Tip: Make friends with fishermen
This fresh-caught trout was amazing. (Thanks, handyman Jack.) Went for Baja tacos using Siete grain-free tortillas. You can get them HERE made of cassava or almond.
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Much appreciated, and yes those are some good points … macros, even on printed labels, are never 100%!
Look forward to trying this recipe! Thanks again for sharing…
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Those “miracle noodles”, especially the ones in the wet packs, have a much different flavor than just straight up pasta does too.
Quest had one a while back and it was very, very “brine-y”, smelled like the ocean when I used it.
My wife bought a few of a different brand a few weeks ago and if they were as good as regular old pasta she would have finished the whole lot by now but they are still there. She said they would work best with an Asian flavor profile, not Italian (so think Pad Thai instead of pasta marinara)
As always there’s no such thing a free lunch, or in this case a calorie free one with no trade offs.
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Protein Popsicles
Busy busy busy, so here’s one from the T Nation archives.
INGREDIENTS
- 4 scoops Metabolic Drive® protein, any flavor
- 1 cup 1% low-fat kefir
DIRECTIONS
- In a bowl, whisk protein powder into kefir until smooth.
- Pour into popsicle molds.
- Freeze for a few hours.
- No really, that’s it. You can eat one now.
Yield: 4-5 bars
Options: This is where you can have some fun. Add some no-sugar-added chocolate chips or a tablespoon of powdered peanut butter. Use vanilla protein powder and add berries, sliced banana, mandarin orange, black cherries, or thinly sliced strawberries. The combos are endless.
CALORIES & MACROS
- Serving: 1 bar (without options)
- Calories: 135
- Protein: 20-25 grams
- Carbs: 6 grams
- Fat: 1 gram
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Dani whipped up a strawberry variation of her baked oat cake (loaf style) this weekend. Amazing.
Here’s the original:
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High-Protein Peanut Butter Cups
These things are decadent, have no added sugar, and over 20g of protein per cup. This was my second attempt at making these. I have one more idea to try to make them even better, but here’s what I have so far (which is pretty damn good).
Ingredients
• 5 scoops Metabolic Drive
• 1/4 cup of nut butter (I used almond, but peanut works)
• 1/4 cup of powdered peanut butter (like PB2)
• 1/4 cup low-calorie sweetener of choice + 1-2 tablespoons (I used monk fruit, but Splenda works)
• 1/3 cup milk + a little extra (I used almond)
• 100% pure cacao baking chocolate or stevia chocolate chips (see below)
• Coconut oil or MCT oil (see below)
Instructions
First make the filling:
Add protein powder, powdered peanut butter, sweetener, nut butter, and milk to a bowl. Mix it up. Your hands work best and, yes, this is very sticky. Add a small amount of additional milk as needed until you like the texture and all the protein powder is dissolved.
Now make the chocolate coating:
Add chopped-up baking chocolate bar or chocolate chips to a bowl along with a little coconut oil. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir it, and nuke it again as needed until melted. Add the additional 1-2 tablespoons of sweetener and stir. You may not need that if using pre-sweetened chocolate chips.
I didn’t give amounts for these because it depends on the size of your cups and whether you like a thick or thin chocolate coating. I started with about half a bar of baking chocolate for 7 cups. If you’re using stevia chocolate chips, well, you’ll figure it out. This ain’t rocket surgery.
Now put it all together:
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Using silicone cupcake cups (paper sticks too much), add a spoonful of melted chocolate to the bottom of each cup and swirl it around a little.
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Add the nut butter filling. It’ll look like this:
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Add the rest of the melted chocolate to the top.
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Freeze or refrigerate. The coconut oil will help set the chocolate.
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Store in fridge. They get gooey fast when they’re not cold.
One More Idea
Next I’ll try using all powdered peanut butter and no actual nut better. That would lower the calories and maybe provide an even better texture. We’ll see. If you try it, let me know! Also, I’ll use a thicker coating of chocolate for the bottom and top. This will keep them together better.
NOTE: This is for @T3hPwnisher since I disappointed him with “peanut butter cup” cream of buckwheat. 
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Figured this might fit in with the thread here: I made Metabolic Drive waffles
2 scoops of Metabolic Drive
2 egg whites
2 teaspoons of baking powder
Salt and pumpkin spice to taste
Whisk the batter together, pour in waffle iron, cook until done. Made enough batter for 5 waffles, but I was short on time so I made 4 and topped them with the remaining batter. I used Vanilla Metabolic Drive, but chocolate would be great for a choco-taco.
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Heck yeah! Those look amazing!
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It may be my new way to “Family Man” the Velocity Diet. Waffles with the kiddo? Hell yeah.
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Had a little more time this morning. Used just 1 tsp of baking powder and still made 8 full waffles and 1 baby one. Helluva way to get in my post workout protein
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I wonder if you could take the coating part of the peanut butter cup recipe above and swirl that into the batter? Maybe add some banna bits. Now THAT would get a kid excited for breakfast. (And me.)
I may try it, but lately I’ve been so busy that I’m the Metabolic Drive and Finibar diet until dinner.
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I’m so busy I wrote “write to-do list” on my to-do list. So I haven’t had much time to experiment with new recipes. So, here’s a flashback to one of @Dani_Shugart’s:
Dessert Pizza for Lifters
OATMEAL VANILLA CRUST INGREDIENTS
- 4 scoops Metabolic Drive® vanilla
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 whole egg
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or whatever milk you like)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup Splenda or equivalent low-cal sweetener, depending on how sweet you want it
- A splash of vanilla extract
- Liberal amounts of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, or pumpkin pie spice blend
CRUST DIRECTIONS
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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Mix the crust ingredients together.
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Line a pizza pan with parchment paper and coat it lightly with coconut oil spray or whatever you have handy.
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Spoon out the batter onto the middle of the pan, then gently spread. Try to create an evenly distributed circle. Don’t go too thin otherwise your pizza won’t be pick-up-able.
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Bake for about 12 minutes. Time and temp may vary depending on your oven, and how thin you spread the crust.
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Let the crust cool completely before adding toppings.
BERRY CREAM CHEESE FROSTING INGREDIENTS
- 4 scoops Metabolic Drive® vanilla
- 1 brick (8 ounces) cream cheese
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened almond
- 2 big handfuls of your favorite frozen berries
TOPPING DIRECTIONS
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Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl except the berries. Once the frosting has a smooth texture, add the berries and mix.
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Spread topping evenly over the cooled crust.
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Slice into eight pieces and let it chill in the fridge until you’re ready to dig in.
Cut your creation into 8 slices and you’ll be getting about 25 grams of protein per slice.
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Blackberry Oat Cake (Baked Oatmeal)
Swapped out blueberries for blackberries for this variation a Dani favorite.
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I think I need to make half my pantry Metabolic Drive now.
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SAME!!! If I ever win the lottery, a lifetime supply of MD will be my first purchase. lol
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Ha! I think of things like Metabolic Drive as a “grocery” item, not a “supplement.” Legally, it is — a food, not a supplement. It can even be purchased with food stamps, believe it or not. (Supps cannot.)
Anyway, for me, MD takes money OFF my grocery list, so even before I worked for T Nation/Biotest, this helped me justify protein powder purchases, even back in the day on a teacher’s salary. Without MD, I’d be buying a lot more at the grocery store. So it all mostly evens out.
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Made this last night! Soo good!
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Awesome!
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Salmon Bites (Fish Sticks for Grown-Ups)
We eat salmon or trout about once a week. This weekend I wanted to try something a little different. “Salmon bites” are trendy, but I’m not a fan of smothering my protein in flour or honey, so I tried to make a healthed-up version. It worked:
“Mmm, fish sticks!” Dani said.
“No, baked salmon bites,” I said. “It’s very fancy.”
“Fish sticks!” Dani insisted.
Okay, okay, they’re “fish sticks.”
Here’s a rough recipe. No need to be specific. It’s hard to mess this up. Adjust ratios as needed for the amount of fish. Feel free to play around with the seasonings.
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Instead of battered and fried, these are baked. In a bowl, I mixed wheat-free panko (rice based) and just a little coconut flour. Add to that: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika.
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Skin your fish and pat it dry for a crunchier final product. (Cook that skin, cut it up with kitchen shears, and sprinkle it over your dog’s food. They love it.)
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Cube the fish into nugget shapes or, if you really going for that fish-stick look, shred it and form into sticks. I went for nuggets. It’s easier.
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Toss each cube into the bowl of panko/flour/seasonings and evenly coat.
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On a parchment-lined baking sheet, spread the coated nugs out evenly. Don’t let them touch.
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Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, maybe 20 minutes or so. Keep an eye on 'em. No need flip them halfway through or anything.
Might try this with a cod next time around.
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These were so good that the next morning, I went to the fridge and ate like three of them cold… and they were even better on day two!
Only problem? I kinda kept tasting them all morning and am pretty sure that they gave me fish-breath.
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