8 High Protein Recipes for Hitting Your Macros (Part 2)
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Welcome back to another engaging episode of "Embrace Your Real.” Today, we're diving into Part 2 of our series on 8 High Protein Recipes for Hitting Your Macros. In Part 1, we shared some fantastic high-protein recipes, and today, we will take it a step further.
In this second part, we're unlocking the full potential of protein in your diet. We'll explore the versatility of Greek yogurt and how it can elevate your meals in numerous ways. Plus, we'll talk about the benefits of diversifying your protein sources beyond the usual suspects, and I'll share some practical tips to simplify your high-protein dinners.
So, let's not waste any more time. Let's dive into the world of protein and discover how it can transform your fitness journey. Stay tuned!
What I discuss:
5. Greek Yogurt
6. Diversity your protein
7. Keep it simple
8. Protein-backed carbs
If you loved this episode, you would also love:
Episode 371: 8 High Protein Recipes for Hitting Your Macros (Part I)
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go. [00:00:21][20.7]
[00:00:27] Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace Your Real podcast. Welcome to part two of the two part series on high protein recipes. I hope that the last one was helpful for you. If you haven't tuned into that one yet, I will link it in the show notes and then I'll also in a couple of minutes, just briefly, kind of recap what we talked about. But if you know me, you know that I talk about protein a lot. I talk about the importance of protein. But at the same time, I also fully understand and recognize that protein is one of the most difficult macros to reach. It's just not the one that we oftentimes just reach for. One of the easiest macros to get, in my opinion, is carbs, followed by fats. [00:01:04][37.0]
[00:01:04] At least that's kind of what I have found in my journey. And just working with so many women over the last ten years. But I will say that protein is so important, and without protein, we're not giving our muscles the building blocks that they need in order to grow. And without our muscles growing like, we're going to struggle to build the totally strong body that we want. And so that's why I am committed to helping you, just show you that there are so many ways to reach your protein goal and just kind of giving you some ideas. [00:01:32][27.8]
[00:01:33] I mentioned in Part one that Pinterest is really one of my go-tos in terms of just finding like creative ways to get my protein in to make delicious, you know, macro friendly meals that are made with Whole Foods really great ingredients as well as just delicious. And so in part one, if you missed that, I will link it in the show notes. You can either go listen to it now or you can listen to it after this one. They don't necessarily go in order, so you don't really need to turn this one off to listen to that first. But we mentioned and I brought up cottage cheese bread. Don't knock it until you try it. I know, you know, everyone is on the cauliflower bandwagon a few years ago and there's some, you know, good recipes with cauliflower. Same thing with cottage cheese. [00:02:15][41.9]
[00:02:15] If you're not a cottage cheese person, you don't like the texture of it, but you can have cottage cheese. You know, you don't really struggle with that Dairy intolerance. I mean, cottage cheese has so many delicious recipes and it doesn't even taste like cottage cheese. Cottage cheese pancakes. Cottage cheese bowls. [00:02:29][13.5]
[00:02:30] Then we also talked about protein powder, baked goods, protein powder, brownie batter, protein powder, mud cakes, ice cream. I also talked about the creamy then your creamy. If you haven't checked that out, there are so many recipes there. And then there's also there was a really good deal on the Ninja Creamy. I'll link it in my Amazon storefront, but I know that that kitchen machine can be kind of pricey, but they do have a lot of good sales on that, especially coming with Black Friday coming up. So keep an eye out on that because the the Ninja Creamy can be an awesome addition to your kitchen essentials. [00:03:03][33.8]
[00:03:04] I also talked about adding like high protein cheeses to your meals so salads, pasta, toast, pizza, eggs, anything with a little bit of cheese for an extra boost of protein, liquid egg, white scrambles. And then I also mentioned the recipe of sweet potato, goat cheese and bacon frittata. That's on my blog. So if you think this is a great list, again, if you haven't tuned in to that, definitely be sure to tune in to that after this episode. [00:03:28][24.1]
[00:03:29] But before we dive in, I wanted to share this review. It comes from Nicole Breedlove. She gave a five star review and said, Authentic. I love Julie's authenticity, sharing her faith and helping women see the positive side of everything from their body, food and hard life things. I love that so much. Thank you, Nicole, for taking time out of your day. And just thank you for tuning into the podcast. That's my hope. That's my prayer in this podcast. Obviously, it's called the Embrace Your Real Podcast. So my hope is to help you embrace your real, talk about real life things and just share in a way that is transparent. You know, I have nothing to hide, and I really believe that God placed me on this earth with the experiences that I have to be able to share them with you and same with you. [00:04:08][39.1]
[00:04:08] You have so many life experiences and so many things to share with your community and other people. So don't shy away from that. And I truly believe that God blesses us when we are freely sharing what we've learned and not holding back. And we also get to learn so, so much from other people when we do that. Because when we share our real and when we kind of let our guard down, we're able to let other people feel safe in our presence. And when that happens, like, the most beautiful connection can occur. So thank you again. If you haven't already left your reading or be on the podcast, that would mean the absolute world to me and our team. [00:04:46][37.9]
[00:04:47] Just knowing how this podcast in general is helping you or how a specific episode is helping you. So thank you in advance for doing that. Okay, let's dive in to today's episode Part two eight High protein recipes for Hitting Your Macros. [00:05:00][13.6]
[00:05:01] All right, so we shared four in the last episode, so we're going to be starting on number five, which is Greek yogurt. So Greek yogurt is another sneaky way to add more protein into your diet. One serving of Greek yogurt has around 18 grams of protein. And the best part is that there are endless ways to use Greek yogurt. [00:05:21][20.0]
[00:05:22] So, you know, an example for breakfast, you can create a high protein rich parfait by laying. In Greek yogurt with granola berries, a drizzle of honey. Not only does this provide like the satisfying crunch, but also fuels your body with the energy that it needs to kick start the day. You can elevate your post-workout smoothie by blending Greek yogurt with your favorite fruits, protein powder, splash of almond milk. There are so many ways to add it into your smoothie, and it really does enhance the creaminess of your smoothie and also gives that extra protein kick, especially if you're adding, you know, protein powder. And in addition to that, you're getting an additional basically a whole other serving of protein just by using, you know, a full serving of Greek yogurt. You can really start using Greek yogurt as a base for sauces. [00:06:09][47.4]
[00:06:10] So to create like a creamy two zygi sauce with cucumber, garlic, fresh herbs, you can use that with grilled chicken. You can also use it as a veggie dip. You can mix Greek yogurt with lemon juice and olive oil, create a protein packed salad dressing like there are so many different ones. So type in to Pinterest or just Google like Greek yogurt sauces and you will find endless. I mean, there are so, so, so many Greek yogurt. I mean, it really just helps to create the savory dishes. Gives a delightful twist like create a creamy pasta sauce by blending Greek yogurt with herbs, garlic, a touch of parmesan cheese. Again, there are so many ways to use it. Greek yogurt is also amazing for baking. It keeps creaminess. It helps keep baked goods moist. That tanginess creates a crave, worthy, old fashioned flavor. And the acidity in the yogurt helps to activate the baking soda, which can make the baked goods like fluffy and light. [00:07:06][55.4]
[00:07:06] So, for example, for every one cup of butter, substitute a half cup of plain Greek yogurt. You can also try cutting the oil back in your recipe and substituting half of the amount of oil with three fourths of the amount of yogurt. So, for example, if your recipe calls for one cup of oil, try replacing a half a cup of oil with three fourths cup of yogurt. And you know, another way to use Greek yogurt is to substitute it for sour cream or mayonnaise or heavy cream in recipes. So not only does this reduce the calorie and fat content of the dish, but it also enhances the protein in the entire dish. [00:07:46][39.5]
[00:07:46] So, for example, if you're making like a mexican bowl, you can top it with Greek yogurt with like a dash of lemon juice, a little bit of seasoning instead of sour cream. Or if you make a chicken salad, which if you guys have not tried my chicken salads, they're so good. I have two on my page that I posted. Oh, gosh. It was it's probably been like about a year and a half now, but I haven't really posted a lot on my personal page, so they should be up on my reels on Julia Leadbetter Instagram. Check them out. It's the dill chicken salad recipe. And then I also have a sweet, creamy chicken salad recipe. Both of those use Greek yogurt as a base, and they're both so different in terms of taste because one of them has dill pickle. And so it really satisfies like that savory tanginess that you're looking for. [00:08:32][45.1]
[00:08:32] And then the other one has reduced fat craisins and some trivia and it's sweet. And so depending on kind of what you're craving, both of those are so good. And they the base of it is the Greek yogurt and then the plain shredded chicken. So, so good. And lastly, I want to share with you, this is a never been shared recipe yet I have not fully shared it. I have talked about it for years, but I have not fully shared it. So get a pen and paper ready because this recipe is one that Josh and I we use this on. I'm not even joking 1 to 2 times a week. It is so good, it is so delicious, so savory, and it just fills my Italian heart with so much joy. Because like I said in the last episode, cheese is a part of my Italian DNA. Like cheese is definitely just a part of who I am. It's a part of my culture. It's a part of what I, you know, growing up on lasagna and eggplant parmesan and all the, you know, creamy, delicious pasta dishes, like I am a sucker for cheese, but I use Greek yogurt for my pizza crust 1 to 2 times a week. [00:09:37][65.4]
[00:09:38] I swear by this recipe it is so good. Get ready. Here it is. Okay, so you're going to do a 110 grams. So I again, like I mentioned in last episode, part one of this series, I personally prefer to measure pretty much everything that involves like cups. I measure in grams on the food scale. I just find it to be way more accurate and also way less messy. So I'm not having to use all different cups and having to wash, you know, cups. Now with that being said, I do still measure like my seasonings and stuff. I measure that in tablespoon or teaspoon, but even like oils, you know, one one tablespoon of oil is typically around 15 grams. So so I don't have to wash like the tablespoon. I can literally just set the bowl on the food scale, zero it out and then measure, you know, the 15 grams of olive oil or whatever. [00:10:26][48.6]
[00:10:27] Okay, so here are the ingredients again. 110 grams of 0% fire, Greek yogurt. So fire is spelled f a g e. I used to call it fires, but it's actually pronounced fire. You'll see on the side of the yogurt, it says pronounced fire. I'm like, Oh, okay. So 110 grams of 0% fire. Greek yogurt, which is just basically nonfat Greek yogurt and then 75 grams of self-rising flour. So I basically sift that, though. So I don't just pour the flour right into the bowl. I put a strainer on top of the bowl and then I put the obviously the Greek yogurts already in the bowl. And then I put the strainer on top and then I put the flour through the strainer into the bowl. That makes sense. I'll try and make a real By the time that this episode goes live, hopefully I'll have a real up on my page, on my Julia Ledbetter page that you can refer to. And basically you just mix that together. [00:11:24][56.9]
[00:11:25] So I personally don't have a KitchenAid. I just use like a big bowl, a big mixing bowl and a big spoon and mix it and you'll see it converts into a dough. It's really cool. But if you do have a KitchenAid, you can just throw that in the mixing bowl and then mix it and it will turn into a double. And then once it's in a Doble, you know, you're obviously going to have to mix it with your hands into a double. Then you're going to put it in a covered bowl and, you know, put it in a bowl for 20 or 30 minutes covered. So either put paper towel on top or put a towel like a kitchen towel on top. And then once that 20, 30 minutes is up, I just that just helps the dough set a little bit. And then you're going to roll that into a piece pizza crust. [00:12:01][36.9]
[00:12:02] So you're going to need to have a roller if you have one of those, a pizza crust roller. And then I put it into personally, I use like a cake pan. I have never actually use like a flat pan before. I always use like a cake pan. So that has worked really great for me. And it's a circular cake pan and I spray it with olive oil spray and then I put the dough on the bottom of obviously the entire the entirety of the cake pan. Preheat the oven to 385. Once that 385 is once the oven is heated, then you're going to put the crust in the cake pan and then you're going to spray olive oil on top and then you're going to put it in the oven for I do 17 minutes, 15 to 17 minutes. And then once that timer's up, I take it out and then I put the pizza size. [00:12:48][46.0]
[00:12:48] So again, you're not going to put anything on it, you're just going to put it in for the crust. I take it out after 17 minutes and then that's when I add the pizza sauce, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella, you know, turkey, pepperoni, whatever you desire on your pizza and then put it back in the oven for another 15 to 17 minutes. Just kind of watch it. Depending on where you're at, you want it to be like a light golden brown. Take it out. I take it out of the cake pan. If you oil it correctly, you won't have an issue taking it out of the cake pan. I just use the spatula and then slice it into little pizza slices and enjoy. It is so freaking good. I'm telling you, it is so delicious. And I use that dough a lot for multiple different things. [00:13:28][40.0]
[00:13:28] Another thing that I use it for is bagel bites, which I'll spare you that recipe right now. It is in one of my recipe guides. It is, Oh my gosh, the cream cheese bagel bites. So, so good. The macros on this pizza, they're going to be dependent on how much ingredients you use. But the great thing about this recipe in particular is that it can be scaled back as much or as little depending on the pizza toppings that you use. So depending on your personal macros, again, just keep that in mind. But my Greek yogurt is so, so good. [00:13:55][27.1]
[00:13:56] Number six, diversify your protein. So here's the thing. It's not really about having more high team, high protein recipes. It's also about diversifying your protein. Your veggies are carbs when it comes to amping up your protein intake, the go to choices of chicken and turkey, they kind of just take over. Like for some reason, people think ground turkey and grilled chicken are really the only two sources of meat on protein that you can have in order to reach your fitness goals. And that's just simply not the truth. Like, instead of searching for a new recipe, maybe just simply think beyond your usual, like go to protein source and explore something new. So this could be, you know, steak, it could be ground beef, lamb chops, pork tenderloin, salmon, shrimp, bison, turkey, chicken sausage, chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. Like even if you a different protein source for dinner each night. [00:14:45][49.2]
[00:14:45] I really think that that will help to avoid you entering a rut or even if you, you know, have like three or four different types of proteins that you're rotating instead of just having the one. I think that that will help you a lot. And you don't even have to, like abandon your favorite recipes to make room for these alternate proteins, like instead of just completely trying something new. Like if you're always used to maybe eating chicken, broccoli, brown rice, maybe try to switch it up and do like chicken thighs, peppers, carrots at a mama jasmine rice, like similar thing, right? You have your protein, you have your veggie sauce, you have your carb source, which is maybe a different flavor. So instead of the brown rice, you. During jasmine rice instead of the broccoli. You're doing peppers, carrots and at a mommy instead of the grilled chicken breast, you're doing chicken thighs. Or you can do a salmon like everything basically can cook the same way. So you can cook it in the air fryer, you can cook it on the pan, on the grill, whatever, but it's going to taste completely different. [00:15:44][58.1]
[00:15:44] So again, I want to reiterate, like you don't need to only be eating chicken and ground turkey to build the body that you want. All protein sources are on limits. In fact, there are so many health benefits to diversifying your protein sources. So I want to encourage you to start exploring other protein sources. [00:16:01][16.6]
[00:16:02] Number seven, keep it simple. What if you don't need any recipes at all to eat high protein dinners? Like, here's kind of a hack for you. Keep it simple. We think we need to have all these great recipes to eat a great meal, but I think keep cooking simple is often overlooked, like letting foods be foods without transforming them and do like this super complicated dish is amazing in my opinion. So kind of here's like a formula for simple high protein dinners. You have a protein source, you have a carb source, and you have your veggies. That equals a really great meal. So let me kind of break it down for you. [00:16:34][32.5]
[00:16:34] So for protein, I like to either personally grill or I pop it in the air fryer, which I've been using the air fryer a lot more just because it is so easy and I always forget about my air fryer until I use it once and then I'm like on this air fryer kick for a long time. So if you need an air fryer suggestion, I have one in my Amazon storefront under Kitchen Essentials. I will link that in the show notes below, but it is having some good solid kitchen essentials will help so much, but like dashing it with salt, garlic powder, all purpose seasoning, it's good to go. Another thing, the key thing here is to actually cook the meat to your liking. Like if it's not, it can really make an entire meal feel really blah. Right. So for example, like steak, I am a medium through and through. Like I'm not a well-done, I'm not a raw. And if I have if I have a raw cooked steak, I won't eat it. [00:17:27][52.6]
[00:17:27] Same goes for like a well-cooked steak. I just it's too hard. It's too chewy for me. It needs to be that, like, perfect pink center. Same thing for chicken. Like if you overcook the chicken, in my opinion, it is too dry if you undercooked it. I feel like it's kind of gamy tasting. So again, like not being shy about how you're cooking it. Also not being shy about how you're seasoning it, seasoning it can really genuinely change the entire game for what the meat tastes like. Another thing is to really toss out like serving sizes. I think oftentimes we're so stuck to this like, okay, four ounces of chicken or four ounces of this. But there's so many easy ways to just get more protein in. [00:18:06][38.6]
[00:18:06] Like if you had two servings instead of one in that ground turkey or if you had a little bit more salmon or if you had a little bit more shrimp like that will easily bump your protein from 30 to 50, sometimes even 60 grams. And at dinner, that can genuinely be a game changer in terms of your overall protein goal that you have for the day. So whatever your go to protein source is, feel free to eat it in larger portions to easily hit that macro goal. That's really kind of how you keep it simple with protein, like take what you love, cook it, season it in a yummy way, and then kind of pair it up with a carb sauce and a veggie. And this combination can be delicious. [00:18:45][38.9]
[00:18:45] Like, you know, there are so many different ways that you can lay out your plate doing this and just having a few different kind of things on rotation that are different protein sources. It's not just the same protein source over and over again, because even though we might be creatures of habit, just be honest with yourself and ask yourself like, am I getting sick of this? If that's the case, you're more likely to go off track. You know, be like, I'm not going to cook tonight, I'm just going to go out to eat or, you know, I'm going to completely go off the rails or or you're just not satisfied in your meal. And when you're not satisfied in your meal, you're likely going to be reaching for other things after dinner when you might if you had a delicious meal that was kind of on rotation, that was not boring and not bland, you're more likely to not, you know, overeat after your dinner, if that makes sense. [00:19:30][44.6]
[00:19:31] And last but not least, a number eight protein backed carb. So another thing that I love to do, like focusing on building my meals, is to have protein back carb. So what is that? Right. So think about this oatmeal. One serving has 5 to 7 grams of protein. I also talk about secondary protein sources, and this is kind of where that comes into play, too. A secondary protein source is, you know, obviously you have your protein and then you have your carbs and then you have your fat. There are some meals that are dominant in carbs, a.k.a oatmeal, but they also serve as a secondary source of protein that can help aid you in getting more protein in. [00:20:08][37.5]
[00:20:08] So again, one serving of oatmeal has about 5 to 7 grams of protein chickpeas. One serving has about six grams of protein. Ezekiel Bread two slices has about eight grams of protein. Quinoa, one serving has about eight grams of protein. Black bean noodles has about 18 grams of. Protein per serving at Amami noodles has about 25 grams of protein per serving, and these are pretty easy swaps that will easily kind of ramp up your protein intake for the day. So for example, oatmeal for breakfast. Ezekiel Sandwich for lunch. Black bean noodles for dinner. You have an extra 33 grams of protein in your day just from those swaps, right? So for your recipes, instead of like looking for a high protein recipe, maybe kind of see, like, are there other high protein swaps that are, you know, first likely going to be carbs source, but they do offer secondary protein. [00:21:01][52.7]
[00:21:01] So if you're having curry for dinner, try it with quinoa. If you're having spaghetti for dinner, try it with at a mommy noodles. If you're having toast for breakfast, try Zico bread or if you genuinely love toast, if you love bagels. Dave's killer bagels have some awesome bagels. I mean, I typically love the plain ones just because I can dress it up with whatever I'm feeling that day, whether it's like savory or sweet. But they offer like 10 to 15 grams of protein per bagel, which is awesome, even though it's a dominant carb source. So those simple swaps that will help to ramp up your protein intake for the day. So let me kind of recap what we discussed in today's episode, Part two of this two part series. Greek yogurt. So Greek yogurt is so diverse in it's great for dressing sauces, breakfast parfaits, use it instead of oil or butter and baking. Use it to make, you know, breads, pizzas, doughs, all of the things. Diversify your protein, keep it simple instead of searching for new recipes. [00:22:00][58.8]
[00:22:01] So really change up your protein source, keep it simple and pair it with a carbon veggie for a simple natural meal or, you know, eat a larger portion of the meat as a simple solution for just getting in more protein than you normally do. And last but not least, eating more protein packed carb so that focusing on those secondary protein sources, it's a sneaky way to ramp up your protein intake. [00:22:20][19.8]
[00:22:21] Like I mentioned in part one, if you want more recipe ideas, I do have some recipe guides. You can go to Julie a leadbeater dot com forward slash recipe dash guides. I will link to it in the show notes below. But all these recipes are 100% macro friendly. Super easy to make high in protein. Absolutely delicious. So you can check that out if you are interested in learning how to properly fuel your body. I do have a program for this. It's called the Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy. And if you're unsure of how much protein you should be eating daily, this program will help you. Not only will it help you to get your macros calculated, customized, specific to your body, your goals, and your activity level, but it's also going to give you this clear path towards making macro accounting a lifestyle and how to really get yourself in and out of the different phases of macro accounting successfully so you can access it now by heading over to macro counting made simple Bcom Again, that's macro counting made simple dot com. I will link it in the charts below, but I hope that you found this series helpful. [00:23:20][59.2]
[00:23:21] Again, I'm going to encourage you to bookmark this because you might have been driving, you might have not been able to add these things to your notes, but I really think that you'll find these beneficial, especially you got to try that pizza recipe out. I'm telling you, it is so delicious and I will never make pizza differently again just because the Greek yogurt dough is so simple and so high in protein and so satisfying. And I'm telling you ladies, it is 100% hubby approved. Mark my words, you will absolutely love it if you have a friend or coworker or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this specific episode, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your story. That is all that I have for today. I love you so much, Amina, and I'll take the next one. [00:24:07][46.3]
[00:24:13] All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me. On the gram, be sure to do so. Julie, A Ledbetter. Yes, It's with an A in the middle for that daily post workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it. [00:24:13][0.0]