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Eat Your Veggies: Lentil-Veggie Loaf

3 Aug

Comfort food is a wonderful thing, and in my opinion, there’s nothing better than a good meatloaf. It’s tasty, high in protein, and makes enough for days of leftovers. However, some RNY post-ops have difficulty digesting meat and that can make it hard for them to meet their daily protein requirement. I’m fortunate enough not to have that problem, but here’s a recipe for my meat-intolerant friends. Bonus: It’s vegan friendly, too!

Lentil-Veggie Loaf

Cast of Characters:

½ cup almonds (ground to a coarse meal)
2 TB olive oil
One onion, diced
One large garlic clove, minced
One large carrot, peeled and grated
Two celery ribs, diced
One cup baby bella mushrooms, coarsely chopped
**2 cups cooked lentils
1 cup uncooked oat bran
1 teaspoon mixed seasonings (whatever herbs and spices you like)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tsp. salt

Method:

Pre-heat an oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

**To cook the lentils, place one cup of thoroughly rinsed red lentils into a pot with two cups of water. Let it come to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 45 minutes.

Begin by dicing all of the vegetables. Sauté the onions and garlic for a minute, and then add the rest of the vegetables, and sauté until they are slightly softened.


In a large bowl, combine the oat bran, flaxseed meal, almonds, herbs, and seasonings.
Add the lentils and sautéed vegetables, (don’t wash the sauté pan if you want to make gravy) and then mix/mash until the mixture is moist, soft, and can keep a shape. It should not be runny, but if it is, add a little extra oat bran to thicken it.
Thoroughly grease a loaf pan and press the mixture into it.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes to an hour (in my oven it took 50 minutes). The outside will be crisp, but the inside should remain somewhat moist. Yum!
Oh, and remember that sauté pan you left out for gravy? (I didn’t have any tonight, but I promise it’s good!) You can make a tasty pan gravy while the loaf is cooling a bit. If there’s any excess oil remaining in the sauté pan, drain it off, and then return the pan to the stove. Let it get warm over medium heat, and then remove just long enough to add ¼ cup of dry white wine before returning it to the stove. Scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan using a spatula, and then add ¾ cup of vegetable stock or broth. To thicken the gravy, bring the liquid to a boil and then add a slurry (1 tbsp. of cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp. COLD water) while stirring vigorously. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and allow the gravy took cook for 5-10 minutes. Season with herbs and spices similar to those you added to the lentil-veggie loaf. Spoon the gravy over a slice and enjoy!

Enjoy the leftovers as a sandwich filling, try topping cold slices with different sauces (mustard, ketchup, salsa, marinara sauce…etc.) or even topping them with other sautéed vegetables. A combination of sweet and hot peppers sounds great to me. Be creative!

The recipe yields 8 generous slices with 153 calories, 5 grams of fat, 18 grams of carbohydrates, and 10 grams of protein each. It might be a low calorie meal, but it certainly sticks with you (I had a slice an hour ago and still feel quite full).

Tomorrow, I hope to make some new protein bars. Joe and I went out to dinner at Moe’s Southwest Grill (home of my new favorite 200 calorie taco!) last night and there happened to be a Trader Joe’s next door. Needless to say, I returned home with a bunch of new ingredients to try out.

We have some friends coming over to watch the Redskins/Colts game tomorrow night, so I’m also pondering what healthy snacks I could serve. I got some mushroom-asiago chicken sausages at TJ’s and I’m thinking they could come in handy. We shall see.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. Mine has already been full of fun and pleasant surprises, including these:

Irises! My favorite flower. What can I say? I snagged a great guy.
Ciao for now, friends!

Flowers and Chocolate

29 Jul

What better way to begin a day than with some pretty flowers?

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. This past weekend, I was on a mission. It was a noble mission, and one that I undertook after careful consideration of the dangers and pitfalls. I had to rescue:

Yes, chocolate. An innocent victim thrust all too often into the grasp of high-fructose corn syrup and gobs of fat. Let me let you in on a little secret: Chocolate is so awesome that it doesn’t need either of those things to be good.

Determined to prove this, I was delighted when my package from http://www.greatprotein.com/ arrived last week. In it were samples of Ultimate Protein in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Using the base directions from Shelly’s protein ice creams, I whisked together the following ingredients:

1 scoop chocolate protein powder
2 tbsp. sugar-free fat-free chocolate fudge pudding powder
1 cup 2% milk

My normal skepticism regarding protein powder was hanging around, but the bowl smelled so good I couldn’t help but try a taste. It was reminiscent of the chocolate milk from Turner’s dairy that my grade school cafeteria served. I began to think this one might even be tolerable as a drink! I flipped on the ice cream maker and wandered off to play video games with Joe.

25 minutes later, I could hear the churn slowing down and I knew that the mixture had firmed up. I got a plastic tub out and looked into the ice cream maker. But this was no ice cream! Shiny, dense, and rich in chocolate flavor, I had full blown gelato on my hands. I divided the batch into three small containers, but only two made it to the freezer to firm up (I wanted some soft serve).

Had I succeeded in rescuing chocolate? Here’s the verdict: Each serving contained 84 calories, 2 grams of fat, 4 grams of carbohydrates, and 10 grams of protein. A solid victory was achieved, and I think a large canister of Ultimate Protein is in my future…

But what if (unlike me), you don’t have protein powder hanging around? I know it’s not on most people’s shopping list, so I sought to make a healthy chocolate ice cream using readily available ingredients. Granted, it didn’t end up packed with protein, but it did make a larger volume (better for crowds) and still tasted great.

In a blender (you can use a bowl and a whisk if you’re feeling macho), combine:

1.5 packages sugar-free fat-free chocolate fudge pudding powder
1 cup 2% milk
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 twelve ounce can non-fat evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Blend until the mixture is smooth and lump free. Pour the whole batch into an ice cream maker and churn for 25-30 minutes. Remove to a large plastic storage container and set in the freezer to harden (or eat it if you’re impatient like me).

The recipe makes about a half-gallon (8 cups). Here are the nutrition facts based on serving size:

1 cup serving: 98 calories, 2 grams of fat, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of protein, and 7 grams of sugar.
1/2 cup serving: 49 calories, 1 gram of fat, 7 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of protein, and 4 grams of sugar.

So, have your ice cream and eat it, too! Chocolate doesn’t need so many helpers around. It can most definitely stand on its own without adding a whole lot of extra sweeteners or fats.

NOTE: The above ice creams become very hard when frozen. This is completely normal. Allow them to stand for 5-10 minutes before serving and they will return to a scoop-able state. Enjoy!

My agenda for the week mostly depends on what packages arrive. I’ve ordered some other protein powder samples that should arrive this week, and I’ve also FINALLY managed to find my birthday present: A Wii-Fit! It took awhile, but sniping on Ebay paid off in the end. Other than that, it’ll be a mish-mash of what ever pops into my head, so stay tuned. Ciao for now!

The Planning Principle (plus bonus cake!)

24 Jul

I call him the mouse that ran up the clock. He says good morning to all!

Yesterday, as I threw the last of my apple butter bars into my work bag it occurred to me that the evening ahead would call for copious amounts of baking in order to replenish my protein meal/snack supply.

After a fruitful trip to Harris Teeter, I was armed with the necessary ingredients and a few new things to experiment with. Dinner was first on the chopping block, and because I had plans for baking later I decided to keep it simple. Let me tell you, this is the best tortilla pizza yet. I’m calling it “Summer Pizza” because I honestly believe it’s at its prime when made with herbs and tomatoes picked straight from the garden.

I began by dicing up the first roma tomato from my vine and added fresh basil, fresh parsley, one diced baby bella mushroom, a teaspoon of olive oil, pinch of kosher salt, a grind of black pepper, dash of onion powder, and about a tablespoon and a half of my homemade marinara sauce. After mixing it all together, I let it sit on the counter for about 20 minutes to let all of the flavors come together. It smelled heavenly as I spooned it onto a multi-grain tortilla which I then topped with 1/4 cup of shredded part-skim mozzarella and a few small dollops of fat free ricotta. After ten minutes in a 425 degree oven, I was treated to one very delicious 200 calorie pizza. Yum!

Close-up for texture!


My plan for the evening was to make a batch of banana-nut protein muffins and a protein apple cake that I would cut into bars. While considering this, it reminded me of another important lesson that’s been drilled into me at this point: Plan Ahead.

When Joe and I had to stop in Breezewood for a bite to eat on our way to Pittsburgh (after being stuck in traffic all afternoon), we had a myriad of fast food options. While I don’t eat fast food very often, there is the occasional stop while traveling or night when I don’t feel like cooking or actively going out to dinner. I prepare myself by researching nutrition information on restaurant’s websites and making a list of the best options available. For instance, Wendy’s chili, or half of an oven roasted Twister wrap with no pepper-mayo from KFC. It’s surprising how well you can eat at most places if you simply plan ahead. If I’m invited to dinner somewhere that I can’t find something that fits my diet, I generally resolve to choose the healthiest option and eat only half of it. But I decide that in advance, because if I don’t then I continue eating because “it tastes good” and not because I’m hungry.

I apply the same planning principle to my everyday meals. I know how many calories I want to have during the workday and plan 2 meals and 2 snacks accordingly. My evening consists of another meal and snack with a total daily calorie count somewhere between 1,000-1,200 and a daily protein intake of 65-80 grams.

After doing some calculations, I knew that the banana-nut muffins would yield 8 decent sized muffins at 151 calories, 6 grams of fat, 12 grams of carbohydrates, and 8 grams of protein. They would be good for a filling snack. The apple cake would yield 6 bars at170 calories, 10 grams of fat, 15 grams of carbohydrates, and 10 grams of protein. Those would make a good breakfast or dessert treat with some protein ice cream.

The banana nut protein muffins were a delicious success (I just had one for a snack). You can find the original recipe at Shelly’s blog. The changes I made were to use a regular muffin tin, two tablespoons of SF caramel syrup and 1 tablespoon of SF vanilla syrup, replace one of the tablespoons of almond butter with a tablespoon of apple butter, and make a batch of 8 larger muffins (instead of 24 small ones). Because the muffins are larger, I also extended the cooking time to 18 minutes, or until the tops spring back when poked with a finger.

Then it was onto the apple cake. During my Harris Teeter excursion, I came across an apple type I hadn’t seen before, labeled as “Sweet Jazzy Apples.” Yes, yes it’s probably a marketing term for some apple I’ve already had, but I decided to give them a taste test anyway so I’d know if they’d make good applesauce for canning season in the fall. Anyway, you came here for apple cake, so here’s the recipe and method:

Neen’s Apple Cake Bars

1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup soy flour
1 scoop Nitro vanilla protein
pinch of salt
cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp spiced apple preserves (I use homemade—if you buy, try to find all fruit preserves)
1 tbsp SF caramel syrup
1/2 apple, sliced
2 tbsp almond butter
1 egg
2 tbsp no sugar added apple butter
1/2 graham cracker’s worth of crumbs

Set your oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk almond flour, half of the rolled oats, soy flour, half of the protein powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add the syrup and preserves and mix until combined. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the almond butter with the egg until smooth.

Combine the two mixtures and then add the other half of the protein powder and the other half of the oats. The batter will be very sticky, so oil whatever you’ll be using to spread it in the pan. I just spray my hands with non-stick spray.

Line a loaf pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. If using aluminum foil, be sure to spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and then top with apple slices. Spread the apple butter over the apple slices, creating an even glaze.

Bake the cake for 20 minutes and then sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the top. Bake 5 more minutes and then remove from the oven.

After the cake cools, remove it from the pan (this is where the parchment/foil really comes in handy) and cut into 6 bars.

Wrapped in plastic, they’ll keep on the counter for 4-5 days. For longer storage, keep them in the fridge for up to two weeks.

In light of what I’ve shared about planning ahead, here is my food plan for the day:

Breakfast: 3/4 Luna Chocolate Pecan Pie protein bar (it was very good—a bit sweet for my taste)
Morning snack: Banana nut protein muffin
Lunch: Deli turkey, fresh tomato, and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese wrapped in a large lettuce leaf.
Afternoon snack: Apple protein cake bar
Dinner: Thin cut loin pork chops, lightly breaded and sautéed hot and fast in olive oil.
Evening snack: NSA fudgesicle or a protein bar

I also plan to buy my books for school and beginning my research for the fantasy football draft (I’ve been slacking big-time).

If you have a plan or goal for anything today, (work, food, school, exercise…etc.) share it in the comments section! It’s worth giving some thought to, because sometimes a plan is the only motivation needed to get things done. Ciao for now, friends!

The Search for Protein: Product Review

18 Jul

Protein powder and I have long been at odds. In my many kitchen experiments, it’s been the one ingredient that I only add because it’s good for me. For the past week or so, I’d been using Wegman’s soy protein powder in vanilla flavor and a lot of my baked goods had been coming out dense. It was very frustrating. I consulted my friends on ObesityHelp.com to learn what their favorite powders were and then headed to my local nutrition store to see what was in stock.

And there it was, shining like a beacon before me in a huge black canister that said NITRO CORE 24 on the side. It was Optimum Nutrition’s new line of powders and I’d heard rumors of it’s tastiness. Skeptically, I looked at the giant tub. The flavor was vanilla ice cream. It also comes in strawberry milkshake, ultimate chocolate, and extreme cookies and cream. What is extreme or ultimate about those flavors, I don’t know. I will find out in the future.

What makes O.N.’s new product so interesting is that each 48g scoop contains 24 grams of a protein blend. Most powders on the market are either whey (isolated from cheese) or soy (isolated from soybeans). Not so with this particular product. The protein blend contains 3 different types of proteins which are balanced by the rate at which they are digested in the body. For instance, whey protein isolate is quickly digested, egg albumins and milk proteins are digested slightly slower, and at the end of the chain are casein proteins (accounting for 80% of the proteins in cheese and milk) which take a long time for the body to digest. This all translates into feeling fuller longer and a chance for better protein absorption (in the case of those who have malabsorption issues).

But really, none of this matters unless you can actually get the stuff down. Most of the complaints I have with protein powders are chalky or gritty texture, lack of flavor, and a particularly strong smell. Since GNC has a “return it if you hate it” policy, I ponied up the $34 for a canister containing about 30 scoops and brought it back to the lab (read: kitchen) for some tests.

Test #1: Apple Cinnamon Protein Cookie (derived from this delicious recipe)

My modifications included using only 1 heaping scoop (48g is a much larger scoop than many other brands) of protein powder, nixing the chocolate and nuts, adding chopped dried apples as the fruit, and replacing 1 tablespoon of the sugar free caramel syrup with 1 tablespoon of my homemade spiced apple preserves.

I knew that all I had to do was open that canister and I’d know whether I had something acceptable or not. Warily, I opened it and peeled back the quality seal. Oddly enough, I smelled…well, melted vanilla ice cream. Yes, there was a slight hint of that unflavored gelatin smell but all in all it was a pretty good smell. I added a heaping scoop to my batter, portioned out the cookies and waited by the oven. They came out smelling wonderfully, but I’d have to wait until the next day for a taste test.

Test #2: Cinnamon Cheesecake Ice Cream

I needed a test to determine whether this powder could deliver a smooth, creamy texture. Once again, borrowing my base recipe from my friend Shelly’s blog here, I came up with the following:

1 1/4 scoops of Nitro Core Vanilla Ice Cream Protein Powder
1 tbsp. SF cheesecake pudding mix
A few shakes of cinnamon
1 cup 2% milk (do NOT use skim)
1 tbsp SF vanilla syrup (Torani is the brand I had on hand)

I tossed it in the ice cream maker and waited 30 minutes. What came out was still in the soft serve phase and would need a good 2-3 hours in the fridge to harden up, but it was worth tasting. And then there was ice cream. It was creamy, smooth, and decadent. I made a mental note that the SF pudding mix had made the batch slightly too sweet for me but that the protein had certainly done it’s job.

Just The Facts, M’am: Assuming that a batch makes 3 servings, each serving has 107 calories, 4 grams of fat, 5 grams of carbohydrates, and a whopping 11 grams of protein. If you’re a post-op in the “pureed foods” stage looking for more of a meal, consider dividing it into only 2 servings with each one having 160 calories, 6 grams of fat, 8 grams of carbs, and 16 grams of protein. The above recipe is pretty basic. Add fruit, nut butters, or different flavor syrups for some variety.

The next day at 3:00pm, I retrieved my recently baked protein cookie from my bag and took it down to tea. They always serve cookies at tea, so this one would need to be a really good cookie to distract me from those temptations. I took a bite and finally found the texture that my recent batches had lacked so horribly. It was chewy, soft, and had a taste similar to mulled apples. The caramel syrup and vanilla protein blended wonderfully to make a lovely background for this morsel of autumn.

Just The Facts, M’am: A batch yielding 9 cookies has 97 calories, 7 grams of fat, 9 grams of carbohydrates, and 7 grams of protein per cookie. A perfectly fine snack and while it clocks in under 100 calories, this is one that will stick with you.

So it seems that protein powder and I can finally be friends. With its mild, slightly sweetened vanilla flavor and creamy texture, Nitro Core 24 delivers quality protein that I actually want to eat. Many thanks to the folks at Obesity Help for their help in finding it!

Patterns and Transformations

8 Jul

Origami tessellations are created by taking one piece of paper and using only two types of folds to create a repeating pattern. Often, the shapes need to be twisted into place in order to flatten them out. The method regularly used is to draw the pattern on a sheet of paper, crease all of the lines and then fold the paper into the finished design. Here’s one of my first attempts:

See how some of the edges don’t quite come together? There are some places where I didn’t crease quite right or attempted the fold too many times and weakened the paper. Lots of mistakes, but not bad for a first try. What I learned from it was to be more precise in my creases and more conscientious of the pattern I was trying to create. After a little practice, I tried another pattern:

Of course, it’s still not perfect, but much better! I was more conscious of the shapes I was forming and took the time to use a folding bone (a hard, flat utensil that creases paper better than a soft fingertip) on each of the creases. The point of all of this? Had I done the same thing with only the conscientiousness of my first attempt, it wouldn’t have come together as well. I’ve heard it said that to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result is insanity. If we keep making the same mistakes and expecting a different result, we are destined to fail. This lesson can be applied to lots of life situations.

In high school, my friends and I often went out to eat after school on Fridays. We’d head over to any of the great places in the neighborhood where you could get a slice of gooey cheese pizza, a sandwich bigger than your mouth, or a juicy, greasy burger. I’d laugh, chat and rarely think about the kind of food I put into my body. I just knew it tasted good and I was having fun. As a result, I gained weight all throughout my high school years. There were times I’d try to eat better, but I’d inevitably end up back where I started, making the same mistakes.

After my surgery, I knew I’d have to be more conscientious about changing the pattern for good. The problem was that I still craved those fast foods, and while much of that has dissipated in four years, there are still times that a burger and fries sounds like the greatest thing ever.

So I have one.

Pictured is my dinner from last night. A bison sirloin burger cooked medium-rare and weighing a little less than 4 oz. (a total of 118 calories!) It’s topped with a slice of juicy summer tomato and about an ounce of shredded mozzarella. The “fries” are sliced parsnips tossed in olive oil, lemon thyme, green onion, salt, and pepper which I then spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour (and yes, they really do taste like french fries).

Now before anyone gets on my case about the medium-rare ground meat, let me note that I bought the bison sirloin steak whole and ground it at home. In my mind, it’s no different than cooking that whole steak medium rare. Had I used store bought ground meat, I’d probably go to medium-well.

In the end, it’s all about making the decision to pay attention to the patterns and being willing to change them if they don’t work out. It’s well worth it.

Have a happy Tuesday all!

The Italian Job

7 Jul

I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t like Italian food. There’s nothing that makes a house smell better than a fresh pot of sauce simmering away on the stove all day. But what do you do when bread and pasta make you feel awful suddenly? Let me take a moment to explain why this happens.

Because a good portion of the small intestine is bypassed during the RNY procedure, a meal rich in simple carbohydrates can be a ticking time bomb. Those carbohydrates get digested too quickly and move directly into the bloodstream causing a spike in blood sugar. This is known as “dumping syndrome” because the sugars are literally dumping into the bloodstream. Symptoms include intense nausea, faintness, weakness, sweating and cramping. This is the main reason why RNY patients avoid bread and sweets like the plague. It’s just not worth it. Trust me.

So, as I contemplated Italian food, it seemed to me that I’d have to somehow remove those simple carbohydrates and replace them with something that would be flavorful, filling, and most importantly, rich in some kind of lean protein.

I tackled filled pasta first. There are a lot of different vegetables that work well as a replacement for pasta. For instance, replacing the noodles in manicotti with grilled or sautéed zucchini works well. But early on, I found that the one I liked the most was also the very simplest. I call it the ricotta bowl!


Just cut a small tomato in half, scoop out most of the insides and season it with salt and pepper. Next, fill it with about a 1/4 cup of ricotta (also seasoned) and sprinkle young asiago cheese and fresh parsley on top. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil. You can throw it under a broiler if you wish, but I find it a perfectly refreshing summer snack when served cold. When made with part-skim ricotta, it’s all of about 95 calories when finished.

As for non filled pasta dishes, it was my father who gave me the idea of replacing elbows or penne with cauliflower. Cauliflower is one of those wonderful foods that takes on the flavors of whatever it’s cooked with. Thus, a slow braise in a mix of canned tomatoes, homemade marinara sauce, herbs, sautéed onions, mushrooms imparted so many of the flavors of the dish it was based on that I didn’t even miss the noodles. I usually serve mine over a spoonful of seasoned light ricotta for extra protein, and finish the top with grated parmesan and fresh parsley.


And then there was pizza. Or pizza crust at least. It wasn’t the toppings that were the problem, it was their method of delivery. Whole wheat pizza dough was delicious and rich in complex carbohydrates, but it was so heavy that it often felt uncomfortable to eat it. However, a whole wheat tortilla was just enough to deliver a thin, crispy crust while withstanding the weight of any toppings.

After preheating an oven to 425 degrees, I brush both sides of the tortilla with extra virgin olive oil and then add sauce, herbs, cheese, and whatever might be on hand in the fridge. It’s a great way to get rid of left over cut vegetables and meats. After 10 minutes in the oven, this is what you have:


Nope, I’m definitely not missing out on anything.

Mangia bene!
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