Sunday, August 25, 2013

High Protein, Low Carb Berrydelicious Cheesecake Muffin Recipe


I came across this blog post the other day (Quest Very Berry Cheesecake Recipe) and immediatly thought to myself that I have the exact opposite ingredients on hand and I could make my own version. She used a Quest Strawberry protein bar with raspberrry filling, I used a Quest Raspberry Bar with strawberry filling. Also, instead of using a whipped type of topping, I made 'protein' ice cream for mine. Here's my recipe:

CRUST:
1 White Chocolate Raspberry Quest Protein Bar

BERRY FILLING:
• 2 tablespoons liquid egg white
• 1 tablespoons nonfat cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder (I used this: BSN Syntha 6 Isolate Vanilla Ice Cream)
• 1 packet of Stevia
• 3 strawberries (1 reserved for topping/garnish)

VANILLA ICE CREAM TOPPING: 
• 1 tablespoon whipped cottage cheese
• 1 tablespoon BSN Vanilla Ice Cream flavored Whey Protein
• Vanilla Soy Milk 

Directions:
Make your ice cream a head of time so that it's ready when the muffins are done. Mix all ice cream ingredients together to desired consistency in a flat surfaced Tupperware container. The flatter the suffurace area, the quicker the mix will freeze. Check every 10 mins and stir. NOTE: the mixture was very sweet before freezing, so I did not opt to add Stevia or other sweetener. However, it lost a lot of it's sweetness during the freezing process so next time I will add in some sweetener either before freezing or during the stir/freeze process or both.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 3 mini muffin cups with cooking spray. (I used paper muffin cups, but next time will use a pan because some of my muffin stuck to the paper) Sprinkle pan cups with a little Stevia or other no calorie granulated sugar. Microwave your bar for 10 seconds. Add a little drop or two of water first to help retain the moisture. You'll need the bars to be moist so that you can form them into the crust. Chop into 3 equal pieces, flatten and press into and up the sides of 3 mini muffin cups. Toss all filling ingredients into a mini blender, or mix with a spoon in a coffee cup as I did. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Spoon filling into your cups. Bake for 10 minutes, or until center is set but not hard. Let cool, add ice cream topping and garnish with a sprinkle of Stevia and strawberry. NOTE: You may want to rub the top of the crust with olive oil to prevent it from burning in case your filling mixture needs to cook longer than anticipated.


Final Product:


Macros: 295 Kcals, 33 grams Protein, 37 grams Carbs (19 of which is Fiber). 
Macros based on product's nutritional facts, which don't add up.

Links to product used:

For my readers, if you don't know about Quest bars they are high in protein, fiber and quality fats with no added sugar. They only use high quality bio-available proteins, ingredients you know and understand, and are Gluten free. If you want to try a box, use coupon code 'QUEST' to get $4 off any flavor. Here's the link: http://www.704nutrition.com/SearchResults.asp?searching=Y&sort=13&search=quest+protein&show=100&page=1&brand=QUEST


Friday, August 16, 2013

High Protein/Low Carb Blueberry Pancakes - Using Dymatize Elite XT Protein Powder

Here's a quick and delicious high protein, low carb blueberry pancake recipe using Dymatize Nutrition's Elite XT protein powder. I used the Blueberry Muffin flavor, but I'm sure any other flavor would be delicious too. It comes in Banana Nut, Rich Chocolate, Rich Vanilla, and Fudge Brownie. (Ummm, Banana Nut and Fudge Brownie pancakes sound devilish).



Ingredients:

Pancake:
1 scoop Dymatize Blueberry Muffin Elite XT - Extended Release Protein Powder
3 egg whites
Pam cooking spray
Baking powder (optional for added fluff)
Water (optional, depending on batter consistency)

Topping:
1/2 cup of Blueberries
Sugar Free Blueberry Syrup

Directions:

Mix all pancake ingredients, except Pam Cooking Spray, in a shaker bottle. Shaker bottles are simple, quick, easy to clean and perfect for pouring the batter into the pan. Meanwhile heat your pan over med to med/high heat. Once hot, spray liberally with PAM, then pour 1/3 of the batter into pan. Flip as soon as the bottom of the pancake is hard enough to flip. Once flipped, it will literally only take a second or two for that side of pancake to cook. (I actually skip this step as it will harden while cooling). Repeat 2 more times, making sure to apply more PAM each time. Batter should make 3 pancakes in 8 inch pan. In the picture I used 6 egg whites and 1 1/2 scoops of protein powder to make 3 pancakes in a 10 inch pan.

Cover with Sugar Free Blueberry Syrup for the low carbers. Or cover with Blueberry Compote if you're not too worried about carbs.

Compote Directions:
Place 1/2 cup of blueberries in your pan while still hot, turn to high for quicker cooking. Stir consistently. Add PAM if needed. Cook until desired consistency. Pour over pancake stack.

Option: I put the Sugar Free Syrup between each layer of pancake then top the stack with the blueberry compote.

Macros: 170 KCals, 4 Fat grams, 27 grams Protein, 7 Carbs (2 of which is Fiber). Does not include Syrup or Blueberries.

The Dymatize Elite XT protein powder is currently on sale now at 704Nutrition.com. You can get the large 4lb tubs for only $31.57. That's the price of most 2lbs tubs. Each 4lb tub comes with 60+ servings. Here are the links: