Amanda’s Protein & Oat Pancakes

This post comes from my sick bed, where I have been for the past 2 days. 😦 I contracted a stomach bug but all is fine – just need to keep hydrated, eat bland (come at me white bread!) and I should be fine in a day or so.

Now, even though I can eat an abundance of white bread and crackers at the moment, the only thing I REALLY want are these gorgeous, fluffy pancakes. They are so devine. One day I ate them for breakfast AND dinner… DON’T YOU DARE JUDGE ME!

I’ve fooled around with a few different recipes but they were never quite right. So I made some of my own changes and came up with these.

The trick is in the protein powder – you really have to get a nice tasting protein powder. I use Gaspari Myofusion in Milk Chocolate and it is DELICIOUS. You can buy it from BMB Supplements. Enter in the code “mevsbulge” and get 10% off any products til 1st February 2012! 😉

These can pack quite a calorie punch though – about 500 calories (and an amazing 55g of protein!) if you have them with the yoghurt and berries but you can remove the oats and use only egg whites to make them lighter.

Ingredients

1 scoop protein powder
1/2 cup dry, uncooked instant oats
1/4 low fat cottage cheese
3 egg whites
1 whole raw egg

Add everything to a bowl.

Stir well or blend for a smoother consistency.

Pour into a non-stick pan on low-medium heat. Meanwhile, heat up your grill.

Wait a few mins for bubbles to form…

Then stick it under the grill for a few minutes. I do this because it is too big and awkward to flip over without breaking!

Add a tablespoon of natural yoghurt and a few berries… And voila!

Yum!

Hope you guys enjoy – let me know what you think! 🙂

Clean Eats: Garli, Chilli, Ginger & Soy Barramundi

Haven’t done a recipe post for a while! But I haven’t been very adventurous to be honest. I keep having the same things over and over so when I thought up this baby I was excited to share because it was such a welcome change from the usual!

It’s not much of a recipe, really. You know me – add “some” of this, a “pinch” of that! I believe cooking should be to YOUR tastes. Get creative!

So, this is what I did:

I heated the oven to about 190 degrees Celsius. On a baking tray lined with baking paper I placed my fish fillet, face up.

In a bowl I combined chilli, minced garlic, grated ginger, soy sauce (I prefer to use tamari but had none left) and a splash of fish sauce. I mixed this all up to form a watery paste and then drizzled it over the fish, reserving some for the vegetables. Then I baked that sucker for about 15 minutes (until the fish was easily flaked with a fork).

Then, I tossed some vegetables (baby bok choy, mushroom, broccolini, capsicum and zucchini) into a hot pan and poured over the remaining sauce. I stirred them around until they were wilted slightly but still maintained some crunch.

And that was it! Simple, clean, delicious. I think this would work well with chicken or turkey breasts too!

Give it a go and let me know what you think. 🙂

Clean Eats: Spicy Turkey Casserole

I got the idea for this recipe reading one of my favorite magazines, Oxygen. It only comes out every 2 months and I excitedly wait for my issue to arrive like a child waiting for Christmas. If you are serious about transforming your body then you need to read this magazine.

So, in true Amanda style, I changed things in this recipe to give it my own flair and the result was amazing, if I do say so myself! So much flavour and very filling. Give it a go for lunches soon!

Ingredients (serves 4)

450g of turkey, diced
Half an onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 green capsicum, diced
1 zucchini, diced
Fresh chilli, diced, to taste
1 tin of tomatoes
1 tub of reduced-salt tomato paste
1 tin of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Chilli powder, to taste
Handful of chopped parsley
Salt & pepper, to taste
Cooked quinoa, to serve (1/2 cup per serving)

Heat a little olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion. Cook until transparent. Add turkey. Cook until cooked through, about 5 – 7 minutes.

Add fresh chilli, capsicum and zucchini and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add tin tomatoes, tub of tomato paste and tin of beans. Cook for a further 5 minutes.

Add chilli and salt and pepper and taste, then add more chilli if needed! Remember its metabolism charging properties! 😉

Sprinkle parsley on top and you’re done, ready to transfer to containers and freeze for quick and easy lunches for the week. 🙂

Nutritional Info: 319 cals; 6g fat; 1.6g sat fat; 38.9g protein; 23.5g carbs

319

6g

1.6g

38.9g

23.5g

11g

10.2g

600mg

0mg

Clean Eats: Lean Beef Patties

I got extremely creative in the kitchen yesterday!  I was all pepped up after just passing my P’s test (yay!  I’m a driver now! :D) so I decided to spend a solid 3 hours in the kitchen preparing meals for the week.   What a way to congratulate myself!

I can’t stress the importance of meal planning enough.  Fail to plan = plan to fail.  When I know all my lunches are prepared for the week it saves me money, time and it also saves me from eating something I shouldn’t.  I also know the exact portion, calories, fat, protein and carbs that I am getting.

I made the usual baked chicken breast (which I just season with Moroccan, Cajun or Portuguese seasoning and bake), a spicy turkey casserole (recipe to come) and these delicious lean beef patties.

These are great as lunch, dinner or even a snack-on-the-g0 option as they are quite tasty cold too!

For lunch or dinner I would eat two or three patties with 1/2 a cup of cooked quinoa and 1 – 2 cups of steamed green veg.  For dinner I would substitute the quinoa for sweet potato (about 100g is a good serve).

Give them a go and let me know what you think!

Lean Beef Patties (makes 10)

500g lean beef mince
Half a carrot, grated
Half an onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Handful of chopped parsley
1/2 cup almond meal (or bread crumbs if you are not worried about carbs)
1 egg
Chilli flakes, to taste
1 teaspoon of meat seasoning (I use one that has cumin, chilli, garlic and oregano in it)
1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
Salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and roll into 10 balls.

Heat a little olive oil in a pan on medium heat.  Add balls and squash them down to form patties.

Cook for a few minutes a side until cooked through.

Nutritional Info: 108 cals per pattie; 6g fat; 2g sat fat; 13g protein; 1.5g carbs

 

Clean Eats: Turkey & Quinoa Larb

I love Thai food. I could happily exist on a diet of Thai food for a very long time. Actually, throw in Japanese food and I’m pretty certain I could exist on that for the rest of my life.

Issue is, you can never be certain what goes into your takeaway meal. Hidden salt, sugar and fat… it’s a major risk when you’re on Project Tighten Up.

So, I set about making my own sour and spicy Larb salad. I used turkey mince because it’s super lean and cheap however it is traditionally made with chicken or pork mince. I also served this up the next day for lunch with broccoli instead of lettuce and it was just as good.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tbs peanut oil
500g turkey mince
1 stem lemon grass, pale section only, finely chopped
1 small chilli, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tbs fish sauce
1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced (or more if you’re an onion fan!)
1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves
2 cups of cooked quinoa
Lettuce leaves, to serve

Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over high heat until just smoking. Add the mince, lemon grass and chilli and stir-fry, breaking up any lumps, for 3-4 minutes or until meat changes colour. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together the lime juice and fish sauce in a small bowl until well combined. Drizzle the mince mixture with the dressing.

Add the, quinoa, onion and coriander and stir to combine. Spoon the mince mixture among lettuce leaves and dig in!

What cuisine could you eat every day for the rest of your life?

Clean Eats: Turkeyballs

I’ve been pretty slack on the recipe posts front.  I guess because I am eating so clean these days I think nobody wants to see the different ways I eat chicken breast – chicken breast with lemon, garlic & herbs, chicken breast with Moroccan seasoning, chicken breast with Portuguese seasoning… It’s really exciting stuff for you guys, I can’t imagine how you are containing yourselves right now!

But I thought I would do something a little more exciting this week for lunches.  I felt like living on the edge.  I felt experimental.  I felt dangerous.  I felt like gobbling down TURKEYBALLS.

Not literally  turkey testicles.  That’s just gross.  Do turkeys even have testicles?  BRB finding out…  Ew oh my goodness, they do!  And people EAT them!  And oh my god, there’s a Turkey Testicle Festival in the US!  I’m serious!  Google it!  After you read this, of course!

Ahem.  Sorry about that.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, turkeyballs.  I was really impressed with how these turned out!  I had 5 for lunch with brown rice and broccoli but I think that was way too much as I was extremely full afterwards so 3 or 4 balls per serving should be enough.

With the rice and broccoli the whole dish is about 450 calories but would be less if you went with less balls.

Ingredients (makes 3 – 4 servings)

500g lean turkey mince

1/2 cup of almond meal (you can use breadcrumbs if you like)

1 -2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard (or one whisked egg)

1 teaspoon of dried Italian herbs

1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes (or chilli flakes to taste)

 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

In a bowl, combine all ingredients.

(Official apologies for poor quality photos… I used my iPhone)

Line a baking tray with baking paper and use a 30ml measuring cup to scoop out the mince and place the scoops on the baking tray.  Wet your hands and then roll and form each scoop of mince into a ball.

Place in the oven and bake for about 25 – 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Mmmmmmm! They look appetising, don’t they?  😉

Okay how about now:

Slightly better, yeah?  Slightly blurry too but I apologised about the lack of photo quality earlier, k?!

What’s your favourite type of meatball – turkey, beef, pork, chicken or other?

 

Clean Eats: Mexican Turkey Mince

After having grilled chicken, brown rice and broccoli for lunch everyday last week it was time for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some juicy breasts (of the chook kind – get your mind out of the gutter you filthy people!) but it was time to change it up.

Enter turkey mince. It’s lean, tasty and, most importantly, it’s high in protein.

There’s no real recipe to this, so imma make it real easy for you.

Grab a couple of cloves of garlic. Mince them or dice finely. Brown in a little olive oil in a pan over medium heat.

Take 500g of turkey mince and add that to the pan. Stir until browned.

Add a sprinkle of ground cumin, ground coriander, cajun seasoning and chilli flakes to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Finally, stir in two tablespoons of tomato paste. Done. Easy right?

Serve with a cup of green vegetables and half a cup of brown rice and you have a healthy and clean dinner or lunch that comes in under 380 calories.

So tell me, how did everyone do with their first week of Project Tighten Up? Would love to hear! I have measurements coming later in the week so I will share them with you then. 🙂

Mini Frittatas

Although I am still loving soup for lunch, I have been thinking about what else I can make ahead of time for lunch during the week.  Then it came to me – mini frittatas!

These are so easy to make and are absolutely delicious!  When I texted Justin to ask him what he thought of them (I packed them for his lunch too!), he texted one word back – “Beautiful”.  God I’m a good cook!  Sometimes I just don’t know WHAT to do with myself!  😉

I’m not going to lie, these have a fair amount of fat in them so next time I will be using 12 egg whites and maybe 4 or 5 yolks.  You could also add to them mushroom, zucchini, corn or whatever floats your boat!

Ingredients (makes 15)

12 eggs, lightly whisked (or 12 eggs whites & 4 – 5 yolks)

60g of light tasty cheese, grated

50g of reduced fat feta, crumbled

50g lean leg ham, diced

Handful of baby spinach, roughly chopped

Small handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Olive oil spray

Salt & pepper

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.  In a bowl, combine all ingredients.  Spray non-stick muffin trays lightly with olive oil.  Spoon egg mixture into muffin trays so that they are 3/4 of the way filled.  Place the trays into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.  Keep your eye on them as they tend to puff up a little!

Once the frittatas are firm, take them out of the oven and leave to cool.  Use a knife to loosen them around the edges and then pop them out.

One serving equals 3 frittatas and they are perfect with a little side salad.  They would also be handy as an on-the-run breakfast option and can be enjoyed cold or warm.  And apparently they freeze well too!  Haven’t tried that yet… but google tells me they do!

Nutritional info per serve: 290 cals; 24g protein; 20g fat; 8g sat fat; 100g calcium

What’s your favourite frittata combination?

Soup Whore: Chicken, Prosciutto, Tomato & Cannellini Bean

I have a new addiction.  It’s soup.  I just can’t seem to stop making it.  This is the third week in a row… Hi, my name is Amanda and I’m a soup-a-holic.

But it’s not a bad thing!  Soup is super convenient, healthy, cost friendly and delicious.  I love the fact that I have all my lunches ready for the week with zero preparation needed, aside from a quick zap in the microwave.

Soup is also a perfect meal for weight loss as the water content keeps you hydrated and promotes a feeling of fullness. Win!

Now without further adieu, drum roll please…  This week’s soup isssssss:

Chicken, Prosciutto, Tomato & Cannellini Bean Soup (serves 6)

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 small chillis, or chilli to taste, finely sliced

2 sticks of celery, finely sliced

2 punnets of grape tomatoes

1 bag of baby or English spinach

100g of prosciutto, diced

500g of chicken breast, diced

2 cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2L of salt reduced chicken stock

Olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Heat a little olive oil in a large soup pot.  Add the prosciutto.  Cook until brown and crispy.  Set aside.  Add the onion, chilli, garlic and celery to the pot and cook until softened.

Add the chicken to the pot and cook until flesh has turned white.  Add the cherry tomatoes and cook until soft, breaking them up with the spoon as you stir.  Return the prosciutto to the pot and add the cannellini beans and stock.  Bring to the boil.  Partially cover and simmer for 25 minutes.  Add the spinach and stir through until wilted.

Let the soup cool and then with a hand-held blender blend the soup a few times so that it’s not completely blended and still has some chunkier parts.

The soup is now ready to ladle into containers and freeze!  Or enjoy straight away! 🙂

Nutritional info per serving: 360 cals; 9.3g fat; 2.5g sat fat; 43g protein; 22.3g carbs

Creamy Chicken Tenderloin Salad

I love this salad.  If it had lips I’d kiss them and gently thank the salad for being so delicious, filling (oh hai protein!) and kind to my waistline.  It’s perfect for either lunch or dinner and super quick and easy to whip up.   I prefer it for dinner because of its low carb content!

The dressing is inspired by Natalie’s Faux Caesar Salad but slightly tweaked (I omitted the olive oil and added lemon juice).

Ingredients

Two handfuls of mixed lettuce leaves

1 medium tomato (sliced into wedges)

Handful of capsicum strips

3 chicken tenderloins (120g)

15g of shaved parmesan cheese (no more than this!  It is unexpectedly calorific and easy to go overboard on)

Dried or fresh rosemary

Salt & pepper

Olive oil spray

 

 

Dressing

1 tablespoon of natural, low-fat yoghurt

1 teaspoon of dijon mustard

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

 

Sprinkle the chicken with a little rosemary, salt and pepper.  Heat a little olive oil in a pan and grill the chicken for about 3 minutes a side or until cooked through.

Combine the salad ingredients and parmesan in a serving bowl.  Shred the chicken and place on top of the salad.

Combine the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the chicken and salad.

Now, if I weren’t watching my calories like a damn hawk at the moment I might also add a boiled egg or some crispy prosciutto.  OR (gasp!) both.  Drool.

Nutritional info: 324 cals, 9.3g  fat, 4.2g sat fat, 47g protein, 8.6g carbs, 7.6g sugar