Cookbook and Related Goodies - A Protein Pow Giveaway

I wanted to say THANK YOU for all your comments and support on yesterday's thread. I'm happy to report that I've now ordered a dart board and have already printed a high-res logo of the 'offending company' in question, wohoo!

But in all seriousness, I want to express my gratitude to you guys. Protein Pow wouldn't be what it is without your backing, feedback, comments, love, and encouragement!!! 


I look forward to bringing you more and more exciting recipes, a rocking APP (coming next week!), and even some Protein Pow foods down the (relatively near) future :-D

But, right now, I want to pause, extend a huge thank you, and do a giveaway.

To enter it all you have to do is comment below. You can comment with a recipe request if you want! I'm always open to making your protein dreams come true ;-)

The winner will get:

1. A signed copy of my cookbook.
2. A pack containing a sample of different kinds of my favorite protein powders to cook with.
3. A Protein Pow apron.

I'll pick a winner randomly on friday at (UK) midnight.


So thank you again! This is one hell of a journey and I feel incredibly grateful to be able to do it and share it all with you <3

Note: It doesn't matter where you live, I'll ship the gift anywhere on this earth because our community is global :-)


PS: Prior to me having written this as a blog post, I had this giveaway up on facebook. Soon thereafter, however, I was informed that giveaway competitions aren't allowed on facebook! So I removed the post from there and transfered it onto here. I didn't want to lose the comments that people made on facebook though. So I've copied them all below and I will pick a winner from these early facebook comments AND a winner from those of you who comment on this blog post. So we'll have two winners :-) Here are the facebook comments:

My Double Chocolate Fudge Quest Bar Inspired Protein Bars

Where to begin... OK. Let me start a few months back, when I tried my first Quest bar. It was Vanilla and Almond and I REALLY didn't like it. I thought it was too hard, too chewy, and too sweet. I made a post on facebook about how disappointed I was and, within minutes, BAAAAAM! dozens and dozens of people took to the thread to comment about how Quest bars are the best protein bars on earth. A lot of OMGs ensued, followed by "you NEED to microwave the bars!"and "you MUST try another flavor!" But, after my first experience with Quest bars, I just wasn't that convinced. They just didn't do what my Protein Pow bars do to me: they didn't set off a huge cascade of nommage.

But the aforementioned facebook thread grew and grew and passions rose to an unprecedented high with people proclaiming an undying LOVE for Quest bars. I thought, "Zeus! What is this!?" So I decided to try Quest's other flavors. And I did. I got a box full of bars - a sample pack of sorts - and, there, I found two favorites.

The first bar I tried and loved was their Banana Nut bar. I was so impressed! It tasted of banana nut muffins! It was crunchy yet soft and... ah, it was absolutely delicious. I tried the rest of the bars in the box and there were high and lows - some bars I REALLY liked - like the Mixed Berry ones! Others I REALLY didn't - like the Vanilla & Almond and the Lemon ones.

After a few days of going through the bars though, my box was empty so I bought a couple more boxes of my favorite flavor bars from Predator Nutrition (Quest's exclusive UK distributor). And boy, did I enjoy them! Especially toasted, they're magical! Crunchy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside. Like a delicious intergalactic cake :-D I recommend you try them. You can get there here if you're in the UK and here if you're in the US.

Every time I ate a bar though, I wondered about their secret formula. I tried to dissect the bars in my mind while reading their ingredients' list. I'd chew the bar slowly while carefully chewing over various ideas regarding their making and composition. I thought about them a LOT. Why? Because there's nothing like them in the market! I mean, they're incredibly low in (net) carbs (about 4g), very high in fiber (18g) and remarkably high in protein (24g). How could it be!?

I tried to make a few similar 'uncoated' bars but could never come remotely close to Quest's. I used a lot of the same ingredients they did, except... well, I didn't use Isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO)- an ingredient that I noticed ALL Quest bars contain. I tried to get some IMO but it proved almost impossible to source the stuff! UNTIL I stumbled on bioneutra.ca - a Canadian company that sources IMO to wholesalers ;-)

What's so special about IMO? Well, IMO binds all ingredients together and retains moisture like nothing else does! It also changes composition dramatically when it's heated as opposed to when it drops below room temperate. It's a fascinating ingredient, it really is. And, as it turns out, an essential ingredient to making Quest-like protein bars.


I've made quite a few bars using IMO. These chocolate ones here were pretty sweet! I WAS going to use ground nuts, like Quest do, for a texture that isn't as dominated by the whey's stickiness. But I wanted to see whether using whey alone would work and, guess what? It does ;-) Here's the recipe:








Ingredients 

2 tsps of VitaFiber™(IMO)
1 tsp of Walden Farms sugar-free pancake syrup
1 scoop of chocolate whey protein pow
1 tsp of cocoa powder

Directions

First, heat up the liquid IMO in a pot until bubbles start to form. Once this happens, add the syrup and mix it. Then, add the whey and cocoa until you get a sort of sticky dough. Remove the whole thing from the heat and mold it with your hands into a bar. Press this bar onto a silicone brownie tray and stick it in the fridge for an hour so it sets. Done.

Let me walk you through the process of how I went about making them because it's pretty interesting. OK. I figured that the IMO had to be heated up first because the bars change texture very dramatically depending on whether they're heated up (microwaved, or toasted) or eaten in a cold environment. They go from soft and sticky to extremely hard. So I heated up the IMO and then added in all the stuff. At first the mix is really sticky but as it cools it behind to set! Until a proper bar is formed. Macro-wise, my bar probably amounted to mostly protein, a small amount of fat (from the whey and the cocoa), virtually no carbs, and a LOT of fiber. I'll add in the macro breakdown when I get the IMO stats re its carb/fib content in gs.


Now, here's a Q&A so I can deal with what I foresee are some questions you may have about IMO:

Q & A

1. Q: You mention that you got your IMO from a Canadian wholesaler. But where can I - a regular consumer - get IMO from? A: Bioneutra.ca will soon open an online shop to enable anyone in North America to get some IMO! In Europe, OZ, and NZ, however, IMO has yet to gain full regulatory approval. Either way, I predict IMO will sart selling commercially pretty soon. I'll keep you posted though and, as soon as it does, I'll share with you the intel through The Protein Pow Newsletter!

2. Q: Anna, now that you've dabbled into the world of these kind of bars, would you say they're better than your Protein Bar Bars? A: No. I wouldn't. I wouldn't because I think my bars are far more nutritious in the long run - they contain more regular ingredients and less (or no) artificial sweeteners and/or 'artificial flavorings'. Sure, my bars higher in kcals and not as low carb, but they feature a lot of natural ingredients (including fresh fruit and even veg!) and pack a hefty punch of antioxidant, vitamin, and mineral goodness. Don't believe me? Get my Protein Bar Ebook and try the bars in it. They can't be beat! They're easy to make, feature basic fresh ingredients, and they're nom nom nom: delicious. Make them. Make them and compare them then to ANY store-bought bars. You'll see what I mean.
3. Q: Could you tell me more about isomalto-oligosaccharides, or IMO? A: Ah, yes. IMO is a prebiotic fiber used as a food ingredient that is completely devoid of vitamins, minerals, fats, and proteins. It's basically comprised of 'digestion resistant carbs' i.e. carbs that 'go right through ya' ;-) IMO can be found - in veeery small quantities - in honey, miso, sake and soy sauce. IMO has a caloric value of 2.4kcals per gram. Flavor wise, IMO has a relative sweetness level that's 60% that of sucrose.

4. Q: But what IS it? A: It is a "mixture of glucose oligomers with alpha (1-6) linkages" (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/gmf-agm/appro/isomalto-oligosaccharide-eng.php). Precisely, "Isomalto-oligosaccharide is composed of 15-20% of smaller saccharides and 70-80% of the larger oligosaccharides. Thus, IMO contains both digestible and non-digestible saccharides. The fractions composed of isomaltose, maltose, and panose would be digested in the small intestine and absorbed as glucose following oral administration. The non-digested oligosaccharides would pass through the small intestine and undergo microbial fermentation in the large intestine. The non-digested oligosaccharides would consist of the larger oligosaccharides" (ibid).

5. Q: Is IMO good for me? Or... what's the deal? A: There have been a few studies conducted that have looked at the potential health benefits of IMO. Most of them have concluded that, as a prebiotic, their effect is far from harmful; that, in fact, IMO can be beneficial to one's digestion. Wikipedia links a pretty solid list of studies about IMO worth checking out if you're interested (click here to see it).

6. Q: What's YOUR take on IMO though, Anna? A: If you're asking whether I think IMO is GREAT as a prebiotic to include in one's diet regularly, as a form of fiber, I'd say... hmmm... I'd rather get by fiber from food like fruit and veg, coconut flour, gluten-free grains, and psyllium husks! But hey, that's just me ;-) 


A Sneaky Dark Chocolate & Cashew Nut Protein Cake




"They're reeeeady!" she exclaims as she walks into the room holding a tray of dark chocolate protein cake sandwiches. "Do you one to try one?" she asks him.


"Sure thing!" he says excitedly, "what's in them?"

She shakes her head.

"I can't tell you."

He narrows his eyes suspiciously as he grabs one off the tray and examines it.

"I'll tell you after you eat it, how about that?"

He nods and looks at the cake sandwich curiously, trying to decipher its secret. He takes a small bite. His eyes widen. He looks at her in amazement and takes a second bite - this time a huge one.

"Oh my GOD! That's REALLY good!"

She smiles :-)

"What's in them?!"

"Oh, you know.... the usual.... just protein powder, dark chocolate, some beetroot and... a whole bag of spinach."

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah, a whole bag of spinach."

He looks at her in disbelief.

"And beetroot!? but you know how much I HATE beetroot!"

"I know! But see how you can't taste it? And there was a lot of it in there! And a lot of spinach too!"

"You, my lady, are a wizard!"

"....dess... wizardess," she says as she plants a kiss on his cheek.

"Ah, but there's no such thing, the female form of wizard is... well... witch, hehehe."

She punches him lightly on the shoulder, laughing, and reaches in to grab a protein sandwich to dip into her coffee. He gets a second piece and... nom nom noms.

"These are unbelievable. They're light, airy, moist, dark chocolatey, almost creamy, and oy! to think there are vegetables in here! What a way to hit one's veggie quota!"

Welcome to this recipe ;-)

Blueberry Protein Fluff - An Animated Video Recipe


Today is a pretty big day for me: it's the day my first animation video was born! I felt like a proper Victor Frankenstein when I pressed PLAY and saw my drawings come to life! :-)))))) This video was the first one I made and the one here in this post was the second - an ode to protein fluff. Now, the end-product is very rudimentary and it illustrates just the process of making protein fluff (for the precise recipe and macros, scroll down below). But for my first attempt, I'm really happy with it! And I cannot convey in words how thrilled I am to begin what will no doubt be a very exciting journey! You see, I've been drawing cartoons since I was a kid and this is just so exciting! A whole universe of Protein Pow(d)er animation awaits :-)))) Hope you enjoy it!



Today is a pretty big day for me: it's the day my first animation video was born! I felt like a proper Victor Frankenstein when I pressed PLAY and saw my drawings come to life! :-)))))) This video was the first one I made and the one here in this post was the second - an ode to protein fluff. Now, the end-product above is very rudimentary and it illustrates just the process of making protein fluff. For the precise recipe and macros below. I cannot convey in words how thrilled I am to begin what will no doubt be a very exciting journey! You see, I've been drawing cartoons since I was a kid and this is just so exciting! A whole universe of Protein Pow(d)er animation awaits :-)))) Hope you enjoy it!

Banana Protein Cupcakes


These cupcakes are GREAT for breakfast, especially next to a big ol' cup of coffee. They're bananay, soft, deliciously moist, and deliver one hell of a protein kaPOW! And to make them, all you need are six ingredients and 30 minutes of your time ;-) Here's the recipe:




Ingredients

3 tbsp of oat flour
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas
2 tbsps of coconut flour
1/2 cup of banana flavored Myofusion (or just a nice banana flavored whey, like this one!)

Directions

Blend all ingredients together and pour into four muffin cases (I always use silicone ones - these ones). Bake for 20-25 minutes at 170 C (338 F) until, when poked with a knife, your knife comes out clean. Remove them from the oven and let them cool.

For your frosting, mix one pot of quark or low-fat cream cheese (250g) with 1/4 cup of banana flavored whey, casein, or, again, Myofusion.

Add the frosting on top of the muffins, sprinkle some cinnamon on top and... voila! Delicious Banana Protein Cupcakes!

Note: Mine kind of overcooked at the bottom a bit BUT worry not, they did not burn. They were delightful!

Macros per cupcake out of the four you get from the mix above:

250kcals, 24.1g protein, 16g carbs (out of which 4.15 is fiber!) and 8.75g fat :-)

PS: Click here to access all of my Protein Muffin and Cupcake recipes.

PSPS: Click here to watch a recipe video of my Carrot Cake Protein Cupcakes - cousins of these Banana Protein Cupcakes.

PSPSPS: Click here if you haven't signed up to receive the Protein Pow Newsletter! It went out yesterday and I'll be sending another round tonight :-)



Vicky's Cherry Protein Pie - Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, and Delicious!



The journey I took to get to this pie started off fine but then it took an ugly turn and descended into chaos. It was a roller-coaster journey that went from excitement to outrage to disaster and, finally, to success. Let me tell you what happened because I think much can be learnt from this pie. I'll start with excitement:


EXCITEMENT

On Saturday morning I got a message from my friend Vicky from suggesting I make a protein cherry pie. "Absolutely hell yes!" I said. "Can you send me a picture of what you want it to look like?" I asked her. She sent me this link.  

As soon as I saw it oh, I was inspired! I was excited! I was looking forward to giving it a shot! Because I'd honestly never thought of making a cherry pie before and as a big fan of cherries, I was thrilled at the the prospect of eating a healthy Cherry Pie :-)

So I did what anyone looking to delve into the unknown waters of a new dish does: I googled some recipes. 





OUTRAGE

That's when the journey took a turn towards the outrageous. There I was, at 11am in my saturday morning pajamas, holding my jaw in disbelief - shocked at how unhealthy traditional cherry pie is. I mean, close to 600kcals per slice with less than 6g of protein, more than 35g of fat, and over 60g of sugar?! Take a look at this recipe, for example. Sure, it probably tastes phenomenal. But how can it not, when you're basically relying on sugar and fat to choreograph the final product?

The beauty, to me, isn't cooking something that just tastes amazing. The beauty is cooking something that both tastes amazing and is ACTUALLY good for you. It's harder, YES. A lot harder. Below I show you just how hard it is ;-) But Zeus! Is it worth it! Because what's the point of eating purely for pleasure? Of cooking without taking into consideration the nutritional profile of foods? It's like having a car and fueling it with, I dunno... OJ! OK. It's a bit extreme, I know. But still, why eat sugar-packed cherry pie every once in a while instead of making it healthy and enjoying it whenever? Now, I don't always spend time thinking about this because it's how our world is set up - with taste reigning supreme in the world of both traditional and haute-cuisine. But I still get outraged when I think about the apotheosis of sugar-and-fat-packed recipes and how they're followed and applauded time and time again as the 'best' way forward.

Anyways, I shut down my computer (because google wasn't getting me anywhere) and assertively announced: "I'm going to design my pie from scratch!"

That's when disaster struck.


DISASTER

I put a bunch of ingredients together and I winged the whole thing. Didn't know what I was doing. I felt like this dog thoughout. The end product was disastrous - the filling was grainy because I used whey and coconut flour in there (mistake number one) and the 'crust' was badly designed and totally overcooked so it ended up completely solid (mistake number two). Click here to see what the whole thing looked like. It broke my heart completely, this 'pie' did. It was awful :-(

But I was determined to get it right! So I tried again ;-)



SUCCESS!

To arrive at a successful pie I had to draw from what the disaster taught me. The first thing that it taught me is that the filling shouldn't include any dairy-based protein powders or flours. I mean, cherry pie isn't cakey inside or creamy or... whatever. It's just cherry deliciousness :-D So what I did was use cherries + gelatine + BCAAs to make a sort of cherry-packed amino jelly. Then, I tweaked the crust ingredients to make a lighter 'pastry' and I cooked it at a higher heat for a lot less time to ensure it cooked just right.


The end product was a HUGE success. I couldn't be happier with it. I had a slice this morning and Zeus almighty, was it delicious! And I think it represents an absolutely phenomenal post-workout snack, macro wise. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients for the base

1/2 cup of liquid egg whites
1/2 cup of buckwheat flour (can sub it with oat flour)
1/2 cup of vanilla pea protein powder (or casein?)
1/2 cup of slivered almonds
1 tbsp of date syrup (optional but nice)
1 tbsp of coconut flour

Ingredients for the filling

1 packet of unflavored powdered gelatine (about 8g)
2 scoops of berry flavored BCAAs
400g of pitted cherries (about two cups)

Directions

Using a food processor or blender, blend all the base ingredients together until you get a sort of dough. Press 3/4 of this dough into a small spring-form pan. Cover the bottom of the pan and as much of the sides as you can, using a spoon. The remaining 1/4 of the dough will be used on top of the pie.

OK. Once the 'pastry' is all done and pressed into the pan, move on to make your filling. All you need to do is add the cherries to a pot and bring them to a boil. They'll release some water; that's a good thing. Once the cherries have started to disintegrate a bit and there's a good amount of liquid in the pot, add the gelatin and BCAAs and mix it all up until the gelatine disintegrates  Note: if you don't want to bother with the gelatin + BCAA combo, you can use sugar-free jelly powder instead.

Once your filling is done, pour it onto the base and, if you want to add the pastry strands of top, roll out the 'pastry' into a ball and then get some strands from it to stick on top. This is what it should look like. If you can't be bothered with the strands, no worries. It's just for pie aesthetics really :-)

Finally, stick the whole thing in the oven at 170 C (338 F) for about 20-30 minutes or until the sides and top look and feel cooked. Then, take it out (and smell it because oh! it's like cherry heaven!) This is what it should look like once it's cooked.

OK. Let it cool overnight and the next morning BAAAAM! You have cherry pie deliciousness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Add a dollop of greek yogurt on top and nom nom nom! Get ready to dig into amazingness!

Macros per slice (out of the eight you get from the pie above): 161kcals, 12g protein, 12g carbs, and 7g fat!


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