"Protinis" A Great Snack When You Are In A Pinch!

I was in a pinch on Saturday. I had locked myself out of my office and had a meeting a half an hour after working out, I did not want to leave my protein needs in the hands of the gym staff and pay an arm and a leg for a carby protein shake. I hustled around town to the grocery store where I thought I would find a premixed shakes that are hot right now but Safeway only had cold chocolate milk.

I geared up to by some meat and dig in when I happened to pass by a new product called “Protinis” by Maple Leaf Foods. I was in awe. There are multiple flavours of “Protini” but I have stuck with the Glazed Oven Roasted Chicken & Apple flavor because out of all of the varieties at my local Safeway it is the one with the lowest amount of carbs.

I quickly downed both of the “Protinis” in the package; I was impressed at how good the cold chicken and dried apples were. Nutritionally there are 80 calories in each of the Glazed Oven Roasted Chicken & Apple packs with 5 grams of carb, 1 gram of fibre and 4 grams of sugar. Protein wise they definitely do not measure up to a shake but there are 11 grams of protein in each pack of the Glazed Oven Roasted Chicken & Apple.

They are a little pricey, but nice little treats when you are in a pinch. I plan on packing them for road trips, hikes and any instance when I know I am going to be hard-pressed to find low-carb quick food fixes. I hope gas stations start stocking them!

Here are all of the different flavours of “Protini” on the market right now:

 

From http://www.protinis.ca/en/product.html

Try them out and save a little money with this "Protini" coupon! 

Low Carb Lemon Cheesecake

Sorry!

Things have been super crazy busy lately so I have been onto the old favourite quick and easy recipes.  I did manage to stock up on dessert last week with a treat--- lemon cheesecake! I have been back at the gym now for fourteen weeks for nearly 70 workouts!

When I made this recipe it made twelve square mini-cheesecakes. It also made a six-inch round cheesecake. I have cut this recipe in half for you so that hopefully you don’t make too much! I still have one in the freezer. 

Crust:

1 ½ cups of almond flour

1/3 cup of melted butter

½ tablespoon of stevia (or your favourite sweetener)

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

½ teaspoon of coco powder

1.     Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

2.     Combine almond flour, melted butter, spices and sweetener in a medium bowl.

3.     Once mixed well, press crest into the bottom of pan.

4.     Bake for ten to twelve minutes.

5.     Allow time to cool.

Cheesecake:

½ package of lemon flavoured sugar-free Jello

½ cup of boiling water

1 8oz package of softened cream cheese

1/3 cup of stevia (or your favourite sweetener)

½ teaspoon of vanilla

½ teaspoon of lemon juice

¼ cup of cream

1.     Dissolve half a package of sugar-free lemon Jello in a half-cup of boiling water. Cool and allow thickening but not setting.

2.     In a separate bowl combine softened cream cheese, sweetener, vanilla and lemon juice. Beat until smooth.

3.     Whip cream until stiff peaks form.

4.     Fold in cream cheese mixture.

5.     Pour the cream cheese filling over crust.

6.     Chill for at least two hours.

I garnished mine with fresh raspberries because the grocery store was out of blueberries (crazy, I know). I would like to make a blueberry garnish, or I would use sugar-free blueberry syrup if there were one available here in rural BC.  Raspberries worked too!

Nutritional information to come

Carbquik Waffles

I really miss super carby breakfasts with crepes, pancakes and waffles. After moving and going through a big transition period where it has been easiest to stick to bacon and eggs we finally got out shit together this morning and made waffles for the first time in months. Boy, were they ever good. 

I don't normally like to post about products that you have to purchase that are hard to find but this morning I am just so happy to have had a special breakfast treat that I have to post about it. Carbquik is expensive, but so worth it to have to make things (easily) that you miss while cutting carbs, like waffles. 

Yum.



The best thing about having a box of Carbquick around the house is how easy it is to make all of the Carbquik recipes. I use the waffle recipe on the back of the box and then add a little bit more vanilla and sugar-free caramel syrup (if I have it). Sometimes we add a scoop of protein powder to the mix too!