Fresh Lime-Vanilla Yogurt Smoothie

Fresh Lime-Vanilla Yogurt Smoothie

Cool and refreshing, this is the perfect summer smoothie! I have made it three times over the last few days since it is insanely hot here and I just could not face my normal hot protein drink for breakfast. I did use fresh limes to make these, but you can probably use bottled lime juice – but the fresh juice and zest will make for a better smoothie. I plan on making these at least somewhat frequently so I made ice cubes from the juice and zest so I can make this even faster by just popping two of them into the blender and reducing the amount of normal ice cubes. You can also use a higher fat yogurt and your favorite milk if you prefer – and can also add more protein powder or omit it entirely.

4-5 ice cubes
1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt (120 calories, 21.25 grams protein)
1/2 cup regular or low fat milk or soy milk (for testing I used low fat soy milk) (35 calories, 2 grams protein)
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (for testing we used Unjury Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (50 calories, 10 grams protein)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Juice and freshly grated zest of ½ lime (10 calories)
Dash salt

Add the ice cubes to a blender or food processor and whirl until the ice cubes are crushed. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until the mixture is thick and smooth. Pour into a glass and serve chilled.

Makes 1 serving.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

215 calories, 33.25 grams protein

Asian Style Shrimp and Scallion Frittata

Asian Style Shrimp and Scallion Frittata

I know, Frittatas are technically Italian, but who can resist this savory combo of flavors? The simple combination of creamy eggs, sweet shrimp, fresh scallions, and a bit of Asian seasonings makes for a fantastic breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Frittatas offer infinite variations, and this one is no exception. You can use crab or lobster in place of the shrimp, can add other vegetables (asparagus is another favorite), skip or increase the amount of cream cheese, and if your diet allows for it, use regular cream cheese or add extra butter for a more traditional-style Frittata. You can also use your favorite milk and yogurt with excellent results. My favorite thing about Frittatas is how versatile they are. You can eat them hot, warm, at room temperature, or chilled and they store well tightly wrapped in the refrigerator and even freeze well, making them perfect for bariatric kitchens. I wrap individual wedges well in plastic wrap and then place the wedges in a heavy freezer bag. They will freeze well for up to two months. If you get overly enthusiastic when mixing the eggs and they start breaking up and resembling scrambled eggs, you can either finish scrambling them in the pan and serve them that way, or you can try to meld the ingredients back together by adding another beaten egg and seeing if you can glue it all back together before placing it back in the oven. Your end result might not be as pretty, but it certainly be just as tasty. I cut these into twelve slices for bariatric-friendly servings, but a “regular” serving would be two slices.

6 eggs or 1 ½ cups egg substitute (for testing I used egg substitute) (201 calories, 45.2 grams protein)
1/4 cup regular or low fat milk or soy milk (for testing I used regular soy milk) (66 calories, 4 grams protein)
1/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt (60 calories, 11 grams protein)
2 tablespoons soy sauce (16 calories, 2 grams protein)
2 teaspoons sesame oil (for testing we used Kevala Organic Toasted Sesame Oil (87 calories)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Dash cayenne
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon margarine or butter (for testing I used 1 tablespoon light butter) (50 calories)
1 tablespoon olive or other cooking oil (119 calories)
½ cup sliced scallions (white and green parts divided) (16 calories, 1 gram protein)
2 minced garlic cloves
3/4 pound peeled and deveined small shrimp (320 calories, 72 grams protein)
2 ounces cubed light cream cheese (148 calories, 5.6 grams protein)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the eggs, milk, yogurt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and spices in a medium bowl and set aside. Heat a large, heavy oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter and olive oil together in the pan, and once hot add the white part of the scallions and the garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes, or until the scallions are starting to soften and the garlic is transparent. Add the shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring continually, until the shrimp is mostly pink on the outside. Add the egg mixture and cook until the eggs are just starting to set, only stirring gently to move the eggs around and to prevent sticking. Make sure not to over mix the eggs – you do not want them to resemble scrambled eggs. Fold in the cream cheese and reserved green scallions and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the eggs and shrimp are cooked through and the edges are lightly browned. Let cool in the pan for at least 3-5 minutes to make removing from the pan easier. Remove from the pan and cut into 12 wedges.

Makes 12 servings.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Cooling Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

1083 calories, 116.8 grams protein total
90.3 calories, 11.7 grams protein per serving

Mango Protein Smoothie

This was breakfast this morning and was surprisingly good. I used plain protein powder, but next time I will try mango-flavored protein powder. And I will experiment with other fruit as well. I had frozen mango chunks in the freezer, but you could also use fresh mango if you prefer. I used powdered non-fat milk and water, but you could use 1/2 cup of skim milk instead. I have experimented with cottage cheese in other fruit smoothies with mixed results, but it does work with mango really well, and you don't get a strong cottage cheese or protein powder flavor. The key with using cottage cheese when making shakes and smoothies is to thoroughly blend the mixture so you do not get any larger pieces of cottage cheese. I make this, along with most of my single-serving smoothies in my Hamilton Beach 51101B Personal Blender with Travel Lid since I can just mix it and drink from the same container which means less dishes. Because of the small size I suggest adding the ingredients in the order listed, but if you are using a bigger blender you can just toss everything in together and blend until smooth. I tried a quarter of the recipe as is (good), a quarter with cinnamon (OK, but not great), a quarter with vanilla (good), and the last bit with a mix of cardamom and ginger (my personal favorite, but probably not to most people's taste.) This is not a very sweet smoothie, so if you would prefer something sweeter you can add some artificial sweetener or sugar free mango syrup. If you do not have frozen mangoes, you can use fresh berries plus additional ice cubes. To make sure the smoothie is not too diluted you can just put the ice cubes in a one cup measuring cup and then add enough water to measure one cup.


1/2 cup ice cubes
1/2 cup frozen mango (46 calories, 0g protein)
1/4 cup fat-free cottage cheese (26 calories, 4g protein)
1 1/2 tablespoons non-fat dry milk powder (45 calories, 4.5g protein)
1/2 scoop unflavored protein powder (for testing purposes we used 1 scoop (22 grams) which is equivalent to a 1/2 scoop of other protein powders) Syntrax Nectar Medical Unflavored Protein Powder (80 calories, 20g protein)
1/2 cup water

Combine the ice and mango in the blender and pulse until finely chopped/crushed. Add the cottage cheese, dry milk powder, and protein powder and blend until smooth. Slowly add the water while blending until smooth, adding more water if desired for a thinner smoothie.

Makes one 12-ounce smoothie.
197 calories, 28.5 grams protein