8 High Protein Recipes for Hitting Your Macros (Part I)
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In macro counting, protein is one of the hardest macros to hit and the most essential macro to hit simultaneously. Without an adequate protein supply, not only will you struggle to feel satisfied, but you wouldn't build muscle.
In this episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, Iām sharing eight high-protein recipes to hit your macros. This is part 1 of a 2-part series, so stay tuned for more!
What I discussed:
Cottage Cheese
Protein Powder
Cheese
Liquid egg whites
Links mentioned in this episode:
AMAZON Kitchen Essentials Page
Sweet Potato, Goat Cheese, and Bacon Frittata
Protein Brownie Batter in 2 Easy Steps!
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Movement With Julie | App: https://sale.movementwithjulie.com/
Macro Counting Made Simple: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
Free e-book: www.juliealedbetter.com/free-ebook
Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-6bda1ca8?ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_pub_influencer-6bda1ca8_dp_DgsIam9salgfi
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]
[00:00:28] Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace Your Real podcast. So recently I was in my Movement with Julie Private Community Facebook Group, which if you are inside the app and you're not a part of that Facebook group, highly recommend that you request to join that community group is honestly what keeps me going just on a weekly basis. The inspiration, the motivation and also just the sense of community is unmatched, in my opinion. It's one of the most supportive communities I've ever been a part of. [00:00:54][25.6]
[00:00:54] Yes, I'm biased, but I've been a part of a lot of online communities, and I have to say that this one is honestly one of the best. But one of the topics that I get, I get a lot and this was, you know, I did a post and I was like, Hey, what kind of topics do you guys want to hear on the podcast? And one of the highly requested ones was high protein recipes. I get it. Protein is one of the hardest macros to hit, and yet it's also one of the most important. At the same time, especially if you are working towards your goals, you're you're consistent in your workouts and you want to build that muscle. You want to reach your goals. Protein is really important. [00:01:27][32.3]
[00:01:27] And also without protein, you're likely going to not feel satiated, which is so important in terms of, you know, not just completely giving up all of what you've worked hard for and giving in to all of those cravings. So that's what I thought I would do in a part one of part two series. So stay tuned next week for part two. But today I'm going to be sharing with you kind of, you know, eight high protein recipes for hitting your macros. Again, this is part one of two, so I'm going to be sharing four with you and then I'll be sharing four in part two. [00:01:56][28.6]
[00:01:57] Before we dive in, though, I wanted to share this review. It came from Amy Metcalf. She gave a five star review and said, I love today's episode so much I needed to hear this. I have it saved so that I can go back and listen to it in the future. Thank you. Well, I am so grateful for you. I don't know what episode that was, but I'm so thankful that that it helped you. And that's honestly one thing that I recommend a lot. Is if there's a specific podcast that you listen to and you're like, Man, that was really good and maybe you needed to hear it in the moment, or maybe it was just a good message and you're like, Dang, I wish I would have known that, you know, an ex time in my life. I guarantee that you're likely going to need to hear that message again. [00:02:33][36.5]
[00:02:34] Just we go through ebbs and flows in our journey and in our life. And so I encourage you to you can always save the episodes that you can go back and listen to it. And if you subscribe to the podcast, they're automatically downloaded to your phone. I know I have in the last month, the whole basically the whole month of August, I was on one big road trip. If you follow my personal account, you know, we road tripped up to well, we started in Colorado, then went to Utah and from Utah to California, and then we went from Southern California to Northern California. We camped in the redwoods, which was honestly one of the best memories. It was so frickin amazing. And we got to use our tent camper. [00:03:14][40.7]
[00:03:15] So if you've been following along on my personal account, Julie A Ledbetter We built out my husband's truck and so we have a tent camper on top of it, and it was so much fun. So we did that, and then we landed in Manzanita Beach, which is honestly one of our favorite places now in the country. We had never been there, but we were there and all that to say. I was on the road a lot in and out of service, but I had downloaded a ton of podcasts that I personally love listening to, and it was just great because even though you don't have service, they're already downloaded to your phone so you don't get interrupted. And that was just awesome. [00:03:49][33.9]
[00:03:49] So if you haven't already subscribe to the podcast, you can go ahead and type in, embrace your email to any podcast app on your phone. It's free on any device, whether it's an Apple device, a Google device, Android, you'll be able to subscribe, which is completely free, and then they'll automatically download every single time that they release. So thank you in advance for doing that. You can also leave reading and review on that page as well. It really does help us out. [00:04:14][24.7]
[00:04:14] Let's dive into part one of a two part series. Eight high protein recipes for hitting your macros. All right. [00:04:21][7.2]
[00:04:22] Number one, cottage cheese. Do you guys remember when cauliflower had its moment and everything had to be made from cauliflower? Well, that's pretty much how it is right now. Cottage cheese is really having a moment on the Internet, and I feel like my whole Instagram reels page has been taken over, like my Explorer page has been taken over by cottage cheese recipes. And honestly, I am. So for that I personally cannot eat cauliflower any sort of cruciferous or cruciferous. I think that's how you pronounce it. Vegetables. So broccoli, cauliflower, kale. I get so bloated every time I eat that. So those veggies are pretty much nonexistent in my diet. So whenever I would see, you know, cauliflower recipe, I just I would have to scroll by because they couldn't have it. [00:05:04][42.8]
[00:05:05] But cottage cheese now I can get on that game. I know some people love it, other people hate it. It's a very, very divided topic. But I have to say, even if you don't like cottage cheese, the taste of it, the texture, it can be a great base for recipes. And one of the recipes that I've seen just going around that's been made with cottage cheese is bread. Yeah, I know. That's. Sounds crazy, but it's a cottage cheese bread. I actually saw this from. I don't know who she is, but her handle is a lilsipper, so L-I-L-S-I-P-P-E-R and her cottage cheese recipe went completely viral. And basically all it is is one cup of egg, white powder, one cup of water and one cup of cultured cottage cheese. Then using a stand or electric mixer, whip up that one cup of egg white powder with one cup of water until it stiff peaks and it's in this stiff peak form and then blend that one cup of cottage cheese and folding it into that egg white fluff. [00:06:01][56.7]
[00:06:02] She specifically specifies that it's important to use the egg white powder, not egg white protein powder. I looked it up on an Amazon. It's actually really easy to find and really easy to make that distinction. But this bread is basically pure protein and you can indulge the whole loaf if you wanted to without going over your macros. [00:06:19][17.4]
[00:06:20] Do a quick Google search or on Pinterest for cottage cheese bread and you will honestly find countless relevant, readily available recipes. [00:06:27][7.0]
[00:06:28] Another recipe that I saw was a cottage cheese recipe for pancakes. I know again, sounds kind of crazy, but don't knock it until you try it. It's one half cup of old fashioned oats, one half cup of cottage cheese, two large eggs and eighth a teaspoon of salt. And basically all you have to do is place that in the ingredients, in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Then you'll simply cook like you would regular pancakes. So super simple high protein probably fits around the same macros that any other breakfast that you would eat has and you can top it with any sort of topping you want. So if that's, you know, bananas and honey, if that's butter and sirup, whatever it is, you can top that. [00:07:10][42.0]
[00:07:10] And lastly, another simple thing that you can do with cottage cheese is make what they call cottage cheese cups without the cake. So you mix a cup of cottage cheese and then a half a cup to a cup of strawberries, a half a teaspoon to or a half of a tablespoon to a full tablespoon. So depending on how much you want, maybe start with a half a tablespoon of honey and then mix that together, drizzle it with almond butter, sunflower butter or better yet, cookie butter. If you guys have not tried the Trader Joe's cookie butter, who? I'm telling you, it's really, really good. It took me about seven years to find that I've seen it all over the place. And then I you know, we don't have a Trader Joe's near our house. And so I just never make the trek down to Trader Joe's. And I finally gave it a shot and I was like, Oh my gosh, Now I understand the hype. I understand the hype of Trader Joe's. So let me know in the DM's or leave a review of you guys are Trader Joe's or Sprouts? I personally am just sprouts simply because it's closer to my house. But Trader Joe's man, there are some awesome things, including that cookie butter and you have yourself a really nice dessert. So again, it's a cup of cottage cheese, a half to a full cup of strawberries and then a half to one tablespoon of honey. Mix it together, drizzle it with whatever kind of almond butter, sunflower butter, cookie butter, peanut butter, whatever it is that you want. There are so many cottage cheese recipes out there. Literally, just a quick Google search, quick Pinterest search. I personally like Pinterest for recipes. I just find it to be a lot easier to find recipes. And I'm a very visual person. And with the visual search that they have now on Pinterest, man, it is a total game changer. [00:08:49][98.6]
[00:08:49] Number two, protein powder. So protein powder can be interchangeable flour, basically with almost any recipe, whatever you're baking, start popping in some protein powder for an extra head of protein. It's really important to note that swapping out all flour to protein powder will make any recipe super dry. So keep that in mind. So it's never really suggested to completely replace it, you know, never replacing more than a third of the flour with protein powder. Ideally, you want to just be aiming to maybe replace, you know, a fourth of the flour with protein. Anything above will likely get you a dry texture, which I don't know about you, but it can look good, especially, you know, I've done so many recipes where I'm like, Oh my gosh, it looks so good. And then I go to taste it and I'm like, Oh, this is very, very dry, especially cooking at a high altitude like I do in Colorado. But I just keep that in mind when replacing protein powder with flour. [00:09:42][52.5]
[00:09:42] Now, again, that's specifically related to baking, which means that you can really make any cookies that you want with a burst of extra protein. You can also make protein pancakes, protein, brownies, protein, anything that you want to bake. Just really, you know, swap out a fourth to a third of the flour for protein powder. But there's also a lot of like no bake dessert recipes out there where you can just use protein powder only without any flour at all. [00:10:06][23.4]
[00:10:06] So on my blog, if you guys didn't know, I do have some recipes on my blog. Julie A Ledbetter. If you just go to Julie A Ledbetter dot com and then go to the blog section, you'll see your recipe category there. But I have a dessert recipe that is so frickin good. It requires no baking it on and no flour. It's genuinely only protein powder in it and it's a protein powder, brownie batter. So basically, here's the recipe. I'll state it. But again, it's on my blog if you want to see it in a format. But if you're wanting to write this down, be sure to either get your phone out or a pen and paper, but here's the ingredients that you need. [00:10:41][35.6]
[00:10:42] So you need a half a cup of pumpkin puree, which I personally prefer to do all my recipes in grams. I just find it a lot easier, especially for bigger things. Now, when it comes to like tablespoon and teaspoons, I still use the table to spoon and teaspoon, but when it comes to something like cups, I just find it a lot more accurate if you weigh it in grams on your food scale. So it's 113 grams of pumpkin puree, which is also a half a cup, one scoop or 33 grams of Pescience frosted chocolate cupcake protein powder. That's really important that you get that one two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder, one tablespoon of light butter, one tablespoon of unsweetened cashew or almond milk, which is equivalent to about 5 to 7 grams of milk, a half a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and then 3 to 4 packets of trivia. That's personally what I prefer. Again, if you get the trivia in a bigger pack, which if you're using it a lot for baking, it just makes more sense in terms of financially because it tends to be cheaper that way. That's about 3 to 5 grams of trivia and then just a pinch of salt. [00:11:49][67.7]
[00:11:50] So basically all you're going to do is combine that those ingredients in a bowl mix well, and you have your protein brownie batter. It's so freaking good, so frickin easy. Give it a shot and let me know how you like it. Also, another recipe that a lot of people love and it's just a fan favorite is a protein mug cake. [00:12:11][21.1]
[00:12:11] Now, again, sometimes people are like, Oh, I'm not going to like it. It's going to be gross. I'm telling you, if you if you have the right protein powder, which I personally love Pescience. You know, I know there's tons of other proteins out there. I've been using Pescience I since 2018 love the company, love the brand. But if you have a preference on a specific protein, definitely. I mean, I would assume you can use that in place. I will say that I do use whey protein. I don't particularly have an issue with whey, but I know some other people do. They do have a vegan protein, which I have tried and I do like that as well. I just prefer the whey protein over that. So keep that in mind. [00:12:48][36.9]
[00:12:48] But again, you figure out which protein you like best if you have for that previous recipe that I just mentioned, having some sort of frosted chocolate or, you know, gourmet chocolate or whatever type of chocolate protein powder is going to be best for obviously the brownie batter. And then for the protein mug cake, you can really make so many different recipes and so many different flavors depending on the protein powder. But this is the ingredients that you'll need. So you'll need a scoop, which is 33 grams of some sort of protein powder, one tablespoon or seven grams of coconut flour, a half a teaspoon of baking powder, one full egg, a fourth a cup or 36 grams of your liquid of choice. I personally prefer almond milk. Some other people like water. I just personally like the creamy texture that almond milk. I use in unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I like that flavor. And then lastly, chocolate chips to taste. This is optional and obviously depending on if you're counting macros or whatnot and use the correct amount to fit into your macros, but mix that together in a mug and then microwave that until your cake starts to rise above your mug and then enjoy it. [00:13:59][70.8]
[00:13:59] I mean, it's so frickin good. Like I said, there's so many variations. You can do a pumpkin mug cake, You can do a banana mug cake, brownie, you name it again, quick Google search, Pinterest search, and you will find so many recipes. And lastly, another amazing recipe that I personally use is protein ice cream. So the best made is is using a high speed blender or food processor like Ninja or Vitamix, but 1 to 2 scoops of protein. So, you know, 33 to 66 grams of protein depending, frozen fruit of choice. So this could be mango, it could be strawberry, blueberries, you name it, whatever type of frozen fruit that you prefer, lots of ice, a little bit of liquid. Again, I personally use some of almond milk and then sometimes I will also even use a little bit of liquid egg whites. I know that sounds gross, but it makes the texture just like a Wendy's frosty. [00:14:52][52.3]
[00:14:52] If you guys know what I'm talking about. It is so freaking good. One thing that I'll also say that I personally haven't tried yet, but I've seen it all over is the ninja creami. I know that they can be pretty expensive when it comes to the actual machine, but I do see Amazon does always have some good deals. I'll put it in my Amazon storefront so you can know exactly what I'm talking about. It's under the kitchen equipment section, so I will link my Amazon storefront in the show notes below. But the Ninja creami like if you just do a quick search on Pinterest or TikTok, you'll see some amazing videos of people giving recipes for the creamis. The only thing that I will say about that is that typically it takes, you know, 24 to 48 hours before you can actually have it. So it's just one of those things that you have to plan ahead. But they do absolutely look super delicious. So I will hopefully in the next couple weeks to a month, I'll get one of those and I will report back here on the podcast and on my Instagram how I'm liking it. [00:15:49][56.4]
[00:15:49] Number three is cheese. Lean into cheese. Now, I personally am an Italian, so cheese is literally part of my DNA. But in all honesty, cheese is very underrated in my opinion. It's amazing. Not only does it make, you know, anything you put on it absolutely delicious, but it's also a very sneaky way to ramp up your protein. [00:16:09][19.6]
[00:16:09] Now I'm speaking to the people that can have cheese. I am not lactose intolerant. I don't have an issue with cheese. So if that's you, there are some, you know, dairy free cheeses out there. I personally haven't really explored that just simply because I can have cheese. And so if this is you, you might want to skip over this section or you might get some good ideas just even with the nondairy cheeses, because they do still tend to have some protein. [00:16:32][22.8]
[00:16:33] But for example, two ounces of feta cheese, which again I prefer to measure in grams. I just find it's so much easier on a food scale. So 56 grams of feta cheese contains 100 calories, six grams of fat, eight grams of protein. They even have the fat free feta cheese. I personally prefer the fuller fat feta. I just, I find that it tastes better and I get more satisfied with that. But totally your preference. Two ounces of goat cheese, 12 grams of protein and two ounces in general, just so you know, is about 56 grams. [00:17:03][29.7]
[00:17:03] So all of these and I'm mentioning about 56 grams on your food scale, two ounces of mozzarella cheese has about 16 grams of protein. And then three light string cheeses has 18 grams of protein. Don't underestimate this string cheese. I know it's a kid food. You know, you had it in your lunchbox growing up, but I'm telling you that, I mean, three of those things, boom, 18 grams of protein. That's that's a lot. That's, you know, close to about 30 grams of protein, which is what I always recommend kind of shooting for in your meals, in your day to day. So that 18 grams is going to help add up. So you can really, you know, whip out that charcuterie board, ramp up your protein intake. I personally love tossing cheese on my salads, pasta, grilled chicken, a piece of toast with tomato, balsamic, pizza, scrambled eggs. I mean, you name it. If you're short on protein for the day, add in some cheese and you'll get a great boost of protein and a boost in flavor. Don't fear it. It can be a great addition to your daily food intake for hitting your macros. [00:18:02][59.2]
[00:18:03] And again, for those who feel like cheeses don't really sit as well with you, you can either try some sort of dairy free cheese or go and try some of the more high quality cheeses and see if that makes a difference for you. I know for some people they personally can't have like the store brand. They have to have like a little bit higher quality of cheese and they find that it sits better in their stomachs. So totally going to be from person to person. But cheese in general can really help you in terms of ramping up that protein. [00:18:32][29.6]
[00:18:33] And last but not least, for this episode, number four, liquid egg whites. So with eggs being so expensive, I mean, a half a dozen of eggs is so frickin expensive. I was at the store the other day and it was like $6 for a half a dozen eggs. I'm like, Oh my goodness, this is crazy. I personally love leaning into the liquid egg white cartons. You can get an entire carton of egg whites just like you would milk or creamer, but it's simply just egg whites. It's brilliant in my opinion, and it makes it so much easier to ramp up your protein in the morning. So get this a cup of liquid egg whites, which is about 240 grams. Again, I prefer to measure in grams, but a cup or 240 grams of liquid egg whites only has 126 calories and yet 27 grams of protein. It is crazy. [00:19:19][46.4]
[00:19:20] So, I mean, if you just made this in the morning, you know, a cup or 240 grams of liquid egg whites plus 28 grams, which is about an ounce of mozzarella cheese, your breakfast alone will have 35 grams of protein with very little fat. I mean, that mozzarella will likely have 4 to 6 grams of fat. And then you'll be able to have, you know, a bagel with some butter or a bagel and whatever else you want to top it. I mean, the options are endless. And baboon by bam, you already have 35 grams of protein right there. So that is a great option and one that I think a lot of people underestimate, especially if they never tried to liquid egg whites. They genuinely have no taste. So you can you can sprinkle in any sort of seasoning that you want, which is awesome if you want to get more creative. I do. Again on my blog, I have a recipe section and the recipe is called Sweet Potato goat cheese and bacon frittata. It is so freaking good. So I use, you know, five slices of reduced fat bacon. Normal bacon would work totally fine. Center cut bacon, whatever you use, turkey bacon, whatever you prefer. [00:20:22][62.4]
[00:20:23] But five slices of that 300 grams of. Sweet potato. So you're going to cut it up into cubes a half a cup or 60 grams of crumbled goat cheese. Again, this could be feta cheese if you want. Three cups or again, I prefer to measure in grams. So that's 710 grams of egg beaters or liquid egg whites. Or you can do a mix, you know, half and half and then a half a teaspoon of salt. One serving of that has 21 grams of protein. And it is so perfect. I love it on the weekends. It's like a perfect, satisfying Sunday morning breakfast. So I'll link that recipe in the show notes. [00:20:59][36.6]
[00:21:00] Again, it's on my recipe section on my blog on Julie A Ledbetter dot com, which is about to get a facelift. So stay tuned for that. We have so many things in the works for 2024 for you guys. Oh my goodness. So many things. I was so excited. [00:21:13][13.2]
[00:21:14] But there you have it. That is part one of a two part series, The High Protein Recipes. I hope that this gave you some inspiration. I know that we can kind of get in a rut sometimes of like, man, you know, I need to reach my protein goal, but I don't just want grilled chicken. I have that all the time. There are so many other ways to get your protein intake. So let me recap a few things that we discussed in today's episode. We talked about the viral cottage cheese bread, the cottage cheese pancakes, cottage cheese bowls, the protein powder baked goods, protein powder, brownie batter, protein powder mug cakes, protein powder ice cream, and then adding, you know, high protein cheeses to your meals. Salad, pasta, toasts, pizza, eggs, anything that you would typically eat, you know, add a little bit of cheese for that boost of protein, liquid egg, white scrambles and the sweet potato goat cheese and bacon frittata. [00:22:03][49.8]
[00:22:04] Again, I will link a few of those recipes in the show notes If you want more high recipes like high protein recipes, I do have a recipe guide that you can check out. It's under www dot Julie a Ledbetter dot com forward slash recipe dash guides so you can check that out. There are tons of guys over there that will really help you and in general I mean like I said, I love to switch it up. I think that it's really important, especially if you're making this a lifestyle that you are enjoying what you're eating and you do not need to have the same meal over and over and over again. All the recipes in my recipe guides are 100% macro friendly. They're super delicious. They're not just plain Jane Foods. And I really think that you'll get benefit out of that. So you can check that out. I will link it in the show notes. [00:22:50][45.6]
[00:22:50] And then also, if you are curious about how to properly fuel your body, maybe this sparked your interest and you're like, Man, I didn't really realize that there are so many good foods. You know, I will be the first to tell you there are zero foods off limits. I am not a person to say, you can eat this, you can't eat that. That is not sustainable. That's not realistic for honestly an enjoyable lifestyle. And so if you are wanting to learn how to properly fuel your body, I do have a program for that. It's called the Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy. Not only will you will we help you get your macros calculated, customized to your body, your goals, your activity level, but it will give you a clear path towards making macro accounting a lifestyle and how to get yourself in and out of the different phases of macro counting successfully. So if you want to learn more and access that, you can go to macro counting made simple dot com. I will also link that in the show notes. And then the last link that I need to put in the show notes for you is again my Amazon Storefront Kitchen Essentials. And you can just kind of check out like my air fryer that I prefer the ninja creami that I was talking about and then some other kitchen essentials that I use that maybe will give you some good inspiration and give you a good foundation so that this fall, going into the fall and winter season, you have kind of a set up so that you can make some delicious recipes. [00:24:04][74.1]
[00:24:05] But that is all that I have for today's episode. I hope that you found this helpful. This is probably one of those episodes that you're going to likely want to bookmark and go back to, especially if you didn't have the opportunity to write some of those recipes down. I really think that you'll find them beneficial. But if you have someone in your life that you feel like would benefit from this specific episode or this podcast in general, I just as you shared 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. I love connecting with you guys and in the reviews I would love to know maybe a high protein recipe that you have been enjoying. So if you could scooch over to the review page on the Embrace real page on the podcast app, that would be greatly appreciated. That's all that I have for you today. I love you so much. I mean it. And I'll talk to you next one. [00:24:50][44.6]
[00:24:58] 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 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. [00:24:58][0.0]