Lean Bodies - Amy Perez

Can you tell I am on a ‘zest’ kick? It is amazing to me how a little bit of lemon zest can go a long way! I admit that I am also on a cranberry kick. A special friend (thank you Cindy ) got me hooked on her cranberry casserole last winter and lets just say I have a freezer full of cranberries

As promised, I decided to make a blog post of a recipe that did not include protein powder. It does not mean you cannot use protein powder in the following recipe, instead you would just sub out the cottage cheese and replace it with protein powder.

Ingredients
4 egg whites
¼ c (62g) cottage cheese (whipped smooth)
½ c old fashion oats (40 grams) grinded
¼ c (30g) cranberries
2 g SF FF lemon pudding mix
1 tsp lemon zest
Splenda 2-3 packets (optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• First grind oats, whip cottage cheese and chop (or blend) cranberries to desired consistency.
• Then add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
• Pour batter into greased muffin pan.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes (in deep muffin pan) @ 350 degrees Baking time will lessen in smaller muffin pan.

Nutritional Information: Entire Batch (mine made 2 giant muffins)
Calories: 279 Fat: 4.0 g Carbohydrate: 36.1 g Protein: 25.5 g

These are becoming my new favorite for breakfast. I have made them with strawberries in the past, but I am hooked on this lemon/blueberry combo. It’s another great recipe for people on the go. Just put them in a container and take them with you. Don’t leave them on the counter, they seem to magically dissapear
One batch makes 5 cookies!! Amazing how that is only 1 meal. YUMMY!

Lemon Zest Blueberry Cookies

Ingredients

3 egg whites
½ scoop vanilla protein powder
35g old fashion oats
25g blueberries
4 g SF FF lemon pudding mix
1 tsp lemon zest
Splenda 2-3 packets (optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees

• Place all ingredients except blueberries in mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.
• Gently mix the blueberries in.
• Drop by spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet (or baking stone)
• Bake for 13-15 minutes @ 375 degrees

Nutritional Information: Makes 5 cookies
Calories: 280 Fat: 4.0 g Carbohydrate: 34.7 g Protein: 26.8 g

As always, you can modify this based on your nutritional plan. :thumb:

Ready to eat!

Mmmmmm….Banana bread. Almost everyone I know loves banana bread, especially my family. With most things that taste good, come lots of calories Well I have found a way to make a mini loaf that not only tastes good, but keeps me full and is LBC “plan friendly”.

If your plan says something like the following, you will be able to fit this into your macros.

6 egg whites
1/2 serving of fruit
40g oats

High Protein Banana Mini-Loaf

Ingredients
105g steel cut oats (or grinded oats)
9 egg whites
1 ½ scoops vanilla protein powder
8grams SF FF Banana pudding mix
90 grams raw banana
Cinnamon & Nutmeg to taste (optional)
2-3 packets of splenda (optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• In bowl mix all ingredients together making sure it is blended well.
• Spray mini loaf pan with cooking spray.
• Pour batter into mini loaf pan.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Nutritional Information: Makes 3 mini loaves
Calories: 276 Total Fat: 3.6 g Total Carbohydrate: 35 g Protein: 29

Keep in mind, you can make your loaves smaller or larger based on your individual needs.

Here is a video of me making them.

Ahhh my favorite part of the day. Hopefully I have just finished a butt-kicking workout and I am ready to eat. This is my opportunity to get really creative considering I can choose my carb choice including ‘yummy junk’ (in Anca’s words). While only needing to keep it low-fat, my list of food ideas can get rather long. With all of the “100 Calorie” cookies, crackers, candy bars, etc. out there you can get really creative and make it the best treat ever!!

Hopefully by now you have already watched the video of my “Wannabe Oreo Blizzard”. IF you haven’t…what are you waiting for?? This recipe is a follow-up to that one, but it’s dedicated to all the peanut butter lovers out there.

Peanut Nutter Butter PWO Blizzard

Ingredients
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
50g 1% Cottage Cheese (blended)
5 g powdered peanut butter
4 grams SF FF Butterscotch pudding mix
1 to 1 1/2 pkgs 100 Calorie Planters PB Crisps
2-3 packets of splenda (optional)

Directions:

• Blend cottage cheese until smooth (preferably in the Bullet)
• In large blender add ice, 6 oz water, protein powder, pwd. pb and cottage cheese
• Blend until smooth
• Pour ½ of PB crisps into cup, then add blended mixture. Freeze.
• Add other ½ pkg of crisps to shake when ready to eat.

*This is just the “template” to this recipe. Remember you can always add/remove ingredients based on your caloric needs.

Like I mentioned before, 85% of the time, I don’t mind eating the same things over and over. The other 15% of the time is when I begin to think outside of the box and get creative with my meals.

I actually never get sick of oats. Egg whites are a favorite as well since it always looks like I am eating a lot-volume wise However there are those times when either I am just not feeling up to the same thing, or I am in a time crunch and I really don’t have time to cook up some egg whites and oats. Enter the mini-loaf

Now I am will give examples based on my meal plans working with Erik. However, ANYONE can enjoy these same ideas. Lets say that your first meal states the following:

6 egg whites

40g oats

35g berries

Looking at those ingredients above, initially you’d would think that I can’t make the loaf I love because the recipe I use calls for some protein powder (I have seen recipes where they only use egg whites). But, like I said from the beginning, you need to look outside the box. I then went to a calorie info website (fitday, calorie king) and figured out the macros for the above items. I then tweaked the recipe to fit it almost perfectly.

Strawberry Cheesecake Mini Loaf

Ingredients

35 g oats (grinded up) or use oat bran
3 egg whites
1/3 scoop vanilla protein powder4 g SF Fat Free Cheesecake pudding mix
50g strawberries (could sub blueberries)
2-3 packets of splenda (optional

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees

· In bowl mix ingredients together making sure it’s blended well.
· Spray mini loaf pan with cooking spray.
· Pour batter into mini loaf pan.
· Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
Nutritional Information: Makes 1 mini loaf

Calories: 282 Total Fat: 3.5 g Total Carbohydrate: 36 g Protein: 26.

Like I mentioned before, this recipe is based on my plan. You can change it where you see necessary. You can always make the loaf bigger or smaller. As you can see from the pictures below- it makes a large loaf! These are perfect for people on the go. I don’t have to worry about making something in the morning. I usually make a few of these at a time and freeze them until I am ready to eat them. YUMMY!

Post-Workout ideas coming up next!! ” />

So I know some of us have a refrigerator full of eggs, cottage cheese, chicken, beef, peanut butter etc. You may even have a pantry full of oats, nuts, protein powder, etc. Those are just some of the food staples in my home. Then of course there are my other staples. These are the things that make this lifestyle easier and fun!

Of course you don’t need to go out today and buy everything on my list here. Save that for tomorrow. LOL I am sure you have a list of your own, but here are a few of mine:

·Digital Food Scale- you don’t need to buy a really expensive food scale, just make sure it has the option of ounces and grams. (scale shown is the Salter Nutri-Weigh 1450)