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Protein Powder Recipes – Coconut Mocha Protein Shake
While I love to get all my nutrition from whole natural foods, I do love the ease of protein powder.
You can make a ton of pretty healthy snacks and treats like bars and cookies and shakes and smoothies.
It is a great if you are on the go as long as you still make whole natural foods your top priority.
Anyway, today, I made a little caffeinated shake with coffee. Let me just say right now, I really don’t like coffee.
I love the idea of coffee – that morning beverage to get you going. To drink while you do your morning work.
But the only way I drink coffee, or espresso, is with a ton of sugar and lots of cream. It is more like cream and sugar with a hint of coffee, but whatever. So because I only like horrible-for-you coffee, I try to restrict it to only cheat days.
BUT I sort of miss the “treat” of coffee in the morning on the days when I don’t feel like consuming a ton of sugar. Because even though I don’t like coffee, I like coffee-flavored things.
So today I decided to try to satisfy my non-coffee, coffee cravings with a coffee protein shake.
So while Ryan sat at his desk drinking the most disgusting black coffee (I don’t understand how anyone likes it that way), I got to indulge in this…And yea…ok it doesn’t look that great but it was GOOD!
So the recipe…
Coconut Mocha Protein Shake
Ingredients:
1 scoop Chocolate Whey Protein (I used Gold Standard Whey for this)
1/2 cup chilled coffee
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp heavy cream (I used the organic cream from Trader Joe’s)
1 tbsp coconut butter (We actually found this for a great price at TJ Maxx home goods store!)
So brew your coffee however you normally do. Ryan makes french press for himself so he just made some extra for me. Chill that until nice and cold.
Then mix coffee, protein powder, water, cream and coconut butter in a protein shaker. My shaker has a little strainer like thing at the top which really helps break up the coconut butter and protein powder chunks.
Then pour into another glass and enjoy!
You can also make this into an iced beverage by pouring it over ice OR you can make the changes below to turn it into a “frappuccino/blended ice beverage.”
CHANGES FOR FRAPPUCCINO PROTEIN SHAKE: Sub in whole milk for cream and water…So instead of the 1/2 cup water and 1 tbsp cream, use a little over a half cup of whole milk. ALSO, add ice to the mixture in a blender instead of using the shaker and pulse till the ice cubes are broken down and the mixture is combined. I would use anywhere from a 1/2 cup to a full cup of ice depending on the size of your ice cubes.
Enjoy!
P.S. Everyone gets freaked out when they see HEAVY CREAM. They think “Oh no! So much fat and so many calories!” So below is the basic nutritional breakdown for the shake.
Coconut Mocha Protein Shake nutritional facts:
Calories: 273
Fat: 16g
Carbs: 6.5g
Protein: 25g
AND…Soon to come Ryan’s amazing deconstructed Shepard’s pie!
Deconstructed shepard’s pie with grass-fed beef and cauliflower mash!
Happy St. Patty’s Day!
While I’ll pass on the green beer, I will indulge in some not-so-Irish Coffee, Organic Cider and delicious Man Bicep dishes!
After surviving the Filthy 50 this morning, Ryan and I came back and made some breakfast – Corned Beef Hash and a not so Irish Coffee.
Corned Beef Hash
Ingredients:
1/2 lbs Corned Beef (cooked in the slow cooker the day before)
1 potato
1 onion
2 tbsp The Meat House Duck Fat
Garlic to taste
3 eggs
Heat duck fat in a pan with garlic and add in the diced potatoes and chopped onion. Once the potatoes start to brown, add in chopped up corned beef. Once potatoes are a golden brown and the corned beef is hot, divide onto plates. Cook eggs in butter till over easy. Top the hash with eggs and serve!
Man Bicep not-so-Irish Coffee
Ingredients:
Freshly brewed fair-trade organic coffee
1 tbsp Godiva liqueur
1 spoonful homemade whipped cream (Recipe here. I left out the chocolate this week)
Poor a cup of freshly brewed coffee and add in Godiva liqueur. Top with a spoonful of the whipped cream.
With breakfast we also had a “food experiment.” I made protein pancakes, which actually were delicious especially when topped with a spoonful of the whipped cream!
Protein Pancakes
Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 tbsp unsalted Almond butter
1/2 scoop of Optimum Double Rich Chocolate Whey Protein
1 tbsp of Coconut oil (courtesy of Trader Joes)
Beat eggs, almond butter and whey protein together until completely combined. Heat coconut oil in skillet. When coconut oil is hot, scoop batter onto heat (With the measurements above, you can make two decent sized pancakes.) Flip when bottom starts to become golden.
If heat is hot, it takes only about a minute or two on each side. Be careful – It is easy to over-cook these. When both sides are just lightly golden, remove from heat and serve.
We topped with a bit of whipped cream but a berry compote would also be delicious on top.
These “pancakes” were easy to make and could be refrigerated and eaten throughout the week as a quick breakfast option!
Ok…more recipes to come as we enjoy a relaxing St. Patty’s day watching some March Madness! Anyone else an addict?
Coffee – Good or Bad for You?
Who the heck knows!?! I feel like you hear people both touting the great benefits of coffee or saying that too much will kill you.
So I decided to try to settle the debate, which ended up being an epic failure.
I found this the other day on Leangains Facebook page. This article tells you that more than 1 cup of coffee per day has great health benefits for you. This article definitely made me think that coffee is good for you.
So I had to go in search of articles that didn’t agree. I honestly struggled to find anything recent that stated the negative effects of coffee (so maybe the debate is over?)
I did find that all of the common negative effects of coffee were linked to caffeine, such as the fact that the caffeine in coffee can cause lower bone mineral density.
Also, there is lots of debate as to whether or not coffee is good or bad for your cardiovascular health.
Caffeine blocking adenosine constricts the brain’s blood vessels. The heart beats rate increases, muscles tighten, the blood pressure booms, blood vessels near the surface constrict and more blood flows to the muscles.
I then found this…which made me kind of laugh:
Coffee can kill you! Just as any other drug, in small amounts, caffeine (and coffee) is a stimulant. But the coffee plant synthesizes the alkaloid with the purpose of killing its natural consumers. The grazer eating too much coffee will die. We, too, may be killed. The uncontrolled heart beats are the prelude of a heart attack.
Over 400 mg of caffeine (found in 4-5 cups of brewed coffee) can cause caffeine intoxication. Some even snort caffeine powder, which results in a more rapid and intense reaction. The symptoms are just like those induced by any other drug: restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, face flushing, increased urination, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irritability, irregular heart beat, and psychomotor agitation.
So, you have to drink 80 to 100 cups of coffee very quickly to die… This also varies with the coffee variety, and cup size, as this determines how much caffeine enters your body. Actually, cases of death caused by coffee drinking have not been reported yet (at least from rapid drinking; the chronic effects are another story) but caffeine pills (just 2 g) are much more effective and have been proven lethal.
So coffee can either kill you or prevent a lot of bad diseases. Which is it? Anyone know?
My thoughts – Everything in moderation! If you don’t drink 80 cups of coffee a day (or NEED it to function) you are probably going to be fine!
No Coffee :-(
I NEED CAFFEINE RIGHT NOW!!!! BUT I can’t drink coffee black, and I’m trying this new slow carb diet from the 4 hour body, which doesn’t allow you to really indulge in artificial sweeteners.
No more than 16 oz a day of diet, artificially sweetened anything!
Yep, Splenda and such can have a negative effect on fat loss. I didn’t believe it at first. I mean how can something without calories keep you from losing fat? I mean I know losing fat isn’t simply about calories in vs. calories out and is affected by the quality of calories you eat, BUT STILL! I WANT MY MORNING CAFFE VANILLA LIGHT FRAP!
But no! I will exhibit some self-control, which is difficult when I haven’t gotten much sleep and was up at 4:30 a.m. again. I just keep reminding myself that I can have a Frap on Saturday since on the 4 hour body diet you are allowed one cheat day each week! YAY for Saturday! Just another reason to look forward to the weekend!
On a different note, box squats are really really good. What a great way to increase the amount you can squat! Yesterday the man bicep group did them. It is really tough sitting down past parallel, pausing and then standing back up with the weight on your back. Candy and I managed to do box squats with 165lbs. Not too shabby! 🙂
Today we will be doing the Filthy 50, which is always a tough one. You try to complete all of the reps and exercises as quickly as possible.
Filthy 50:
50 Box jumps
50 Jumping Pull ups
50 KB swings
50 Walking Lunges
50 Knees to Elbows
50 Push Press (45lbs)
50 Back Extensions
50 Wall Ball
50 Burpees
50 Double Unders
Give it a try!
Man Bicep 