Tag Archives: cottage cheese

Productivity and Protein

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Today was full of reviewing learning, finishing my last paper(!), and protein.

It pretty much started with a question…

What does one do when one is forgetful and forgot to put the ice bucket back into the freezer last night?

Go to the nearest coffee shop of course!

Starbucks just happens to be my nearest coffee shop so thats where I stopped by after the gym this morning. Actually, I didn’t exactly stop in since this particular Starbucks has a drive-thru. More like drove by. Laziness to the max? Yeah, I think so.

I couldn’t exactly just drive by and ask for a cup of ice now could I?…so I ordered myself a nice large cup of iced coffee. Something I haven’t had in a while.

Along with my iced coffee, I got my large cup of ice.

So why did I want this ice so badly? – I’ve been wanting to make a cold protein shake/smoothie for a couple days now and since I keep forgetting to put the container back in the freezer to actually make ice, I’ve had to resort to semi-cold chocolate milk. It’s good, but just not as good as it would be with ice. Especially in this heat.

Since I had a huge cup of coffee, and there was no way I could stomach both a protein smoothie and 20 ounces of coffee, I figured I may as well use it as my liquid.

So in went 1.5 cups of iced coffee, 1 serving of chocolate protein powder, a couple glugs of unsweetened almond milk, and about 2/3′s of my venti cup of ice.

The outcome?

I poured it into the previously ice filled Starbucks cup and it actually almost looks like a Starbucks frappe. I either put way too much liquid in or not enough protein powder, so it ended up tasting just like what I would think a Starbucks coffee frappe would taste like. yum :)

I think the coffee I added in that ‘protein frappe’ may have given me some super concentration powers or something because I plowed through my paper like no other. Three cheers for coffee!

Shortly after it was lunch time and I found out that not only do I not have ice in this house, I have no food. Well, there’s some food, but the majority of it is expired.

After some scrounging around I finally came up with soba noodles, silken tofu, and eggs. Um…protein in a bowl? I think by that time, my stomach was ready to eat just about anything in a bowl.

Layer 1 – Soba Noodles:

Soba noodles pack quite the protein punch. Surprising, yeah?

Layer 2 – tofu:

I don’t think silken tofu is meant to be sliced. I couldn’t even pick move it to the bowl without it breaking on me.

Layer 3 – 1.5 eggs:

Basically just 1 egg + 1 egg white sprinkled with cayenne pepper.

A nice sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.

Plus some chopped basil. (I LOVE (!!!) the smell of basil)

All mixed up with a little more toasted sesame seeds and cayenne pepper.

(Not to be gross or anything but…Don’t stare at the photo too long or else the noodles start looking like worms – don’t say I didn’t warn ya! ;)  )

I don’t think I’ve had such a protein packed lunch in a long time. It was actually so filling I never finished it. I ate all the other layers, but left some of the soba.

Right before dinner I had another protein bowl. Just a mini one though.

cottage cheese + a generous sprinkle of cinnamon + operations management notes

I wonder if protein has anything to do with productivity because I was certainly able to concentrate a lot better today than the previous days. Protein = full = satisfied = more concentration on work & less concentration on hunger pangs?

Or it could have been the fact that I finally got into study mode.

I think my brains reached capacity for the day so it’s time to crash and start new tomorrow.

Night! :)

 

 

 

 

Chocolate-Brown Pancakes

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So the other night I was sitting with my mom and sister and I began talking to my sister about lady gaga and how my mom had been watching a lady gaga special on mtv the night before, when my mom pipes into our convo and says…”I think she might be kind of weird.” Needless to say my sister and I had a good laugh. Seriously?…Just kind of weird?  She’s Lady Gaga!  I’m pretty sure she’s so well recognized because of her desire to be different.  Which I have no problem with…whatever floats your boat :)

I just felt like sharing.

Now onto the best meal of the day.  I was feeling both oats and pancakes, but in the end pancakes won out since I had the extra time to make them.  It was a bit on the brown side today…

But that didn’t keep it from being some of the best pancakes I’ve ever made!  I ate every last bite, even though it was borderline too much.  I’m just going to say I purposely made them this way because one of my favorite foods just happens to be this color.

Chocolate-Brown Pancakes

  • 1/2 cup Kodiak Cake Mix
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 2 huge T organic low-fat cottage cheese
  • 1 T ground flax
  • ~ 1-2 T peanut flour
  • 1/2 t extra virgin coconut oil for greasing pan
  • 1 banana, sliced into rounds

Chocolate PB Sauce

  • 5 t chocolate pb2
  • 4 t peanut flour
  • water until right consistency

Combine first 5 ingredients (up to peanut flour) and stir until combined.  Grease pan with coconut oil and cook pancakes at medium low heat.

I layered bananas and chocolate PB sauce between each pancake and topped off with more bananas, pb sauce, walnuts, and a sprinkle of reduced fat shredded coconut.  Those blackish specks may not be all that attractive looking, but have no fear, its just chocolate!

Check out the layers…Good to the last bite!

I have to go get a shot in my arm today at the clinic.  I’m not really looking forward to it…

What’s your greatest fear in life?  I’m not necessarily deathly afraid of shots.  I just don’t like them.  What I do dislike and fear though is spiders.  They creep me out.

My First WIAW

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As I mentioned earlier today, I’ve decided to partake in the WIAW fun :)

This morning started out with a date in between my PiYo and Cardio Strength classes.  No, not THAT kind of date…this kinda date…

Dates are my energy booster and they never fail me.  Especially when they’re stuffed with some sort of nut butter.

After gym-time I went home for my real breakfast…

The usual…except this time it was ALL oatbran – 1/3 cup to be exact.  Topped off with almond butter & jelly and a sprinkle of summers finest…Raspberries.  I’ve been in a raspberry kinda mood lately.

I felt today was a special day being my first WIAW so I finished up breakfast with some cafe con leche unsweetened almond milk with 1 drop of liquid vanilla stevia.

I kept it more along the lines of a half-caf as you may remember what happens to me when I drink fully caffeinated coffee.

Much procrastination and some school stuff later, I made lunch.  Today’s star…Tofu!

Just a quick sear of the firm tofu on both sides in a dry skillet and I was ready to plate up.  On the right we have the more savory sandwich…ezeikel tortilla spread with cedars all natural sundried tomato & basil hommus topped with tofu and avocado.  On the left we have the sweeter sandwich…ezeikel toast spread with almond butter, tofu, and crofter’s strawberry jelly (a la Jess – minus the bbq sauce).  Both were delicious and I couldn’t decide which I liked more.

***I love this particular hummus because it’s tasty, oil free, and lower in calories.

I knoww…calories schmalories.  But i figured if there’s a lower fat content than I can have more of it :P ***

***Oh, and this was my first time trying Crofters jams and I’ve decided that when it comes to ‘just fruit spreads’ I prefer St. Dalfour***

To complement my jekyll & hyde sweet & savory sandwiches, I had some sweet sweet bell peppers with some more hummus.

And a mini handful of green tea pumpkin seeds.

Some time before dinner some quantities, quite large as a matter of fact, of rainier cherries and watermelon were consumed.

Am I the only strange-ling who prefers the watermelon closest to the rind?…I love sweets and all, but for some reason when it comes to watermelon, I prefer the less sweet parts by the rind.

Finally, it’s dinner time!

Grilled corn, grilled pumpkin, steamed-in-parchment-paper-on-the-grill black cod, cauliflower, and some unpictured brown rice.

I apologize for the unattractive photo.  I was kinda hungry and in a hurry to eat…

Dessert was some more close-to-the-rind watermelon, some homemade kale chips, and a block of of dark chocolate.

Lindt 90%…One of my absolute faves!  My other fave is Godiva 85%.

There!…My first official WIAW  :)

I feel like my days, especially during the warmer months, are heavily laced with fruits.  What do you feel like you usually eat the most of everyday?  Or is your diet generally more balanced?