  Try to look for those that give you the most protein for the calories, as those have less fillers are more straight protein.  Avoid meal replacement proteins, as those are engineered to be higher in calories and can have a lot of added sugar and fat.