"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! 

Almond Flour Chicken Strips

We make these bad boys all the time, they are so easy and quick to make. Perfect for after work or a quick lunch. We usually cut up chicken breasts into strips but you can also use pre-cut chicken from your grocer too (this tends to be more expensive). We like them to be a little spicy, so we add a teaspoon of chili powder to the mix, if you are making this for children you may want to nix that part of the recipe. 

When we started making these chicken strips we would give them an egg bath, but we have actually found that it doesn't help breading them and that it is just as easy to dip them in almond flour. 

Ingredients: 

2 Chicken Breasts 

2/3 Cup of Almond Flour

1 Teaspoon of Chili Powder (optional)

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Procedure:

1. Cut chicken into strips or bites, whatever size you would like. 

2. Heat coconut oil in a pan on medium heat.

3. Mix almond flour and seasoning in a medium bowl. 

4. Press both sides of each chicken strip in the dry mixture. 

5. Fry in coconut oil until full cooked inside and golden on the outside. 

These are great with pretty much any dipping sauce! 

Nutritional Information (per serving, makes two servings):

Calories: 355

Fat: 21.7g

Carbs: 8g

Fibre: 4g 

Sugar: 1.3g

Protein: 34.7g  

Super Simple Pork Rind Crispy Chicken Drumsticks

I like to make these chicken drumsticks as a snack, like jumbo chicken wings.  I like them to be spicy, but you can easily season them differently (salt & pepper or honey garlic for example).


Ingredients
200g of crushed up pork rinds
4 chicken drumsticks
1 egg
2 tsps of hot sauce
seasoning (to taste)
a dash of salt and pepper.


Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, grease aluminum foil on a pan (I use coconut oil).
2. Crush up pork rinds. I like to use a spoon to crush them in a medium bowl.
3. Add dry seasonings (except salt) to pork rinds.
4. Crack egg in a separate bowl.
5. Add 1/2 tsp of hot sauce to the egg mixture (optional).
6. Add a dash of salt to the eggs mixture.
7. Let the chicken drumsticks sit in the egg mixture for about 5 minutes.
8. Roll chicken drumsticks in the crushed up pork rinds. Try to coat as much of the drumstick as possible. This will depend on how crushed the pork rinds are.
9. After you coat the entire drumstick place it on foil and bake for 15 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and flip. Spoon hot sauce over the drumstick.
11. Bake for 15 more minutes.
12. Remove from heat. Spoon more hot sauce onto the chicken (to taste).
13. Wrap foil over chicken until you are ready to serve.

Nutritional info to come...

Chickpea Almond Butter Chocolate Cookies

This was my first food experiment using chickpeas.

I think it went pretty well, it created tasty and moist cookies.

My boyfriend likes them fully cooled, I like them both warm and cooled.

Before you can even really start making the cookies you will need to soak your chickpeas for about 12 hours. Below are before (left) and after (right) photos of my chickpeas.

Yup, your chickpeas do not look appealing right now... we are about to fix that! 

Procedure
1 1/4 cup of chickpeas
1 half bar of 90% cocoa chocolate (50g)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of warmed unsweetened, unsalted almond butter
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of unsweetened almond milk (I used coconut almond milk)
2 tablespoons of Fry's Cocoa Powder
2 teaspoons of vanilla

*dash of salt (if you have unsalted almond butter, if you use salted then don't worry about it)

Procedure
1. Soak chickpeas in water for at least 12 hours. I added a teaspoon of almond extract to the mixture hoping it would soak in a little bit.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. After your chickpeas have soaked drain them and put the chickpeas in a food processor.
4. Warm almond butter in the microwave for around 45 seconds.
5. Add all ingredients, but the chocolate bar.
6. While the other ingredients are mixing into one big ball of dough, chop up the chocolate bar into makeshift chocolate chips.
7. Once the ingredients are mixed into one big, even ball of dough (no chickpea lumps), move it into a medium bowl and hand mix in chocolate bits.
*If the mixture is not mixing well add another tablespoon of almond milk
8. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
9. Make rounded lumps of dough (around an inch).
10. Press each lump down with a fork.
11. Bake for around 9 minutes.
12. Let cool for around 5 minutes.

Each batch should make about 18 cookies.

Nutritional Information To Come...

Fried Pepperoni, The Easiest Night-In Snack

I used to hate pepperoni, now I love it.

Its greasy greatness, the perfect treat if you are staying in and want a quick snack.

Ingredients
-100g of your favourite pepperoni (I used cheddar pep in my photos)
-coconut oil
-sour cream, salsa, mustard or ranch for dip

Procedure
1. Cut up your desired amount of pepperoni into thick (or thin) rounds.
2. Heat coconut oil at a medium-high on stove top.
3. Fry pepperoni until crisp.
4. Place pepperoni on paper towel and let sit for a couple minutes to allow grease to run off.
5. Serve with selected dip.


Nutritional Information (per 100g)*
Calories: 493
Total Fat: 43.0g
Total Carbs: 0g
Protein: 21.9g

*This is approximate, different brands and makes of pepperoni may have different nutritional values.

Pork Rind Nachos

This is such a simple snack, one of my favourites for sure! Before I cut carbs out of my diet nachos were my go-to snack. I missed them so much! So, once a week I will treat myself to some pork rind nachos to quell  my snacking needs.

Ingredients
-1 bag of pork rinds
-1 cup of grated cheese
-100g of deli chicken (or cut-up bacon, steak etc.)
-sauces for garnish to taste (salsa, sour cream, ranch)

*I recommend tomatilla salsa, it tends to have fewer carbs than other salsas.

Procedure (I microwave mine, but you can oven back them the same way you would bake tortilla chips)
1. Spread pork rinds over a plate.
2. Sprinkle half the cheese over the pork rinds.
3. Spread the meat over the cheese and pork rinds.
4. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the meat.
** I drip chipotle sauce over the top as well for a little more spice.
5. Microwave for 1:30 to 2:00. Keep an eye on it and pull the dish if all of the cheese has melted to a gooey point. You may need to rotate the plate half-way through if your microwave does not rotate well.

Nutritional Information To Come...