Bodycomp News & Views Issue#21 November 2011

In this issue:

  1. Perfect hard boiled eggs
  2. Breakfast smoothie recipe
Chocolate peanut butter banana breakfast smoothie

When time allows I typically prefer a breakfast of eggs, salsa, avocado and black beans. However, when time is short, this smoothie recipe tastes great and is better that flour and sugar based alternatives.

Blend:

  • 1.5 scoops of Vega Chocolate performance protein powder
  • 1/2 medium banana
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 2 ice cubes

This smoothie reminds me of peanut butter cups and easily keeps me going until lunch. It provides 47g protein, 30 grams of protein, 30g of carbs and 17g of fat for a total of 461 well spent calories.

If you want to make this even healthier, substitute almond butter for the peanut butter and add spinach, kale or any other dark leafy green before you blend.

 

Perfect hard boiled eggs

I used to have a hard time enjoying hard boiled eggs - it used to be that I always ended up with something going wrong. Either the shells wouldn't peel, the whites would be rubbery, the yolk would be runny, or worst of all, they would reek of sulphur.

I decided to use science to get past my poor results and have established a technique that produces easy peeling, appropriately cooked eggs every time.

  • Place up to 8 eggs in a 2 quart pot and fill three quarters full with cold water (eggs should be in a single layer)
  • place uncovered on burner turned to high
  • cover pot with lid just as water reaches a full boil and turn off burner
  • set timer for 11 minutes
  • drain eggs and place in an ice bath until cooled

Once the eggs are chilled you can either peel and eat immediately, or they will keep in the fridge for 5 days - just remember to mark the shells to avoid any unexpected surprises.

A large egg contains 6 grams of protein in the white and a gram of carbohydrate with 5 grams of fat in the yolk. Free range eggs and eggs from chickens fed a specialy diet still have the same macronutrient ratio, but tend to have more vitamins and minerals in the yolk and a better ratio of omega-3 fatty acids than standard cheap eggs. I prefer the free range organic as they taste much better and are still an affordable source of protein.