Now that I’m back from my (amazing) semester abroad, I’m pretty excited to be home and try some new things in the kitchen. While I was away I wrote a few posts which mentioned increasing protein intake and breakfast size, two things I still want to focus on now that I’m home.
In years past I’ve struggled while working in the summer because it often means I have a larger gap (and sometimes a workout) between breakfast and lunch. For this reason, I’ve been trying to focus on eating a complete and balanced breakfast and not just the small two eggs and a small amount of fruit I’ve eaten in the past. The first step I took to accomplish this was adding an egg white to my routine of two fried eggs. I love my morning eggs and didn’t want to give them up or move away from my over-hard cooking style so this was the perfect way to add some volume and protein without drastically changing something I enjoy. Side note: I tried three eggs but it was too much yoke for me in one day so this solution has been perfect. I’ve been using liquid egg whites, as to not waste the yoke. Just two tablespoons equal the white of one large egg and add over 3g of protein, more satisfaction and no extra fat or carbs.
The other new thing for me is a veggie spiralizer. I’ve bought pre-spiralized veggies before but not only are those expensive, they are often coated with preservatives/other chemicals and require lots of extra packaging (aka not good for our planet). This spiralizer is awesome, it’s small and stores well and allows me to buy normal veggies and spiralizer at my choosing. So far I’ve used it on carrots, zucchini and sweet potatoes. My favorite use has been on sweet potatoes. They are one of my favorite foods and a great source of complex carbs, fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Did you know sweet potatoes have more fiber per volume than oatmeal? My only complaint about sweet potatoes is that the best way to cook them is in the oven and takes a while. But now that I have this spiralizer that it no longer the case! I can easily and quickly spiralizer half a medium potato and pan sear it on the stove top – meaning I’m able to enjoy them much more often.
I even used the spiralizer part of my breakfast exploration. Below is a delicious, healthy and power-packed breakfast from last week. I spiralized one half a medium sweet potato and cooked in in the pan using just a spray of PAM, and some cracked pepper and salt. In the same pan I cooked one whole egg, 2 egg whites and one slice of deli turkey. I served this alongside some fresh watermelon to start my day off right with a high-protein and nutrient-dense meal. The whole meal came out to have 21g of protein, 28g of energy-filled complex carbs and more than one day’s recommended minimum of vitamins A and C. All that for less than 300 calories – talk about high volume, quality fuel! I seriously recommend picking up a spiralizer and look forward to sharing some more ways to use it!
Fed and Fueled 