A Little About Protein

Why helloooo Friday. You're lookin' good.

So I received a couple of questions about protein powder recently, and I thought I would write a quick post about it. While I know that I am not necessarily lacking in protein (I am a meateater after all) I find that having a little protein with breakfast helps to keep me full longer...and to be honest, I am not one of those food bloggers who think that peanut butter in my oatmeal or smoothies is delicious. Yuck.

I have two kinds of protein powder in my pantry. The one that I use most by far is the vanilla. The brand is Dymatize and I get it at the Vitamin Shoppe. It has 24 grams of protein and 114 calories. This I mostly use for oatmeal.

I typically only use half a scoop. I add it to the oatmeal and water and cook it as I normally would. Be sure to mix your protein powder in WELL before and during cooking otherwise you will get weird protein clumps that have the consistency of scrambled eggs. That may be your thing, but I personally think it's disgusting. As long as it's mixed in well, you won't even know the protein powder is in there.

I have GNC brand Whey Protein in Strawberry that I use mostly just for smoothies.

This one has 20 grams of protein and 110 calories. Again, I typically only use a half a scoop in smoothies, just because a little protein goes a long way for me.

Both brands are whey protein (a protein found in cow's milk), so if you have an allergy to whey (which I know a lot of people do) both the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC have other kinds (soy, hemp, etc.) that are just as good.

Otherwise, for lunch or dinner everyday I tend to eat chicken, turkey, tofu, and occasionally red meat to get my protein in. I have briefly considered going vegetarian a few times, but it's just not something I think I could ever do...but give a lot of credit to those of you that do. But I'm not going to get into that debate here because I feel being vegetarian, vegan, or a meateater is a personal choice and this is a judgement free zone (well, almost...I still reserve the right to judge you if you wear something atrocious).

Now onto less serious things...I have a busy weekend ahead of me to get ready to be in DC for two weeks. I'm going to miss these guys like crazy :(

And my boy of course ;)

Aside from running around like a mad woman trying to get myself ready to be away from home (trips to target, lots of packing, etc.) the boy and I also have a Superbowl party to go to on Sunday. I decided to make a few goodies to bring to the party. Here is just a preview of some of the ingredients...

I'm making peppermint bark as well as carrot cake balls, which was inspired by Bianca's recipe for Nutella Cake Balls. I will post the super easy recipe for you guys next week, they are going to be amazing!

What do you have planned for the weekend? Do you use protein powder in your diet? Any good packing tips for me?