Posts Tagged ‘recipe’

Spruce Up Snack Time With Tasty Cottage Cheese Recipes

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

Quick Tasty Cottage Cheese Recipes

Cottage Cheese is a great high protein snack that is often underestimated for its usefulness in a high-protein, low carb diet. Just one half cup serving of 2% cottage cheese has 16 grams of protein. For those of you who closely monitor their carb intake, you will be happy to know that a serving of cottage cheese contains only 4-5 grams of carbohydrates. This nutritional profile is perfect for those of us watching what we eat in order to lose fat, gain muscle, or just eat healthy food.

Cottage Cheese RecipesThe taste of chicken, tuna, protein shakes, and protein bars gets old after a while. Since we need these kind of high protein, low carb foods, we are forced to look around for any possible food alternatives. Enter our friend cottage cheese. By snacking every 3-4 hours on foods like cottage cheese, we are able to further our goals to look good naked, set personal records, or whatever your fitness goals might be.

Cottage cheese can be a tasty addition to your protein choices. If you’ve avoided cottage cheese because you’ve envisioned the only way of serving it was plopping it on a lonely lettuce leaf, here are a few flavor combinations for you to try with your next scoop.

Cottage Cheese and Tuna: A mixture you can take anywhere or eat with anything. I used to survive on this stuff. Just mix a half can of tuna with a half cup of cottage cheese and eat. Top salads with it, make a sandwich, eat it plain, experiment with various spices.

Pepper: Sprinkle cottage cheese with a few dashes of fresh crack pepper.

Pseudo Tapioca Pudding: If you like tapioca pudding, try this low-carb alternative. For each ½ cup serving, mix in ½ tsp vanilla flavoring and 1 packet artificial sweetener.

Fresh Fruit: A few blueberries, diced peaches, strawberries, chopped banana, or pineapple chunks sprinkled on top go a long way with cottage cheese. Stick with the berries if you prefer low-glycemic fruits. If the fructose is a concern, try using dash of tropical or strawberry-banana flavored sugar-free drink mix as an alternative fruity flavoring.

Jelly and Curds: Add 1 tbsp no-added-sugar jam or jelly per ½ cup cottage cheese.

Chocolate Delight: Add a ½ scoop of chocolate flavored protein (or 1 tsp of cocoa + 2 packets artificial sweetener), 1 tbsp sugar-free chocolate instant pudding mix and whip in blender (you may need to add a little water or milk to thin it a little bit). Top with diced walnuts or almonds if desired and chill until set or ready to eat.

Cottage Cheese Over Potatoes: Combine 1/2 cup cottage cheese, freshly chopped herbs (suggestion: oregano, basil, chives), a pinch of salt, and an optional splash of lemon juice in a blender. Serve over hot baked potatoes.

Fruit Dip: Combine 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 packet of sugar substitute (I like Splenda), 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract in a blender. Serve with fruit or use as a topping on other desserts like nut bread or banana bread.

Bean and Avocado Salad: Mix together 1 part chopped cooked green beans, 1 part cooked kidney beans, 1 part chopped avocado, 1 part cottage cheese, a splash of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Serve cold. Leave out avocado if you don’t like it, the bean salad is still excellent.

Now go eat your curds and whey!

Lean Mean Turkey Burger Recipe

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

The first part of this recipe provides your workout for the day. Step 1: go out into the woods and find yourself a fat wild turkey. Step 2: run after him until he grows tired from flying away from you, then jump on him. Step 3: now submit him with a well placed triangle choke and drag him home for dinner.

OK, I kid. But seriously, turkey is a very healthy meat. You should choose turkey over beef, pork, lamb, and other darker, fattier meats. Tonight we will make some nice turkey burgers on the grill, and this is how we will do it:

Turkey Burger
Turkey Burger

The Recipe

1 pound of lean ground turkey
4 tablespoons of fat free or low fat mayonnaise, you could also try miracle whip but it is sweeter
4 tablespoons of barbecue sauce
1/2 cup fresh, diced or sliced tomatoes
4 large leaves of green leaf lettuce
a pinch or two of salt
a pinch or two of freshly ground black pepper
whole grain sandwich buns

Start by preheating the grill to medium-high. Mold the ground turkey into 4, 1/2 inch thick patties. Season with salt and pepper. Grill the burgers for about 6 minutes per side, or until they are cooked through. In the meantime I recommend also toasting the rolls on the grill. In a small bowl, stir the mayonnaise and barbecue sauce together. When the burgers are done, top them with the mayonnaise sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes and serve on the toasted rolls.

Nutritional Information

Calories – 270
Carbs – 25 g
Fat- 4 g, 1 g saturated
Protein – 32 g
Fiber – 2 g

Other Options

Turkey In My Salad – You could also chop up the turkey burger and toss it in a nice salad with low fat dressing.
Alternative Dressing Options – Consider any of your favorite dressings instead of the mayo and BBQ sauce. I recommend reduced fat ranch. Never tried blue cheese on a turk burger, but it might be worth a taste.

Spicy Lemon Tuna Burger Recipe

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Tuna is an athlete’s best friend. What else can you whip up in a matter of 15 seconds, which provides the benefits of fish with 0 carbs and 1 gram of fat? This easy cookin’ tuna burger has a touch of lemon with a spicy kick. Add in the breadcrumbs if you don’t care about the carbs or if you just want the burger to be a little heartier.
Spicy Tuna Burger

The Recipe:

1 can drained, solid white albacore tuna
2 small egg whites or 1 jumbo egg white
a squirt of lemon juice or a dash of lemon-pepper seasoning
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

Mix all ingredients together in small bowl. Form two patties and cook on a non-stick pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray like PAM until tuna patties are slightly browned. Served on top of a small salad, on a whole wheat bun, or on whole wheat bread. Serves two regular athletes or one hungry powerlifter.

Optional Upgrades:

The McTuna Meal: serve with oven-baked steak fries, a touch of ketchup, and a super-size Diet Coke. =P

Extra Hearty Tuna Burger: make the burgers with 1 tablespoon of bread crumbs.

Cheesy Fish Burger: either slap a piece of 2% cheese on there, or sprinkle on some shredded cheddar.

Nutritional Information Per Serving:
Calories- 205
Carbs- 5g
Protein- 28g
Fat- 7g

Homemade Protein Pancake Recipe

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Here is a healthy protein fortified meal that you can share with your kids!

Protein Pancake Recipe
Protein Pancakes

Remember when you were kid and your parent or guardian grilled up some pancakes for you in the morning?

Remember the smell of the pancakes cooking and how they taste with fresh butter and warm maple syrup?

Well now you can have that again but you don’t have to feel bad about it. I have been enjoying protein pancakes for the last 10 years of my life and now you can too. So, without further delay allow me to introduce you to… the protein pancake recipe!

The Recipe

Preheat a frying pan or skillet on the stove or oven, coat lightly with non-fat cooking spray.

Blend egg whites, cottage cheese, and water in a blender until it reaches a liquid consistency.

Mix the protein powder with blended ingredients in a bowl. Stir until lumps are gone.

Next add the pancake mix and stir until mixture is fairly uniform.

Do not over stir!

Add additional water only if mixture is not to your desired consistency.

Pour onto skillet, cook until edges start to turn brown, then flip and cook for a couple more seconds.

Do not overcook!

Optional Upgrades

Optimum Nutrition Protein Powder
Optimum Nutrition Protein Powder

Pancakes and fruit - eat fruit with your pancakes; put no sugar added jelly on them; drink some OJ with the meal; just get some fruit in you. I recommend strawberry.

Pancakes and syrup - feel free to use all natural maple syrup if you wish to add 40g of sugar per serving to your meal. Otherwise use a light syrup or a sugar free syrup. I still prefer to spread no sugar added jelly on mine.

PB and pancakes – if you have any leftovers you can make a high protein peanut butter sandwich later on. Add jelly to make a protein fortified PB&J.

Protein flavors – experiment with various flavors of protein. Often, then chocolate protein powder does not make for great protein pancakes. Try vanilla, strawberry, banana, or anything else you can find.

I recommend Optimum Nutrition protein powder. It’s good stuff and it’s cheap!

Homemade Chocolate Protein Bars

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

The desire to consume chocolate at times overcomes even the strongest of us. When that cocoa aroma penetrates your senses and the drool starts to form at the corners of your mouth, you feel that there is no place to run… no place to hide… from the chocolate. OK, so maybe this isn’t you, but even so everyone can use a tasty protein bar at times. This one is for all the chocolate lovers out there.

The Recipe

1 square of unsweetened baking chocolate
3 scoops (1 cup) chocolate protein powder of your choice, I prefer Biotest Metabolic Drive Super Protein Shake (aka “M”)
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp butter
3 packets or 1/8 cup of Splenda
2 tbsp sugar free or low sugar syrup, or maple syrup, or you can even just use water instead
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup chopped nuts, I prefer either peanuts, pecans, or almonds

Melt the baking chocolate and the butter in the microwave for 1 minute, stirring until melted. Add Splenda and heavy cream, stirring until creamy. Next, add protein powder, nuts, and coconut, stirring until everything is coated evenly. Add syrup or water, mixing thoroughly. At this point the mixture may become very stiff. You should knead it like dough until the mixture is uniform throughout. Finally, line a bread loaf pan with plastic wrap and press the mixture into the pan firmly and evenly. Chill until very firm. The recipe can be cut into 6 bars or servings.

Nutrition Information
Approximately 170 calories from 5g carbs, 15g protein, and somewhere around 10g of fat per bar.

Also try adding all natural peanut butter to give it an additional nutty flavor. Keep milk on hand during consumption.

Peanut Butter Protein Brownies

Monday, March 24th, 2008

 

Who likes peanut butter?

Who likes brownies?

If you are anything like me or the rest of the bodybuilding / powerlifting / weightlifting world, you answered “ME ME ME!” to both questions. If so, this recipe is for you. I could not post an easier recipe and prepping a meal can’t be quicker unless you are unwrapping a protein bar. That said… on with the recipe!

Peanut Butter Protein Brownies

The Recipe

1 scoop of protein powder; chocolate, vanilla, or peanut butter
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
milk or water

Mix all ingredients together in a small glass bowl. If the resulting mixture is too thick add a couple drops of milk or water to loosen it up until it reaches your desired consistency. Since it is already in a glass bowl, microwave on high for 30-45 seconds. Mixture should come out to a cake/brownie like consistency.

Many friends of mine have doubted this recipe, thinking the peanut butter protein brownies would be mediocre at best. Instead what they find is a protein party in their mouths. Give this one a try for a quick high protein, high ‘healthy-fats’ snack.

Today’s Lesson About Plastics

The reason I make a big deal about the use of a glass bowl, is because you do not want to be cooking anything in microwave safe plastic containers. Plastic containers contain trace amounts of phytoestrogens, which seep into food when it is stored or cooked inside such containers. A lifetime of these estrogens can have a negative impact on testosterone levels and they tend to promote cancer in laboratory animals. It might not kill you, but your best bet in today’s toxic society is to avoid anything that could possibly be related to cancer. Every little bit helps.