Category Archives: recipe

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.

Blogging it all and Brussel Sprouts!

* Don’t miss the giveaway from earlier – open to everyone! *

Back to real early spring weather today.  Drizzly and cold!  Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.  I drove to the gym today for lifting.  Started with a 1 mile jog on the treadmill.  I cannot believe I haven’t run since last Tuesday!  Then the weights:

  • Chin ups: 2 sets of 2, and 1 set of almost 2!  Yay!
  • Barbell split squats:  3 sets of 8 (each leg) at 75#
  • Close grip lat pull downs:  3 sets of 10 at 60#
  • Push ups:  3 sets of 10
  • 1-leg dumbbell dead lift: 3 sets of 8 (each leg) with 15# DBs
  • Side raises:  3 sets of 8 with 10# DBs
  • Planks:  3 sets of 90 second holds
  • Triceps kickbacks: 3 sets of 10 with 12# DBs
  • Cable bicep curl:  3 sets of 8 at 40#
  • Horizontal woodchop: 3 sets of 8 (each side) at 40#

I had someone come over and ask me about the planks.  Unusual that I get interrupted during lifting or even talked to by the guys.  He asked me what the plank was and what muscles it worked.  Maybe he will give it a try 😀  See, they do notice you lifting and it isn’t always a bad thing.

Came home to banana custard multigrain cereal.  Funny, Andra mentioned in my giveaway post that she used Country Choice multigrain cereal, and here I had it for breakfast!  With dry almond butter.

This was the most lame batch of nut butter I have ever made and I think it was the result of blanching the almonds to get the skin off.  Never again.  Also note the 2 little chocolate chips on there.  John had gotten the chips down to put on his breakfast and gave me 2 to eat (I was salivating over them), so I put them on my oats to document I ate them :mrgreen:

Today I am showing every little bite that goes into my mouth, just to keep myself honest.

Mid morning snack:

1/2 scoop of vanilla PP with cinnamon mixed with a little water and topped with a chopped up medjool date.  This was surprisingly good.

Slow work day today.  I have been trying to get caught up on blog stuff and emails.  If you email me and have not gotten a response, please email again.  I try really hard to get to them all, but sometimes I wonder if they go to my spam box (or if my replies go to your spam boxes).  Also, is anyone getting emails when I reply to a comment question in that section?  I wonder if I have that figured out yet.

Lunch time:

Lame ‘bagel’ thin with tuna salad and lettuce.  Yes, the woman who said she was tired of tuna went and bought some more.  Veggies with lunch!

John made me a protein latte for a snack.

I am liking these, although I worry that I will want sweet lattes when I go out now.

I was really hungry for dinner.  10 minute cook time is always good for that.  More pork (surprise, surprise) with my brussels and strawberries.

For those that wonder about cooking the brussel sprouts, they are super easy.  The recipe is sort of based on Alton Brown’s recipe for brussels.  For each person, you will use 4 sprouts.  I just shred them with either a mandolin (please use the hand guard, knuckles are not a good addition to this dish) or a knife.  Melt 1 tsp of coconut oil (or any oil) in a small fry pan and add the brussels.  Add some salt and pepper and toss around.  I slap on a cover and give it a shake from time to time to make sure they don’t burn.  In tonight’s pan, I added a tbsp of slivered almonds, too (just living on the edge, folks, have to get my excitement somewhere).  It takes about 5 minutes to cook these.  Put on a plate and top with craisins!  Sweet and savory.

Also in the spirit of all that enters my mouth, I had 1/4 cup of rice that John cooked up.

Yummy, white jasmine rice that is oh-so-addictive for me.

Produce update:

F: 1 banana, 2 clementines, strawberries, 1 date

V: 1 serving of carrots, 1/2 serving of salad, 1 serving of brussel sprouts.

Tomorrow I am going to do a post on the anatomy of a meal and how I put them together.

Evening snack while writing this post is a ricotta/chocolate protein powder mix.

Doesn’t look all that appetizing, but good.  😀

Question:  Did you know Tuesday morning is free pastry day at Starbucks?

http://lovetoeathatetoexercise.blogspot.com/

Choco Protein Granola

This granola has a nice chocolatey flavor and 5 grams of protein per 1/2 cup!  I used whey protein powder for this. If you use a soy, you might need a little more liquid.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups Rice Krispies
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup (25 g) sliced almonds
  • 4 tablespoons of coconut
  • 2 tablespoons of apple juice concentrate
  • 2 tablespoons of honey
  • 2 -3 tablespoons of water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 2 tsp of oil
  • 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (10 g)
  • 1 scoop (34 g) chocolate protein powder

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray or use a silpat liner.

In a large bowl, combine the Rice Krispies, oats, coconut, and almonds.

In a small bowl, mix together the the apple juice concentrate, 2 tablespoons of the water, honey, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix well.  Stir in the protein powder and cocoa powder.  Mix really well to get out as many lumps as you can.  If the mixture seems too thick, add the extra tablespoon of water.  This mixture will be syrupy – like this:

Pour over the oat mixture.  I found it easier to mix this with my hands.  You can use a spoon or spatula, but you will crush the Rice Krispies too much.  Best to get your hands dirty 😀

Once thoroughly mixed, spread onto the prepared cookie sheet evenly.  Bake for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so and breaking up large pieces of the granola.  When baking granolas, remember that they aren’t crispy when they come right out of the oven, but still somewhat soft.  As it cools, it gets crispy, so you don’t want to over bake it.

Let cool and enjoy!

Stats using my whey protein powder (120 cal per scoop and 25 g of protien)

Per ounce of granola:

120 calories, 3.2 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein.

Sweet Potato Dense Muffins

Okay, I had to call these dense muffins because that is how they came out.  Almost biscuity.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of white flour
  • 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar (packed)
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon, whichever)
  • 1.5 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup of milk (I used 1%)
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
  • 1.5 tsp of liquid oil
  • 1/4 cup of fresh cranberries, chopped (25 grams)
  • 1/2 oz of pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375F.  Prepare a 6 muffin tin pan with either nonstick spray or liners.  I used the larger muffin tin size, so I got 6.  In a medium size bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, spice, salt, and baking powder.  In a separate small bowl, beat together the milk, egg whites, oil, and sweet potato until smooth.

Add the wet mix to the dry and stir a few times, then add in the nuts and cranberries.

The mixture may seem a little dry (mine did), but I just mixed a little more.  You don’t want to over stir or the muffins will be tough.

Divide evenly into muffin cups:

See how thick this batter is?  Maybe a little more milk might make them rise better?

Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  I would start checking at 15 minutes.

Breakfast is served:

Nutrition per muffin:  Using 1% milk for this and making 6 muffins out of the batch:

Calories 161.4
Total Fat 3.4 g
Saturated Fat 0.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.7 g
Cholesterol 1.0 mg
Sodium 28.0 mg
Potassium 174.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 29.5 g
Dietary Fiber 2.5 g
Sugars 2.8 g
Protein 4.5 g

Strawberry Avocado Dip

Did you know that February 24th is National Tortilla day?

Driscoll‘s has shared with me a salsa recipe, which sounds interesting.  You can put this in a tortilla wrap with some grilled chicken for a complete meal.

Strawberry Avocado Salsa
Prep time: 15 minutes
Makes 3-1/2 cups

1 package (16 ounces) Driscoll’s Strawberries
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple tidbits or chunks
1 small avocado, pitted and diced
1/2 to 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon onion salt
Rinse and hull strawberries. Cut into 3/4-inch cubes.
Drain pineapple, reserving juice.
Combine pineapple, 2 tablespoons pineapple juice, strawberries, avocado, jalapeño to taste, balsamic vinegar and onion salt. Let stand 10 minutes for flavors to blend.

Serving suggestion: Combine remaining pineapple juice with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil. Use to marinate halibut steaks or chicken breasts for 20-30 minutes. Grill or broil until done. Serve with Strawberry Avocado Salsa.

Nutrition Per Serving (2 tablespoons):  18 calories, .81g total fat, .10g saturated fat, .24g protein, 2.73g carbohydrate, 0mg cholesterol, .73g fiber, 31mg sodium

Healthy Tip: Strawberries and avocado make a versatile salsa that’s great with chips, fish or chicken. Serve the same day it’s made for the best color and flavor. After working with jalapeño peppers, always wash your hands well with soap and water, being careful not to touch or rub your eyes; the pepper oils can burn!

Let me know if you try this!

Fun tortilla facts:

  • The corn chip recipe was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by Texas businessman Elmer Doolin.
  • Tortilla Chips were first popularized and mass produced in southwestern Los Angeles in the late 1940s by Rebecca Webb Carranza, who, with her husband, owned a Mexican deli and tortilla factory.
  • Misshapen tortillas were rejected from the tortilla manufacturing machine, and she turned them into chips—cutting them into triangles, frying them and selling them in snack-size bags.
  • Tortilla chips can be colored blue, red, or the traditional yellow, each color representing the type of corn it is made from
  • Tortilla chips are the second most consumed salty snack in America, second only to the potato chip
  • In 2007, the combined U.S. sales of Doritos and Tostitos varieties exceeded $1.4 billion, this is a volume of about 1.5 billion pounds (D’oh!!!)  😯

One of my favorite tortillas is the Smart Carb wrap by Tortilla Factory.

Question:  What type of tortilla do you like?

Custard Oats primer

I cannot take credit for the custard oats idea  I read about them on Susan’s blog and Tay’s blog.

Basically, it’s just oats with an egg whisked in.  Takes about 5 minutes.  Pretty simple, eh?  This is my version. Yesterday’s oats were a pumpkin custard.

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup of liquid egg whites
  • 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin (from my precious stash)
  • 40 grams of rolled oats
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • pumpkin pie spice (a lot!)

In a small pot, bring 1 cup of water to a boil and add the oats, brown sugar, and spice:

Reduce heat and cook for a couple minutes.  This part always smells so good with the spices.  My arm starts to look pretty tasty at this point as I am waiting for the oats to cook…..

Then I add the pumpkin:

It takes a bit to mix this in, then I cook for a minute.  Sometimes it takes a little longer if the pumpkin came from the fridge.

Then comes the egg whites.  Drizzle very slowly while stirring fast with the other hand,as you want the egg whites incorporated and not in solid chunks:

Not only do these taste good, but you can work on coordination at the same time! Once they are all in, cook for another 30 seconds or so and you will see the oats puff up a bit and get creamy.

Pour into a bowl and top as you wish!  My favorites for the pumpkin oats are toasted pecans and cranberry sauce, but this will do:

See how creamy and fluffy these are?  It makes the bowl full, and as a volume eater, you know I love that!

Calories: The pumpkin oats without toppings:  235 calories

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I have also done these with a mashed banana instead of pumpkin.  Just add the well-mashed banana to the boiling water.  No sugar necessary with this one, as the banana gets absorbed into the oats and sweetens them.

Calories:  Banana oats without toppings: 260 with a small (6-7 inch) banana.

Running and food experiments

Ah Saturday. I get to sleep in just a bit since my gym doesn’t open until 8 am. I had a pre-run snack of dates and almond butter.

If you haven’t tried this combo, you must.  It’s delicious, particularly if you have the soft medjool dates.

Passing some time before leaving the house always means self-portraits!

Thank goodness for hats, or Medusa would be heading out to the gym 🙂

Hopped on the hamster wheel and busted out 5 miles.  It felt really good.  Do you ever have those days where you just feel in great shape?  I was feeling it today, and I loved it.  I am also feeling those harder chin ups from yesterday, too.  Soreness down my sides (in a good way).

I was craving some protein waffles for brekkie!  I don’t know why this same recipe tastes different as pancakes versus waffles.  Or maybe it is just in my mind.

I had a lovely package arrive from a secret bloggy valentine.  I don’t know who it is, though!  I have a last name, but that’s it.  It had some wonderful pampering stuff in there.

Thank you!!  Scented with coconut lime. You put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up – sing it with me!  I used this in the shower today.

I came up with a cool recipe for lunch today.  I had some rice pudding during the cruise.  Rice pudding has always been a favorite of mine, but I hardly ever make it  (not exactly sure why that is).  Anyway, we had some cooked brown rice in the fridge and I had an idea for a quick rice pudding:

  • 1 individual container of vanilla greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup cooked brown rice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 20 grams of chopped raisins (I had a mixed grape color type)

This was really good!  It had some of the yogurt tang, but the overall texture was good and packed with protein.  I think some ground pistachios would have completed it.  Next time I will mix it earlier to let it sit and meld for a while.

I had to work some today to make up for missed hours this week.  I will be going 8 straight days of work until next Friday, wahhh!  But it was worth it.

John and I took a break for some coffee at Cool Beans, and I was tempted by a treat:

Goodbye 5-mile run calorie burn :mrgreen:

Came home to find Pixie being lazy on the dishwasher.  She gets on top of it whenever we run it because it is warm.  I love her giant feet.

Dinner was another experiment.  I pan sauteed some broccoli in sesame oil, then added chopped cooked chicken breast and salt and pepper.  In a separate bowl, I mixed 2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar with 1 tsp of honey and 1 tsp cornstarch and added it to the pan.

This was pretty good, but it needs some other flavoring.  Not sure what it would be, though. Maybe mustard?  Anyone have any balsamic vinegar tips?

The rest of the night will be made of some reading and resting.

On a sad note, I wanted to take a moment and ask you all to please send your thoughts to Steve, as he has lost his father suddenly.

Low-fat Gingerbread cookies

gcookie1217

These are so chewy and really spicy! You can cut back on the ginger if you want, but it really gives these cookies a punch.  Thanks to John for tweaking this recipe to up the protein and lower the fat!

Based on Ina Garten’s recipe

Ingredients

nocoupons

  • 1 cup AP flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup whey protein powder*
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1/4 cup applesauce
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
  • 1-1/4 cups  crystallized ginger chopped really fine (6 ounces – use less if you’re scared!)
  • Granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, protein powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. * (If you don’t use protein powder, replace it with an equal amount of all-purpose flour, and use 2 egg whites in place of the water later in the recipe.  Also use egg whites if you use brown rice protein instead of whey.)

In an electric mixer, beat the brown sugar, applesauce, and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes.

Turn the mixer to low and add the water, and beat for 1 minute.  Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat for 1 more minute.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 more minutes.  Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined.  The mixture will be wet.

Scoop up the dough with 2 spoons .  Roll each piece of dough into a 1 3/4-inch ball and then flatten lightly with your fingers.  Roll both sides of each dough ball in granulated sugar and place them on the cookie sheets.  Leave lots of room because they spread out a lot while baking.

Bake for  13 minutes.   The cookies will be crackled on the top and soft inside.  Cool the cookies for  1 to 2 minutes before transfering to wire racks to cool completely.

Store in a covered container in a single layer or between parchment sheets, as they are so moist they will stick together.

Chai Spice Granola

chainola

As promised, here is the recipe for my chai spice granola!  Again, this is lightly sweet.  I added Rice Krispies to this to help bulk up the granola without adding a lot of calories.  It stretches the portion size out that way.  That said, I do not have nutritionals on this yet 😀

All of the spice gives this a nice flavor.  You could try adding some black pepper, too, like would be in chai.  I was going to, but forgot.

* 2 tbsp of brown sugar
* 2 tbsp apple juice concentrate
* 2 tbsp water
* 2 tsp oil
* 2 tsp honey
* 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
* 1/2 tsp ground clove
* 1/2 tsp cardamom

* 2 cups rolled oats
* 1 cup rice krispies
* 1/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 325 F. Mix together everything but the last 3 ingredients in a large bow. Add the rest and mix really well until all coated.

Spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Remember that granolas crisp up once they are cooled, not in the oven, so don’t burn it!

Let cool and store in an airtight container.

You may also like:

Cranapple Spice Granola

Or Choco-protein Granola

Football and Cranapple Spice Granola

Sunday morning at Panera!  I decided not to have the Gingerbread bagel, but go back to classic blueberry.  Nom, nom!

bagel1129

It was nice to chit chat with John and just have some down time.  We stopped off for groceries afterward.

Still have this sign up!

psign1129

Of course, they have no more of those mixes, either! They need to change their sign…

We’ll have to keep checking the little stores around to stock up.  😀

Fridge/freezer cleanout for lunch!  I had 1 waffle topped with the last Boca Burger and some laughing cow cheese.

lunch1129Plus 2 clementines!  These are so good.  You’ll be seeing lots of these this week!  I have decided I don’t care for the Boca Burgers anymore.  I used to eat them all the time, and as I moved away from processed foods and soy, those left, too.  I got a box for old time’s sake and didn’t care for them.

Work was really slow today.  I did not get a single file until 5 hours into my workday.That means having to take some PTO if I want to get paid for today!

However, that did mean some play time in the kitchen.  I made up a new batch of granola that I named Cranapple Spice:

gran1129

Ingredients:

  • 1/8 cup of maple syrup
  • 1/8 cup of of apple juice concentrate
  • 2 tsp sunflower (or other light) oil
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup slivered almonds
  • 1/4 cup of dried cranberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 275 F.  In a bowl, mix together the apple juice concentrate, maple syrup, oil, salt, vanilla, and spice until thoroughly mixed.  Add in the oats and almonds and stir/mash really well until the oats are thoroughly coated.  It may not look like enough liquid, but it is.  Pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Bake at 275 for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring the batch every 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and add the chopped dried cranberries.  Very lightly sweet and crunchy. Delicious!

Enjoy!

Lots of football watching today!

Question:  Do you have a food that no longer tastes good to you that you used to love?