Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I am right there with you guys on oatmeal. I eat it every morning and have taken to measuring to .75 cup just so I don't go into a huge amount. I add about a TBSP of peanut butter in as well as blackstrap molasses (no need for sweetener beyond that now, hooray!) and the only way I'm comfortable with the number of calories is the fact that I have at minimum a 1 hr 10 minute bike ride every day. (while trying to lose weight-maintenance I'd probably be a-ok with it no matter what) Thinking about trying to hide protein powder in it sometimes to up the protein content of breakfasts since that's right after my workouts usually.

As is, Chickpea Noodle Soup (Veganomicon) is 240 calories/serving with around 9g/protein. (edited, I realized the calorie count for Soba in SparkPeople was wrong so I updated it)

I made it today, added extra mushrooms, added another cup of chickpeas, added some chicken-like broth and bunch more water.

Good idea! I, too, am generally over carbs and fat and under protein :(

I'm always over with sugar/carbs and under with protein, and mostly under fat, too. I still have to get over the whole 80/10/10 low fat shtick. I like low fat food but sometimes I struggle with over 30 grams of fat, etc.

My secrets to lower-carb, lower-cal, high protein dieting:
-every meal is based on vegetables, preferably low cal veggies - sometimes the meal is oriented around a "side" veggie dish (like the braised cabbage with seitan in AFR, which should just be a main with a small side of starchy veg)
-after the veggies comes the high-protein component of the meal: beans, tofu, tempeh, seitan
-starches are the smallest portion or eliminated entirely; switch the ratios of beans to grains in recipes to make sure the beans are always the majority ingredient
-cut completely or drastically reduce the amount of oil in sauces and marinades
-weigh or measure to make sure you're getting an actual serving and not 2, 3, or 4 servings.
-snack on fresh fruit and veg only

I was able to get ~70g of protein in 1400 calories a day using a plan like this for several months.

I have so many days like that! When I was pregnant, I'd just start every day with tofu scramble, kale, nootch and ezekiel bread. I did it this morning and ended up with 57g of protein for 600 cal. Once my protein req was met, everything else was gravy! I made the AFR Arabian Lentil Soup and it is so good. Thanks for the tip!

What percentages are you guys aiming for? I thought I ate pretty low fat, but apparently not. I aim to get at least one serving of nuts in per day and a tbsp of flax seed, but I rarely cook with oil and use other fatty things like Earth Balance or Daiya on a once per week basis or less. Even like this, I'm getting about 25-30% of my calories from fat, which I consider pretty high. Then about 10-15% from protein (getting about 55g).

I did have some tacos with the ancho lentil filling from the PPK blog and got 22g of protein from that. Go lentils!

For my oatmeal, I always do 1/2 cup of oats and 1 tbsp of flax and then add one thing (either a fruit or a 1/2 serving of nuts) and this works out to just over 300 calories. By only adding one thing I still get to enjoy all the things I like in oatmeal (though not all together) and I keep the calories pretty low (I am not trying to lose weight).

I'd say 10 to 30% fat is a good range. My overall aim is 60% carb and 20% each for fat and protein. If I eat 1500 calories, that is a little over 70 grams of protein. It isn't perfect though, day to day I fluctuate.

Tonight's dinner was my version of Chana masala with potatoes. I really wish I had some cabbage to serve it over but it was for my husband, not myself as my appetite is down due to being sick.

Does anyone have suggestions for a lower calorie waffle? We have a tradition of waffles on Sunday morning, and we use the Banana Oatmeal Ones from VWAV. I found that in the SparkPeople calculator (but now can apparently not find it again) (http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/reci ... d=58896388) and its pretty good. I am just wondering if there are other ways to reduce the fat.

Its interesting, but being present to how much fat is in oil makes a big difference in the way I cook. I carefully measure out the smallest amount of oil I can, instead of just pouring it on. I think I need to start using a cooking spray.... Its amazing to me that a tablespoon of oil more or less can make a 120 cal difference

Not sure about waffles, but I almost always sub apple sauce in pancakes, and they come out fine. I am a lazy person though, and I use the Cherrybrook Farms mix.

I've played around with chickpea waffles but they aren't quite the same. I figure giving a higher protein boost would help but I don't make waffles enough to experiment enough. The problem I found is if you omit too much oil, the waffles tend to stick to the waffle pan.

My favorite win lately is this TVP chili , I make 10 servings in the slow cooker and it's 250 calories / 20 grams of protein. Nice change from bean & veggie heavy chilis too.

Susan Voisin saves the day! I made this for dinner. It is so hearty and yum. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/03/ca ... -soup.html

All her recipes (blog.fatfreevegan.com) have the nutrition info on them, which is so helpful. Honestly, I find myself cooking mostly from AFR and FFV because I can tell what I am getting.

As a super easy way to fill out a menu and throw in greens and manage hunger: cup or two of frozen green beans, 1 Tbsp of black bean and garlic sauce. Its only 70 calories and it makes you feel really full. The black bean and garlic sauce gives you a great punch of umami.

Quick/lazy lunch: I combined a Tasty Bite spinach dal packet with a 1 c of leftover cooked brown rice, 1/2 c cooked white beans, 1/2 c of frozen spinach, some water, a dash of soy sauce, a couple teaspoons of sriracha, about 1/4 c cilantro, then cooked until everything was hot and the rice was tender again. Then I split it into two servings.

Nutritional breakdown per serving according to MFP:

Calories: 285
Carbs: 46
Fat: 6
Protein: 11
Fiber: 9
Calcium DV %: 15
Iron DV %: 29

This meal isn't really the best if you're watching your sodium intake carefully, nor was it the highest in terms of protein for me today, but considering that it took me 5 minutes to make and wasn't total junk I'm going to call it "not bad". And of course you can always omit the soy sauce if you're not a salt fiend like me.

My win involves protein-enriched pasta; it tastes exactly the same but is made with legume flour.

Boiled 2oz Eating Right Pasta Plus Spaghetti plus 1 cup Trader Joes Organic Frozen Broccoli in the last 3 minutes, drained/reserved 1/2 cup liquid, added 1 tb nooch + garlic + s&p + 2 tsp Earth Balance, mixed with enough reserved pasta water to make a light sauce. A little lemon or red pepper flake would have be nice but it was tasty (I was craving something a little bland/comforting). Calories: 312 Carbs: 42 Fat: 10 Protein: 16 Fiber: 12. (percentage-wise, carbs: 54% fat: 29% protein: 20% approx)

I love Kittee's pudla recipe: http://kitteekake.blogspot.nl/2012/10/p ... oment.html

For lunch, I often make three small pudla's from 3/4 cup chickpea flour, 3/4 cup water, spices, and 1/2 cup each of green peas, finely chopped carrot, and chopped onion (or other vegetables that I have on hand). This makes a big and very filling lunch. I fry them together in a big non stick skillet with a little over 1 teaspoon of oil. Cal: 420, protein: 20, fat: 10, carbs: 62, fiber: 13.

They are also good cold and reheat nicely in the microwave, so they're perfect to make a big batch and eat them as lunches (or breakfast, or dinner) throughout the week.

I make these Kale and Black bean burritos. I use High Fiber, low carb whole wheat wraps. Loads of Kale, Black beans, some guac, some tofutti (I used to make my own cashew sour cream but I barely have time to throw a burrito together these days), and a little spice (cumin, garlic, onion, chili, paprika...all just thrown in there. No measurements!) One can of black beans makes four burritos. I use the 100 cal. packs of guac to make 2 burritos but you can split it into four (I have before).
One burrito is about 300-320 calories and is super filling. I do have two when I'm working at six flags, because of how much I'm walking. Two burritos with some broccoli, carrots, chips and salsa (I eat beanitos chips usually) is around 740 calories, less if you only have one burrito. And it's a shiitake ton of fiber.

Do you guys track your exercise too? I use cronometer, and usually just keep track of the 'real' exercise, like walking, cycling, maybe vacuuming, things that involve a lot of movement. The website allows you to enter a lot of other types of exercise too, like 'typing, computer data entry' (a.k.a. posting on the PPK) burns 87 cal in 60 minutes. I accidentally also found three types of exercise specific for police officers: driving a squad car, directing traffic while standing and making an arrest!

Oh that's funny!

I had a win with a breakfast of a big cut up apple, 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/2 cup granola. The fruit bulks it up and the yogurt and granola give you enough fat to make you feel full

Made a double portion of Vegan Richa's chickpea flour omelette and got 20g of protein for 400 calories, and it was amazingly delicious, GF,SF and toddler-approved. http://www.veganricha.com/2012/08/chick ... inach.html

Such a win!

I missed this thread the first time around, but I'm on SP too!

Zucchini Delight is good for this. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-d ... pe=2069488
Mexican Quinoa Bake. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-d ... pe=2063337
Rice and Lentil Stew. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-d ... pe=2508497

Mainly I've been meeting my protein needs with a Vega smoothie in the morning and a wrap or salad with Beyond Meat for lunch. And then normally some type of bean, tofu, tempeh or lentil dish for dinner.

I feel like I'm overdoing it on rice lately. But being GF it keeps my happy and full. I'm not really a huge quinoa fan and it's pricey. So rice seems to be my go to filler. But then my carb intake winds up being higher than I would like.

I'm also trying to keep my meals as cheap as possible. And I'm about to run out of Vega powder and don't want to buy anymore. So now I'm at a loss for a quick, easy, high protein breakfast.

Sounds yummy! Thanks for the tips GK!