Christopher - The Great Fitness Bake Off
If you hadn't already guessed it, one of the key elements to getting the body you dream of is not just the fruits of endless hours toiled on a treadmill, being shouted at by power hungry fitness experts. Bizarrely, all that hard work followed by a cheese laden bread-fest of a pizza seem to just cancel each other out. Bit of a con right? Granted there are those who see the gym as a vehicle for eating and drinking what they like, which is a perfectly fine solution to the combo of guilty pleasures and a clear conscience, but don't go moaning that all those sit-ups haven't given you abs harder than a Countdown conundrum.
My diet over the last 6 months has been meticulous to say the least. Hitting your nutritional macros is very important when gauging the successes you've made through your work in the weights room. Workouts are scheduled around the diet, they go hand in hand like peas and carrots. I've eaten a familiar staple of foods for 6 months now, variation in meats and greens only. Breakfasts of oats, egg whites, whey protein and fruit. Subsequent meals of meat, sweet potato and greens, then faster carbs such as white rice after a workout. FInishing off neatly with a casein protein and almond butter at bedtime. For those unfamiliar with the final meal, casein is a slow release protein that aids the recovery of your body and muscle as you sleep, it can be naturally found in cottage cheese for example, but most prefer the chocolatey goodness of a shake!
You can see how the above may become monotonous, even typing it out had me fighting off sleepy eyes. This is what led me to looking closer at the foods I was allowed, and how I could manipulate them to give me foods I would look forward to, to take away the temptation of evil cuisines I've grown to crave as the weeks went by. Previous to my move into fitness, I was often known for hosting many a dinner party, to experiment with food and learn new techniques. I've got plenty of books and watched enough cookery shows to the point where I could probably craft a clay model of Jamie Oliver's head, blindfolded, in homage to the great Lionel Richie. So this was a great starting point for getting into fitness baking, as I call it.
Fitness baking is by no means a new concept, people have been tossing up protein pancakes since the inception of whey powders. A wealth of recipes are sprawled across the internet and through popular magazines. These recipes are all well and good, but with only a few weeks preparation time left on the clock till my competition, I'm very strict on the foods I allow into my body, leading me to work on my own recipes within these confines. Following the competition, I will be exploring a much greater spectrum of ingredients, and creating recipes for a broader audience, but right now, it's all about hyper clean eating.
I greatly encourage you all to experiment yourselves, even those who aren't competing would do well to ensure they get enough protein in their diets, as it's a growing problem with the 'Mum's gone to Iceland' generation. Let's not get me started on that now! Before we start, if you're baking or freezing anything you make then investigate silicon moulds, as nothing sticks to those bad boys!
Below are a few of the recipes I've created so far. I use Optimum Nutrition products for them as their flavours are very good indeed, combined with a smooth mixing ability, no lumps please.
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Blueberry Protein Pies
80g oats
80g whey protein
200g blueberries
250g egg white
1tsp cinnamon
This was my solution to a boring breakfast! Mix up all ingredients and pour into moulds or whatever you have. Place in a 160 degree oven on a tray. Add boiling water in the bottom of the tray to keep the them moist. Bake for 15-20minutes, or until the bottoms are cooked and they drop out of the moulds. You want them a bit soft so you get a gooey centre.
Recipe makes 4 totalling:
90g protein
75g carbs
10g fat
I use Optimum Nutrition Rocky Road whey protein in these as the flavour goes well. You can use whatever flavour you fancy, also mashed banana goes very nicely indeed. Add and remove amounts to work with your own macros if you have them, as long as there's plenty of egg they will cook nicely! Try baking powder for more volume!
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Baked Vanilla Cheesecake
Filling:
100g Quark (soft cheese)
40g Egg White
20g Casein (vanilla)
Base:
25g Almonds
5g Egg White
Dash of Cinnamon
Everybody loves cheesecake right? This is a bedtime recipe, as it is specifically low carbs and uses slow release casein protein. To make the base, blend your almonds or buy the already ground kind. Then add a tiny dash of egg white in order to bind it. Add a sprinkling of cinnamon if you wish, Stevia is optional if you demand a sweet base! Press this into your small silicon mould. Now mix up the filling, and spoon onto the base. You can swirl in some chocolate casein should you wish. Place in a 160 degree oven, pour some boiling water into the tray it sits on to keep the moisture in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning them out, they should be soft and bouncy still so allow to cool and set firmer. I have sprinkled with cinnamon to serve!
Recipe makes 1 totalling:
34g protein
6g carbs
12g fats
I've used Optimum Nutrition Vanilla Casein with this one, as I was craving baked vanilla cheesecake, but I would imagine chocolate casein to be a superb option also. Use crumbled oatcakes in your base if you require more carbs and low fat cream cheese if you don't fancy using Quark.
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Oats & Whey Biscuits
Biscuits:
40g Oats
20g Ground Almonds
15g Dried Blueberries
40g Egg White
20g Whey Protein
1/2tsp Cinnamon
Adverts for nutritious breakfast biscuits annoy me, those things are jammed with sugar and barely a gram of protein in sight! These are my answer, again within the confines of my strict prep diet. Set your oven to 190 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl to make a dry sticky consistency. Split your mixture into 6 large or 8 small biscuit shapes on a lined tray or in cases. They can be rolled into balls if you like! Bake for 10-12 mins or until firm and golden.
Recipe makes 6-8 biscuits totalling:
30g Protein
38g Carbs
12g Fats
I've used Optimum Nutrition Cookies and Cream whey protein in mine, go with your instincts on this one people! In order to hit my macros, I've made a chocolate quark filling. You could add some nut butter to this for added fats too. Just add as much chocolate whey or casein powder to as much quark or low fat cream cheese as you need, mix it up and spread it on once the biscuits are cool. Put them in the fridge if you plan to eat later. Try an optional squeeze of manuka honey to your biscuits if you want serious energy! Use raisins if you like too! See what works for you.
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I hope you like them, I will be working on plenty more. I have other savoury recipes to share also, so expect regular recipes from me in the future! This will get a whole lot more interesting when I'm off season and bulking!
Thanks for reading, as always.
Chef Christof.x
