Pork Steaks with Wine

I've played around with this one a little, to the point where I like it. There is no missed ingredient - there is no salt in the recipe. The steak seasoning has salt in it, so I dropped it entirely.

2 pork steaks (~8oz each), boneless loin chops used

Marinade Ingredients
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp steak seasoning (think heavy on the pepper, with maybe garlic and salt)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 Tb white wine
2 Tb balsamic vinegar

Put the two pork steaks in a plastic bag. Mix the marinade ingredients together and pour over. Close bag tightly and marinate in fridge overnight.

Mix together:
1/2 cup chicken stock
3/8 cup white wine

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, with a little no-stick spray. Remove pork from marinade and brown for a minute on each side. Pour the wine/chicken stock mixture and cover pan. Turn down the heat slightly (to medium) and cook 10-12 minutes, until 155F on a meat thermometer. If the liquid is too thin, remove pork steaks to a plate and cover with the pot lid, then turn up heat and thicken slightly. Pour over pork to serve.

Calories in marinade/cooking liquid: 199 calories (38% alcohol, 4% protein, 22% fat, 36% carbs) - 2 servings

Calories in pork loin (8oz) chops: 322 calories (63% protein, 37% fat)

So basically it's ~100 calories plus the size of the steak you're using.

Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon Sauce

You know, I really do tend to think of these recipes as jumping off points. As much as I give amounts and calories, I really expect that people will tailor them to their own tastes. The sauce here would go well with chicken as well I think.

1 pork tenderloin, all fat removed (1-1.5 pounds)

1/4 cup bourbon (Jack Daniels used)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tb brown sugar splenda (use 2-3 Tb brown sugar if desired)
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Mix the above ingredients and let the pork marinate for approximately 2 hours in a tightly closed plastic bag. I've found in the past that alcohol bases don't do well with the pork tenderloin overall texture (that's why the shorter marinating time).

Remove pork from the marinade (reserve the liquid). Sprinkle with pepper (not salt) and roast in preheated 350F oven for 30-40 minutes until a trace of pink remains. Don't worry, once you slice if you won't see the pink.

While the pork is roasting, to the reserved marinade add:

1 tsp dehydrated onion
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 clove garlic, chopped

Bring mixture to a boil in a small pot (watch it as it will boil over if you're not careful), turn down and cook until well reduced. Stir in:

2 tsp butter

Mixture should thicken slightly. Keep warm until the pork is cooked, or turn off and reheat while slicing pork.

Dish should serve 2-3 people depending on pork tenderloin size. Calorie counts will vary depending on pork serving size (1oz roasted pork is 46 calories).

Sauce total: 483 cals (7g protein, 12g fat, 34g carbs, 28g alcohol)

Again, the sauce would do for three people, although I usually split it between two servings and use the leftover pork in sandwiches. That picture was taken with just a drizzle of sauce, there ended up being about double that amount. You could probably cut some of the butter out if you needed to (but it is used to thicken the sauce).

Protein Waffles

This started out as a pancake recipe, with a ton more stuff in it. I could never get the pancake cooked to the right colour so I pulled the waffle iron out of storage. This makes one, pretty nice, waffle - although I'm not sure how it compares with 'real' waffles. I know that first attempts couldn't be eaten without a huge glass of water handy. This final version can be eaten without water and/or coffee handy. The picture is shown with homemade mulberry/cherry syrup which was actually a failed attempt at jelly (long story).

6g ground oats (I whiz oat flakes in the blender, keep a container of it)
6g white flour
2g protein powder (vanilla used)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp oil
42g egg whites

Mix the dry ingredients together well. Add in the oil and egg whites and blend. This ends up with a very thin batter, but it rises well in the waffle iron and spreads fairly well. Cook in preheated waffle iron to desired colour. For me, that's about 5 mins, but it could maybe be a little browner if you want it more crispy.

Makes 1 waffle: 82 cals (31 cals protein, 35 cals carbs, 14 cals fat)

Note: the protein powder I use is pretty much all protein - 95% protein, 3% carbs, 2% fat, so switching it with something else will obviously change the macros. I realized that I never have added any sweetener, although the protein powder has a little. With using the syrup I don't think it needs any, but you might want to add a little something.

Protein Pudding Pops

I'm eventually going to work on these without the packaged pudding mix, but in the meantime....

1 pkg jello chocolate instant pudding mix (fat free / sugar free)
55g chocolate protein powder **
2 cups skim milk (I make it from powdered)

Mix powdered pudding and protein powder in a bowl. Whisk in skim milk and whisk for 2-3 mins, until mixture starts to thicken. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze. If using sticks, let sit for about 5 mins before putting sticks in.

As made: 8 (62 cals - 34 cals protein, 27 cals carbs, 1 cal fat)

** this is a 55g serving of ISO XP - 210 cals (50g protein, 1.5g carbs, <1g fat)

Tandoori Chicken Legs

I make approximately 1/3 of this recipe, serving 2 people. I'll give the full recipe though and the macros from the original recipe. Obviously depending on the type of yogurt and the amount of chicken your calorie counts are going to be slightly different. The marinating in the yogurt/citrus/spice blend though give you a lovely moist chicken, even though it's baked without the skin. I'm thinking of using the basic recipe next time and changing up the spices a bit. I don't bother with ground cumin and coriander as the mixer grinds them up fairly well, and I don't mind getting a piece of seed on my chicken.

4 lbs chicken legs, skin removed
4 cloves garlic
2 medium onions, quartered
1 pc (~3") ginger root, peeled
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala (or 1/4 tsp each ground cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup lime or lemon juice

Remove skin and excess fat from chicken. Cut legs into two pieces if you wish. Place in large plastic bag. In food processor or blender combine the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour marinade over chicken and mix well to combine. Seal bag and let marinate for 24 hours in fridge.

To cook, remove chicken from marinade and place on foil lined baking sheet (spray with cooking spray or brush with oil). Grill on barbecue (medium-high heat) for about 35 minutes or until meat is pulling away from the bone. Alternately bake in 425F oven. Serve garnished with coriander and lime slices if desired.

Note: I cut up the chicken legs and I cook them about 45 mins in the 425F oven.

Nutrient info from original recipe:

Per serving (6): 321 cals, 13g fat, 10g carb, 40g protein
Per serving (4): 481 cals, 19g fat, 15g carb, 61g protein

Sun-Dried Tomato Meatloaf

I'm sure you could probably use more ground turkey in this, but I pretty much stuck to the recipe (except adding ground turkey sausage instead). Oh, and I cut back on the liquid just a touch as I thought it would be too wet. Although, I was surprised when I started mixing it that it really wasn't. So you could probably double the milk and get away with it. The only thing I might have added was a little chopped garlic. For the version in the picture I cooked two servings in a meatloaf pan (two piece that allows you to drain the fat easily). That's why it's so flat as the pan would likely have taken 6 servings easily.

3 pounds lean ground beef (85% used)
1 pound hot italian turkey sausage (500g package)
2 small onions chopped (8oz used)
2 cups instant potato flakes (150g)
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup milk (could probably use the full cup)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp italian seasonings
6 Tb chopped sun-dried tomatoes, not oil packed (used 50g)

Mix the beef and sausage together. Add in the rest of the ingredients, mixing well. Divide into portions and freeze (I use plastic sandwich bags). I basically weighed the ingredients as I went and totaled them up, dividing it into 12 servings. For me this was 260g per serving.

To cook, thaw overnight in fridge, press into an appropriate pan and bake uncovered at 350F for an hour. If possible, drain the fat off after about 45 minutes. I usually brush a little ketchup over the top as a glaze.

Calories (per 1/12th): 410 cals (24g fat, 34g protein, 14g carbs)

Citrus Loaf

I don't usually share the recipes for my high-protein bread baking attempts. Mainly because they don't usually turn out as well. This is meant to be a lemon loaf, but I use mixed dried peel. For the purposes of the calorie count I used 3oz of raw peel. What I do is peel oranges, lemons, and/or grapefruit - bring to a boil in water, then dehydrate them. The original recipe called simply for peel.

Layer the following into breadmaker (in order, roughly):

1-3/4 cups water
2-1/4 tsp oil
2-1/4 tsp salt
15 oz white flour
4 oz soy flour
2.5 oz unflavoured protein powder (283 cals, 54g protein, 5g carbs, 6g fat)
1 oz vital wheat gluten
1 oz skim milk powder
1.5 oz sugar
1 oz dried citrus peel
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1/2 tsp cardamom
3 tsp yeast (I think it was quick rise)

I used the dough cycle only, lifting it out before the first rise (mainly because it rises too high in the machine). Put into greased bowl (I use canola oil spray), cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. I usually turn the oven on briefly as our kitchen is never warm enough to give a good rise. This was about an hour.

Turn out onto floured surface and sprinkle with a little flour (weighed out another ounce, but only used a little over half). Punch down, knead briefly, divide into two loaves and place into baking pans. Cover and let rise another 30-40 mins. Bake at 350F until ready (took about 22 mins today). Loaves should be brown on top and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

This made 2 x 20oz loaves (so 1.25 pounds).

Total calories: 2737 cals, 29% protein, 9% fat, 62% carbs

per ounce: 68 cals, 5g protein, .67g fat, 10.5g carbs