Recipes & Snack Ideas
In this section, we’ve rounded up a collection of simple ways to nourish yourself and your family.
Below you’ll find clever snack ideas, simple ways to get more protein into your diet, quick recipes for family meals, delicious treats, recommended recipe books, top tips on supplements and more. And we’ll add to them all over the next six weeks.
Quick Snack Ideas….
Stewed Apple & Pear
Stew apples and pears with some cinnamon and a small amount of maple syrup. You can freeze this in small portions (or it will keep in the fridge for about four days) you can have this in a pot with some natural yoghurt and some nuts or seeds if you wanted some additional protein (although this isn’t essential).
Dark Chocolate with Nuts or Nut Butter
Anything above 85 percent cocoa generally has a very low sugar content, and adding the nuts gives your body protein and fat which can trick the body into thinking it has eaten something very naughty when it hasn’t.
Simple Lunches
If you are at home, other quick options could be a piece of whole meal toast with some nut butter or hummus on it or freezing the berry smoothie (recipe below) to make it into an ice cream. Instead of using the berries, you can use banana and cashew nuts – blitz these with the other smoothie ingredients to make an alternative, and if you are freezing it for ice cream you can also add in some dark chocolate chunks too! .
In the shops…
If you want to buy something from the shop Graze bars and trek bars can be on the lower side of sugar or having a few handfuls of dried fruit can take the edge off cravings. They do still contain sugar but can be a good option to have instead of chocolate.
Breakfast & Quick Energy Recipes…
Banana Muesli Protein Bars
3 large ripe bananas mashed
300 grms of low sugar muesli (I use the Tesco ones as it has lots of oats in to absorb the liquid)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 scoops of protein powder
Simply mix the ingredients together – it should become quite sticky. Press this into a lined baking tray and cook for about 15 – 20 minutes on 180. Take the tray out and cut into 8 or 12 slices depending on the size of the tin used. You can freeze these in slices and get one out each morning to take to work with you.
Quick Berry Smoothie
In a blender, add four tablespoons of frozen berries (they can be fresh but if you buy them frozen, it can be easier to use so they don’t go off when you want to use them) ½ tsp cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, 1 scoop of protein powder and then enough milk or milk alternative to get it to the consistency that you would like. You can take this in a travel mug with you to have at work as part of breakfast or as a snack.
Chocolate & Beetroot Brownies
3oz/75grms coconut butter
9oz 70% cocoa chocolate (the darker the chocolate the more bitter the taste of the brownies)
4 eggs
3 ½ oz of ground almonds
3 cooked beetroots
½ tsp of cinnamon
½ tsp of baking powder
3oz broken walnut pieces
2 tbsp of flaked almonds
1. Light oven gas 5/elec 160’C. Grease and line a 12 x 8 square tin with parchment paper.
2. Put the chocolate and coconut butter in a pan and heat gently until the chocolate melts. Do not overheat or boil.
3. In a food processor blend the beetroot and eggs until smooth.
4. In a bowl add the ground almonds, cinnamon and baking powder. Stir in the chocolate mixture, and egg mixture and mix till smooth. Stir in the walnuts.
5. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and sprinkle over the flaked almonds. Bake 20-25mins till springy to the touch.
6. Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and cut into bars. Will keep for up to 4 days in a tin or freeze.
Seeded Protein Bars
225g/8oz of pitted dates
Juice and zest of 3 lemons
115g/4oz of nut butter or tahini
60g/2oz of coconut butter
150g/5oz of oats
150g/5oz buckwheat flakes
50g/2oz of protein powder
30g/1oz of both pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds
30g/1oz coconut oil
1 tblsps of ground flaxseeds
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1. Preheat oven 190’C /gas 5, line an 8x12” tray bake tin.
2. Place dates, lemon juice, zest, nut butter and coconut oil in a food processor and process to a thick paste.
3. Mix the date mixture with the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Place in the tin and smooth down firmly.
5. Bake 20-25mins till golden, cool in the tin then cut into 15 slices.
Raspberry & Buckwheat Slice
200g/7oz of raspberries
150g/5oz of cashew nuts
225g/8oz of buckwheat flakes
125g/4 ½ oz of dried dates
1 tsp of vanilla essence
125g/4 ½ oz of coconut butter
1. Preheat the oven 190’C/gas 5. Grease and line an 8” square shallow tin.
2. Process the nuts to form a fine powder, add the buckwheat and process again got break it down. Put the ingredients into a bowl.
3. Put the dates, coconut butter, vanilla essence and process till smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and work together to form a crumbly dough.
4. Press ½ of the dough into the base of the tin. Mash the raspberries and spread over the mixture. Top with the remaining mixture and press into the tin lightly
5. Bake for 25mins till golden. Cool in the tin and cut into 12 slices.
Banana Pancakes
1 medium ripe banana mashed
two eggs mixed
2 tablespoons of flour.
Method
Simply cook them as you would normal pancakes (make them as small thick pancakes not the large flat ones) you can eat these cold with some nut butter. Put them with natural yogurt and berries, or simply have them plain.