Matthew Amsden

High Protein Cookies

These are a modified low fat cookie from cook-book author Jane Brody who was big back in the late 80s. I think her cookbooks are still pretty good - she proposes a high complex carbohydrate moderate protein and low fat diet. It is one of the few 'special diet' cookbooks that I go back to over and over again. These cookies aren't that sweet, and I use them as a substitute for protien bars. They do need some kind of dried fruit or semi-sweet chocolate in my opinion to make them dessert like.

I modified the recipe replacing the butter with a combination of peanut butter and oil, the flour with a combination of protien powder, almond meal, and oatmeal (which adds a slight crunch and moistness that is lost without the gluten in the wheat flour). Finally I replaced the sugar with sugar alcohols which are treated in your body not unlike fiber. Sugar alcohols are a natural product - derived from tree bark. Many low carbohydrate food producers use them extensively.

1/4 cup canola oil (olive oil works too - but has a
slight taste to it)
1/2 natural peanut butter
1/3 cup xylitol or other sugar alcohol (you can find it at Vitamin Shoppe or online)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg or 2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (get real vanilla it is so much better not imitation. Because of the civil war in Madagascar it is expensive now - but worth it.)
1 cup milk/egg protien powder or whey protien powder (not soy protien)
1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

6 ounces of either chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries, other dried fruit or candy

Directions:
Mix together the oil through eggs until very well blended with a wire wisk. Measure dry ingredients in bowl and mix all adding dried fruit peices or chocolate chips. Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet at 350 for ten minutes or until desired
doneness. These cookies tend to be a bit on the dryside so don't overcook.

One variation i"m thinking of trying. Reduce the protien powder by a couple of tablespoons and replace with an equal amount of chocolate powder. Use dried cranberries in place of raisins or chocolate.

High Protein Pancakes

Pancakes are one of the great breakfast comfort foods of all time. Yet, they are high in simple sugars, fairly low in protien, and difficult to make on a busy morning. I took a griddle cake recipe from Fannie Farmer's Cookbook and replaced half the flour with almond meal and whey protien powder. Substituted whole wheat flour for the rest of the bleached flour, used egg substitute instead of eggs, olive oil instead of butter and stevia instead of sugar. These certainly aren't low carb, or low calorie, I don't believe in that, I believe in the idea of performance food - high nutrition - and of course it's got to taste good.

Mix a seemingly unlimited number of flavorings - my favorite is blueberry lemon, and blackraspberry chocolate, and you've got yourself a comforting breakfast. You can cook up a batch to order, or think ahead and make a double recipe, store covered in plastic wrap in the fridge, and throw into the microwave - a weekend breakfast that makes you look forward to getting up Monday morning.

I prefer flavored pancakes, as I don't use syrup, or butter. See below for several flavoring ideas, although there is very little limt.

1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup non-fat egg substitute
1/4 ground almond meal
1/4 non flavored whey protein powder
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons stevia powder (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat a small amount of olive oil >1 teaspoon in a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Pour 1/4 of batter into the warmed skillet, and cook until bubbles form on the top of the pancake. Turn sides appear just dry. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Flavoring Ideas

- Blueberry Lemon Add 1 cup wild blueberries (slightly thawed if frozen) and a tablespoon lemon zest, or 2 teaspoons lemon extract.

- Chocolate Black Raspberry Reduce flour by 2 tablespoons. Add two tablespoons of Dutch Process Coco Powder, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup black rapsberries (slightly thawed if frozen). Add 2 teaspoons almond extract if desired.

- Pear Ginger Reduce milk by 2 Tablespoons. Add 1 tablespoon molasses, 2 Tablespoons finely diced ginger, and 1 tablespoon powdered ginger. Saute a thinly sliced pear. and put on top of cooked pancakes. Sort of tastes like a mild gingersnap.

Does anyone make Soufflés Anymore?

If not, we should, they are high in protein, low in fat and simple carbohydrates

I ran across a recipe for a chocolate soufflé in an old Bon Appetite cookbook this morning. Soufflés seemed a bit dated to me, caught up in the overly laborious cream laden foodie cuisine of the mid 1980s. The ingredient list however was notable for its simplicity and healthfulness.

I’ve never made a soufflé before, not because I saw it as being dated, but because I thought it was difficult. Ever heard of a slump? Apparently that’s the way a pastry chef sells fallen soufflés – and they’re good. If even a mistake can turn out a dessert I'd be happy to pay $12 for in a restaurant it's worht a try.

It seems a soufflé is simply a mixture of a thickened sauce with egg whites beaten until stiff. Beaten egg-whites, with a powdered substitute and electric mixer is easier than boiling pasta. The thickend sauce is a little more complicatged. Today I’ve tried thickening with a roux (flour butter and milk), cornstarch, and egg substitute (to make a curd). I saw a number of recipes use cornstarch. Each time I aimed at making a sauce that is as thick as slightly warm honey, molasses or chocolate fudge sauce. I did not try gelatin – I think the heat in the oven would thin the sauce and cause the soufflé to become soupy.

To create the soufflé, beet egg whites to form stiff peaks. Then carefully mix in your choice of flavored slightly thickened sauce. The sauce should be smooth and sweetened to taste. Fudge sauce, a fruit curd (lemon, lime, strawberry), or a smooth marmalade or preserve would all work well. Put the combined mixture in a greased ceramic container. Put it in an oven preheated to 375, and wait 45 minutes. Eat the souffle immidiately, or the slump after a couple of minutes.

Since the sugar in the soufflé is for sweetening only, and is not necessary for leavening, volume or browning, sugar substitute could be used with decent results. If you use a non-fat egg substitute to thicken a fruit puree – you are looking at a very low carbohydrate, non-fat dessert that deserves to come back into style.

Avocado Lime Mousse

Despite a New Year’s Resolution to keep sugars and other simple low fiber carbohydrates out of my diet, I still really need dessert. Fruit and cheese or a piece of chocolate only goes so far. Sometimes you just need something a little more substantial. I read some time back that a dessert after a meal actually helps you digest your food better. With that in mind, a couple of avocados in my fruit bowl, and a wish to create a nutritious dessert, I am going to bring out a recipe I first made this time of year in Montreal several years ago. While not low carb, low fat or high protien, it is loaded with nutrients making it worth it – and is a relatively clean food. If you find low fat sweetened condensed milk, it will cut the fat to about 6 grams.
Sure it sounds odd – trust me it is great. If you’ve got some fresh raspberries they’d make a fabulous garnish.

1 cup avocado pulp
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 egg yolks
1 pinch salt

2 egg whites
Stevia or sugar to taste
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

fresh raspberries (optional)

Directions:
1.Place ingredients, avocado pulp through egg yolks, in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Pour mixture into a bowl or individual serving containers and refrigerate until set.

These steps are actually optional if you prefer just to have the mousse unadorned.
2.Preheat oven to 250F.
3.Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl with a mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Spoon small dollops onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 250 for 1/2 hour, then turn the oven off and leave overnight without opening the oven. The meringues will be hard in the morning.
4.Serve the avocado mouse topped with a meringue and garnished with fresh raspberries if desired.

Nutrition Information*: (8 Servings), Calories: 219. Total Fat: 8.4 grams, Saturated Fat:3.6 grams. Total Carbohydrate: 29.9 grams, Net Carb: 28.9 grams. Protien:5.9 grams

*Nutrition does not include optional ingredients. Nutrition calculated using Recipe Calc v.4.0.

Buying Food Directly from the Farm

Although living in a city is an absolute must for me, there are certain things that I miss about living in the rural areas of Maine where I grew up. I was always within several miles of a small city that included mega-malls and any other ‘comforts’ of American consumerism. However, a couple of miles in the other direction, there were craftspeople, writers, artists, and farmers.

Food is a big part of my life. I think M.F.K Fisher makes the point better than I, “Of our three basic needs, for food, for security, and for love are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we can not straightly think of one without the other.” I consider buying, preparing and eating a meal – even after a busy day before going to the gym - to be one of the most important and enjoyable parts of life. I’ve been accused more than once to arranging my daily schedule around lunch. I believe without hesitation or deeper thought that you are what you eat.

This year I am making an effort to buy my food closer to home. This morning I came across blog site fuckcorporategroceries.net, that reminded me to subscribe to a Community Supported Agriculture Program. Through CSRs, members receive organic produce every week directly from the farm throughout the growing season. You pay one annual membership fee for a huge amount of produce. Every week you make a visit to the farm to pick up the produce. Sometimes you might even pull a couple of weeds. While I do live in the city, I haven’t lost my taste for locally grown food directly from the farm, nor my need to feel connected to where my food comes from.

The USDA website provides a database to find a CSR near you in any location across the country. There is actually a farm in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood run by homeless women that appears to be subway accessible. The amount and variety of food available on a weekly basis is astounding and well worth the $250 dollars or so to receive this locally grown food weekly over an eight month period. I would encourage others to join CSRs even just to get fresh vine ripened heirloom tomatoes in August. That’s worth $250 in itself. Most in the Northeast require membership applications and down payments in January - so it is necissary to think ahead.