The Meal Plan #5
Easy high-protein recipes that will keep you eating at home!
Hey everybody! Welcome back to yet another meal plan! I’ve got a nice variety of high-protein dishes for you in this issue. These recipes reflect my continued efforts to have more balance in my diet overall. I tend to eat meat in every meal because I’m trying to hit my protein goals, but I’m slowly finding ways to have at least one meal without meat. Just to give my body a break from relying on one type of food and make room for other nutritious foods. As always, if you enjoy this newsletter please consider subscribing or sharing it with someone else. Thank you!
Breakfast
Banana Blueberry Egg White French Toast
29G Protein Per 3 Slices of Toast | 308 Calories | 15 Minutes
I’m ashamed to say that for many years, my lips never made any contact with French toast. Of course, I would see commercials for Cinnamon French Toast cereal and see the actual French toast words on breakfast menus, but for some reason, I just never ended up eating it. Perhaps I was too busy waffling over the choice between other breakfast items. Needless to say, I’m making up for the lost time starting with this recipe.
Here are all the ingredients you’ll need:
8 Slices White Bread
1 Cup Egg Whites
2 Tbsp Milk
1 Banana
Blueberries
1/2 Tsp Maple Extract
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Butter Spray (Optional)
1-2 Tbsp Zero Calorie Sweetener
And the cooking instructions:
Create The Egg White Custard 🍮
Add the banana, blueberries, milk, vanilla extract, and maple extract to a blender.
Blend briefly until the banana and blueberries have broken down, about 20 seconds.
Add the egg whites and zero-calorie sweetener to the blender.
Blend for about 10 seconds until all ingredients are incorporated together.
Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl.
Prep The Toast 🍞
Take one slice of bread and submerge it in the egg-white mixture briefly. Flip over the bread to the other side and submerge it again briefly.
Keep doing this until the bread has sufficiently soaked up some of the egg white. The time will depend on the thickness of your white bread.
Set your soaked bread on a plate off to the side.
Cook The French Toast 🥐
Preheat a pan over medium-low heat with some butter spray.
Add two of your soaked pieces of bread and cook each side until golden brown.
BON APPETIT!
Lunch
Turkey Chili
32G Protein Per 1.5 Cup | 360 Calories | 30 Minutes
I seriously miss eating Wendy’s chili. However, I seriously don’t miss getting sick from eating it. Not sure if the cook at my location of choice just accidentally made rancid chili, but either way my stomach has PTSD from my last visits. Instead of continuing to push my luck, these days I’ve resorted to just making something similar myself. This recipe was influenced by Todd Wilbur’s Wendy Chili recipe with some of my own modifications. If you don’t have an instant pot, feel free to add all the ingredients from the list below and cook the chili in a slow cooker for 6-7 hours.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
1 lb Ground Turkey
1 Cup Beef Broth
1 1/2 Chopped Vine Tomatoes
1 Chopped Red Onion
1 Can 14.5 Ounce Tomato Sauce
1 14.5 Ounce Can Kidney Beans
1 14.5 Ounce Can Pinto Beans
1 Can Green Chilis
1.5 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
3 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Tsp Salt
Toppings (Green Onions, Sour Cream, Shredded Cheese, Crackers)
Here are the cooking instructions:
Brown The Turkey 🦃
Preheat the olive oil in the instant pot by hitting the saute button.
Add in the ground turkey and brown it.
Add The Other Ingredients 🥕
Add all the other ingredients to the pot except the tomato paste.
Cover the instant pot with its lid.
Set the instant pot to the soup/chili setting for 15 minutes with high pressure.
Simmer & Thicken Chili 🌶️
Take the lid off the instant pot and press the saute button again.
Add in your tomato paste and stir the chili.
Let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the chili starts to thicken.
Taste and add salt if needed.
ENJOY!
Dinner
Chicken Miso Ramen
53G Protein Per Bowl | 512 Calories | 40 Minutes
Let’s be honest. We’ve all probably consumed the MSG bomb that is Maruchan Ramen at one point or another. The chicken flavor was my savior during freshman year of college. While this kind of ramen serves its purpose at times, you’ve never truly had ramen until you’ve had Japanese ramen. Mainly because ramen is supposed to taste like something else rather than a salt factory. This recipe is a homemade attempt to replicate Japanese ramen, while still being high in protein and nutritious!
Ingredients you’ll need to make this:
5-6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
4 Hardboiled Eggs
8 Ounces Ramen Noodles
8 Cups Chicken Bone Broth
5 Tbsp Miso Paste
2 Tbsp Cooking Sherry
2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
1 Pack of Green Onion
1 Head of Bok Choy
2 Packs of Shitake Mushroom
1 Small Knob of Ginger (1 inch)
1 Tsp White Pepper
1.5 Tbsp Garlic Powder
3 Tbsp Melted Light Butter
Sesame Seed
Cooking Spray
1/2 Tsp Salt
Cook The Chicken 🐓
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Season the chicken with 1 Tbsp of sesame oil, garlic powder, white pepper, and salt.
Add the chicken to a baking sheet and top each thigh with melted butter.
Cook for about 30 minutes.
Boil The Eggs 🥚
Bring a pot of water to a boil and carefully add your eggs.
Cook for 7 minutes. Take out the eggs and add them to a bowl of cold water.
Saute The Bok Choy 🥬
Chop up 1 pack of green onions and bok choy.
Separate the whites of the green onions from the green leaves.
Preheat a pot over medium heat and coat with cooking spray. Add the bok choy.
Cook the bok choy for about 30 seconds. Take out of the pot & set aside.
Create The Soup 🍲
Add in your remaining tbsp of sesame oil to the pot and turn down to medium-low heat.
Add the miso paste and fry it for 30 seconds.
Add in the cooking sherry and stir with the miso paste quickly, then add in the bone broth.
Toss in the whites from the green onion and shitake mushrooms.
Simmer the broth for 15 minutes. Take out the green onion whites and mushrooms.
Set the mushrooms aside for later. Discard the whites from the green onion.
Prepare The Noodles 🍝
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add your ramen noodles.
Cook according to the package directions.
Assemble The Ramen Bowl 🍜
Slice your cooked chicken thighs into long strips.
Grab a shallow bowl and add 1 3/4 cups of the ramen broth.
Add in your noodles and top with the chicken, egg, bok choy, and mushrooms.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over the egg.
Top with your chopped green onions and any additional toppings.
ITADAKIMASU!
Alternate Lunch or Dinner
Egg White Frittata
15G Protein Per 1/4th of Frittata | 114 Calories | 35 - 40 Minutes
I know I’m going a little wild with the egg whites this week, but I like using them to boost protein in dishes where I can. They’re pretty low in calories with the added benefit of not tasting synthetic like many protein powders. To make the egg whites more interesting, I decided to make this frittata with similar flavors to the Starbucks bacon gruyere egg bites. It’s not exactly a copycat recipe because this isn’t sous vide, but I think it can scratch that itch if you have it. I would make two of these to make sure you’re satisfied.
Ingredients you’ll need to make this:
8 Ounces Egg Whites
2 Tbsp Milk
4 Slices of Bacon
3 Shallots
1 Cup of Spinach
1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese
1/4 Cup Shredded Light Mexican Cheese
5-6 Dashes of Hot Sauce
1/2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper
Cooking Instructions:
Cook The Bacon 🥓
Finely chop your bacon and shallots.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Preheat a 12-inch skillet over medium-low heat, and add the bacon.
Cook the bacon until the fat renders and the bits are crispy.
Remove the bacon. Place it on a paper towel and pat the excess grease.
Pour the bacon fat into a mug or small Pyrex container.
Clean out the skillet.
Cook The Shallots 🧅
Add some of your rendered bacon fat back to the pan.
Throw in the chopped shallots and cook until translucent.
Add in your spinach and cook for 15 - 20 seconds.
Remove both from the pan and let cool.
Prep The Frittata For The Oven 🍽️
In a bowl, combine all the ingredients with the egg whites and mix.
Spray your 12-inch skillet with cooking spray thoroughly.
Add the egg-white mixture to the skillet and place in the oven.
Bake for 28-30 Minutes until the egg whites are firm.
Put a plate over the skillet and flip to get the frittata out. You can also use a spatula to help remove it from the skillet.
ENJOY!
Dessert
Chocolate PB2 Covered Pretzels
8G Protein Per Bowl | 180 Calories
Since I’ve been having French toast for breakfast most of this week, I haven’t really been craving desserts after dinner too much. For the nights when my sugar addiction does pop up, I have these protein Flipz-like chocolate pretzels to go to.
Ingredients you’ll need to make this:
2 Tbsp PB2
1 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
5-6 Tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk
1 Tsp Hazelnut Extract (Optional)
2 Tbsp Zero-Calorie Sweetener
Mini Pretzels
Cooking Instructions:
Add all of the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Not the pretzels.
Slowly add the almond milk while continuously stirring.
Submerge the pretzels in the chocolate or use it as a dip.
ENJOY!
I hope that this meal plan gave you some inspiration for your own home cooking and has made your life just a little easier. If it did, let me know with a like or a comment below!
Want more recipes? Check out Issue #3 or Issue #4
That ramen is making my mouth water!