Cookin' with Chris 👨‍🍳

[Chris_Shugart]

Yeah! I’ll have to try the pizza idea. Super versatile. Dani and I filled them with Asian chicken and guac.

[Brant_Drake]

@Chris_Shugart

Ingredients

1 cup cottage cheese
2 eggs
Herbs and spices of choice

Bake.

That’s a fritatta.

[cyclonengineer]

yeah, but that’s a weak name.
Renaming to ferocious protein packed flatbread.

[Brant_Drake]

I’ll make you into a ferocious packed protein flatbread.

But you have to pay for drinks. I’m easy, not cheap

[ChickenLittle]

If you lightly grease the pan the parchment paper will stick to it, you can smooth out the creases, and it will lay flat.

[Chris_Shugart]

Awesome, thanks!

[Chris_Shugart]

Ninja Creami Fun

I’m hesitant to buy new kitchen gadgets, but the Ninja Creami has been fun. It’s one of those things where you definitely need to read the direction book before using. Lots of rules and lots of little buttons to hit in the right order. Once you get it down though, it’s simple to use.

The only drawback? You have to freeze your “base” for 24 hours before you actually use the machine. I think it’s more like 18-20 or so with my freezer. So, if you want ice cream tomorrow, you get it ready to go today. I bought two extra pint containers so that’s no big deal now.

I’ve made six different kinds so far, experimenting with different liquids (nonfat milk, 1% milk, almond milk, coconut milk etc.), flavors, and mix-ins.

Here’s a good one:

Triple Chocolate Ice Cream

12 oz 1% milk
2 scoops MD Protein, chocolate
1 tablespoon cacao powder (100% pure)
2 squares 90% dark chocolate (chopped and mixed in)

So that’s over 50 grams of protein for one pint, or over 25 grams a serving if you can stop yourself from eating the whole thing. Technically, the serving size is half a pint, which is cute.

Anyone else taking up counter space with the Creami?

[Brant_Drake]

I have one, and got so stoked that I didn’t have to spend 5k on a paco jet. The extra containers makes it worth it - you just grind them when you feel like it.

[Chris_Shugart]

You know, I was worried you were going to say that if it’s not hand-cranked and made from heavy cream, it’s not real ice cream.

[Brant_Drake]

@Chris_Shugart

hand-cranked and made from heavy cream

Good lord, we don’t live in Iowa in the 1800’s.

I like this product because you can customize flavors - so your MD recipe is great. My summer menu ice cream is sweet corn with chili threads. And frozen in those corncob cornbread molds.

It’s so stupid, but people keep asking for it.

Back to the point, this is a good machine, but get the extra containers.

[Chris_Shugart]

I started a Ninja CREAMi thread for those interested. The title is very creative.

[Chris_Shugart]

Beefy Queso

I’m grew up in Texas so queso was a major food group, along with Dr. Pepper. These days I’d rather not consume 100,000 calories in just an appetizer. So I decided to make it a meal! Oh, and lower those calories and pack in the protein.

Here’s the general idea of how make it:

1. Cook up a pound of 92% lean ground beef.

2. Make 1/2 cup of rice. I like the classic method. This is optional but delicious.

3. Now for the fun part. Blend a cup of cottage cheese, about a cup of shredded cheese of choice (I use pepper jack), 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning (I use Siete brand), salt, and 1/4 cup of water or stock. Blend until smooth and add more liquid if needed.

4. Toss the cooked rice into the beef, cover with the queso, stir, and add whatever else you want like tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc.

I served mine with baked corn tortillas (recipe somewhere above).

[Chris_Shugart]

Frozen Yogurt Protein Pops

Frozen Yogurt Protein Pops #proteindessert

[Chris_Shugart]

Over the weekend, Dani and I had a late lunch and didn’t feel like cooking a giant meal that night, so we just ate ice cream for dinner. Yeah, I might be addicted to MD Protein Ninja CREAMi recipes.

Here’s the latest and here’s the RECIPE. This one clocked in at about 48 grams of protein.

[Chris_Shugart]

High-Protein Peanut Butter Ice Cream

High Protein Peanut Butter Ice Cream - Ninja CREAMi #proteinicecream

[Chris_Shugart]

Butter pecan ice cream, 50+ grams of protein, no added sugar. Recipe HERE.

I used a little butter extract to get pretty close to a butter pecan flavor. Traditionally, the butter in butter pecan ice cream comes from the sugar/butter-glazed pecans. I’m fine with a little butter here and there, but I wanted to keep the calories in check. I think the extract did the job.

You know, when referring to the flavor of a “diet food,” my mom used to say, “It’s good if you’re fat and hungry!”

I like that. I’m sure if you had a spoonful of my high-protein, no-added-sugar ice cream and then a spoonful of store-bought butter pecan, you’d think the “real” stuff was a little better. BUT, my stuff won’t make you fat, won’t give you type-2 diabetes, won’t put you into a sugar coma, and will provide you with a ton of protein.

So, the flavor is close enough.

I’m always amazed when someone who clearly needs to lose weight complains about a healthier alternative not tasting exactly the same as the unhealthy version. They act like the maker of the healthy food failed them:

“Well, if you could make it taste exactly like the kind I’m used to eating, I’d eat it. But you didn’t, so I have to continue to get fatter and die of an easily preventable disease! It’s your fault!”

Oh, F’ off, you child.

I tire of people asking for help then refusing to make even the tiniest sacrifice that could make them feel better and even save their lives. All we can do is provide some good info and let them choose.

[T3hPwnisher]

@Chris_Shugart

I’m always amazed when someone who clearly needs to lose weight complains about a healthier alternative not tasting exactly the same as the unhealthy version. They act like the maker of the healthy food failed them:

“Well, if you could make it taste exactly like the kind I’m used to eating, I’d eat it. But you didn’t, so I have to continue to get fatter and die of an easily preventable disease! It’s your fault!”

Oh, F’ off, you child.

I tire of people asking for help then refusing to make even the tiniest sacrifice that could make them feel better and even save their lives. All we can do is provide some good info and let them choose.

In fairness, it’s rarely a lack of education or good choices that gets someone to the point that someone “clearly needs to lose weight”: it’s the lack of desire to USE that education and MAKE those choices.

They’ve clearly prioritized eating the yummiest foods over physical health and betterment, because we live in an environment of abundance of ALL types, to include healthy options and alternatives.

We live a hyperbolic existence, where something is either “amazing” or it “sucks”. There’s never an in between. No one will tolerate a “good enough” food. If it’s not the best thing ever, it sucks and it’s not worth having. And when you factor in that their are companies out there specifically engineering foods to be palatable beyond anything our brains can actually comprehend, they actually reduce our ability TO enjoy simple, REAL flavors and have us chasing the hedonistic flavor dragon with the release of each new incredible taste sensation.

We have junk food that is now flavored to taste like OTHER junkfood. Artificially flavored artificial foods. Wrap you brain around that.

Sorry to rant in your space here, but I dig your message.

[Chris_Shugart]

Yes, all great points!

I think we get a little myopic in our healthier lifestyles. I forget how “real people” think about food. I still have a minor freakout when I see someone drinking a full-sugar soda. It’s like seeing a child smoke a cigarette.

I just get frustrated when a person IRL asks me a health question then rejects my answer because the solution requires something: effort, time, money, making a change of ANY freakin’ kind, etc. Some of them almost get defensive and mad. Hey, you asked me, bro!

And despite my internet demeanor, I’m pretty kind and considerate in real life when answering fitness questions.

Ok, these are obviously fake, but I found two for you:

And one for the normies:

[T3hPwnisher]

I appreciate how well you know me, haha.

@Chris_Shugart

I just get frustrated when a person IRL asks me a health question then rejects my answer because the solution requires something: effort, time, money, making a change of ANY freakin’ kind, etc. Some of them almost get defensive and mad. Hey, you asked me, bro!

Everyone wants in on “the secret”, and no one wants the secret to be effort. It’s why you can sell anyone anything when it comes to health and fitness: they WANT to believe the lie, because it’s SO much more appealing than the truth.

[Chris_Shugart]

Someone made a joke about eating ice cream for breakfast and I thought, “We can make that happen.” So, oatmeal ice cream.

Recipe here.