Breakfast: Farmer's Market morning. Made up a High Protein Iced Coffee in my blenderbottle and I was out the door. Got some great stuff at the market: more peaches and cherries (I pitted and froze some for future protein shakes), sweet, red and green onions, zucchini, tomatoes (my plants are doing well but slooooow, yesterday I picked 3 cherry tomatoes LOL not quite enough for a salad), cauliflower, avocados, and a big bunch of basil I already turned into pesto sauce. Later today, I'm going take about half the pesto and make pesto cubes. I spoon the sauce into an ice cube tray and when they are frozen I pop out the cubes and store them in a freezer Ziploc bag for use in sauces, soups and dips (drop them in frozen or nuke 20 seconds to defrost.)
More Eggface Protein Shakes and Smoothies
Lunch: Came home and heated up leftovers. This was a delicious dinner and leftovers were even better today for lunch.
Shelly's Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie
2 medium-sized Sweet Potatoes (or Yams)
1 Tablespoon Milk
1 Tablespoon Butter (optional)
1/2 pound Ground Beef
1 Onion, diced
2 Green Onions, diced
1/2 cup Frozen Peas, defrosted
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 Tablespoon Parmesan Cheese
a few twists of Black Pepper
salt to taste
I stab the sweet potatoes and toss them in this gadget. It steams them to perfection in the microwave in 10 minutes, test with a knife you want the knife to go in without resistance. Scoop the good stuff out and discard the skins. Smoosh (very technical cooking term) till smooth with a fork with a sprinkle of salt and 1 Tablespoon of milk and butter (optional) it's also fine without the added butter calories but I like the taste. Set aside.
Saute beef (turkey can be used too) till no pink is seen. Drain any fats and set aside. Saute onions till golden, add back meat, and remaining ingredients (except sweet potato and Parmesan). Cook a minute or so and stir to combine. Spoon into ramekins or a pie dish. Top with sweet potato, sprinkle with Parmesan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. The last minute or so I broil the top to make the cheese golden brown. Leftovers freeze well in fact, I made 4 ramekins (2 we ate for dinner, 2 for lunch today) and a gratin dish I froze for later in the week.
Dinner: Fired up the BBQ to make beef kabobs and grilled zucchini. When I first got home from errands I put the meat in a gallon Ziploc with 1/4 cup of store-bought Italian dressing and a sprinkle of Greek seasoning and placed it in the fridge. Periodically throughout the day I jiggled the bag. When I was ready to grill I removed the meat from the marinade (discard bag & excess) and skewered the meat cubes. I sliced some of the zucchini I bought lengthwise, swiped them with olive oil, sprinkled a little Greek seasoning. I tossed them on the grill and while they cooking and were making the neighborhood smell amazing I mixed up a yogurt dip. I dip everything... but especially meat helps post-op (adds moisture and bonus protein.)
Shelly's Pesto Parmesan Greek Yogurt Dip
3 oz. Greek Yogurt, plain
1 Tablespoon Parmesan, grated
1 Tablespoon Pesto Sauce (storebought or make your own)
Salt to taste
a few twists of Black Pepper
Mix till well blended. Great for dipping meats, veggies or as a salad dressing.
Snacks: Lots of coffee (those splashes of soy milk must be accounted for) and I made up a batch of Cinnamon Protein Ice Cream (pictured is a double batch) 20 minutes in the ice cream maker and any protein shake can become this...
Shelly's Cinnamon Protein Ice Cream
1 cup Vanilla Soy Milk (or Regular Milk)
2 scoops Vanilla Protein Powder
2 Tablespoons Sugar Free Torani Syrup (I used SF Vanilla)
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
Mix together milk, protein, syrup and cinnamon. I used this gadget to mix it up. It makes it airy and lump free. If you don't have one of those just whiz it on super turbo high in the blender, you want airy. Pour into ice cream maker. Follow your machine's instructions for freezing. You can eat it right away it is soft serve-ish but I like to put it in the freezer to set for an hour.
More Eggface Protein Ice Cream
I took a scoop, sandwiched in between leftover Cinnamon Churro Ricotta Pancakes. AMAZING! Healthy, protein-packed ice cream sandwich for dessert. A great finish to an especially yummy day.
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