I've been playing around with a few recipes of late. The reason for this is that I am 1) trying to increase the nutrient density of my total food intake with whole foods and 2) increase protein intake. I'm also trying to create a breakfast meal that can sustain me for most of the morning.
Let's start with breakfast. This didn't take too much playing around with. I knew if added some good hearty oats to a mix then I'd have a meal that would keep me going for most of the morning and it does.
Here is meal 1 (Breakfast meal):
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Organic Oats
1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup soymilk
2 Pecans
2 Walnuts
2 Brazil nuts
100g Frozen Blueberries
1 Scoop of True Protein powder (see morning mix in supp. regime).
15g 100% raw organic cacao powder
Method:
I cook this over low heat until the oats suck up most of the moisture (~5 minutes). I then add the mix to my breakfast bowl and add the frozen blueberries. The addition of the frozen blueberries cools the oats down. I crush/chop the nuts and add them to the mix. Following this I make a protein shake with the protein powder and some water. I shake this up and add about half to the oat mix. I then add the 15g cacao into a small bowl with warm water and mix. I add the cacao mix to the remainder of the protein shake and drink.
This is not a bad meal and usually keeps me going (or mind off food) for a good 3,4 or even 5 hours. Very low GI and high in protein with the addition of some goods fats to slow digestion.
For the second meal I once again am focused on increasing the nutrient content as well as the protein content. I'm using a grain called Quinoa (pronounced keen.wa). You can find all the information you need to about Quinoa by looking at it's wikipedia entry.
In short (from wikipedia):
In contemporary times this crop has come to be highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthy choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete food. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten free and considered easy to digest.I'm using quinoa for it's full spectrum of amino acids
Here's meal 2 (lunch meal):
Ingredients:
100 g cooked quinoa
1 cup fresh coleslaw (chopped red and white cabbage, carrot, shallots, capsicum & a bit of low fat mayo and lemon juice)
1 cup freshly chopped spinach
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 can of safcol Wild Atlantic Salmon (naturally smoked)
Avocado (optional)
Method:
Make sure to give the quinoa a decent soak and then rinse to remove the saponins which make it bitter. Cook the quinoa as directed in the wikipedia entry. Allow to sit/cool for 10 minutes before using.
I usually cook about 3 days supply at once and store it in the fridge. I cook 1 cup of raw quinoa in 2 cups of water. This produces enough for 3 meals.
Chop/slice the coleslaw ingredients. This is also usually done in bulk and then stored in the fridge and used as needed.
Following this I simply add all the ingredients together and mix and dress with the extra virgin olive oil.
I'll be sticking with these meals as daily essentials for sometime. When I don't have any prepared ingredients available I'll use other meals but I'm aiming to always have prep on hand
I'll update this post with the nutritional analysis of the above 2 meals in the next few days
