= PROTEIN POW(D)ER !

Protein Pumpkin Pie Cups

2013-05-25T20:37:00.003+01:00

Every time I ask people on facebook what their favorite protein powder is, several people say Trutein. And they don't just say Trutein, they say 'TRUTEIN!!!!!!!' and then go on and on about how Trutein is amaaaazing and 'Anna, you've GOT to try it!' It's not only via facebook that people rave about Trutein to me though, I also get emails from people urging me to try it. So I've been curious about it for a while now, yeah, really curious. But I hadn't tried it because I thought it wasn't sold in the UK. I thought it was one of those powders you can only get in the US so I was going to wait till I am in the US this summer (yeah baby!) to get it. But then I found out that Predator Nutrition actually stock it here! So I got a tub. Actually, I got two. Can you blame me? After all that peer-pressure? I simply had to.

It's a very creamy powder, and the flavor, at least the Pumpkin Pie flavor, is really strong. It has a really powerful nutmegness to it, a lot of vanilla, and a pretty decent amount of cinnamon. I tried the powder with a bit of water and noticed it mixes quite nicely and tastes like (drumroll) pumpkin pie! So I made these Protein Pies to munch post-workout :-)

Result? Ten out of ten if you love pumpkin pie and christmas-flavored stuff. I'd say eleven out of ten but I kind of hate when people scrap logic for extra effect, like when they say 'I gave X 110% percent?' that's just ridiculous.

Below is the recipe to make these mini pies layered like I did. You can always just make the filling and ditch the bottom layer though - the end product will be equally delish.

Ingredients for the base

2 tbsp of oat flour
1 tbsp of Sunwarrior Warrior Blend (can sub this for casein, pea protein, or rice protein pow)
3 tbsp of milk

Ingredients for the filling

3/4 cup of pumpkin puree
1/4 cup of Pumpkin Pie flavored Trutein
1/2 cup of egg whites

Directions

Blend the bottom layer ingredients together and press the batter inside four muffin cases. Then, blend all the filling ingredients together and top the bottom layer with that.

Bake the whole thing at 160 (320 F) until the pies cook on top but are slight a bit wet in the center. You don't want to overbake them, the point is to keep them pie-like in texture so as soon as the top cooks and they looks done, remove them from the oven and let them cool.

Macros

Per mini pie (out of four): 99kcals, 12g protein, 12g carbs (out of which 9g is fiber!), 2g fat.

PS: Click here for more of my Protein Pumpkin Pie recipes! And if you're feeling holiday-ish, there's always my Christmas ebook which contains another pumpkin pie! I promise a lot more will come though, now that I have this Pumpkin Pie powder, all kinds of Protein magic will unfold before your (and my) eyes :-D

Protein Fluff: A Recipe and a Video of Steve Cook Trying it for the First Time!

2013-05-25T11:58:00.002+01:00

Whenever people tell me they've never made protein fluff before I get REALLY excited. There's just nothing like protein fluff! Whenever I describe it, I'm like a rabbit on speed, jumping up and down in the sheer delight that comes from knowing that soon their protein lives will change... forevah. This is exactly what happened yesterday at the Protein Pow workshop with Steve Cook (click here to see all the pics). With our bowls and our protein all ready, I gathered the guys around the table. "We're going to make Protein Fluff! You guys know how protein fluff is made, right?" I got nothing, not a word. "Wait, none of you have ever made fluff before!?" I couldn't believe it. No one! Not even Steve! Not ever! Well... fwaaaa. "Let me try it describe it. It's like... a cold marshmallowy heaven-cloud! It's like... fluffed up protein magic! It's like fluffy airy protein-ice-cream-deliciousness!" I went on and on, possessed by the Protein Gods as they looked at me amused and curious as to what could POSSIBLE be THAT good. But then they got to try it and find out! And oh la la, the madness spread :-D Watch the video at the bottom to watch Steve and everyone else's reaction to trying fluff for the first time!

Ingredients

2.5 scoops of vanilla whey protein (we used Optimum Nutrition)
2 cups of frozen berries (we used a mixture)
1/4ish of milk

Directions

First, blend everything together until you get a smooth sort of ice cream texture. Then, arm yourself with an electric whisker (note: unless you're Flash Gordon, you can't whisk it by hand) and whisk for 3-4 minutes until you start to see mad gainz in the mixture - the color will get lighter (you can kind of tell if you compare the two pics to the left here) as the fluff gathers air under its wings and turns into protein fluff proper. That's it! You're done. Grab a spoon then and dig in ;-)

Macros per one ENTIRE salad's bowl worth of fluff: 442kcals, 64g protein, 33g carbs, 6g fat and 8g fiber!

PS: Here's a step-by-step video I put together of how to make Protein Fluff!

PSPS: Click here to access all of my protein fluff recipes so far and here to read my article on Protein Fluff at bodybuilding.com!

Protein Pancakes For Men

2013-05-22T19:41:00.001+01:00

These pancakes are for men only. They're designed to broaden men's shoulders, widen their chest, expand their lats, thicken their legs, work on that six (going-on-eight) pack, and create a chiseled drop-dead-gorgeous man-physique that women swoon over. They also build both upper and lower body strength. You may be wondering how this is possible, they are just pancakes after all. Well, let me tell you their secret: they contain regular whey protein powder. That's right. The kind of stuff that, if ladies eat, will turn them into Hulkian versions of themselves. Ladies, if you're reading this, please substitute the whey protein in the recipe for a women-only powder. You want to work on toning, sculpting, and muscle elongation after all - you don't want to wake up one day with man arms and look in the mirror to find a heavyweight man staring back! So stay away from regular whey and look for the pink 'women-only' tubs of protein. Oh, what's that? Women-only protein powders are a lot more expensive, you say? Well, of course they are! They're special. They're made just for you!

Ingredients

1 cup of egg whites
1/2 cup of vanilla whey protein powder (substitute for women-only whey if you're a woman)
2 tbsp of cottage cheese (optional but nice for extra moisture)
1/4 cup of buckwheat flakes (or plain rolled oats)
2 tbsp of coconut flour
1 tsp of baking powder

Directions

Blend all ingredients together and panfry on a nonstick pan. Cook them, flip them, plate them, and that's it: your man-protein pancakes are now ready to be demolished by your man-jaws.

Macros per entire stack (made up of ten smallish pancakes): 563.8kcals, 34.7g carbs (out of which 12.2g is fiber!), 75.7g protein and 10.5g fat.

But OK, OK, let's rewind a little.

You may be thinking my introduction to the recipe sounds ridiculous. I hope you do in fact! But let me tell you: this is the line of reasoning that supports the marketing and sale of women-only protein powders. They're out there and I keep seeing them, ignoring them, then seeing them again and getting outraged. It's actually not easy for me to write this without resorting to a tirade of abuse against marketers but... hey, let me try, OK?

Most women-only protein powders come in pink tubs and promise a 'toned and sculpted' physique. They often also feature the word 'diet' as if all women were (or should be) dieting. They outrage me tremendously because they're jam-packed with misinformation for an audience that's already misinformed. They add kindling to an already high-enough fire of BS! (which you can read as either broscience or bullsh**.) I get really passionate when I discuss this, apologies if you find it all a bit over the top - "I'm just here for pancakes, what the hell!"

I think it's time we take a stance.

Someone in the industry once told me that women-only protein powders are a good thing because they're a 'gateway' for women to try protein powders proper. She said that they provide a 'safe' environment for women to dabble into the world of protein powders. She said that after buying women-only protein powders, women feel free to buy regular protein powders.

Well... I disagree with this because most of them don't. Most women who buy women-only powders continue to buy women-only powders because they buy into a campaign that tells them to do so by feeding them a lie. A lie that they, in turn, internalize: the idea that regular gender-neutral protein powders (or even those with beefy-men on the label) are not suitable for women.

Take for example 'Sally' - a personal trainer and ambassador to a brand of women-only protein powders, let's call the brand BS (I've anonymized her name and the name of the brand for the sake of decency).

As a testimonial for the brand, she wrote: "I struggle to find female-friendly protein powders... I like using BS protein powders because I know they won't make me bulky... I don't want to turn into the Hulk! So BS is perfect for me!" Or 'Mary', who writes, "BS protein powder is perfect for toning, sculpting, and getting rid of stubborn fat!"

What can one say really? The whole thing is absurd. As absurd as protein pancakes for men, as absurd as the idea that protein powders de facto GIVE people a muscular and/or lean physique. They don't. You know what does? Weight training, an intelligently-designed diet, heaps of patience, lots of perseverance, the willingness and openness to sometimes fail, motivation, focus, self-discipline, determination and DRIVE.

So join me in the fight against women-only protein powders, will ya? Because it's time we educate instead of remain indifferent to the growth of women-only powders which feature the exact same stuff as regular powders (and sometimes of inferior quality!) yet come packaged in pink and cost four times as much. And while we fight against this, hey! let's keep on lifting heavy stuff at the gym, cooking our protein (in this way fighting against this other piece of nonsense), and enjoying our protein pancakes - no matter what our gender may be ;-)

Almond & Dark Chocolate Protein Bars - a Recipe Video

2013-05-21T21:20:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday, at Body Pow, I gave a talk on Protein Bars. It was called Mastering the Art of Homemade Protein Bars and was as all about inspiring people to think outside the shake and become their own protein bar making wizards ;-) I designed the talk to follow my Protein Bar Ebook: it started by me going over the basics and then went into experimenting with ingredient variations. I talked a bit about strategies to deal with protein-cooking adversity and highlighted the importance of FEARLESSNESS and HEART when experimenting in the kitchen (here's a picture of me going on about this on stage!) To finish the presentation with a BOOM, I then ended it all by showing a recipe video that I thought you guys might like to watch too! Here it is:

Ingredients

¼ cup of vanilla whey (I used this one by Kinetica, it's one of my fav!)

3 tbsps. coconut flour

½ cup of almond milk

2 tbsp. almond flour

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

½ bar of chocolate

Directions

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl (except for the dark chocolate) until you get a moldable batter you can mold into bars. I shaped them first into balls and then flattened them to form little bars but you can keep them as balls or make larger bars. Up to you. What you do next is just dip them into the melted dark chocolate! I use my hands because the chocolate is never burning hot BUT if it for some reason is or if you just don't want to get your hand/s dirty, use a spoon. I show you both ways in the video :-)

One of the Best Protein Bundt Cakes Ever Made

2013-05-21T08:53:00.002+01:00

"Do you want to try some of the protein cake I made?" Mitch unassumingly asked Will and I on the first day of the Body Power Expo. Moreish like we are, we immediately said yes. So Mitch reached into his backpack, got out his tupperaware, and opened it to reveal what we'd agreed to munch. Here's a picture of the precise moment this happened. Our eyes widened when we saw it; it looked amazing! So I quickly dug in there and grabbed the biggest piece (yes, I'm one of those people, sorry grandma! I haven't changed) and then I swear the world around me just faded as I tasted one of the best protein bundt cakes in the galaxy. It was unbelievable! Sticky at the bottom - almost syrupy, buttery in texture and flavor, and just... perfect. Between us, we ate the whole cake that day (I probably ate most of it since the pieces I was taking were the biggest but.... hey). Anyways, after the expo was over, I messaged Mitch to ask him if he'd like to guest-post his recipe on here because I wanted you all to see it! And he said yes :-)))) It's a ludicrous protein cake so, guys, please do follow the recipe! Because you will LOVE it. And speaking of follow, here's Mitch's facebook page which I suggest you suscribe to as well because it's full of awesome recipes and fitness barabooom! OK, OK, enough from me. Mitch, mic over to ya buddy!

A few weeks ago I arrived back to England after six months of living in Asia. It was a fantastic experience and opened my eyes up to a whole host of cuisines and recipes!

However, my accommodation didn't have an oven and so I wasn't able to bake the whole time I was away :-( This was one of the strangest things I've experienced, especially when I am used to baking almost every day.

Upon my return, I had been daydreaming about a whole bunch of ideas of things I wanted to make, combinations of flavours and ingredients. I started right away making protein muffins, brownies, cheesecakes and even the ability to have protein fluff again using my electric whisk was pure bliss! Towards the end of the week last week though, I was running out of ingredients. But I still wanted to make something to have as my post-workout meal... yes, meal.

I had some leftover sweet potato in the fridge that I had baked the night before, and a few other ingredients dotted about. I threw them together in an awesome Bundt pan that I found hidden away in my cupboard and as it was cooking. I could tell by the smell that I was onto a winner!

What I would like to present to you now, is the simplest, tastiest, moistest and probably most enjoyable protein cake I have made to date. I was so pleased with it that after it had been demolished (on the same day), I decided to bake a second one to bring with me to the Body Power Expo! The response was great and when everyone heard how simple it was to make, they all wanted the recipe! So here it is:

Ingredients:
2 x 36g Scoops Vanilla PNI Pure Protein Whey
1 x Large Banana (120g)
240g - Cooked Sweet Potato
1 x Whole Egg
1 x Egg White
2tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder
4tsp Splenda (or sweetener as desired...taste batter and adjust to preference)

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Combine ingredients together in a food processor until you have a smooth yet fairly thick batter. Transfer into a greased Bundt tin or cake pan and cook for 20-25 mins! And Voila, thats it!

Macros (1 out of 8 slices) = 85kcals, 8.2g Protein, 10g Carbs, 1.7g Fat!

Toffee Hemp Protein Mini Bars

2013-05-20T18:17:00.002+01:00

The day before we left for Body Power, I was sent two bags of protein powder from a new company called Sativa Shakes. Theirs are hemp-based protein powders and I got sent two flavors: one was Kiwi and Lime and the other one was Toffee. I tried the Kiwi and Lime first and (surprise surprise) I hated it. I hated it because it tasted of sweet lime and I PASSIONATELY hate lime (and lemon) flavored foods. So, with my taste buds positively scandalized, I put down my bowl to try the other flavor: the toffee. Now, the way I try new protein powders is by mixing 1/2 a scoop of powder + a tiny bit of water, enough to form a sort of paste (I do this because I find this acquaints me best with the flavor and texture of the powders). So I opened the bag, grabbed 1/2 scoop of toffee flavored hemp, put in a bowl, added some water, took out a spoon, and... WHOA! Toffee! Toffee-flavored hemp! Who would have thought!? Because, if you've tried hemp protein powder, you'll know that it's pretty 'grassy' on its own and hard to flavor. But this one got it just right. It's still 'hempy' in flavor, don't get me wrong, but for a sweetened hemp protein powder, it's lovely! And perfect for protein bars :-)

What I did was this: I mixed the toffee hemp with some (cartoned) coconut milk, coconut flour, and a bit of cocoa until I formed a thick batter I was able to shape with my hands. I then shaped the mix up into tiny protein bars and dunked them in dark chocolate. I also added some freeze-dried strawberries on top. The end product reminded me of the protein bars I featured on fitocracy, you know, these ones? In that they were really rich and soft and sweet and yummo :-D

Let me give you the recipe though and please note that, if you don't have hemp, you can substitute it for pea protein powder, brown rice protein powder or casein!

Ingredients

1/2 cup of toffee flavored hemp
3/4 cup of coconut flour
1/2 cup of coconut milk
2 tbsp of cocoa powder

Directions: Blend it all together, form into little bars (or big bars or truffles) and dunk in dark chocolate. I melted some 90% dark chocolate in a bain marie (a glass bowl on top of a pot of boiling water) but anything above 70% would work nicely.

I then just transfered them to the freezer for 40 minutes and BOOOOM! Done :-D

We ended up munching them the first day of Body Power and they went down a treat, especially alongside some coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Macros per mini bar (out of the TWENTY we got from the mix above): 45.9kcals, 2.7g protein, 1.94g carbs (out of which 1.5g is fiber!, and 2.5g fat :-)

PS: Next I will upload my recipe for the Rum and Vanilla Protein Truffles we made and ate at Body Power!!! I made those using 'rum essence' - an interesting little invention created by... Uncle Roy, of course.

Body Power 2013

2013-05-20T13:16:00.000+01:00

What an amazing weekend at Body Power 2013! Click here to check out all the pics and here to get a copy of the cookbook in case you couldn't get to the expo and haven't gotten one yet! It was an epic weekend for meeting great people, chatting protein, eating protein, and selling hundreds of books! I'll be posting the recipes for the Protein Bars and Truffles we ate during the expo (you'll see them in the pcis) later on today and Mitch's Crazy Protein Cake after! So stay tuned because nom nom nommmm:-D

Upside Down Vanilla Custard Protein Muffins with Dark Chocolate

2013-05-16T22:57:00.000+01:00

Like I wrote yesterday, I'll be at the BodyPower expo this weekend - giving cooking presentations and selling my cookbook all weekend (at my own stand, stand HE13!) I'm really pumped and I hope to meet a lot of you guys :-) But I know a lot of people won't be able to make it :-( so I thought to leave everyone a little present here while I'm gone this weekend: a recipe video for one of the coolest - and yummiest - upside down protein muffins I've made in a long time!

They're intense. And they're really easy to make! All you need are five pretty basic ingredients: eggs, whey, almonds, almond milk (or regular milk), dark chocolate and BOOOOM! You're set.

The video below walks you through the whole process :-)

They're really custard-like in flavor, soft, and cakey at the same time! They go amazingly well with the dark chocolate and dipped in coffee!? Oy oy oy, MAMA MIA!

AND if you bake them in little tart pie cases (like these ones here) and THEN turn them upside down, you'll end up with a little cake like the one pictured to the left here! Amazing, no? And they taste surreal...

Anyways, I'll be back on here on monday with lots of Body Power pics and stories!

Until then, I leave you with the video. I hope you like it!!!!

Vegan Protein Brownies Dipped in Coffee

2013-05-15T10:39:00.004+01:00

This weekend is the Body Power Expo (note the POW logo here). If you plan on being there do stop by the Protein Pow stand - stand HE13 - and say hi. I'll be there with Will, Mitch, and Ben selling my cookbook! I'm also going to be presenting at 'The Academy' stage on Saturday and Sunday so come by there too if you want to learn the ins and outs of protein powder cooking ;-) But OK. Let me tell you about these brownies:

These brownies are a nutritional powerhouse. They're high in antioxidants, magnesium, omega 3, potassium, betanine, vitamin C, vitamin A, carotenes, fiber and prrrrrrrotein! They're also gluten-free vegan, and absolutely delicious - especially dipped in coffee, AAAA!!!!!!!!

Ingredients

4 small cooked beets (250g)
3 tbsp of coconut flour (36g)
1 cup of chocolate hemp protein powder (154g)
1 can of pumpkin puree (420g)
1/2 cup of cocoa powder (58g)
1/2 tbsp of toffee flavdrops (or stevia)

Directions

Blend everything together.
Taste the batter. Do you want it sweeter? Add more stevia or flavdrops. Do you want it more chocolatey? Add more cocoa. Is it absolutely spot-on? Try not to eat it all. Bake in a brownie pan for about 45 minutes to an hour or until your knife comes out clean. Bake at 160 C (320 F).

Variations

If you don't have hemp but want to make them anyways, use chocolate pea protein powder or a yummy chocolate rice protein powder like this one. If you don't have pea or rice and don't mind de-veganizing the brownies, try using casein along with one or two egg whites.

If you want to subtitute the pumpkin, use cooked sweet potatoes and, for the coconut flour, use a combo of ground almonds and oatflour.

For these and more notes on substitutions, don't forget to bookmark my Ingredient Substitution Chart and my Protein Powder Substitution Chart!

Macros per brownie (out of the six you get from the mix above):

192kcals, 15.2g carbs (out of which 11g is fiber!), 16.6g protein and 6.6g fat!

Vanilla & Orange Whey Protein Pancakes kaPOW!

2013-05-14T12:59:00.000+01:00

When I was little, we would most summers by the sea and I used to wake up every day to a giant glass of freshly-squeezed OJ. I'd open my eyes and see my mom or dad holding it and I'd immediately spring up, grab it from their hands, and down it in a matter of seconds, ending always with an absurdly loud "AAAAAAAAHHHHH." I could never stomach - even now I can't - pasteurized orange juice though. You know, stuff like Minute Maid or Tropicana? To me, those orange juices or, rather 'beverages,' taste nothing like actual OJ. And orange-flavored drinks - drinks that entirely do away with any pretence of actual oranges? Yaaack! Not impressed... So what do I do when I get sent a bag of orange-flavored whey protein powder? Option 1) I dropkick it into the bowels of the trash... Option 2) I cook with it. I chose option 2 and let me tell you what happened:

I chose to cook with it because I love adding orange essence, orange rind, orange peel, and using whole oranges in food (see for example the Almond and Whole Orange Protein Pancakes in my cookbook!) That's because oranges go extremely well with creamy, cinnamon-packed, and vanillay foods :-)

The orange flavor adds a unique accent to sweet dishes that helps bring out a whole symphony of nommage. See for example My Grandma's Proteinized Rice Pudding or my Casein Protein Pudding or my Almond & Vanilla Protein Blondies!

It's magical what a bit of orange flavoring does to food. So, I figured, let's try orange-flavored whey alongside vanilla whey, what's the worst that can happen?

Ingredients

1/4 cup of orange flavored whey (this stuff!)
1/4 cup of vanilla flavored whey (this stuff)
1 cup of almond milk
3/4 cup of gluten-free rolled oats
1/8 cup of vanilla pea protein powder
2 egg whites

Directions

Blend everything together using a food processor, standing blender, or handheld blender. Once the batter's nice and smooth, heat up a big nonstick pan or a bunch of little ones like the ones I used. Grease the pan or pans with coconut oil, butter, PAM, or a calorie-free spray.

It's important that you get the pan HOT and THEN pour the batter on it. Don't start with a lukewarm pan because if you do, the chance of your pancakes sticking goes up.

OK. As soon as you spoon the batter on the pan, lower the heat down to medium. The way you know when a pancake is ready to flip is by looking at whether bubbles have started to form on the pancake's surface (see the second picture to the left here). As soon as they do... BAM! Flip.

I got seven little pancakes out of the mix above and they were stupendous! Great texture and the flavor, the FLAVOR!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing! The orange was actually pretty subtle but most certainly there, complimenting the vanilla beautifully :-D

Now, if you don't have orange flavored whey and don't feel like getting some, you can still make these pancakes by adding some orange rind to the batter or, like I did in the cookbook, by using the boiled orange method ;-)

Macros per one whole stack of pancakes:

584kcals, 57g carbs (out of which 10g is fiber), 66g protein, and 10g fat!

Note: To lower the carbs, sub the oats with ground almonds and a bit of coconut flour!

PS: I drenched the pancakes in a couple of tablespoons of actual honey and they were delish! I shared them with dad and we both loved them :-) If you don't want to use honey though, you can add some fruit, nut butter, or just calorie-free pancake syrup like Walden Farm's!

Verdict on the orange flavored whey: AWESOME!!! Who knew?

Dark Chocolate Covered Protein Donuts

2013-05-12T17:59:00.003+01:00

Have you made my latest Protein Donut recipe? Because if you haven't, oy oy oy, you've got to give it a shot! It's really easy to make and donuts are fab - nutty, moist, and against the dark chocolate on top? Well.... FWAAAAA!!!!

I used a silicone donut tray to make them (this one) but, if you don't have one, don't sweat it. You can divide the batter inside muffin cases and either a) dig a hole in the center once they're cooked or b) forget about the whole donut thing and go for more of a danish look.

You could even inject them with a casein + greek yogurt filling to bump up the protein... to infinity and beyond!

Another thing you can do, if you don't want to use dark chocolate, is roll the donuts (or danishes) on some cinnamon and granulated stevia! Or on grated coconut :-)

Click here to read the whole article and get the recipe!

And click here to get a copy of my cookbook and make more donuts! I have a couple of protein donut recipes in there that you can eat as 'cereal' and ensure you start your day with a BOOM, BAAM, kaPOW!

PS: Here are more Protein Donut recipes :-)

Sweet Potato Protein Mug Cake - A Guest Post by Ben Tormey

2013-05-10T10:29:00.001+01:00

Today I bring you guys a guest recipe by Ben Tormey, his second on this blog! Here's his first. Who's Ben? Ben's an editor at Propane Fitness and a beast, a bona fide beast. I actually turned to Ben a month ago to write my programming and I could honestly not be any happier with it - it's the perfect combination of sweet and... vicious >;-) I wobble out of the gym every time with a grin on my face and, on my training log, PR after PR - kapow! He doesn't only just write intelligently-designed programming though, he also writes smashing recipes! And you'll love them because they're ridiculously easy, quick to make, and deliver one hell of a nomnomnom. Don't believe me? Try this:

Ingredients

100g sweet potato, cooked and mashed

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 scoops of vanilla whey protein powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions: Blend everything together and stick it in a mug. Cover with clingfilm, microwave for 2-3mins, and that's it: you're done.

Optional: Top the mug cake with a marshmallow or two! It adds an extra texture element to it and mmmm, it's delicious! Have some frozen berries on the side of your mug cake too and top with even more cinnamon. The hot mugcake against the cold berries is just... so good!

Macros per mug cake: 319kcals, 24g carbs, 50g protein, and 3g fat!

The Place Beyond the Pine... Nut Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies

2013-05-09T23:04:00.003+01:00

Tonight I went out with a friend to watch The Place Beyond the Pines. It was a pretty tiresome and drawn out movie, so much so that my friend fell asleep halfway through it. Meanwhile there I sat wide awake, thinking about pine nuts: "I wonder if pine nuts are good in baking...", "they are quite nutty and almost buttery in flavor...", "I bet they're interesting in cookies...", "maybe vanilla?" "or maybe chocolate chip protein cookies...", "definitely chopped or blended in though", etc. When the movie finally ended, I shook my friend awake, we walked out of the cinema, said goodbye, I made my way home, almost got knocked down by the furious tail-wagging of this gorgeous fella, went into the kitchen, and baked a batch of these pine nut protein cookies... because something good had to come from watching that dissapointing movie!

Ingredients

1/2 cup of vanilla whey protein
2 tbsp of coconut flour
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/4 cup of vanilla pea protein pow
1/8 cup of pine nuts
2 whole eggs
2 squares of 85% dark chocolate (roughly chopped and added on top)

What I did was just blend all the ingredients together, spoon them onto a silicone muffin baking tray before topping each 'blob' with a bit of the chocolate, and baking them in the oven at 180 C (356 F) for no more than 15-20 minutes. I then took them out, let them cool, ate a couple, and shared the rest.

The verdict was as follows: "chewy", "tasty", "nice!", "needs more sweetness?", "I like the pine nuttiness", "yum!", "I would have added some fresh fruit inside, maybe berries?" and "I'm eating another one!"

Macros (out of the ten I got from the mix above) to follow, I just have to locate my laptop to calculate all the data. In the meantime, click here to access more of my protein cookie recipes ;-)

One of the Best and Easiest Protein Cheesecakes Ever Made

2013-05-06T18:34:00.002+01:00

This is a carnivor's Protein Cheesecake. That's right, I made it using beef protein powder. Now, if you don't have beef protein powder, don't worry: just use whey - it'll do the same job ;-) For the crust, I only used one ingredient: almonds! It really doesn't need much else because the filling holds it together. You COULD add a nut butter to the ground almonds (or some date paste) but I really liked the simplicity of this recipe because you don't have to do anything to to get the 'crust' - you just pour the filling on top! OK. Let me just give you the recipe because this one's a keeper!

Filling ingredients

1 pot (250g) of Kessella (the Swedish version of Quark; if you don't have either, just blend up some 2% cottage cheese until it becomes smooth and lumpless)
1/4 cup (33g) of vanilla caramel beef protein powder (or just whey)
1 whole egg
1 egg white
2 tsbp (24g) of coconut flour
2 tbsp of freshly-brewed espresso
3/4 (40g) cup of ground almonds

Directions

First, add the ground almonds on the bottom of a springform tin (I used a 6 inch one) and flatten them with a spoon.

Then, blend the kessella (or Quark or blended cottage) with the protein pow, eggs, and coconut flour until you get a smooth batter. Add some sweetener if you want it sweeter (I didn't add any because I think it's fine but listen to your buds on this one). Once blended, pour it all on top of the ground almonds.

Add the espresso on top of the filling and move it around with a spoon to form some swirls. You could blend the espresso WITH the filling but if you add it on top it looks nice :-)

Finally, bake it at 170 C (332 F) for about 35 minutes or until your house smells like heaven and, when you shake the cheesecake, it wiggles a bit in the center.

What you DON'T want to do is bake it until it's all cooked through, that's the surest way to ruin a cheesecake - protein or otherwise. You want it to to be taut to the touch on top and to wiggle in the center when you shake it. It'll set as it cools and stay creamy and yum yum yum derommmm :-D

Once it gets to this point, remove it from the oven, and let it cool before you remove it from the tin. Then, slice it aaaaand... ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!

Macros per slice (if you slice it into eight): 89kcals, 3.25g carbs, 9.37g protein and 3.87g fat!

PS: Don't forget to get a copy of my cookbook and also make My Dad's Protein Chesecake from page 65!!!!!!

A note on beef protein powder: A lot of people who are intolerant to dairy-based or dairy-derived protein powders consume beef protein powder. Its amino acid profile is excellent and some have argued it to be superior all other protein powders - including whey - in the context of its anabolic 'muscle building' properties. "Yeah, yeah, yeah..." you may be thinking, "but how does it actually TASTE? because the idea of a flavored beef powder sounds a bit... I won't say nasty but... nasty!" To this I'd say you're wrong. It actually tastes really nice! It's not at all beefy or meaty in flavor and both the vanilla and chocolate versions are delicious! This all being said, I'm not a regular consumer of beef protein powder for two reasons: 1) I don't like the extra ingredients added to it and b) I don't think beef protein powder is a sustainable source of protein powder. I know I don't talk about sustainability a lot in this blog but it's something that I am very conscious of and take into consideration when choosing the ingredients I puchase and consequently eat. I'll write more about this on a future post ;-)

Coffee & Cocoa Protein Breakfast Bars

2013-05-04T17:22:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow morning I fly to Sweden. I'll be there for ten days visiting my dad, eating lots of salmon, running with Rocky (look what a darling he is), drinking a ton of coffee, pretending I can still play the piano, exploring the city ('s supermarkets), and making copious amounts of protein cheesecakes and related fun stuff because my dad's a big fan and well... I love to cook there. On Tuesday I'll also be running a Protein Pow workshop with Sanna (details here) so expect a lot of new photos to be added to the Workshop Pics Album!

Now, because my flight is SUPER early tomorrow (boooo), I decided to make some Coffee & Cocoa Protein Breakfast Bars (kind of like my Cinnamon Protein & Fiber Breakfast Bars). They're low carb, gluten-free, and dairy-free. I settle on these because I know I'll be wanting something to keep me awake while I wait for my plane to board. My plan is to get a big cup of coffee, dunk these in there, and nom nom nom: jolt the system back to living the good life ;-)

Here's the recipe:

Or 1/4 cup of Sunwarrior Warrior Blend (chocolate) + 1 cup of liquid egg whites + 1/2 cup of cocoa nibs + 1/4 cup of coconut flour + 2 tbsp of stevia + 1 tbsp of coffee + 1/4 cup of milk - blended and baked for about 30 minutes at 170 C (338 F). Note: If you don't have Sunwarrior Warrior Blend, just use pea protein pow, rice protein pow, or casein.

Macros per bar (out of the six you get from the mix above): 128.82kcals, 5.9g carbs (out of which 5g is fiber!), 13.1 g protein and 6g fat!

Almond, Vanilla, and Orange Protein Blondies

2013-05-03T12:52:00.005+01:00

Blondies are kind of like brownies but without the chocolate. They deliver the same KAPOW! than brownies do, their punch is just lighter - it's fairer. Blondies usually feature shall we say 'opulent' amounts of butter and you'll often find them containing with nuts - especially almonds, walnuts, and macadamia nuts - and sometimes even chocolate chips (though to me that's just blurring the divide between them and their brown counterparts a little too openly). I've made Protein Blondies before (see here) and will be making more of them in the future! Because they're delicious and oh so full of nom nom goodness :-D

Ingredients

3/4 cup (200g) of canned pumpkin puree (or a large cooked sweet potato)
1/2 cup (102ml) liquid egg white
1 fresh egg yolk
1/2 cup (66g) pea protein powder
2 tbsp of (24g) coconut flour
1/2 cup (50g) of slivered almonds
1 tbsp of toffee flavdrops
1 tbsp of vanilla
1 orange's rind

Directions

Blend all ingredients together and pour the batter in a small brownie pan, adding some slivered almonds on top (this is optional but adds a great texture dimension to the whole thing). Bake at 170 C (338 F) for about 35-40 minutes or until, when stabbed with a knife, your knife comes out clean. You can slice them into squares or, if you like to dip things in coffee like I do, you can slice them into rectangles (kind of like bars). They're absolutely ludicrous soaked through with coffee, wa wa wa!!!!

Macros per square (out of the eight you get from the mix above):

84kcals, 4g carbs, 8.6g protein, 3.4g fat and 2.4g fiber!

Apricot & Pistachio Protein Truffles

2013-05-01T10:30:00.003+01:00

I don't know why I haven't uploaded more recipes with pistachios. I LOVE pistachios! This recipe is the first step to remedy their absence :-D I had a couple of these yesterday as dessert to my post-workout meal and nomnomnom! The pistachios just go so well with the apricot and the vanilla of the protein pow inside them, oy.... I was actually going to fill them with strawberry jam and peanut butter to make a kind of Pistachio PB&J Protein Truffle (I know, sounds good, doesn't it?) but realized as I was making them that all I had left was apricot jam: sugar-free apricot jam (note: regular homemade jam would have been fine - since there's nothing wrong with a bit of sugar post-workout, but I was out of that too so...)

Ingredients

1/4 cup of vanilla rice protein pow (this stuff, delicious!)
1 tbsp of applesauce (or even some orange-flavored fish oil? controversial, I know, but good and good for ya!)
2 tbsp of psyllium husks
1 tbsp of vanilla stevia (or toffee flavdrops!)
3/4 cup of almond milk
2 tbsp of coconut flour (or ground up almonds?)
3 tbsp of ground-up and chopped pistachio nuts

Directions

Get a bowl out and mix all of the above ingredients with just half of the pistachio nuts (the rest you want for the outside of the truffles). At this stage feel free to taste your batter, add some spices, add some nuts and seeds, and basically whatever you like - binding it at the end with a bit of milk (or some pasteurized egg whites). You can add some nut butter too or a square or two of melted dark chocolate! Just mix these ingredients together until you get to a doughy sort of mix that you can roll with your hands (see the notes below if your mix turns annoying to deal with at any stage).

Once your mix is nice and doughy, divide it into truffle-shapes, flatten them out on the palm of your hand, add some jam in the center, and roll them up. If this step is annoying though, just roll the truffles without the jam and add the jam afterwards on top. It's always good to have a 'two left hands' option handy :-)

OK. When they're nice and truffle-like in appearance, roll them on top of your remaining pistachio nuts. You can roll them on grated coconut too or chopped almonds or pretty much whatever you like. Cocoa is quite nice with truffles but here I didn't use cocoa because I find the combination of chocolate + fruit unpleasant so... yeah. Anyhow, that's it: boom - done. Finito!

Macros, out of the 10 you get from the mix above:

55.34kcals, 4g carbs (out of which 2.8 is fiber!), 4g protein, 2.1g fat :-)

Notes:

1) If you want to sub the rice protein pow, you can with pea protein or casein, ideally flavored.

2) If, while mixing it, you batter is turning out too runny and impossible to mold, dry it up with some coconut flour or extra protein pow. If it's too thick, add some more milk and/or applesauce until you get to the right consistency.

3) If you want to go down the calorie-free route with your filling and do away with all semblance of actual fruit-derived-jam, you can consider Walden Farms Calorie Free Apricot Spread. I've never tried it so it COULD be nasty but hey, just hooking you up if you're feeling adventurous.

Protein Han Solo in Dark Chocolate Carbonite

2013-04-28T14:52:00.001+01:00

Finally, I can cross 'eating Han Solo Protein Bars' off my bucket list! And now you can too! Wait, what? It wasn't on your bucket list? No? Well, how about you add it? Kind of lame, you say, but hey! It's fun :-) I mean, what's not to love about the idea of eating Protein Han Solo in Dark Chocolate Carbonite? You get to feel like a proper Brobdingnagian alien being (who I guess ruined the whole movie series by munching down one of the main characters...) Make them though! because, I promise: regret it you will not ;-)

Anyways, these bars were delicious!

I made them using a Hans Solo silicone trat (here's a link to it if you're in the UK and here's a link to it if you're in the US).

The bar kind of of cracked a bit (horizontally) but hey, something's gotta give. The filling too was awesome! And super easy - all you need are four relatively common ingredients :-D

Ready for the recipe? Here it goes:

Ingredients

1/4 cup of chocolate whey (I used this one by Promax because I like its chocolateyness)
2 tbsps of coconut flour
3/8 cup of almond milk (or any other milk you like)
1 tsp of instant coffee (this is optional but adds a grand extra flavor dimension to Han!)

You can also add a tsp of toffee flavdrops if you want them sweeter still but this is optional.

All you need to do to make the filling is use your jedi skills to mix all of the above ingredients together in a bowl and form three bars out of the ensuing mixture.

Then, you melt a bar of dark chocolate (I used 90% Lindt) in a bain marie, i.e. a glass bowl on top of a pot of boiling water. This will cover three bars.

Now, because I used a silicone tray to make them, they ended up more like chocolate bars than protein bars. Why? Because, using a mold requires you to use a lot more chocolate - about 35 to 40 grams per bar than you would, if, say, you follow one of my regular protein bar recipes (like the ones here!!!!)

Macros per bar:

229.2kcals
14.7g protein
8.7g carbs (out of which 3.3g is fiber!)
18.3g fat (from the chocolate)

Notes:

1. If you want to make these bars with casein, go right ahead. Just use casein instead of whey and cut the coconut flour amount in half.

2. If you'd like to make them vegan (i.e. without whey or casein), use a vegan powder but, again, reduce the amount of coconut flour and just add milk a little bit at a time until you get to a creamy consistency.

3. Feel free to add a nut butter to the mix! PB would be particularly amazing (because PB + chocolate, wohohoaaaa).

4. If you want to make these bars without the mold, go right ahead. Just follow the way I make most of my choco-covered protein bars :-)

5. You can substitute the instant coffee I used for proper ground espresso and/or ground-up cocoa nibs. If you do though, remember not to eat one before you go to sleep otherwise you'll be unsuccessfully counting sheep for ages...

Super Low-Carb (and Gluten-Free) Broccoli Protein Bread - a Recipe Video!

2013-04-25T12:19:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I read a story about a former JP morgan trader - Paul Shackleton - who launched a low-calorie gluten-free bread that is accredited by the UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) as "the lowest-carb bread in the UK." The name of this bread? Plan Bread. Its secret? BROCCOLI.

"Brilliant!" I thought, because broccoli sounds like a great low-carb and nutrition-dense 'bulk agent' for baked food. But I was curious, did his bread also contain protein powder? I took to twitter to ask him. His answer? "Can't give away all our secrets but we do not use protein powder." This of course is not surprising. The guy can't, after all, divulge the recipe without losing the uniqueness of his product. But don't all products need to come with an ingredients list? With a macronutrient breakdown? The absence of this on his website I still don't understand...

But anyways, that's his thing. Let me tell you about mine ;-)

I made this bread yesterday with Will - a bona fide tasmanian devil of a person with whom I've been cooking lots of protein craziness lately (check out the Peanut Butter & Toffee Protein Cheesecake we made last week!)

From the beginning, our plan was to make a protein bread that, instead of flour, used broccoli.

I'll be honest, the whole thing was an experiment. We weren't sure what would greet us when we opened the oven!

That's why, when it came out looking like it did - like actual bread! - we were like two proud parents, coulnd't stop looking at it - ohhhh and ahhhhhing and sweet la la laing!

And then, well... then we cut into it and MAMA MIA!!!! BREAD!!!

Proper sandwichable, sliceable, gorgeous-smelling... bread!

Below you'll find the recipe, in video form, along with the macros ;-) Please ignore the fact that I pronounce broccoli as BRAAAAAc'li.

Oh and note: when you make your bread, add some herbs to the mix too! We kind of forgot to do this and it would have been nice :-)

OK. Here it is:

Blueberry Protein Pancakes (Egg-Free)

2013-04-23T20:01:00.004+01:00

I've been walking my eggs for YEARS. You see, I don't have a car; I don't have a license even. I like to walk and take the train :-) So I buy my 36-egg-cartons and I walk them home every week. It's been like this ever since I left the family nest in Chicago to go to University in Shhhcotland. At first my friends there found this amusing, but all too quickly the sight of me walking down the street with a carton of eggs became commonplace - as did the growing pile of cartons on top of our fridge (and then our cupboards and then our trash). What did I do with all these eggs? I ate them :-D I ate them and I experimented making all sorts of high-protein foods with them. Now, I won't say I'm an egg expert (an 'eggspert', har har) but what I will say is that I have a lot of... eggperience (har har har). That's why most of the recipes you see here in my blog feature either whole eggs or egg whites.

So... when people ask me for egg-less high-protein recipes I need to go back to square one and experiment all over again. There's a lot of trial and a hell of a lot of error. But sometimes - just SOMETIMES - I stumble upon an egg-less recipe that ticks all the boxes and makes me nommmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This recipe is one of them ;-)

Because these pancakes are amazing! They're kind of like patties, yes; they're not that bready at all. But what they are is absolutely delicious! They almost melt in your mouth and, with the bursting blueberries inside? Oh nom nom nom nommmm! :-)))))

Ingredients

1/4 cup of vanilla whey protein pow
1 large banana
1/2 cup of milk (I used almond)
1/4 cup of gluten-free oats
2 tbsp of coconut flour (or casein?)

Directions

Blend all the above ingredients together and, once blended, add a handful of fresh blueberries (to give you an idea, I used 38 grams). Then, get a nonstick pan super hot and either spray it with PAM or grease it with a tsp of coconut oil. Once the pan is HOT HOT HOT, pour your mix on it and lower the heat to medium/low. Make sure your pancakes are small. Yes, the batter with look like a mush but as it cooks, it'll all bind together. Let them cook. Be patient. Once the bottom has browned and the pancakes no longer look like mashed potatoes, flip them (carefully). Allow the other side to cook then and... BOOM! You're done :-D

I covered mine in Walden Farms but the pancakes would actually be really tasty solo too. They're super moist! They kind of fall apart against the fork. I would say this is a bad thing - a sign that things didn't work out - BUT they're so tasty that I won't. You've got to try them!!

Macros per stack: 444.6kcals, 28.4g carbs (OUT OF WHICH 14.7g is fiber! so net carbs = 33.8g carbs), 32.8g protein, 9.9g fat :-)

PS: Guys!!!!!! More than 1,200 copies of "Protein Pow(d)er: The Cookbook" have now been sold and shipped worldwide!!!! :-D I'm going to start stocking actual shops next too but, in the meanwhile, if you haven't gotten on yet, here's the link to amazon.co.uk again (from where the book ships worldwide, woop woop!)

PSPS: Check out my latest bodybudiling.com column - it's all about Protein Donuts :-D Here's the link :-)

Dark Chocolate Covered Protein Thingies (Low Carb)

2013-04-21T22:22:00.004+01:00

Welcome to another recipe from my Protein Pow Hiking Series - a series dedicated to celebrating protein food and the great outdoors (here are all previous hiking food recipes). Today's hike was organized pretty last minute. I was actually going to hit gym this afternoon but, around eleven, I realized the day was GLORIOUS and a hike was in order :-)

Days like this aren't common after all, not here in old England where the sky tends to oscillate between gray cloud, white cloud, rain, light rain, drizzle, and sunny 'spells' :-(

When the sun is out it just NEEDS to be experienced! And when the day is both sunny AND warm? Well, well, well! You don't spend it indoors if you can help it :-D So I ran to take a shower, put on my hiking clothes + a Protein Pow t-shirt (one must always represent), ran downstairs, filtered some water, boiled a couple eggs, packed some fruit, drank a cup of coffee, made these Protein Thingies, and was out there door by twelve fifteen ;-)

Ingredients

1/2 cup of liquid egg whites (127ml)
1/4 cup of vanilla whey protein powder (37g)
2 tbsp of coconut flour (24g)
2 tbsp of hemp protein pow (23g)
1/2 a grated zucchini

Directions

Mix all ingredients together using a spoon or fork and fry them up as six little pancakes on a nonstick pan. As soon as you flip them, place some chunks of dark chocolate on top and allow it to melt against the heat of the pancake. I used 20 grams of (90% dark) chocolate overall.

You can then massage the chocolate into the Thingies - hnnng :-D and allow them to cool in the freezer for 10 minutes. I actually took mine out after five minutes so the chocolate was still semi-soft when I put them in my tupperware and left but whatever, it set later on :-)

The hike itself was beeeeutiful! The destination was the sea but we actually stopped halfway and turned around due to the fact that the sun disappeared and the day turned hella cold so the sea will have to wait until next week. All in all we covered 8.5 miles in about 3 hours so it wasn't as crazy as we originally had planned; truth is we we should have started earlier but hey, it was amazing anyways and the Thingies (enjoyed next to an egg, apple and a banana) were superb!

Not sure what I can compare them to. They were really pancakey inside and for some reason reminded me of Girl Scout Samoas, probably because of the crunch of the zucchini and the nice chocolate 'shell-type-thing' outside them. I kind of wish I'd had mixed in some grated coconut in them too but hey, next time :-)

Macros per Thingie (out of the five you get from the mix above): 101.54kcals, 3.36g carbs (out of which 1.84g = fiber!), 11.5g protein, and 3.88g fat!

Perfect Tuna Burgers - with (GF) Protein Burger Buns!

2013-04-20T13:04:00.002+01:00

I realized yesterday, after someone pointed it out, that it's been a while since I've uploaded savory protein recipes on here so I decided the time had come to make some good ol' fashioned boygahs!!!! But... I wasn't sure what kind of burger to make. Should I make a traditional beef burger? a tuna burger? a veggie burger? a chicken burger? I didn't know (I kind of wanted them all!) So I asked you guys on facebook and I ran with tuna! So in this post you'll find two recipes: the first will be for tuna burgers and the second for my protein burger buns! But let me start by throwing a majestic tuna burger photo at you:

Hnnnngh!!!!!!! OK ;-) With that out of the way we can now proceed with the recipes, beginning with the tuna burgers which, by the way, contain no protein powder but are jam-packed full of POW! POW! nevertheless ;-)))

Ingredients for the tuna burgers:

1 can of tuna (130g) in spring water
1 whole egg
1 tbsp (8g) of rolled oats (GF or not)
1 tbsp (13g) of tomato puree
1 tsp of onion granules
1 tsp of herbamare (or salt)
1 tsp of paprika
1/2 tbsp of whole grain mustard
1/2 tsp of allspice (weird, I know, but it works!)
1/2 tsp of garlic granules
1 fried red onion

Directions for the tuna burgers:

Slice or chop your onion and fry it up on some coconut oil, PAM, or low-cal spray until it gets soft and caramelizes a bit. Then, chuck that into a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix it all with a spoon or fork or spatula or... whatever. Shape four patties out uof the mix, and fry them up on a hot pan with, again, some coconut oil, PAM, or low-cal spray.

You want the pan sizzling hot when you place the burgers on it but as soon as you do, turn it down to medium (just so the bottom 'seals up' nicely and then the rest of the burger cooks).

Then just flip them when ready to be flipped aaaaand - you're done: boom!

Now, for the burger buns (and by the way I forgot to add sesame seeds on top! It would have been a nice touch, if only for the aesthetics, so consider sprinkling some of top pre-baking?):

Ingredients for the buns

1/4 cup of unflavored whey
1/4 cup of buckwheat flour (can sub this with oat flour too)
1/2 cup of egg whites
1 tbsp of coconut flour (or ground almonds)
1/8 cup of pea protein
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salt

Directions for the burger buns:

Blend everything together and bake as four 'blobs' on a cookie tray at 160 C (320 F) for about 15-20 minutes or until, when stabbed with a knife, your knife comes out clean. Keep an eye to not overcook them. They won't brown much so don't wait until they do! Once done, allow them to cool.

Once cooled, slice them in half, add your burger, some tomato, lettuce (or rocket - aka aragula - or spinach), avocado, etc. You can add some sliced sweet potato even or a fried egg and of course ketchup and mayo +/- mustard! You can also throw in some blue cheese or goat's cheese or gruyere or well... whatever floats ya :-D

Now let me tell you about the final product:

It was FAAAANTAAAASTIC! The tuna burgers were phenomenal and I can't recommend them enough. The buns too were good but I felt they needed some moisture so maybe if you make this you can add a tbsp or two of cottage cheese or quark or cream cheese? Or even a 1/3 of a cooked sweet potato or pumpkin puree? That being said, they were yummooooh and delivered one hell of a protein KAPOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Macros per tuna burger (without the bun), out of the four small/mediumish you get from the mix above:81.65kcals, 8.6g carbs (out of which 2.1 g is fiber!), 15.1g protein, 1.15g fat!

Macros per burger bun, out of the four you get from the mix above: 81.65kcals, 2.5g carbs (out of which 0.6g is fiber), 11.15g protein, 2.95g fat!

Protein Cookie Dough -> Protein Cookies -> Protein Cookie-Filled Protein Bars

2013-04-18T10:27:00.000+01:00

Once upon a time, in the land of Protein Pow, there was a girl who wanted to make Cookies and Cream Protein Bars. She went into her kitchen armed with resolve but there she found two roads: the first road she knew well; it was a road she'd walked many times before. It involved her traditional protein bar recipe and some of her cookies and cream whey protein powder.

But the second road? Oh, the second road was new, it was dark - it was mysterious. She walked towards it slowly, unsure of what to do. A sign stood before it. It read "WARNING: Uncertain Terrain Ahead."

Gulp.

"But I don't know what to do!" the girl exclaimed, "which path should I choose?!?"

Her mind whispered "go with safe option! choose the first road! That way you'll know what to expect, you'll just make bars using cookie-flavored whey!" <:-D

But her heart? oh no, her heart was fearless! and it screamed: "Yo!!!! What are you doing even THINKING about this!?!? Obviously you'll go down the second road. Make it all from scratch! You know you wanna! Think of the fun, the adventure, the excitement! What could go wrong!?" >:-D

Welcome to this recipe ;-)

It's comprised of three recipes: the first is for protein cookie dough, the second is for protein cookies and the third is for the cookie-filled protein bars.

You can stop after you make the cookie dough (and eat it), you can make the cookies, or you can join me and add your cookies to your bars - the end product is phenomenal! Especially if you like cakey chunks in your bars :-D Ready to do this? Andiamo! Because I promise you this is one hell of a protein journey ;-)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough and the Cookies:

1/2 cup (59g) of vanilla pea protein powder or sunwarrior's vanilla warrior blend (you can sub this with casein too but, if you do, just play around with the amounts, adding a bit at a time until you get to the right consistency)
1/2 cup (120ml) of liquid egg whites (pausterized)
5 brazil nuts (or a handful of almonds)
1/3 bar (25g) of chopped dark chocolate (85%)

You can add 1 tbsp of stevia to the batter if you find it needs extra sweetness. You can also add a tbsp of peanut butter to make it peanut buttery and hhhhnnng ;-) To make the cookie dough, all you need to do is blend the protein pow, egg, and nuts and add the chocolate afterwards. You'll get an extremely tasty cookie dough which you can eat with gusto (it's delish!)

OR you can continue on the journey and move up to stage two: protein cookies ;-)

To make the cookies, you just bake the above as four 'blobs' on a nonstick cookie tray for about 20 minutes or until the get golden on top, at 170 C (338 F).

What I did when the cookies were ready was munch one of them with my pre-workout coffee (check it out, woooo!) and head over to the gym to destroy another Propane Fitness workout. Then, when I got back, I crumbled two of the cookies.

I then made my bar by doing mixing together the following:

Protein Bar Ingredients

1/2 cup (52g) of vanilla whey (you COULD use cookies N cream whey instead though!)
1/4 cup (43g) of coconut flour
1/2 cup (110ml) of cartoned coconut milk (or any milk really)

I just mixed that together until a thick batter was formed and I threw my cookie chunks in there (like this). I then just formed the batter into three 'bar shapes' and melted 1/3 of a bar of dark chocolate (again, 85%) in a bain marie (a glass bowl on top of a pot of boiling water). I then dipped the bars in there as best I could and transfered them to the fridge for an hour and... BOOM! DONE :-D

Note: IF your mix is too sticky and impossible to mold, what I recommend is adding some casein to dry up the mix or some coconut flour. Careful not to add TOO much coconut flour though because it'll make the bars too fibrous if you do. Another option is adding some coconut flakes to dry up the mix or some oat flour.

You basically just want to be able to mold the bars with your hands so yeah, use whatever technique you want best (just draw from the knowledge gathered from my Protein Bar Ebook: Your Guide to Protein Bar Wizardry).

OK. Below I've broken up the macros into different stages of the journey, so you can end at the cookie dough or go all the way to the bars!

Macros per one entire bowl of 'cookie dough' (which you can break into lots of servings): 498.9kcals, 64.7g protein, 8.3g carbs, 23.9g fat (out of which 8g is sat) and 4.6g fiber

Macros per cookie (out of the five you get by baking the 'dough): 99.38kcals, 12.94g protein, 1.66g carbs, 4.78g fat and 0.92g fiber!

Macros per bar (out of the three you get from the mix above, with each bar taking up 0.6 of a cookie):
290kcals, 24.36g protein, 7.29g carbs, 15.4g fat and 5.52g fiber!

Apple& Cinnamon Protein Pancakes

2013-04-13T18:38:00.005+01:00

As you may or may not know (e.g. by following this page here), I'm on every issue of Muscle & Fitness magazine this year! Dishing up hardcore protein recipes ;-) I'm also on this month's Men's Health magazine (as a "chef who'll add muscle to your meals" - check it out, hehe.) I always get REALLY excited when new issues hits the shelves and today was no exception - as soon as the store opened, BOOM! there I was to get my copy and POW! there on page 100 I found them: my protein pancakes :-))))) Right then and there I decided to make a stack of protein pancakes to demolish post-workout but... I didn't which flavor to make them! So I took to facebook to ask you guys ;-) And this is what you chose: Apple & Cinnamon Protein Pancakes.

Ingredients

1/2 thinly sliced apple
1/4 cup of oat flour
1/4 cup of sunwarrior vanilla protein pow (or casein)
1 whole egg
1 egg white
3 tbsp of milk
1/2 tbsp of cinnamon

Directions

First, steam your sliced apple. I steamed mine for five minutes but you can steam it for longer if you want your apple to be softer (just don't steam it for ages because we're not after baby food here).

One the apple is nice and soft, put it aside and make your pancakes by blending all the above ingredients together and frying up the batter on a nonstick pan with some kind of nonstick agent on it (i.a. coconut oil, PAM, low-cal spray, or even butter). I used low-cal spray.

Important: Make sure your pan is sizzling hot when you pour your pancake batter on it BUT, as soon as your pancakes are on it, lower it down to medium. Flip when ready to flip. When they're ready, layer them up with your apple and add cinnamon on top. That's it: done!

The end product is excellent. They came up denser than regular but oh! they soaked the syrup beautifully and nom nom nom nom :-)))))

You can top them with whatever you want. I used cal-free maple syrup (this stuff) but regular maple will work as would nut butter, protein fluff, or whatever you want really :-)

Macros

Per all five pancakes you get from the mix above:

389.6kcals
38.9g carbs (out of which 4.7 is fiber)
38.6g protein
9.1g fat (1.7g sat).

PS: If you liked these pancakes, check out my Apple Pie Protein Pancakes! Because yes - they're related :-D

A Friendly Giant's Sweet Potato Protein Pie

2013-04-12T13:33:00.004+01:00

I was going to make a large Sweet Potato Protein Pie but then, last minute, I decided not to. I decided I would make two small ones instead.

Obviously you can triplicate and even quadriplicate the ingredients to make a traditional pie-sized pie; I just wanted to make two small ones (using this stuff) because I think small food is fun. It always reminds me of this skit where Seinfeld talks about using miniature soap in hotel rooms and feeling immensely muscular ;-)

Because that's kind of how it is here, you cut yourself a slice of pie and suddenly you can't help but think "what if this slice of pie was regular-sized and I was a giant eating it?"

Nom nom nom, what fun! Right? Wrong.

Being a giant wouldn't be that fun. In fact, it'd be very difficult. Finding clothes and furniture would be impossible, people would stare and whisper, you'd be forced to fight crime against your will, and you'd perpetually find yourself labeled as... 'that giant.'

Anyways, I digress. The point I was trying to make before I pulled out the violins is that small food can be fun! And it's also great if you have issues with portion control as you can obliterate an entire pie and still have room for a cup of tea, hehe.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients - for the crust:

1/4 cup of cashew nuts
1/2 cup of instant oats (I used gluten-free but regular work too)
1/4 cup of vanilla sunwarrior warrior blend (or another veggie powder... or even casein!)
2 tbsp of calorie-free maple syrup or date syrup
1/4 cup of cartoned coconut milk (or almond milk or just regular cow's milk)

Ingredients - for the filling:

1 medium (151g) cooked and peeled sweet potato (see notes below)
1 tbsp of coconut flour
1/4 cup of vanilla or bannoffee whey (this stuff is delicious!)
1 whole egg

Directions

First, make your 'crust' by blending all the above 'crust ingredients' together, ideally using a food processor. You want to end up with a pasty kind of dough that you'll then press down onto two small pie tins or one medium one. If you don't have ANY pie tins, consider doing this inside muffin cases!

OK. Once all the dough is on your pie tins (I used these), stick them in the oven and bake them at 190 C (374 F) for about 15 minutes or until they slightly brown. Then, make your filling.

The filling is ridiculously easy, all you need to do is to blend the sweet potato with the whey, milk, egg, and coconut flour and then top the crusts with it before baking the whole thing at 160 C (320 F) for about 35 minutes or until the filling has cooked through on top but not throughout.

You see, you don't want to totally COOK the sweet potato filling because the goal is for it to be creamy - pie-like, you know? You're not making a cake here ;-) So take it out of the oven as soon as it ceases to be totally raw and becomes kind of.. custardy. It'll set as it cools.

And yeah! THAT is IT! The end product is really cool, kind of like a giant Sweet Potato Protein Pie Cookie or a Miniature Pie :-) Like I said above though, if you want to make it bigger, just multiply the ingredients and keep an eye on it so that you follow the same steps delineated above. It should work totally fine and you'll end up with one hell of a pie!

Macros

Per one whole mini pie: 444.5kcals, 39.9g carbs (out of which 7.95g is fiber! so you end up with 31.95g of net carbs), 32.2g protein and 16.65g fat (mostly from the cashew nuts).

Notes

1. The way I cook my sweet potatoes is simple: I wash them and stick them on a cookie tray. I then bake them in a hot oven (set to 200 C or 392 F) until they get soft. It usually takes about 35 minutes. I then just let them cool and the skin comes right off! Like THIS - unnngh!

2. This pie could do with a big dollop of greek yogurt, protein fluff, or whipped protein cream of top!

An Excited PS

Over one thousand copies of my cookbook - Protein Pow(d)er: The Cookbook - have now been sold and shipped all over the world! THANK YOU GUYS! :-)))))