Apple Blueberry Protein Bars

Hey, it's Jess today!

So, in another attempt at this whole lose fat/gain muscle thing, I've started another diet. I'm on day 6 of it now and haven't yet failed - yay! This time, I'm following the LiveFit Trainer plan, created by Jamie Eason. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-easons-livefit-introduction.html Just look at her, and you'll see why this seems like a good idea. Sadly, I am going to have to start the plan again exercise wise as my back and knee have been giving me grief all week so I've had to rest early, so I will start again. But the basis of this plan as far as food goes is to eat clean, high-protein meals every 2-3 hours. Meals generally consist of a decent sized portion of lean protein, a restricted portion of clean carbs (think brown rice, sweet potato, quinoa...it does allow certain types of pitta bread etc. but we're keeping this gluten free too), and unlimited vegetables as long as they're grilled, boiled or steamed (OK, I kind of failed, I fried my broccoli last night because I couldn't face it boiled again). Oh, and you're meant to consume 10 egg whites a day. Which I am not, because that would involve spending £60+ a month on eggs which isn't feasible on my stipend. But anyway, I am trying. And clean eating feels good, I haven't been bloated for six whole days or felt guilty about anything I've put past my lips, which is always a good start :)

So one of the small meal options on this plan is homemade protein bars. A recipe for carrot cake bars is provided, as well as chocolate, lemon and pumpkin flavours, but all the recipes include sweeteners such as Stevia or Ideal, which I am really not a fan of using. So I adjusted the recipes to suit what i want to use, and went for apple blueberry flavour.

Makes 8 servings:

1 cup oat bran
2 scoops vanilla whey protein
4 egg whites
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
125g blueberries (1/2 mashed, 1/2 whole)
1 apple, grated
1 tbsp milled flaxseed (optional)
2 tsp chia seeds (optional)
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
50g flaked almonds (optional)

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine egg whites, mashed blueberries, grated apple and a tbsp or two of water. Mix two bowls. Pour into pyrex dish and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180C.

Simple enough. Divided into eight portions, one bar provides 141 calories, 12g carbs, 11g protein and 7g fat. All the ingredients are approved for livefit, I just edited the original recipes by leaving out the unnatural sweeteners and using blueberries instead. And I added flax and chia seeds to add some omega fats and fibre, and the almonds make them a little denser and add some protein. These could easily be left out though. Mine turned out great though and will definitely be having them as small meal/snack options throughout the day.

(Sorry, I don't know how to make this vegan, when on a diet that requires you to consume 10 egg whites a day veganism isn't something I can really think about :( )

Vegan, Gluten Free Breakfast Muffins

It only seems right to start this blog with a healthy, low cal recipe suitable for vegans and coeliacs.

So, we've perfected the muffin that contains no flour, sugar, butter or eggs. We varied this a few times to make sure we got a good texture.

Jess: On telling friends, and my Mum, about the ingredients I was met with disbelief that it would actually taste like a muffin. But it does. It looks like one too. Despite being such a healthy recipe, it took me a while to get my head around not feeling guilty eating a muffin, because I've always associated them with being overly indulgent treats. But this recipe really is good for you, it keeps you full for hours and definitely stops the need for a snack to get you through the morning. This could also be great for diabetic people too, as oat bran, flaxseed and cinnamon all have links to stabilising blood sugar levels.

The basic recipe for this is one we found online, but it was a bit plain and (although still tasty) so we decided to experiment with this and make it generally much more appealing and wonderful. The basic recipe is as follows:

Basic Flaxseed Muffin:

1 egg
3 tbsp flaxseed
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tbsp oil

Mix in a mug and microwave for one minute.

The benefit of a recipe this simple (and microwaveable!) is that you can make as many as you want very quickly, so changing a little bit of the recipe at a time was not a problem. First things first, we veganised (yes, it's now a verb) the recipe by substituting half a banana for the egg (Tom: soon I hope to do a general post about vegan baking - watch this space!) We found that this didn't rise so well, so we added some milk (almond - but that's just personal preference) to make it a bit more of a batter, which solved that problem. Then we tried adding oat bran to the muffins to stop them from being quite so stodgy. Finally (the fun bit!) we added lots of combination of spices, vanilla, maple syrup, nut and blueberries till we found what we think is the best recipe!

However, probably while you're making this you'll think "hmmm, this would definitely benefit from just a pinch of.....", or you may even decide you hate cinnamon and blueberries (which would leave you with a very sad and empty life) and want to scrap our recipe and start again from the basic recipe in which case YOU CAN! You officially have our permission to make whatever muffin you think will be best. All we ask is you take a couple of photos and tell us your ideas at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com or post them in a comment below. We want to hear your improvements!

If you haven't cooked using flaxseed before, it's available in health food shops (Jess: I got mine from the Eighth Day Vegetarian shop in Manchester) but Sainsbury's do sometimes sell it too. It's high in fibre so introduce it into your diet slowly and maybe start with 2 tbsp oat bran to 1 tbsp flax if your gut is sensitive. It's a great ingredient to use though, lots of protein and omega-3 fatty acids and its low-carb so good for the dieters. Oat bran is also low carb and full of fibre, adding to the health benefits of these muffins.

This recipe is best made in a regular coffee mug. Any will do.

Ingredients
1/2 banana
1/2 tbsp oil (use whichever type you prefer, olive oil works fine in my experience)
1/2 tbsp milk (again, whichever type you want. Skimmed, full fat, almond, soy...whatever. Water would probably work here too)
2 tbsp milled flaxseed
1 tbsp oat bran (gluten free if needed)
1 tsp baking powder
1-2 tsp cinnamon

Firstly, mash the banana in the mug. Once mashed, it will have a similar consistency to beaten egg.

 Add the oil and milk to the banana and mix. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix.

 We made this recipe with a few blueberries too, but anything would go in here (eg. other berries, dried fruits, chocolate chips...). Once all mixed together, put the mug in the microwave and cook on full power for 1-2 minutes. Jess: I have a 700W microwave so it took me about 2 mins 20 to be fully cooked, but check after a minute if you're lucky enough to not be living in student accommodation with a microwave from the 18th century.

Would you like some eyes with that muffin? Sorry, no can do.

And there you have it. A muffin with no flour, sugar, butter or eggs. If you prefer to use eggs, just substitute the banana for an egg. You don't have to use cinnamon, use anything you wish to flavour it. Vanilla essence also works nicely. We love cinnamon so as you will soon notice, we put bucket loads of it in absolutely everything, but you don't have to.

Using the above recipe (with regular skimmed milk, and a few blueberries), this muffin contains about 210kcal. Completely guilt free and a great filling start to the day.

Enjoy and let us know how it goes!