The Strawberry Click Frapp



Ohhh procrastination! How do I love thee?

This shake was supposed to go up around Valentine's Day. I even had a really cute name for it ("Nik's Love Potion #10"). Alas, it was not meant to be. But the good news is this. I'm turning a corner on this bug I have and needed a protein boost so I made one of these babies today!

It's YUMMY! I hope you'll agree

The Strawberry Click Frapp

Ingredients

8 oz. milk (whatever kind you use)
1 scoop strawberry whey (I used this)
1 scoop Vanilla Latte Click
A handful of frozen strawberries

Optional (although I wished I had it here at the office): a "poof" of fat free whippage.

Directions

Blend using the Triple X method. Or not. Your choice!

We now have a good little collection of Click Frapps going on here. Check it out:

• The Original (mocha) Click Frapp
• The Vanilla Click Frapp
• The "Clickabutter" Frapp
• The Cinnamon-Caramel Click Frapp
• The Chai Latte Click Frapp

So take that Starbucks with your sneaky sugar in the Frappucino!!! HUH!

Oh dear...I think I lost myself there for a  moment. But you get the point. There is no reason you can't have a Frapp that satisfies both your sweet tooth AND your daily plan! Enjoy!

BF Review (and "Recipe"): Fiber One English Muffins



I'm sort of under the weather this week, so rather than try to sneeze my way through a bunch of longer recipes, I thought I'd give myself a break and catch up on the gazillion and two products I've been meaning to tell folks about.

Next up...Fiber One English muffins!

Now, up until now I'd done Thomases 100-cal English muffins and was pretty happy with them. Then one day, while in the grocery store, I came across these. You all know my love affair with Fiber One, right? So needless to say when I saw these, I had  to give them a try.



So stats. Per muffin:

100 calories
24g carbs
8g fiber (so 16g net carbs)
5g protein

Carbophobes out there...breathe! If you remember from my Carb Confusion series, you HAVE to take in carbs to get fiber. Yes, you can do Benefiber but the body kind of likes the kind from food too. So I try to eat my fruits and veggies and per my plan I'm allowed two servings of starch a day. This is one of them.



Now, back to Fiber One. Cardboard? No. Delicious? Usually. Easy to achieve "nooks and crannies"? Nooooot necessarily. I had to toast this guy for quite a bit to get the nooks and crannies I wanted. Granted, had I been doing something else besides anxiously watching the toaster oven, I might not have noticed how long it took. But in the end it was all good.

After taking a bite, I noted that, like the cereal, there is a slight sweetness to this English muffin. I liked that but for some reason I've been in a "salty" mood lately. So here's what I did with it.

Nik's Asiago-Parmesan Pepper English Muffin
(doesn't stuff just sound SO fancy when you use three adjectives?)

Ingredients

1 Fiber One English muffin (half if you are earlier out)
A few sprays of low or no-cal butter spray (I used 0 cal Olivio)
2 tbsp crumbled asiago cheese
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions

Toast your muffin in a toaster or toaster oven (preferrably a toaster oven).

Right when you notice your nooks and crannies appearing, add your butter and cheeses and return to toaster oven (if using a toaster, you can nuke it about 15 seconds).

Sprinkle black pepper over the top.

I am in heaven. Absolute heaven. Well, except for the cold. That's sort of a bummer.

Verdict: Diva says Divine!

BF Review: Everlast Hyperplex Protein (Chocolate)



First, I should say that I don't do the most scientific product reviews in the world. Sure, I try to commit to trying stuff plain and paying attention to how it his my palet, but on the overall, I kinda wing it.

Well today I REALLY winged it and now I sort of regret that.

Why? Well because I stumbled onto something really good and I have no idea how. Had I took my time and even just what I usually do, I'd be able to tell you HOW it came to be that I made this discovery.

I mean, hell, even serendipity has some rhyme and reason.

Anyhoo...Everlast Hyperplex Protein. I picked up a few samples when I was at the Vitamin Shoppe the other day. What's interesting to me is this is a protein that seems a little more geared toward body building, but the carbs and sugar are not off the hook (as they certainly can be with body building powders).

Right from the onset I got the feeling this was a "man powder." Look at the packaging.

That does NOT scream "chick shake" to me (conversely, I somehow imagine Click-loving men quietly buying and concealing their purchases...but that's a whole other post).

So here's the stats on the stuff:

Serving Size: 1 scoop (42g)
Calories: 160
Calories from fat: 25
Total Fat: 3g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Carbohydrates: 9g
Sugars: 2g
Protein: 25g

A word about this. The amount of calories seems a little on the high end to me, especially if you are a milk based shake drinker, but the fat actually came in pretty good. I was taught that for any food, you don't want the calories from fat to be more than 50% of the total calories. For my fat dumping pouch, the threshold is even higher. Your mileage may vary.

Now the ingredients list:

A sustained release ultra-premimum protin matrix comprised of microfiltered whey protein isolate, ultrafiltered whey protein concentrate, Milk protein isolate, Parially hydrolized whey protein, Beta Caseins and Caseinates, cocoa powder, sunflower creamer (? - that's a new one on the Nikster), Sucralose... (ellipses means they get into the litany of stuff I can neither pronounce nor describe well, but it is noteworthy that they all appeared to be vitamin content of some kind).

The thing I'm most unsure of is this whole "sustained release protein" thing. In general, patients with malabsorptive procedures want to stay away from sustained release anything. But then the ingredients list doesn't look that different from the protein I've used up to this point, so I have no clue if my current protein is sustained or fast release. For their part, Everlast gave us a handy flow chart:



Yeah...I found that about as helpful as you did. But let's be brave and forge ahead, shall we?

I opened the packet and sniffed (before I had heard of Melting Mama, I never thought to do this). No whey smell. No overwhelmingly chocolate smell either. But that's not a bad thing. Sometimes chocolate protein powders try too hard to be chocolatey. That sort of pisses me off. I KNOW this isn't going to be hand dipped chocolate shake, so let's not kid ourselves, ok?

Here's where I started to eff up the scientific process. I decided, since I just had the one sample (I tried to get another but the register lady at Vitamin Shoppe was not having it) that I wanted to make a normal shake and see how I liked it. Now, with the higher calories, I decided to pull a few tools out of my arsenal (read: fridge).

Hood Calorie Countdown chocolate milk! Have you guys ever had this? OMG. So good! And about the same calories as your skim milk, with less calories and carbs than your skim milk and here's the kicker...it actually TASTES like chocolate milk. S'anyway...I decided to use this, the protein, and the last bit of my Cafe Bustelo decaffeinated instant espresso to make a Decaf Mochaccino.

So I blend. It came out sort of like any other shake. It was creamier and thicker, with less froth (although it did bubble considerably).



Threw in my ice and blended again (as per the Triple X method) and tasted it and...

I kid you not, I am picking up brownie batter. Seriously. And I don't know if it is the Hood milk or this protein powder or what and that fact is driving me a bit batty. For the record, I use the Hood milk quite often and none of my other drinks read as brownie batter so...I don't know. All I know is that in general I'm not a batter lickin' gal EXCEPT for brownie batter. In my former life I could go to town on some brownie batter.

So anyhoo...this shake was good. I just finished it. With a dollop of fat free whippage on top, of course (OF COURSE).

The essential question is though...would I buy a whole container? Sure. If I had some extra money in my protein budget I certainly would. Right now I'm still working on the 80 cabillion containers of powder you guys sent me after last summer's "po po incident" so it'll be a while before I need more.

But for what it's worth this stuff is very pleasant and God bless them for the smell of it. AND, as an added bonus, it's something that, when I meet my future husband who is willing to go to the store for my protein, he will not be ashamed to carry home with pride!

Verdict: Diva says Divine!

BF Weekly Round-Up

I don't know what happened this week, but BF has had more daily page views than it ever has! I don't know if that's because you guys are spreading the word or what...but whatever it is you are doing - keep doing it!

So this week was all about REALLY crave-worthy food. Let's review

Monday:



We kicked things off with my red beans and rice! Very nice! I made this last Sunday and it was gone that night! Luckily I stowed away a portion for lunch the next day, eh?

Tuesday:

My salty caramel dessert is sooooo good. Have you tried it yet? If you don't have sugar-free caramel pudding at your local store, request it so you can try this!

Wednesday:

By far the most popular post this week was my Mexican Egg Casserole (which is a totally made up name, btw). Can you believe I still have a good sized piece left in my fridge? That's what I get for making something only I eat. Next time, maybe I'll freeze half of it up front.

Thursday:

We had four cheese mashed cauliflower. And man was it good! The divas love mashed cauliflower so this, unlike the egg casserole, went pretty quickly.

Friday:

Was meatless of course and I had Thai Tuna sliders. YUM! All you need is a few simple ingredients and a can of tuna and you too can be transported to another place...

Saturday:



I shared what I eat in a day. I think that is important because many folks fear how much they can eat when they are further out. That's why so much emphasis is put on knowing your satiety cues. When you're early out it's not so much a problem but later down the line, you have to watch yourself. I want to stand as a living example that a person can be healthy and successful and eat decent meals!

I hope you enjoyed this week on Bariatric Foodie. If you have any suggestions, hit me up! And don't forget to take the poll to your right. My next BF Basics series will come out this summer and YOU get to pick the subject!

Happy Sunday everyone!

How much can you eat, Nik?

I get this question a lot from post-ops and I always debate how to answer it.

Post-op group psychology is a funny thing. I've yet to meet a single post-op who admits to being able to eat a decent amount of food who portrays that as a good thing. I had severe restriction at first and then went through the psychological ringer about the small amount of food I could eat. It wasn't fun.

Nowadays I can eat a good deal. And I do. I eat a lot of food, but I control the amount and composition of my calories, if that makes sense. But just to give you an idea, the amount of food I eat now doesn't raise eyebrows at restaurants or have waiters asking me if my food is ok. Unless I order from the small plate menu, I rarely finish my plate but I eat enough of it to "pass" for normal.

So here's my plan today, just to give you an idea.

Breakfast (about 10 a.m.): a bit of my Mexican Egg Casserole on a 100-cal English Muffin

Amount I actually ate: Not quite this big a piece. Yes, I am able to eat that and a toasted English muffin.

Verdict: Happily satisfied. Not overstuffed, not still hungry.

Lunch (about 3 p.m.): A tortilla pizza with cheese, pepperoni and turkey sausage

I should probably note here that on my NUTs advice I've been doing two servings of starch a day. The English muffin counts as one, the tortilla as the other. I've been doing this a few weeks and the only big difference I notice is that I get the munchies less. I shoot for high-fiber stuff that keeps me sated. It helps. For more tortilla pizza recipes than you could ever imagine, visit my girl Michelle (aka Eggface). She's got tons!

Amount I actually ate: the whole pizza. It's a large taco sized tortilla, by the way.
Verdict: I am, again, comfortably satified. Neither hungry nor stuffed.

"Dinner" (about 7:30 p.m.): Protein Mudslide

True Fact: Your girl Nik is single and very willing to mingle! I have a date tonight but it's not a food date (I've become an expert at orchestrating non-food dates). So I just had one of these so that I don't get the munchies later on.

How much I "ate": I can drink that whole thing no problem. It's about 16 oz. I can drink larger protein shakes, but when I say larger that only means there's more ice in them, not necessarily more protein powder!

Verdict: My shakes usually have upwards of 35g protein in them. I'm not going near food for about three hours at which time I'll have...

Dessert (will be after midnight for sure): Salted Caramel Dessert

I've given up peanut butter for Lent. I am hoping this has not become the new peanut butter! I love this stuff!

How much I'll eat: C'mon! Do you really have to ask?

Verdict: Well, I haven't eaten it yet but if it goes the same way as the last seven times it'll be a sweet finish to a yummy food day!

Keep in mind this is weekend eating. During weekdays I generally eat on a more regimented schedule (about 6:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 3-ish p.m., 6 p.m. and about 9:30 p.m.) and I go to bed at 11. I always try to eat at least five times a day and, per my nutritionist, with my activity schedule, at three years post op strive for between 1300-1600 calories a day. Some days I hit that easily, some days not so much. Every once in a while I go over that. To me, it's all about balance.

So there you have it. What Nik REALLY eats. Hope this information helps, especially those transitioning into the long-term where their pouches can hold more!

Meatless Fridays: Thai Tuna Sliders



I can't tell you how many post-ops have looked me straight in the eye and told me it was impossible for them to have a good lunch at work.

Now for some of you this is true. But many I spoke to worked in offices with all the necessary components to have a good lunch with just a little prep.

Today's lunch for me are these yummy tuna sliders. They are based on my original tuna burger recipe, but a bit smaller (the Wonder Pouch isn't so wondrous these days for whatever reason). On top is a mixture of low-fat mayo and Greek yogurt and a dollop of my mango salsa (together the two work sorta like an exotic tartar sauce). I would have loved a few chunks of avocado and maybe some red onion...but we work with what we've got!

Nik's Thai Tuna Sliders

Ingredients

1 can tuna with liquid (preferrably water)
1/4 c. textured vegetable protein (or tvp...if you're going "huh?" click here)
1 egg, beaten
1 good squirt (about 1/2 tsp) lime juice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Directions

In a bowl combine tuna (with liquid) and TVP. Mix well and let it sit about 2-3 minutes for the tvp to soak up the liquid.

Add spices and mix well before adding in the egg.

Heat up your sprayed skillet (I used a grill pan). Form the tuna/tvp mixture into slider sized patties (mixture may be loose. Just mush it together and get it in the pan. It'll hold better once one side is cooked).

Cook 2 minutes on one side then flip and cook about 2 minutes on the other side.

Remove from pan, top as you see fit and enjoy!

Today's offering was SUPPOSED to be crab cake sliders but guess who forgot to go to the fish monger? Yeah...so...next week peeps!

Four Cheese Mashed Cauliflower

(Programming Note: If you like this, or any other BF recipe, an easy way to let me know - so I can keep more recipes like it coming - is by clicking one of the "reaction" boxes at the end of the post!)

You ever clean out your refrigerator and find small blocks of random cheese (that's still good) that you forgot you had? Or is that just me?

That happened to me the other day. Here's what I did with it.

Nik's Four Cheese Mashed Cauliflower

Ingredients

1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets (or two bags frozen florets)

2-4 oz. of three different kinds of cheese (So 6-8 oz. cheese total. You're using a few ounces of each KIND of cheese. I used leftover asiago, monterey jack and sharp cheddar)

1 egg, beaten

6 oz. container Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons light butter spread (I used Blue Bonnet Light), melted

1/4 c. whole wheat bread crumbs (NOTE: Since I first made this recipe I have started nixing the bread crumbs and just letting the cheese brown on top. Even less carbs this way!)

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Dashes of: onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper and paprika

Directions

Boil cauliflower florets until tender, drain and mash (see here for good directions on doing that).

Mix in cheeses, yogurt and whatever spices you like, except the paprika (keep the cauliflower in the pot when you do this). Stir thoroughly then mix in the egg.

Transfer mixture over to a 13 x 9 casserole dish.

In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and "butter."

Spread evenly over cauliflower mixture and top with a dash or two of paprika.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

And for those wondering, "will kids really eat this stuff?" I offer the following evidence. The photo above was taken straight out of the oven. Check out the state of the dish not five minutes after that (and I had not yet had a portion).

Need I say more? But if you want to sell them even more on the idea of cheesy mashed cauliflower, check out my uber-cute cheesy mashed cauliflower cups.



<<< Yesterday's (INSANELY popular) post: Mexican Egg Casserole

Mexican Egg Casserole



I just want to clear up one thing first. I have no idea if there is really such a thing as Mexican Egg Casserole. That's just the best name I could come up with for what this is.

It is not a quiche. Not even a crustless one. Quiche implies a lightness this thing does not possess. No...this boy is hearty! He's also not necessarily breakfast, in my opinion. This guy could stand up against any other good dinner choice, alongside a nice salad and (for the fam) a roll.

Nik's Mexican Egg Casserole

Ingredients

1 small onion, finely diced
1 small green pepper, finely diced
1 can tomatoes & chiles (get mild if you don't like spicy food)
1 log of chorizo sausage (get mild if you don't like spicy food)
1 can of beans (I used the kidneys I had left from my red beans & rice, but black beans are nice also), drained and rinsed
1 c. + 1/4 c. shredded Mexican blend cheese
1/2 c. milk
6 eggs (or the equivalent amount of liquid egg substitute)
A dash each: salt, pepper, cajun seasoning blend

For those who do like spicy food:

2 serrano peppers, finely diced, seeds included
A dash of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Spray a skillet with nonstick and toss in your onions, green peppers and serranos. Let them cook until tender.

Cut your chorizo out of the casing and add to pan. Brown it as you would ground beef. Add tomatoes and chiles and warm through.

In a large bowl, beat your six eggs with your milk and add any seasonings you like. Add 1 cup of cheese and beat again.

Spread meat/veggie mixture out in a casserole dish.



Pour egg mixture on top and gently fold.



Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until completely set. Sprinkle additional cheese on top and allow it to melt as the casserole cools.



This is one I get all to myself. The divas share their father's complete and total hatred of eggs. I don't get that but whatever. It's rare I get ANYTHING to myself, so I'm not complaining! But this dish did get two enthusiastic thumbs up from the guests at Dr. Singh's Mexican Pouch Party who got to sample it!

Want more fun with eggs? Check out these BF recipes:

• Eggs Rosettes
• Nik's Angelic Eggs
• Nik's Southwestern Scramble

<< Yesterday's Post: Nik's Salty Caramel Dessert

Nik's Salty Caramel Dessert

This is a true story of how one little sugar-free caramel pudding cup became a very big deal in my life.

I'll try to be brief.

Basically, I was in Wal-Mart and I saw some sugar-free caramel pudding cups. Having never seen them before, I was excited. Brought them home, tasted then and...ennnhhh. They were o.k. But they needed some jazzing up.

In thinking what to do with them, I recalled the deliciousness of salted caramel protein cocoa. Could I make something reminiscent of that? And off my mind went! Here's what I came up with.

Nik's Salty Caramel Dessert (aka "100 calories of hot damn!")

Ingredients

1 sugar-free caramel pudding cup (or 4 oz. prepared sugar free caramel pudding)
A dash of cinnamon
A "splick" of salt (in this case you can decide what a splick is. To me it's usually 1/8 tsp but keep in mind salt doesn't desolve in cold things so you will both taste and FEEL the salt...that was good for me but use your own best judgement)
2 tbsp fat-free whipped topping
1 tsp sugar-free caramel sauce (i.e. Smuckers), for drizzling

Optional: a few banana slices and another dash of cinnamon for garnish

Directions

Empty the contents of your pudding cup into your favorite dessert dish. Mix in salt and cinnamon.

Top with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

NOSH!

This makes for a very satisfying snack at the end of a long day. Altogether, mine comes to about 100 calories and it is worth every last "scrape the dessert bowl with your index finger" taste.

<< Yesterday's Post: Red Beans & Rice (a la Nik)

Red Beans & Rice (a la Nik)



What a perfect lazy day dinner this makes! I made this last night for the divas and I as we camped on the sofas and watched a marathon of 48 Hours Mystery (is it strange that my children like television news magazine programs?).

Red Beans & Rice (a la Nik)

Ingredients

3 cups of cooked kidney beans (I made my own but you could also use the equivalent amount of canned)
4 slices of bacon (the pork kind folks. The cheaper the better. You are using it for the fat)
1 small onion, finely diced
1/2 package low-fat turkey smoked sausage (or kielbasa), cut into rounds then halved
1 can tomatoes & chiles (whatever heat level you like)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 boil-in-bag of whole grain brown rice
1 tsp Cajun seasoning blend (they sell it for a $1 at my grocery store, but it should have in it cumin, paprika, black pepper and chili powder)
Additional salt and pepper to taste

If you like spicy food:
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

Put on a pot to boil the rice bag. When the water boils, plop the bag in there and let it cook.

Cook the bacon in a skillet to render the fat. Remove bacon and set aside (or, as I did, yell out "bacon" and watch how fast it goes. If you want to use it in the mixture...I suggest hiding it).

Toss in the sausage and let that crisp up a bit before adding the onions and garlic.

Once the onions are softened, add in the tomato paste, tomatoes & chiles and spices and mix thoroughly. Let it simmer a bit until the mixture gets reddish-brown. Add more water if the mixture is too thick. It should resemble a really nice pasta sauce. Like this.



Meanwhile, drain water from rice pot and transfer rice from bag into pot. Drain off your kidney beans (if using canned, rinse them in a collander) and combine with the rice.

Pour tomato/sausage mixture over the top and stir then simmer to warm through.

This makes a GINORMOUS pot of food (at least for our lil' family). Now, a word on the rice. You are certainly welcome to make cauliflower rice as opposed to brown rice. Use your own best judgment. I used one boil-in bag (which yields about 2.5 c. cooked rice) and the rice was not the dominant thing in my bowl. I got mostly beans and sausage! But like I said, you do what YOU feel most comfortable doing!

Of course, the divas went all Popeye's on me and made biscuits (I did not partake but ask me if I DID give them the stinkeye for their efforts).

We have plenty for left-overs today which is good because it's raining buckets and I don't feel like cooking!

<< Yesterday's post: BF Weekly Round-up

BF Weekly Round-up

Happy Spring everyone!

Last week set our clocks an hour ahead and today is the spring equinox. I'm so excited! I'm definitely a summer girl and I come alive in warm weather. What's your favorite season?

This week was a good week over here in the "messy kitchen" (I name everything, by the way. My kids are the divas, you guys are Pouchers and that's my name for my kitchen). I used up lots of things that needed using and created some serious yumminess in doing so!

For those who missed any of the yummies, here's a recap for you!

Monday:



I shared the most ridiculously simple method of making shredded pork barbecue. It's great for those of us without the time or the "grill skills" to do the original version.

Tuesday:



We went in a COMPLETELY different direction with my mango salsa. On the Pouch Party Facebook Fan Page and here in the comments I've already heard about how some of you plan to use this. Here's one thing I did with it:



A bright, beauitiful salad with salad greens, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, a little sprinkle of cheese, the mango salsa and some shrimp. I do meatless Fridays during Lent and with lunches like this, who misses chicken, beef and pork?

Wednesday:



The exotic theme continued with Chicken Tikka Masaala atop fluffy cauliflower rice. Those of you into Indian food HAVE to check this one out. Even I was surprised by how easy it was!

Thursday:



Was St. Patrick's Day. And besides sharing my love for inappropriate t-shirts, I also shared a happy mistake that ended in the perfect triple chocolate protein shake!

Friday:



This meatless Friday, I showed a fast-food breakfast swap that would satisfy anyone in your family. My Fruity "Maple" Oatmeal beats McDonald's hands down!

Saturday:

I shared my Top 5 favorite protein powders! For pre-ops and new folks especially, I thought it would be good to have a starting point to explore powders. I hope it was helpful.

Stick around next week as the yumminess continues. I'll be serving up:

• My spin on another southern classic
• The details on how I am (and you hopefully will be) counting down the days until summer
• A nifty little dessert I've been obsessed with the last few weeks. Three words: 100 calorie indulgence!