Protein Bread

This week, I thought I'd try the bread version of my previously blogged about protein pancakes. What I ended up with was pretty darn tasty, but I added too much baking... powder or soda, I'm not sure which. The following is the adjusted recipe I will try next time I make it.

This is going to be a GREAT bread replacement at Easter brunch tomorrow!

1/2 c. whey protein powder (I used Advocare Muscle Gain)
2 T. oats
1/4 c. rolled spelt (you could use barley or even rye)
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 c. coconut flour
1/4 c. golden ground flax seed

1/2 c. mashed white fleshed sweet potato with skin
1 c. unsweetened almond milk (I used Trader Joe's Almond Smooth unsweetened vanilla)
1 c. egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 325 and prep a bread pan with whatever you use to keep things from sticking.
2. mix dry ingredients in a bowl 
3. I use a small food processor to mash the cooked sweet potato. I add just enough almond milk to make it creamy. Once the sweet potato is thoroughly mashed, add the rest of the almond milk and the egg whites and mix or pulse to combine.
4. Combine wet into the dry and mix thoroughly and quickly. Pour it in the pan and get it in the oven immediately.
5. Bake 35-40 min.

Protein Pancakes

I peruse a lot of websites and blogs in my quest for the latest health, nutrition and fitness information. I recently ran across a 'protein bread' recipe and was going to give it a shot, but I was missing a few key ingredients, so I made some substitutions and voila! I now have a go-to pancake recipe for when my husband begs for pancakes. In the past, when he's asked for pancakes, I roll my eyes because they are usually waaaay off my diet. These, however, fit RIGHT in and although I wouldn't want to make these every day, they're a great choice for the week-ends and especially today, as I can pack them up and take them on our hike with us. I added mini chocolate chips to them today, just because I had a few (maybe 1/4 c). Enjoy!

1/2 c. vanilla whey protein (of course, I used Advocare Muscle Gain)
1 T. oats
1/4 c. rolled spelt
1 t. baking power
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 T. dry peanut butter
1 T. coconut flour
2 T. ground golden flax seed

1/4 c. applesauce
1/2 c. coconut milk

5 egg whites (or 1/2 c. liquid egg white)

Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together. Mix the two mixes together (I use a stick blender or a mixer to be sure it's smooth and totally mixed)

If you want to make bread with this mixture, I would recommend adding another Tbsp. of coconut flour. Cook it in a bread pan for 40 min. at 320.

If you want pancakes, put the heat on med-low and wait for the griddle to get good and hot before pouring the batter. Also be sure to lightly spray oil on the pan or you'll have a mess on your hands.

I believe the nutrition count is something like: 

Calories: 73

Fat: 2 g

Carbs: 7 g

Dietary fiber: 1.3 g

Protein: 7.7 g

Lauren's Cheeseburger Soup

Sometimes I get myself into a position to take on odd requests. I have a young, vibrant friend who had major jaw surgery and has to wear a splint that requires her to keep her jaw closed most of the day. The few times she can take out the splint to 'eat', she can only drink her meals. I noticed a post on Facebook about her boyfriend's sweet but failed attempt to make her something that tasted like a cheeseburger after she'd been craving one for days. When I saw her the next week, I made some comment like 'I bet I could make a stew that tastes like a hamburger' - and right there, I gave myself this challenge.

I think this first attempt is pretty darn good, and in fact, my husband went back for generous seconds. The only difference for us is that we did not BLEND it - it's small pieces, but she has to have hers blended to a creamy consistency which may render this soup less than appetizing to her.

I tried to use flavours that mimic what you'd normally find on a burger. We have the obvious beef and onion, the smoked African spice to lend a 'fresh off the bbq' flavour, the flour and potato to give it a hint of a 'bun' flavour and the apple cider vinegar and mustard to imitate pickles and mustard. The tomatoes didn't have enough 'ketchup' flavour to it, but adding the paste thickens it and gives it more of a ketchup flavour. The nutritional yeast is essential to give it the cheesy, creamy flavour and the consistency of a stew. I added kale, because every burger (and in my opinion, every recipe) needs KALE! I use Lacinato/Dinosaur/Black kale because it's the best tasting and has the best consistency over-all for most cooked or fresh kale recipes. My other fave is the purple curly kale - it smells like roses to me, but I digress...

If you'd like to give it a try, this is a great recipe for someone who is on a cleanse who is craving a burger but can't have one. I made this with actual beef, but if you're off beef (which  I am most of the time), you could safely replace the beef with turkey or even TVP, since the broth gives the soup some of the 'beefy' flavour. If you're still opposed to beef bouillon, then this recipe is probably not for you anyway, but feel free to make it your own 'burger'-type stew recipe. Enjoy!

1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 T. olive oil (or you may want to use butter for this)
2 T. almond flour (or any other kind of flour - to thicken)
1 heaping tsp Trader Joe's African Spice mix.
1/2 t. oregano
1/4 t. thyme
1/4 t. sage
1/8 t. pepper
1 t. ready-to-use chopped garlic (or 2 cloves pressed)
1 russet potato, peeled and diced into 1/4" cubes
2 c. water
4 beef bouillon cubes
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 T. rustic mustard
1 T. tomato paste
1 c. diced tomatoes
3 c. finely chopped kale
1/4 c. nutritional yeast

1. Heat a cook pot on medium. Add oil or butter and let it get warm/melty and add onion. Saute a few minutes, until it just starts to brown. Add the flour and give it a stir until all the onions are covered evenly.
2. Add beef and spices and continue to stir, breaking up the beef into as tiny pieces as you can and stir it all until it's browned. While it's browning, melt the bouillon cubes in the water.
3. Add potato and just enough bouillon water to keep the ingredients from sticking to the bottom. Keep stirring for a minute or two. 
4. Add the remainder of the water and the rest ingredients except for the nutritional yeast. Cover and simmer 10-20 minutes, until the potatoes are easily mashed with a fork (the mushier, the better)
5. Once it's all cooked through and looks ready, turn off the heat and add the nutritional yeast, stirring to mix it in thoroughly.
6. If you 'need' to (i.e.: If you're Lauren), throw it all in a blender and don't stop until it's creamy! If you're not Lauren, you might want to add a dash of shredded cheddar and a few croutons to the top. If you like it spicy, by all means, add some hot sauce to the final product.

Oh, and if you're just looking for a dairy-free, lowfat, high nutrient hearty soup, this should fit the bill quite nicely.

New Discoveries

  So, this is my thing. I'm going to be a blogger now. This started as a way to promote my In-Home Food Prep service and record recipes, but it has evolved into my own discoveries in life. In trying to build my business, I delved deeper into my own passions and talents and am coming back/up with a clear vision of where I am headed. Part of that vision includes documenting the journey.

  From a child, I have liked order. I've liked to organize things, chart them, find their similarities and differences and then categorize them. To a degree, that's natural. But it's sometimes a distraction for me, especially when I have a flock of ideas coming at me and no way to filter them down. I've been going through a 'second awakening' since right around my birthday - which happens to coincide with the new calendar year.

  Since January of this year,I have been journalling in a book to document my life, since it seems a lot has happened that I want to remember. I started with  a journal, and will likely continue to use it for notes and my more mundane 'stats'.  But it seems intuitively like it's time for me to start sharing my insights with others. I'm sure I'll keep the journal for more private topics, but for now, My goal is to pick a topic and write 2 or three times a week online, even if it's just a paragraph. Not only will it be an opportunity to learn to craft my thoughts more effectively, it will encourage me to learn more about social media. When the time comes for me to finally settle on a business name and put up the dough for a business license, I'll want to have some rudimentary knowledge of social media, as well as other ways of getting my name and reputation out there.

 It's been a daily onslaught of enlightenment with little resources to get them all down. I've been Pinning and Facebooking and journalling, but it's not enough. So this evening in the bathtub, I started developing this idea to build a database for all these ideas, so I can eventually ponder each one and write about it. And then I realized I should stop procrastinating and just get to writing and then let the rest fall into place. 

See? Right there. BAM! Another epiphany.

Weird Food

So, after a year of slowly transforming my body through exercise and diet, I have come to that point where I realize I like what I'm doing and I just want to keep doing it - for the rest of my life. That said, my dear, loyal and adoring husband is along for the ride for better or worse; my long-suffering partner in edible discoveries.

I am at a crossroads in my personal journey. For the last, we'll say 30, years I have been working to lose between 10 and 50 lbs. And as many know, those last elusive 10 lbs are a killer and often the measure we hold ourselves to that constantly makes us feel juuuust a little like a failure. Or at least, that's what it's done to me. Here I am at a strong and healthy 42 (I should post before and after pictures here!) and I feel like a failure because EVERY TIME I get close to that last 5 lbs and I think 'This time I will make it', I inevitably do something - consciously or subconsciously - to sabotage it and the scale 'sproings' right back up to 10 lbs over my goal.

I spend hours each day looking at and reading fitness, bodybuilding and nutrition blogs and books, scouring them all for a nugget of information that will be the key to unlock my impenetrable glass ceiling (or floor if you're looking at it from that perspective). I know that the ultimate key is my mind - controlling my thoughts. Yesterday and today have been a combination of failure to stay positive and success in saying 'F-you' to my cravings and temptations to knock off working out early, or going ahead and stuffing myself before going to bed at 8:30. Yes, I crawled into bed with my tea and ginger and apricot 'treats' at 8:30 because 'F this day, I'm going to bed'. Well, today hasn't fared much better so far, but we're not over yet.

Thank goodness for my loving and supportive husband, as well as a large handful of wonderful friends and family who give me perspective and encouragement along the way.

So, in the spirit of 'edible discoveries', I'll share with you as often as possible (shooting for once a day during the week) my nutritional concoctions as well as the 'science' and 'art' behind why I am eating what I'm eating. Feel free to chime in, but beware the crabby beast....