5 COOL THINGS TO MAKE WITH PROTEIN POWDER

[01dragonslayer]

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW...​

1. Turn raspberry cheesecake into cookies with just three ingredients.
2. Eat your coffee. Make mocha chip cheesecake cookies. They're low carb and caffeinated.
3. Make banana-banana cookies using oats, bananas, and banana protein powder.
4. Make high protein icing from just two ingredients. Drizzle it on everything.
5. Protein poppers are bite-sized balls, minus the honey and dried fruit. Strip out most of the fat, all of the sugar, and end up with a better snack.

Beyond the Shaker Bottle​

When your goal is to lose fat or stay lean, most people think they only have two choices: avoid desserts forever or try to eat tiny, unsatisfying portions of delicious things.
That's about as much fun as choosing between having a cavity or an ingrown toenail.
But there's another choice: Make healthy desserts and eat all you want. (Trust me, when they're this filling you actually won't eat as much.) Here are five ways to do it.

1. Banana-Banana Cookies​

A batch of soft, sweet banana cookies doesn't have to be packed with sugar, butter, or flour. Nor does it need to be difficult to make or time consuming.
All you need is a bunch of bananas, banana protein powder, oats, and a few minor ingredients. No blender or food processor necessary. It's easy.

INGREDIENTS​

• 4 large bananas
• 4 scoops Metabolic Drive® vanilla
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Splash of vanilla extract
• Liberal amounts of ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom or pumpkin pie spice

DIRECTIONS​

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mash the bananas together in a mixing bowl. If you have a potato masher use it, otherwise a fork is fine.
3. Add all the other ingredients and mix by hand.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with coconut oil.
5. Spoon out batter using a cookie scoop so that you get somewhat uniform cookies. With a medium-sized scoop you should get about 20-22 cookies.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes depending on your oven and how large you made your cookies.
7. Err on the side of a shorter bake time, then break one open to see if it's done. Or stab one with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, you'll know they're done baking.

Tips: Invest in a cookie scoop. Find one with a "sweep" which is the thing you often see on ice cream scoops. Using unconventional ingredients means that you won't be able to form the cookies with your hands. Use the scoop to make them uniform in size so that they bake evenly.
Nutrition information: Banana-banana cookies contain about 77 calories per cookie, 5 grams of protein, 12 grams of carbs, and 1 gram of fat.
Note: These are ballpark numbers. They won't be exact because of variances in cookie size, the ingredient brands you use, optional additions you may make, and minor measuring errors.

2. Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies​

Cheesecake takes a long time to make. Eating more than a slice is generally frowned upon. And you only get to have it on special occasions. This is all BS.
So let's simplify the recipe, strip out a ton of unnecessary fat, keep the flavor, and bake it into cookies that only take a couple minutes to toss together.
Oh, by the way, depending on the cream cheese you use, you can eat half a batch without repercussion.

INGREDIENTS​

• 1 eight-ounce block of cream cheese (your choice: low fat, fat free, or full fat)
• 3 scoops Metabolic Drive® chocolate or vanilla
• 1 heaping cup of frozen raspberries or blueberries

DIRECTIONS​

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine the Metabolic Drive with the cream cheese. Add the berries and mix.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out the dough into nine cookies.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
5. Err on the side of a shorter bake time. Break one open to see if it's done. Or stab one with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, you'll know they're done baking.

Tip: Some stores sell a cream cheese that's made with Greek yogurt and contains extra protein and less fat. Use it if you can find it, but regular and fat free work just as well.
Nutrition information: Using fat-free cream cheese, each cookie contains about 59 calories, 4 grams of carbs, 9 grams of protein, and less than 1 gram of fat.

3. Mocha Cheesecake Cookies​

Need a low-carb treat? This recipe is ideal. And it's laced with a little caffeine.

INGREDIENTS​

• 1 eight-ounce block of cream cheese
• 3 scoops Metabolic Drive® chocolate
• 1 packet instant coffee, like Starbucks Via
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS​

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine Metabolic Drive with instant coffee and water.
3. Add the cream cheese and mix until there aren't any visible lumps. Add optional chocolate chips and mix.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out the dough into nine cookies.
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes.
6. Err on the side of under-baking your cookies. Pull them out of the oven and break one open to see if they're done. Or use a toothpick.

Nutrition information: Using fat-free cream cheese, each cookie contains about 59 calories, 4 grams of carbs, 9 grams of protein, and less than 1 gram of fat.

4. The Best Icing of Your Life​

Drizzle it over anything you want. Layer it over protein cakes, pancakes, cupcakes, brownies, you name it. Dip fruit in it, dip fingers in it, or eat it with a spoon.

INGREDIENTS​

• 2 scoops Metabolic Drive® any flavor
• 1/3 cup canned, full fat coconut milk
• Liberal dashes of cinnamon

DIRECTIONS​

Mix the ingredients together. Let chill. Put it on everything.

Nutrition information: Split your icing with someone and you'll get around 158 calories, 21 grams of protein, 5 grams of carbs, and 6 grams of fat.

5. Protein Poppers​

When it comes to bite-sized balls, other recipes call for sticky dried fruit, molasses or honey, and lots of nut butter or coconut oil. These ingredients act like the glue that holds the balls together.
These ingredients aren't unhealthy, of course, but they are pretty calorie-dense – especially when combined.
So if your paleo friend makes a batch of delicious balls containing dates, honey, coconut oil, and macadamia nuts, and almond butter, be prepared to eat three and feel like crap because you those three little globes of goodness contained around 700 calories.
I'm not telling you to go on a low calorie diet, or even to count calories. I'm just telling you that you can volumize what you're eating so that 700 calories are incidentally a lot harder to consume in one sitting.
This is the art of volumizing: Choosing foods that seem to take up more space in your stomach, but won't make you take up more space. You'll feel like you're eating a ton because you're satiated, but you're actually consuming a reasonable amount of calories.

And by replacing sugary ingredients you can fill up while bypassing the molasses-induced carb coma.

INGREDIENTS​

• 2 scoops Metabolic Drive® vanilla
• 1 cup PB2 (powdered, defatted peanut butter)
• 1 cup Splenda
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cashew or almond milk
• A splash of vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Liberal amounts of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, or pumpkin pie spice
• Optional coating: chopped nuts, coconut flakes, mini dark chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS​

1. Add the oats and 1/2 cup of milk to a bowl. Stir and let them sit for 5 minutes.
2. Combine all the other dry ingredients in your food processor and mix: Metabolic Drive, PB2, salt, spices. (A powerful blender will do the trick too.)
3. Add the milk-soaked oats to the food processor. Blend until evenly distributed. It should look like little sandy clumps.
4. Add the three tablespoons of almond or cashew milk and blend again. Let the food processor run until the dough rolls itself into a giant ball. If there are any dry ingredients on the bottom of the food processor, evenly distribute them back into the dough.
5. Dip your fingers in water to prevent sticking, then pinch off bite-sized pieces of dough and roll it into small balls, about a half inch in diameter.
6. Roll the poppers in a pile of toppings if you'd like: coconut flakes, chopped nuts, or dark chocolate chips. You may need to wet the poppers with a dab of water to make the toppings stick.
7. Put them in the fridge to chill.

Makes about 25 balls.
Nutrition information: Without toppings, each ball has around 45 calories, 5 grams of carbs (1g fiber), 4 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fat.