Kierpanda was foolish enough to give me control for a post…

So away with her easy-to-make, creative dishes – and in with this unnecessarily complicated, silly guest post!

This recipe creates two smooth, beautiful mousses that you can pipe into martini glasses, or put into a mold for a cake, or just eat it straight out of a bowl. No, I promise I didn’t do that… much.

Onto the recipe!

The cake is essentially 4 parts:

1. Cake layer – use any cake you like. Store bought is okay, cakemix is okay, or brownies would be great too!
   
   Making an orange sponge cake
2. White honey mousse
3. Chocolate mousse
4. Fondant decoration

The decoration on top is purely optional, so the steps for the logo is listed separately.

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Ingredients

Cake

• 3 4inch round cakes, cut to about ½ in height each
  • For the purpose of this recipe we are omitting the details for the cake part. Just follow your favorite box mix recipe, brownie recipe, or use store-bought cake, anything works! The magic is in the mousse layers.

Honey Mousse

• 4.5 (a little over 1/2 cup) oz White Chocolate Chips + 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream (or 1 cup of coolwhip for the lazy)
• Pinch Salt
• 2 tablespoon Honey
• 1 teaspoon Unvloared Powdered Gelatin (if you’re using the Knox package, it’s about 1/3 of one pouch)
• 1 tablespoon Water
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste or Extract

Chocolate Mousse

• 4.5 (a little over 1/2 cup) oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips + 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
• Pinch Salt
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream (or 1 cup of coolwhip for the lazy)
• 1 teaspoon Unvloared Powdered Gelatin (if you’re using the Knox package, it’s about 1/3 of one pouch)
• 1 tablespoon water

Tools

• 3 4inch spring loaded cake pans 
• Parchment Paper – Cut long enough strips to line the sides of your pan/mold
• You can use a larger mold or pan and have a bigger cake.
• You can also forgo the cake and just put the mousse in any vessel of your choice, and enjoy it as a dessert after it sets!

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Directions

• Cut stripes of parchment paper long enough to line the sides of your pan or mold and line the inside. We really recommend using a spring loaded pan with a removable bottom so it’s easier to slide the cake out when it’s done
• Put the round disk of cake on the bottom of the pan
• Make Honey Mousse
  • Microwave the white chocolate chips + cream mixture at 50% power for 30 seconds. Take it out, stir evenly, and return to the microwave 15 seconds at a time to completely melt the mixture
  • Whisk together the gelatin + water and set it aside for 5 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, whip the remaining ½ cup of heavy cream with either a stand mixer or hand mixer to form stiff peaks. And for the lazy, sub this for 1 cup of CoolWhip.
  • Microwave the gelatin mixture for 10 seconds to melt the mixture
  • Combine the melted chocolate, vanilla, and gelatin mixture
  • Mix in ⅓ of the whip cream into the chocolate mixture  
  • Fold the rest of the whip cream into the chocolate mix gently
  • Distribute the mousse mixture evenly on top of the cakes in the pan and tap it on a hard surface to let out the air bubbles
  • Set the cakes in the fridge for 25 mins to set before putting on the chocolate layer

Layer of honey mouse setting – Use parchment strips to line the pan for easy removal

• Make Chocolate Mousse
  • Same steps as the honey mousse before
  • Microwave the semi sweet choco chips + cream mixture until melted
  • Whisk together gelatin + water
  • Make whip cream
  • Microwave gelatin for 10 seconds to completely dissolve the mixture
  • Combine the chocolate and gelatin
  • Incorporate whip cream into the chocolate base
  • Evenly distribute the chocolate mixture on top of the now set honey layer

Folding in whipped cream into chocolate!

• Refrigerate the entire cake for at least 4 hours or until set
• After the mousse is completely set, pop the cakes out of the pan and decorate it to your heart’s desire!

So airy, so light, cut side view!

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Optional Overwatch Logo Decoration

• Fondant – for decoration
• 2 Drops – Orange Food Coloring (mix red & yellow)
• Silver Food Decorating Graffiti 
• Round cookie cutters – 4inch and one slightly smaller to create the inner ring of the Overwatch logo

Directions

1. Knead the fondant until soft & pliable – roll it out to an ⅛ thick sheet
2. Use the round 4 inch cutter to cut out a circle
3. Use the slightly smaller cutter (I used a 3 ½) to cut out the middle of the 4 inch circle, leaving you with a ring shape
   
   Use 2 round cutters to make the ring
4. Use a knife to trim out the top orange part of the logo and the angled pieces in the middle. Print out a picture of the logo as a guide if you want it to be more perfect, or have the logo handy as a reference
   
   Cut out shapes using a knife. Use a print out as guide if you need!
5. Lay the bottom parts of the logo on foil or parchment, and spray paint it with the silver spray – set aside till dry
   
   
   If you can find the spray – you can make it silver!
6. Re-roll the rest of your fondant and color it with the orange food coloring
7. Roll the orange fondant just like before and cut out the top part
8. Let the fondant sit out for a bit till it dries, then top your amazing cake with it!

Ta-daaaa! You know, the world could always use more heroes!

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This was a special guest recipe by Meru. She’s an amazing baker, a spectacular chef and a ferocious Brightwing! You can follow her delicious adventures here on Twitter.

Living the life of a farmer in Stardew Valley must be incredibly difficult. You started out working a 9 to 5 job at Joja Corp and suddenly, you ditch everything to start a brand new life in this quaint little town.

I personally struggled my first few days of being a fresh new farmer. I spent a lot of days chopping down trees in my yard and wandering aimlessly through the valley. I would pick up random things and eat them or throw them into my hastily made wooden chest. Eventually, I picked up enough random things to reach Forager level 2. At the time, I had no idea what the heck that meant, I just knew that I magically learned how to make a burger because of it. Hype! 

Once I got my farm going, I started making Survival Burgers all the time. It eventually replaced my old staple food of Fried Eggs.

HOORAY BURGER

I personally like to enjoy my delicious burger in the depths of the mines:

Hey skeleton bro, do you want a bite or nah?

Since the Survival Burger has become such a necessary part of my adventuring routine, I had to recreate it in real life.

The actual ingredients to the recipe are incredibly simple: “bread”, “cave carrot” and “eggplant”. Easy! …sort of. I didn’t know what the heck a cave carrot was, so I got the next best thing: Rainbow Carrots!

 UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. 3 – 4 sprigs of fresh tarragon (dried OK too!)
4. 3 cloves of garlic
5. 1 shallot, diced
6. 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard
7. 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
8. 1/2 eggplant, chopped
9. 2 rainbow carrots (preferably in purple or yellow), chopped
10. 1 tomato
11. green leaf lettuce
12. hamburger buns

BUILD ORDER

This recipe takes about 20 minutes to prep. Cook time is about 35 minutes. This makes 4 servings.

OPENING

1. In a food processor, combine your garlic, shallots and 2 chopped carrots.
2. Add in your chopped egg plant and process. Season with salt and pepper. Remove your mixture from the food processor. The mixture will be fairly watery due to the water content of the carrots and eggplant.
3. Line a baking dish with parchment paper. Divide your mixture into 4 sections. Form each section into a patty and place it on the baking dish. You may want to smooth out the patties with a butter knife.
   
4. Preheat your oven to 375°. Bake the patties for about 35 minutes or until golden brown.
   

MID GAME

1. While the patties are baking, create your tarragon mayonnaise. Remove the stems from the tarragon and roughly chop the leaves.
2. In a bowl, combine your dijon mustard with your mayonnaise.
   
3. Stir in your tarragon and season with a little salt.

LATE GAME

1. Assemble your burger! Place one lettuce leaf on the bottom portion of the hamburger bun.
2. Place your veggie patty on top of the lettuce leaf.
3. Place a generous amount of tarragon mayonnaise on top of the patty.
4. Top that with a tomato slice and then the top of the bun.
5. Eat!

Hooray, and now you’re done! GG WP, Farmer.

Now you have a tasty and nutritious meal that will keep you energized to forage all day long!

Ah yes, Winston. The big furry scientist from Overwatch! If you’ve checked out Overwatch’s Recall animated short, you’ll get some backstory about the big guy.

He’s a brilliant scientist, a great leader, and more importantly, a HUGE fan of peanut butter! I obviously had to make some sort of peanut-butter infused dish, so I attempted to recreate his iconic barrier projector in food form!

I won’t lie… When I was making this recipe, I ended up eating A LOT of the ingredients. The filling, which is comprised of greek yogurt, protein powder and peanut butter, is DELICIOUS. I would also recommend using it to frost cupcakes, brownies, cakes, etc. It is amazing!

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. 1 scoop of Peanut Butter Quest Protein Powder
2. 2 Banana Nut Muffin Quest Bars
3. 2 tablespoon of peanut butter
4. 1 cup of greek yogurt
5. 2 teaspoons of stevia
6. 1/2 of a banana
7. 3 squares of dark chocolate
8. white chocolate chips

BUILD ORDER

This recipe takes about 15 minutes to make. This makes 2 servings.

Each serving contains: 36g of Protein, 19g of Fat, and 12g of Net Carbs

OPENING

1. Unwrap your banana nut muffin bars and cut each bar in half.
2. Take a ramekin and smash each bar into the shape of the ramekin.
3. Take the other halves and roll them out with a rolling pin. You’ll want to then press those parts against the sides of the ramekin.
   
4. Pop these ramekins into the fridge for about 5 minutes.

MID GAME

1. In a large bowl, whip together your greek yogurt, protein powder, and sweetener.
2. Gently fold in your peanut butter. Try not to eat all of the filling.
   

LATE GAME

1. Remove your ramekins from the fridge. Using a butter knife, gently remove your cup crusts from the mold. At this point, I recommend dusting the bottom of the cups with protein powder so they won’t stick to your plates.
2. Slowly scoop the peanut butter filling into each cup. You’ll want to overfill them to make the dome shape.
   
3. Using a baking spatula, smooth out the filling to create a dome shape.
4. Create a chocolate Winston by melting your dark chocolate and white chocolate. You can do this by putting each type of chocolate into a small bowl and microwaving it for about 30 seconds — you’ll want to stop every 10 seconds to stir the chocolate.
5. Once you have your melted chocolates, print out a picture of Winston’s emblem. Place a piece of wax paper over the emblem. Use your white chocolate to outline his glasses, mouth, and nose. Let that set for about 20 seconds. Then, cover the entire thing with dark chocolate to fill out the rest of his face. Let that chill in the fridge for about 1 minute.
6. Remove the chocolate Winston face and place it on top of the dome. Then, cut banana slices and decorate the top.
7. Eat!

GG WP!

And there you have it, hero! Now you have this super protein packed treat that will keep you going throughout the day.

Did someone say, Peanut Butter?

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This recipe was created with support from Quest Gaming. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to learn more about how other gamers eat healthy and #CheatClean.

I’m sure its no surprise to anyone that I’m still freakishly obsessed with Stardew Valley. It’s such a peaceful relaxing game and it definitely helps cleanse the salt left by other games.

However, that doesn’t mean Stardew Valley has been without frustrating for me! When I first started, I could NOT for the life of me understand fishing… It was such a simple concept, but for whatever reason, my brain just went into full derp mode whenever I started fishing.

Eventually, after much struggling and rambling at my computer screen, it finally clicked in my head. That’s when I decided to become the fisher-woman of Pelican Town! Willy’s gonna be so proud!

Much to the dismay of my poor farm husband Sebastian, I began storing all of my catch in a storage chest in the kitchen because the fridge was full of important things such as wheat and quartz. This is also because I’m scared to accidentally turn any of my future legendary fish catches into sashimi again… RIP ANGLER, MARCH 8th 2016 – MARCH 8th 2016.

Why’s it smell so bad in here…? It’s totally not that un-refrigerated box of fish in the kitchen…

Since I’ve become the self-proclaimed fisher-woman of Pelican Town, I decided I just had to make another fish dish.

Image via the Official Stardew Valley Wiki

Dish o’ The Sea was a good start, but it was time to up my fish cooking skills by roasting a whole fish.

I’m a terrible fisher in real life, so I headed to my local fish monger. I’m not in an area of the US where Sunfish is a common, and fresh water Bream is difficult to get since it’s a fish native to Europe. However, I substituted it with its cousin-by-name, the Sea Bream!

 UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. 1 tablespoon of olive oil
4. 1/4 cup of flour
5. whole bream, gutted and fins removed
6. fresh parsley
7. fresh dill
8. 4 – 5 sprigs fresh majoram, stems removed
9. 3-5 cloves of garlic
10. 1 shallot
11. 1 lemon (2 if you plan on adding a lemon decoration for plating)
12. dandelion greens

BUILD ORDER

Total prep time for this dish is about 20 minutes. Cook time is ~35 minutes. This makes about 2 servings.

OPENING

1. Roughly chop your garlic and shallots.
   
2. Season your bream with salt and pepper. Make sure to rub the seasoning inside the empty cavity.
3. Stuff the bream with 1/2 of your dill, parsley and majoram. Add in your garlic and your shallots. Add in 2 lemon slices.
   
4. Coat your bream with a light dusting of flour.

MID GAME

1. Place your remaining herbs on in a large baking dish.
2. Place your bream on top of the herbs.
   
3. Carefully drizzle the olive oil over the bream.
4. OPTIONAL: Add two lemons on top of the bream.

LATE GAME

1. Preheat your oven to 375° F. Bake the fish for about 30 minutes.
2. Remove the lemons and broil for 5 minutes at broil at 500° F. This is to make the breading extra crispy!
3. While the bream is baking, steam or lightly boil your dandelion greens. Season with salt, pepper and lemon.
4. Plate the dandelion greens first. Then place your freshly baked bream on top of the greens. OPTIONAL: Add two lemon halves to replicate the in-game design.
5. Eat!

GG WP, Farmer!

Now you have this delightful fish that you can share!

Or you can just keep it to yourself… I mean, you need the energy right? The farm isn’t gonna take care of itself!

Take a break from the farm and relax with this healthy Stardew Valley-inspired meal: Red Plate!

I really wanted to make this recipe since it looked so adorable in-game. I even went out and got a purple-colored plate so I could make it as authentic as possible.

I won’t lie, it’s been really tough for me to set aside some time to plan out these recipes because I’m completely glued to this game. Thankfully, this recipe is incredibly simple to make so I didn’t lose too much game time. Must…go back to sitting in my house… doing nothing… 

Same.

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. fresh thyme
4. 1 tablespoon of olive oil
5. 3 cloves of garlic
6. radishes
7. 1/2 red cabbage
8. 1/2 red onion

BUILD ORDER

Prep time for this dish is roughly 10 minutes. Cook time is about 45 minutes.This makes 3 servings.

OPENING

1. Remove the stems from the radishes and cut each radish in half.
2. Take you red cabbage and quarter it. Cut each quarter in half.
3. Chop your garlic.
4. Chop your 1/2 red onion.

MID GAME

1. Place your garlic, red cabbage, red onion and radish in a large baking dish.
   
2. Drizzle your olive oil over the vegetables and mix thoroughly.
3. Season with salt, pepper and thyme leaves.

LATE GAME

1. Preheat your oven to 375° F.
2. Roast your vegetables for about 45 minutes, or until the radish is soft.
   
3. Eat!

GG WP, Farmer.

With this dish, you’ll have the energy to power through your day.

Or the power to just stare at your TV all day… Err…

I really wish Queen of Sauce was on… I should’ve DVRed it.

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you would know that I am incredibly obsessed with Stardew Valley. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s basically an RPG where you farm to your heart’s content, stab monsters, and stalk romance your village love-interest.

The game has a lot of features, but I definitely enjoyed fishing and stalking romancing the most. I actually documented my whole spaghetti-based romance saga on Twitter because I’m not insane at all. But, I’ll save that entire story for another recipe…

WAKE UP NERD. I BROUGHT YOU SOME SPAGHETTI. #stardewvalley #seducehimwithspaghetti pic.twitter.com/Z4iM8UWTbE

— Kierstin (@kierpanda) March 9, 2016

This is completely normal behavior!

But honestly, the greatest thing to me is cooking. If a game has cooking in it, I get pretty hyped. One of the recipes that caught my eye was Dish O’ The Sea. It just sounded so tasty, so I just had to make it!

Are you staring at a TV again, Seb? It’s lunch time, dude.

The original recipe calls for just sardines and hash browns, however, the art seems to have more on the plate than just that. I assumed that this dish would also feature kale and tomatoes since both of those things are crops that can be grown on your farm.

I’ve gone ahead and made some slight adjustments to the original three-ingredient recipe for this real-world adaption.

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. (optional) parsley
4. 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
5. 2 tablespoons of olive oil
6. juice from 1 lemon
7. cherry tomatoes
8. 4 sardines, gutted and de-boned (hopefully your fish prepping skills are better than mine!)
9. 1 potato, peeled
10. 4 leaves of kale, stem removed

BUILD ORDER

Prep time for this meal is about 30 minutes. Cook time is about 25 minutes. This makes 2 servings.

OPENING

1. Take your potato and grate it.
   
2. Fill a bowl with cold water and place the grated potato into the water. This will draw out some of the starch.
3. Let the potatoes sit in the water for about 15 minutes. Drain the water and squeeze any excess water out of the potatoes. Allow it to dry on a paper towel.

MID GAME

1. Heat a pan on medium heat. Add in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
2. Take one half of your grated potatoes and place them in the pan. Squish down the pile of potatoes to form your hash browns. Season with salt and pepper. Let cook for ~5 minutes and then flip and cook for another 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Repeat this step for your remaining potatoes.
3. While your hash browns cook, steam your kale and cherry tomatoes. You can either do this over boiling water, or using a microwave steamer (which I used). Season your kale with salt, pepper and 1/2 juice of lemon once done.

LATE GAME

1. Using a damp towel, wipe away any access hash browns from the pan.
2. Set the pan on medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil.
3. When the pan comes to heat, add in your chopped garlic and saute.
4. Season your sardines with salt and pepper.
5. Add in your sardines. Allow them to cook for about 2.5 minutes on each side.
   
6. Add in the remaining 1/2 lemon juice to your pan.
7. Remove the sardines from the heat and begin plating your dish.
8. (OPTIONAL): Sprinkle chopped parsley over your fish.
9. Eat!

GG WP, farmer!

Now you have a delicious meal that will get you prepared for a day’s worth of fishing! Hooray!

When I started playing StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, I always feared the infamous Zerg baneling bust. I would religiously scout at 10 supply so I could catch the Zerg’s fast gas. The moment I saw that, I went into full barricade mode… PULL SCVS OFF GAS! BUILD MORE BARRACKS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! 

I remember I held off a pretty fierce baneling bust and my opponent said, “Wow, you’re one of the first to hold that. GG”. Dang, that felt SO good! Getting a compliment from a complete stranger in a video game always boosts my ego.

However, most games did not go so smoothly back then. I’d get caught off guard and BOOM, my supply depots would just explode and my entire base would be covered in baneling pesto! Err, I mean baneling acid guts. I suppose the baneling’s acid looks suspiciously similar to basil pesto, right?

UNIT COMPOSITION

FOR THE GNOCCHI

1. salt
2. 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
3. 1 egg
4. 1 cup of ricotta cheese
5. 1 scoop of Quest Brown Rice Powder
6. 2 scoops of Quest Multi-Purpose Mix Protein Powder

FOR THE BASIL PESTO

1. salt
2. pepper
3. 3 – 5 cloves of garlic
4. 1 tablespoon of pine nuts (reserve some for later)
5. 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
6. 2 tablespoons of olive oil*
7. 1/2 cup of basil

(you may end up with extra pesto!)

*you may need to add more to get a smoother consistency

BUILD ORDER

Adapted from The Splendid Table

This recipe takes about 20 minutes to prep. Cook time is <5 minutes. This makes about 3 servings.

Each serving contains: ~36g of Protein, ~26g of Fat, ~12g of Net Carbs

OPENING

1. In a bowl, combine your ricotta cheese with your egg. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
2. Sprinkle in 3/4 of a scoop of brown rice powder. Stir until combined.
3. Add in your two scoops of protein powder, salt, and nutmeg. Mix until you get a doughy consistency.
   

MID GAME

1. In a food processor, combine 1 tablespoon of olive oil, basil, pine nuts, garlic and parmesan cheese.
2. Remove about 2 tablespoons of the mixture and set aside.
3. Continue adding your remaining tablespoon of oil or until you’re happy with the consistency of your pesto.

LATE GAME

1. Coat a clean surface with 1/4 a scoop of brown rice powder.
2. Knead your dough into a ball.
3. Cut this ball in half. Add 1/2 to a bowl and mix pesto into it to create the baneling’s acid sacs.
   
4. With the other half, cut it into 4 equal sections and roll them into long noodles.Then, cut these noodles into smaller 1″ portions. You should get about ~12 of them.
5. Then, take your pesto-infused dough and create small spheres for each of the gnocchi. This dough will be much more difficult to handle due to the pesto’s oil. Attach each sphere to the gnocchi. You can also add eyes to the baneling by carefully placing some extra green gnocchi dough on its face.
   
6. Take 4 pine nuts and place them into the sides of the gnocchi.These will become the baneling’s feet.
7. Boil your water and season with salt. Carefully drop each gnocchi into the boiling water. The gnocchi will float to the surface when they’re almost ready (should take about ~2 minutes). I recommend cooking them in separate batches so they don’t stick to one another. Remove the gnocchi using a slotted spoon.
8. Plate your gnocchi and serve with your pesto.
9. Eat!

GG WP!

Mine came out a bit more squished than I wanted (I crowded the pot too much!) … but they were still pillowy soft and protein packed!

If you enjoyed this recipe, please check out another one of my Zerg-friendly Quest recipes: Spawning Pools!

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This recipe was created with support from Quest Gaming. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to learn more about how other gamers eat healthy and #CheatClean.

You can’t resist the cuteness that is the Poro! I definitely can’t because I totally bought the Poro artist summoner icon. RP well spent.

These little puffballs are so adorable, I just had to turn them into some sort of sweet treat. I had thought about making them into little truffles or cake pops, but I wanted to go for something on the colder side since they live in frigid Howling Abyss. That’s when I decided on crafting little “cheese”cakes in the shape of Poros!

So why is it “cheese”cake? Well, because there’s no cream cheese in it! It also packs a punch with nearly 10g of protein!

So let’s chill out and whip up these cute little cheesecakes!

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. pinch of salt
2. 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3. 2 teaspoons of agave
4. 1 cookie dough Quest Bar
5. 1/2 scoop of Quest coconut oil powder
6. 1 scoop of Quest cookies and cream powder
7. 3 medjool dates, pitted
8. 1/3 cup of almond milk
9. 1/4 cup of walnuts
10. 3 strawberries
11. 6 oz of soft tofu

BUILD ORDER

This recipe takes about 25 minutes to prepare. Chill time is about 10 minutes. This makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains: ~9.8g of Protein,  5.5g of Fat and 5.5g of Net Carbs

OPENING

1. In a food processor, combine your pitted dates and walnuts.
2. Add in your cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Pulse until thoroughly mixed.
3. Place 6 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Evenly distribute the walnut and dates mixture into each cupcake liner. Compress the mixture in each liner.
   
4. Clean out your food processor for the next step.

MID GAME

1. In your food processor, combine your tofu, coconut powder and agave nectar.
2. Add a pinch of salt, your cookies and cream powder and almond milk. Blend till thoroughly combined.
3. Evenly distribute each the filling into each cupcake liner.
   

LATE GAME

1. Separate the chocolate chips from the cookie dough Quest bar.
2. Take the “dough” part of the Quest bar and microwave it for 10 seconds. Using your hands, roll it into a “tootsie-roll” shape. Divide the shape into 6 even parts. Divide each of those 6 parts evenly. Now, roll each small section into horns. If you want to add more details, take a tooth pick and draw notches into your horns.
3. Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Microwave for about 15 seconds or until the chocolate has become malleable (NOT MELTED!).
4. Mold the chocolate pieces into eyes. I did two versions — big round eyes and closed eyes.
5. Slice your strawberries. This will form the tongue.
6. Now, decorate your Poro faces! Place 2 horns into each cheesecake. Place the eyes in the center (using a toothpick, dab some of the cheesecake on top of the eyes). Finally, place the strawberry tongue in at the bottom.
   
7. Let chill in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
8. Eat!

GG WP! Now you have some chilly little Poros to enjoy while you ARAM it up!

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This recipe was created with support from Quest Gaming. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to learn more about how other gamers eat healthy and #CheatClean.

I will protect the innocent!

Pharah is one of my favorite heroes in Overwatch and I spent a lot of time flying around with her during beta. Jumping around, hovering, shooting rockets… She’s just a fun hero to play.

So, I decided to dedicate a recipe to her!

Since Pharah is Egyptian, I had to go with a dish common to that area. After some research, I found a dish called “kofta”. The challenge was then trying to make these kofta resemble Pharah in some way.

And then it dawned on me — create a design that resembles Pharah’s helmet from her Raptora battle suit! Typically, kofta are served on a skewer and in a long sausage-shaped form. I had to adapt this recipe slightly in order to create the helmets.

I didn’t know how to get blue into her helmet design without using some sort of dye. Blue isn’t really a color that naturally occurs that often in savory foods. So, I tried the next best thing: red onions!

Let’s get cooking!

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. 2 teaspoons of cumin
4. 2 teaspoons of coriander
5. 2 teaspoons of paprika
6. 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
7. 1/2 tablespoon of butter, melted
8. 1 cup of parsley, chopped
9. 4 cloves of garlic, diced
10. 1 lb of ground beef (80/20 preferably!)
11. 1 red onion
12. 1 yellow onion, dice 1/6 of it and reserve the rest

BUILD ORDER

Prep time for this is about 20 minutes. Cook time is about 20 minutes. This will make about 9 koftas.

Adapted from Cgendy’s Kofta Recipe

OPENING

1. In a large bowl, combine your ground beef, melted butter, garlic, seasonings and parsley.
2. Add in your diced onion and mix thoroughly.
   
3. Begin forming the meat into golfball-sized balls and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet.
   

MID GAME

1. Now here comes the fun part — designing the helmets! Take your remaining yellow onion and slowly peel apart the layers. They should be in the shape of half cylinders.
2. Cut out the visors from the yellow onion by creating triangles. They should look like bird’s beaks.
   
3. Repeat this process for the red onion. This will create the back of the helmet. You’ll want to save the scraps for later.
4. Place the red onion slice opposite facing the yellow onion.
5. Using your scraps, create the bottom half of Pharah’s helmet as shown:
   

LATE GAME

1. Pre-heat an oven to 350° F.
2. Bake the kofta for about 20 minutes.
3. Eat!

GG WP, Hero!

Don’t forget to save some for your team!

Perhaps I’ll see you flying around in the Temple of Anubis when beta is back online?

Ha-ha! Amp it UP!

We’re starting the New Year’s right with this pocket-sized protein-packed snack that will power-up your day! This treat was inspired by Lúcio from Overwatch. Since he’s from Brazil, I decided to create a dish that’s common to that region.

The first thing that came to mind was empanadas! They’re filling and easy to eat. Besides, if you’re battling the forces of evil, you’re going to need to take your food to-go!

But let’s not waste anymore time — come on, let’s bring it together and cook up this recipe!

UNIT COMPOSITION

1. salt
2. pepper
3. 1/2 tablespoon of cumin
4. 1/2 tablespoon of paprika
5. 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
6. 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil (or butter)
7. 1 teaspoon of olive oil
8. 2 tablespoons of water
9. 1/5 of an onion, diced
10. 4 – 6 cloves of garlic, diced
11. 4 – 5 cherry or grape tomatoes, diced
12. 3 mushrooms, diced
13. 1 green bell pepper, reserve 3/4 for decorations, dice the remaining 1/4
14. 2 scoops of Quest Multi-Purpose Mix Protein Powder
15. 1 scoop of Quest Brown Rice Powder
16. 1/4 lean ground beef (I used 90/10)
17. 2 eggs

BUILD ORDER

Prep time is about ~40 minutes. Cook time is 15 minutes. This makes about 5 servings (5 empanadas)

Each serving contains: ~16g of Protein, ~5g of Fat, and ~6.4g of Net Carbs

OPENING

1. Heat a skillet on high heat. Add in your olive oil.
2. Saute your vegetables. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Once the vegetables have cooked, remove it from the skillet.
   
3. Add in your ground beef. Add in your seasonings and saute.
4. Add back your vegetables and continue cooking until the meat is fully cooked. Remove from the heat and set aside.
   

MID GAME

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 scoops of protein powder and 1 scoop of brown rice powder.
2. Season with salt.
3. Add in 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of water and 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil.
4. Mix until combined.
5. When it’s reached a doughy consistency, knead the dough and form it into a ball.
6. Dust a flat surface with extra brown rice flour and roll out the dough on top of it.
7. Now, here comes the tricky part — cutting out Lúcio’s frog design. I shaped a strip of aluminum foil into a makeshift cookie cutter and then stamped it into the dough. You can do this or freehand the design with a sharp pairing knife.
8. Use a regular cookie cutter (or a glass) to stamp out circles. This will be the back of the empanada.
9. Cut that circle in half like so:
   

LATE GAME

1. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling on each half circle. Leave about 1/2″ inch of padding between the edge of the dough and your filling.
2. Place the frog shape dough over the half circle and crimp the edges together.
3. Combine your remaining 1 egg with 1/2 cup of water, this will be your egg wash. Gently brush the egg wash over your empanada.
4. Here’s the fun part — decorating! Using the remaining bell pepper, you’ll want to create the headphones, eyes and mouth for the frog.
5. To create the headphones, cut rings from the bell pepper. Make a cut in one of the sides and then place the bell pepper slice above the empanadas to check the fit. You may need to trim down this piece. Add in extra diced pieces to create the actual earmuffs to the headphones.
6. To create the eyes, cut out circles or use a large straw (I used a straw from bubble tea) to poke holes through the bell pepper.
7. To create the smile, just use any remaining strips of bell pepper to create a little smile.
   
8. Bake the empanadas at 350° for 15 minutes.
9. Eat!

GG WP!

These tasty treats will help you amp it up into the New Year!

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This recipe was created with support from Quest Gaming. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to learn more about how other gamers eat healthy and #CheatClean.