Biochem sports whey

Today I did C25k and did some heavy weights but not for a long time. My body feels the effort I put forth so I thought I'd use one of the heavier powders today. Since the vegan vanilla Biochem Sports powder was the tastiest and easiest to dissolve, I selected their whey today (also vanilla).

I think part of the reason these taste like milkshakes is because they are sweetened with stevia.

Again, it dissolved well and tasted great though a few big lumps were very stubborn no matter how hard I shook. Weird thing is... Even the lumps tasted good. 

NutriBiotic Raw Rice Protein Powder

So today I did not do a heavy work out. Yesterday I lifted weights and walked 11 miles by the end of the day. Today I took it easy and decided my walk would be a three mile leisure stroll to my daughter's swim lessons. 

I entered my projected food for the day into my calorie counter and saw I was about fifteen grams of protein short of protein levels even for a not very active day. And I had chicken for breakfast and lunch! 

I thought this would be a good time to test a rice protein powder since it has less protein than the pea, hemp, soy or whey. 

I tried the Nutribiotic Raw Rice Protein in Mixed Berry. 

It smelled great, like Berry Berry kiss. Gluten free. Vegan. Only 60 calories. 12 grams protein, less than 2 g carbohydrates, 2 mg iron and 80 mg phosphorous. Cheap, as the sample was $1.25.

Initially shaking looked good.

Daughter hated it. I likened the finished product (mixed with vanilla soy milk) to pouring the milk in an empty box of cereal and drinking the crumbs. This would have to go in a smoothie to fix the texture and lack of flavor. It's not terrible as much as it doesn't dissolve well and has a taste like unsweetened Kix. I drank it, but it wasn't something I enjoyed.

It doesn't have any other nutrients and the protein count is half what most of the others are... So I don't know if it's a product that would be useful to me.

Biochem Sports Vegan Protein

Today, I doubled my previous reps on my weight training circuit after eating a burger, chips, beer and shots of fireball whiskey at 10 p.m. last night. Good news is it's 11 a.m. and that extra 1,000 calories I consumed last night still has me full. But, after the workout, I needed something and since I'm testing protein powders anyway...

Today I picked Biochem Sports 100% vegan protein in vanilla. I "test" all the powders the same: shaken in 8 ounces vanilla soy milk. 

This one has a nasty smell, but dissolves the best of any contestants thus far. It really seemed tasteless, the vanilla blending into the soy milk I suppose. The result also had the best mouth feel so far. 

It's not a nutritional protein shake and had a moderate price. (all the samples I picked were single serving portions between $1.79 and $3.79). This sample was $2.79 at my local Nature's Way market, which, for protein powder was comparable to Wegmans.

The protein blend contains pea protein, organic hemp seed protein and cranberry protein. Also contains medium chain triglycerides from coconut oil.

Crazy Cauliflower Curry

On my trip to Wegmans today I saw (and bought) the BIGGEST head of cauliflower ever. I wanted to make one of my favorite Indian dishes, but I don't know the name of it to find a recipe.

So I visited greatcurryrecipes.net. And found a recipe to base mine on, but not follow because I don't have the same ingredients or plan to follow their directions.

You were supposed to start with 3 large onions. I don't have onions but I do have about three tablespoons chives from my garden... See how this starts? Already! 

This is what I did...

I sautéed the following in my pan, adding water as it grew pasty:

- 2 tablespoons canola oil

- about three tablespoons shredded red cabbage

- one small organic carrot peeled into ribbons

- about 1/4 cup zesty sprouts 

- tons of garlic powder

- tons of ginger

- about 3 tablespoons curry powder

- about one tablespoon cumin

- a pinch hot Indian chili powder

- a teaspoon paprika

- the pulp and last ounce or two of Goya coconut water

Until it looked like this:

Then I added a can of petit diced tomatoes and some parsley. Brought that to a boil and poured it into the crock pot on high.

I added about a head of cauliflower and one cup unsalted cashews I had ground in the food processor.

I added water to cover the cauliflower. 

Now it looks like this:

Periodically I stir it. The house smells great but I haven't tasted it yet.

Oh my goodness! It's fabulous!

Vega One Chai

So, my free calorie counter app says I should get about 100 grams of protein a day based on my current activity levels. With carbs consuming about 50% of my diet, I only get 50-60 grams on average. Hence the dabbling with protein powders.

Yesterday I tried a whey powder and my daughter and I both liked it. I didn't put in it the blender as we had smoothies for breakfast Wednesday and washing the blender hadn't happened. It all honesty, I had washed certain parts last night and tossed the glass pitcher in the dishwasher. It was lumpy, but not grossly so. I bought vanilla as vanilla is my favorite flavor. 

I am intentionally doing my taste tests without making full on fancy shakes because I want to taste the drink. I used Very Vanilla soy milk yesterday and ran out today. Wegmans didn't have Very Vanilla so I tried the store brand. Day two and I've skewed my results.

Today I'm trying Vega One chai flavor.

First impression: darn, this is green.

Now it's a vegan, soy free product so I don't know what color I expected a plant-based protein to be.

Verdict: less lumpy than the whey. I did not get chai out of the taste. I got green, and I'm okay with green. Not sure it's worth the extra cost unless I were looking for the nutritional benefits. Flavor of the whey was better, but texture was better with vega one.

And I think the soy milk isn't as good as Silk.

Protein powder

Well, it's come to this. I keep losing weight. And I don't want to anymore. I've lost 30 pounds. I don't want to cut back on my work-outs because I'm trying to strengthen my legs and upper body to combat various health issues.

So I need to eat more.

Except I'm not a fruit eater. I love veggies but they don't have much of a calorie count. Processed carbs? Chips? Cakes? Candy? Yes, I love ALL of them. But I want to eat cleaner than that.

I need protein. And I'm not a big meat eater. Most days my calorie counter says I run a protein deficit and despite working to remedy this, I just don't have enough protein foods that I enjoy that are healthy. Chicken and fish? Blech. Peanut butter and cheese, absolutely but then I overload on fat.

So I checked out the protein powders at Target today. We have some BIG cans. I don't want to invest quite that much into this experiment. 

I went to Nature's Way. Got these sample sized packets. One serving.

I tried good old fashioned whey powder after my weight training today. I liked it. I mixed it with Very Vanilla soy milk. My daughter says it tasted like a milkshake. A lumpy milkshake, in my view.

I loaded it into my calorie counter-- I STILL have a protein deficit. Le Sigh.

Quick meals

Tomorrow we're doing a drumstick meal similar to last week but we're using a mango sauce instead of lemon pepper.

Tonight I sautéed beef cubes in Saffron Road harissa medium simmer sauce and added green peppers and carrots.

Looks great:

This was fabulous! The Saffron Road harissa simmer sauce was perfect for my family's desire for a not spicy harissa. I drowned mine in spicy harissa from Tunisia.

Today's chicken turned out fine. I'm still not a fan of drumsticks but I love the vegetables marinated in the same sauce.