High Protein Recipes

A few months back I wrote a blog post about protein intake and how much we all need. It was a popular post with many clients and friends commenting on the piece. To assist you further in your pursuit of protein, I figured it might be helpful to pass on a few recipes that are "protein rich" so you can try some new foods and bump up your daily protein intake.

Some recipes are specifically good for breakfasts (something other than boring eggs everyday) and others can be interchangeable for lunch or dinner.

I haven't tried all these recipes, but have cooked renditions of most of them myself.

But first here is a quick list of easy ways to add protein to meals or snacks:

1. Put a 1/2 a cup of cottage cheese on your avocado toast, or top your waffles, pancakes or French toast with it.

2. Add chickpeas to any salad or pasta dish

3. Add lentils or other beans to salads or veggie dishes

4. Use quinoa instead of rice for the base of stir fry or other cuisine traditionally served over rice

5. Add nuts or seeds to salads

6. Use Greek yogurt (17 g of protein) instead of milk (8 g of protein ) with your cereal

7. Snack on edamame

8. If you LOVE pasta, try a protein pasta instead (we really like Banza pasta at our house)

9. Add nut butter to fruit. (Apple slices dipped in almond butter, banana smeared with peanut butter)

10. Snack on hummus

11. Make sure to add cheese or nut butter to crackers or veggies

There are a million ways to sneak a little more protein into your diet. If you simply make sure that every meal AND every snack has something with protein in it, you will be 90% there. After that, it's just a matter of dialing in lean protein vs "meh" protein to find what best benefits your health but also satiates your taste buds.

Here are few great recipes to try:

Healthy Banana Bread

Protein Waffles (serve with extra cottage cheese on top to bump up protein)

Feta and Spinach Pancakes

Avocado Sandwich

Almond Butter Delight (you can use peanut butter if you prefer, I LOVE this on apple slices, in celery sticks or smeared on rice cakes)

No Bean Sweet Potato Chili (This is AMAZING- you can add beans to bump up protein)

Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken (serve over quinoa and up the protein)

Garlic Shrimp with Quinoa

Farro Grain Bowl (can use chicken sausage as a non-vegan alternative)