TLC: Trust, Love, Consistency

As a belated thanksgiving recipe from the far side of the pond I offer my protein pumpkin pie recipe.
It’s crustless, but you could use a thin layer of filo if you wanted a bit of pastry action.

Ingredients
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/2 cup splenda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) canned pumpkin
120g (4 scoops) vanilla protein powder

serves 4
Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF
In a blender, place the splenda, eggs and salt and blend until foamy. Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until combined.
Poor into 4 silicon muffin moulds and bake for about 20 minutes or until firm.

Nutrition
196 Cals
2.4g fat
27.3g Protein
17.5g Carbs
2.1g fibre
4g sugar

Tips
In Australia, David Jones’ Food Glorious Food sells canned pumpkin, as does USA foods (online or Moorabin, Vic).
To make your own you will need 400g (peeled weight) of Jap or Qld Blue, microwaved for about 10 minutes on med-high then pureed in the blender.

After reading Kek’s blog the other day with pruffin’s made from tofu I felt inspired to give my own recipe a go. The only problem is it had to fit into my meal plan. Luckily, my meal plan has this strange meal, protein jelly and 250g greens. Protein jelly is what happens when you mix whey with low-joule Jello, apparently. I’d just been mixing my whey with silken tofu instead of jelly to avoid the AS but the baking bug got the better of me and I rose to the challenge of a no-fat, no-starchies muffin. The tofu is the secret, as it provides softness and ‘crumb’ where normal protein powder baking turns to rocks. The other trick I used is Xtend as my sweetner, 2 scoops has arguable neglegable calories and all those aminos have gotta be good for me!

serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 egg whites
• 90g (3 scoops) Vanilla protein powder (I used Vital Strength, Ripped)
• 300g silken (soft) tofu
• 13g (2 scoops) lemonade Xtend (or sub splenda and some lemon-rind)
• 1 teaspoon poppy seeds (or more)
• 1/3 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons (12g) psyllium husks
• a generous pinch of salt
• 400g zucchini, shredded

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF
2. Whisk the tofu until smooth, then gently whisk in the egg whites and Xtend.
3. Stir in the protein powder, baking powder, psyllium husks, salt and poppy seeds until the mixture is just combined.
4. Fold in the zucchini until mixed through evenly
5. Divide mixture amongst 4 greased (silicon) Texas muffin molds and bake for 20 minutes or until dark golden on top
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before icing (optional)
   • icing
     • 1 tablespoon vanilla protien powder
     • 1/2 teaspoon Lemonade Xtend
     • 1 teaspoon warm water

     Blend ingredients to a thick paste, adding more water if required, spread over muffins and sprinkle with more poppyseeds if desired

These muffins are great reheated to luke-warm, 25 seconds in the microwave is perfect

The numbers (without icing)

163 Calories
2.5g fat (.2g saturated)
11g carbs, 4.2g fibre, 3.8g sugar
25g protein

I just completed a nice long posing session. I put on the 2007 INBA all female DVD and posed along to all the madatories and then set my iPod to repeat and worked through my routine 10 or so times. I never understood when competitors said they were sore from posing practice, but let me tell you, I was getting sore. The first half of my routine is looking really good but I just haven’t got a good feel for what I’m doing in the second half. Luckily I’ve booked an extra session with Mareike so I can sure things up a bit more.

Yesterday was my first day in the gym with my new program from JD. I looked at it with contempt, a glute and ham day without any deadlfiing or squatting is foreign to me. But let me tell you, it got the job done. The workout also started with a back focus. It called for assisted chins, but when I walked into the gym (different gym from usual) and looked at the machine, it beckoned me to try a BW chin. No worries. I knocked out 4 in a row! Before my accident I could only do 2, hence there was a bit of a grin and a happy dance performed, much to the amusement of my fellow trainees. Today the whole back of me, shoulders to calves is telling me I worked hard. What was really nice was that I even had time for a sauna and steam afterwards.

I almost skipped the whole session because I was feeling so flat. My chiro/natro, upon examining me, told me I wasn’t getting enough sleep, and he was right. I’d bounced out of bed at 5.30am that morning feeling wide awake (no cardio was even scheduled so it was a waste of sleep time) and couldn’t get back to sleep. After my chiro visit though, I felt so flat, I was ready to drive straight home but couldn’t get in contact with the boy to see if he needed a ride so I figured I’d just try. Lucky I did, I think weights went up on everything. I came home and cooked an amazing fish stew and fell into bed salty (over salted dinner) and tired.

The fish stew was awesome so here’s the recipe:
2 serves

110g skate, cubed
4 big green prawns (shrimp)
1/2 onion, finely sliced
1 clove garlic
1/4 red capsicum (bell pepper), finely diced
125g tinned tomatoes, diced
a pinch of smoked paprika
a pinch of ground fennel seed
a pinch of saffron
2/3 cup, canned, cannellini beans
1/2 cup fish stock
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
cooking oil spray

Lightly spray a non-stick skillet/wok and saute the onion for 5-8 minutes or until soft. Add in the garlic and capsicum and saute for a further 2 minutes. Add a drizzle of stock if your pan is getting too dry.
Add in the tomatoes and spices and simmer until reduced 2/3 and a thick paste is formed.
Stir in the fish stock.
Add in the seafood and beans and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.
Stir through the fish sauce and basil and season to taste.

Serve with the mandatory green beans and broccoli. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese if you’re braver than me.

In other exciting news, we got a new microwave today. Meaning I may not die from eating the melted glad wrap that was getting deposited on my raw food WFT!? The new one claims to defrost chicken boobs super quick and be able to roast meats. We’ll see.

I just got back from a photoshoot for a client and I was faced with my absolute diet nemesis. You can wave chocolate at me all day and I won’t cave, but  the smell of coconut milk, lime and chilli will get me  every time. I almost rang  Stephen on the spot and called in a cheat dinner. Then I remembered, I’d already planned Thai food for dinner.

Tonight I’m cooking Kapoa Kai (Basil (chili) Chicken).
It’s so quick and tasty and isn’t hard to make a healthy version at home. It’s so easy in fact, that I did it on my cooking show, healthy helpings, a while back. Watch it here.

It’s a great reminder that Chicken and greens need not be boring!

You’ll need:

Chicken Breast fillet cut finely
Fresh chillis and garlic finely chopped
Fresh basil
Green Veg (green beans, steamed brocolli, or snow peas are nice, though traditional there are no greens added)
Fish Sauce (nouc man)
Oyster Sauce
Chicken Stock
A small amount of peanut oil

Heat a non-stick wok until very hot.
Spray/brush with oil.
Add in chilli and garlic (watch out for the fumes!)
Add in the chicken and stir fry until almost  cooked through
Splash in about 1-2 tablespoons of stock (for 1 breasts worth of chicken) and add the veggies.
Continue to sauté for a further minute.
Add about 1 tablespoon fish sauce and 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce (for 1 breast), simmer for 1 minute until sauce reduces and thickens.
Remove from heat and toss through 1/2 bunch of basil.

Make a truck load of this and have it for lunches during the week, it reheats well. If your diet permits eat it with steamed jasmine or basmatti rice.

Did you know: basmatti rice is as nutritious as brown rice, with a texture much closer to white rice.

Parts of yesterday’s post sound a bit to big headed. I apologise.

As an apology I offer this delicious recipe for Thai chicken meatballs. These are going to be one of my lunchbox fillers for the weeks and I think I might put them in a clear broth with some galangal to make a soup too. This is a recipe that should fit into any BB’ers diet.

Makes 4 serves/32 meatballs

500g/17.6oz minced (ground) chicken
1/2 stalk of lemongrass finely chopped
1/2 bunch of corriander (cilantro), finely chopped including stems
1 large shallot or small red onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon sambal oelek (indonesian chilli paste)
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 cups finely chopped green cabbage (about 1/8 cabbage)
3 tablespoons (30g) wheat germ
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon (thai) fish sauce (nouc man)

Pre-heat oven to 190ºC/375ºF

In a large non-stock wok or frying pan sauté the onion/shallot until begining to soften. Add in the garlic and cabbage and continue to cook. When the cabbage starts to stick to the pan add the sambal oelekand continue stiring until the cabbage has reduced in volume by about 1/2. Add a teaspoon of water if needed to keep the cabbage cooking.
Add in the coriander seed and sauté until fragrant. Add in the herbs and wheat germ and toss around until mixture is combine. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Add in the chicken and fish sauce and use your hands to mix thoroughly.
Cover 2 baking/cookie sheets with baking paper and divide the mixture into just-smaller-than-golf-ball size (2cm/1inch) balls and space evenly across the 2 trays. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden on the outside.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to drain any fat. Try not to eat to many while they cool!

The numbers (8 meatballs):
173 cals
3.3g fat
6.2g carbs, 2.4g fibre
30.4g protein

I was working hard when I suddenly had this great idea to make fake oreo protein cookies. I googled a few fake oreo recipes and combined it with a few things I’d read on the forums protein bar recipe page and voila.

Please note I have not tried making these yet and haven’t got calorie king in front of me to do macros, so these could be aweful but if your game, please give it a go. I’ve gotta go and buy choc whey and pudding mix (I’m hoping weight watcher stuff works).

*      COOKIES:
1/2 cup splenda / AS
1/2 cup prune butter
1/4 cup FF cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup choc whey
1/2 cups choc pudding mix ?
1/4 cup (2 1/4 ounces) Dutch-process cocoa powder*

FILLING**:
1/2 envelope (1 teaspoon plus heaping 1/4 teaspoon) unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) cold water
1/2 cup FF cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cups (10 ounces) vanilla whey (or choc)

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and prune butter and cream cheese. Add the salt, egg, water, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Beat in the whey and cocoa until well combined; the dough will be very stiff.

Roll the dough into chestnut sized balls and flatten to 4mm thick on a silicon baking sheet or parchment. Repeat for all dough. Place on a baking sheet and broil/o-h-grill for 2-3 minutes each side.

Allow to cool.

TO MAKE THE FILLING: Soften the gelatin in a cup containing the 2 tablespoons of cold water, then place the cup in a larger dish of hot water and leave it there until the gelatin is completely dissolved and the liquid is transparent. Remove the gelatin from the hot water and let it cool until it’s room temperature but hasn’t begun to set.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese, then beat in the vanilla and the vanilla whey, a little at a time, beating until the mixture is light and creamy Beat in the gelatin.

Make the Sandwiches.
Makes about 50 sandwich cookies

Prune butter: 8 oz Pitted prunes + 6 tb Water or fruit juice blended (makes 1.5 cups)