Cake for breakfast, why not?

morning cake from oats and protein powder and egg white

Why do not eat cake for breakfast, hmm? ;)
I made this one as a variation of my daily breakfast routine.

Ingredients:

30g of oats
30g of MyoProtein Mocca Chocolate
1 table spoon of row cocoa
0,5 table spoon of baking powder
1 egg white
water

Preparation:

Mix al ingredients and add water that protein pwoder could dissolve.

Put a mixture into microwave in foil-covered boll.

Microwave for 1 minute.

Use fruits for decoration, I recommend berries :)

Pork in fresh thyme

pork chop macerated and decorated in fresh thyme

Distraction would be very welcome within those recent, not easy days. And cooking (beside training) is always for me one of the best stress-reliving solutions. 

I am presenting recipe for aromatic pork chops with fresh thyme. Preparing is very easy, the crucial part will be macerating meat. 

take pork chops and remove bone, you can leave little fat, it will melt in the oven anyway

 





I used fresh thyme which was very aromatic and imminently catch my attention in the shop. Of course you can use dry thyme too.













I did macerate from olive oil with basil flavour, fresh thyme, chopped garlic and onion with pinch of salt and pepper.

meat ready to macerate, covered in herbs

put macerated meat for at least one hour to the fridge that herbs and flavours could get through pork

After an hour in a fridge, take meat out, put into oven pan and roast for about 40 minutes in 220 degrees. First, you can covered mean with aluminium foil, an the en you can take it off and let chops broil a little.

you can served thyme pork chops with potatoes and salad

What to eat before and after workout

It is a common question which also get confused even the most educated ones. There is one rule - you have to check it on yourself what fits you best. But, of course, it's also good to follow some basic guideline.

Pre workout

It's a time to charge your body before a hard training. If you go for a light zumba training where you more shake your booty than burn calories, it's not for you - you don't need specific nutrition. 


If you really work hard and sweat like a pig (sorry for harsh expression), consider eating well balanced meal 2 hours before training with complex carbs, like whole grain pasta with chicken. 

Easy to make and with high nuttrtional value chicken salad

Make a chicken salat with pasta, poultry, salat and other vegetables for example. 

I would add some veggies also here

Another pre workout sugesstion? Scrambled egg whites and one egg yolk with vegetables followed by whole grain sandwich.
Complex carbs will give you the strenght and glucose level will gradually increase. 
That's the option which works for me, there are other schools. For my experience eating rich in fats dishes makes me wonna puke during training, so I am avoiding it.

Post workout

It all depends on how hard you trained. If you didn't do enought, don't fuel yourself with staff which will sabotage your efforts. 

Simple, cheap and effective - rice cakes :)

After really hard training our body needs an easy absorbed carbs. Rice cakes are the best here (natural one, not those with chocolate, yoghurts covers!). They are easy to digest and refill glicogen in your muscles. They are also better than bananas. 

There are plenty of pre and post workout products in shops

There are of course special after raining supplements like pure carbs or after training recovery stacks. Of course they are good, but they also costs a lot. So it's cheaper to just eat a rice cakes. If you are training regularly and don't have opportunity to eat well balanced meal within 2 hours after your training, you can consider buying them.
 

my protein shake and rice cakes :)

For me great post workout snack are rice cakes followed by protein shake. You body needs proteins after it gets enough carbs. If you are not using protein powder, just after going back home eat balanced meal. By balanced meal I mean that which inludes protein, carbs and fats in proportion to your daily needs.

Balanced post workout meal scheme (proportion between veggies and carbs may vary depend on your needs)

Remember, the fact that you wokred hard doesn't give you the right to eat junk 'because you've earn it' - don't sabbotage yourself. Eat smart :)

Quark time!

me and my quark ;)

There is one product which I miss when I'm cooking in Norway - polish quark cheese (pol. twaróg). 

polish pride - quark

It's something different than cottage cheese, because made without rennet (one of enzymes), which gives it a different, little sour taste. Quark is produced by warming soured milk and is a Slavic variation about white cheese. A very tasty one! :)

You can buy full, low on no fat quark and I do not recommend the third option - 0% fat diary do not exist in nature, only in chemical laboratories. I try to choose low fat quark, where are 17 to 19 grams of proteins and 4-5 grams of fat in 100g portion. It is a low calories product, because it is about 120 kcal in one 100 g portion. You have to remember, that because of quarks production process, it looses its calcium and has less percent of this element that for example yoghurt or kefir. 

pasta with white cheese

Quark is rich in slow absorbing proteins, so it is a perfect option for a healthy supper. But by the same reason, it can be a little stodgy. That's why it is good to add a spoon of yoghurt to it, which will enrich it with digestive bacteria.

traditional baked cheesecake made from full fat quark

Quark is also a number one product for proper cheese cake :) Beside that you can just mix it with wholemeal pasta and add some veggies or mix it with oats and some fruits and viola! 

My today's portion of quark

 My today's white cheese bowl:

* 150g of low fat quark

* 1 spoon of natural yoghurt

* 1 spoon of sunflower seeds

* coconut shreds

* few drops of liquid stevia