Simple Keto Chicken with Garlic, Rosemary, and Bay Leaves
Chicken is the bodybuilders most favorite.
Alright, alright, it’s chicken breast and this recipe is with chicken thighs.
Well, I LOVE chicken thighs and can’t help myself coming up with recipes to make them taste even more delicious!
Furthermore, as many of you, I like simple recipes: few ingredients, quick from pan to plate, little cleaning afterward.
Guess what, this one-pot recipe is all of that!
And it’s a keto recipe too!
*ROAR OF APPLAUSE* (thank you, thank you)
It uses mainly herbs that you should have in your kitchen available (if not, what are you even eating hahah) and other staple ingredients.
It uses wine, but as I always say, you don’t need the expensive stuff. Buy the cheap one and it keeps in the fridge forever (it’s for cooking!).
This super easy to make recipe provides almost 50g of protein per serving, 1g of carbs and 630kcal. What an amazing way to cut weight, if you ask me!
This goes great with a salad made of fresh lettuce, fennel, arugula, celery, and a couple of cherry tomatoes. With, it goes without saying, some tasty extra virgin olive oil drizzled on top.
You don’t need to be a bodybuilder to appreciate this keto recipe. Given the high-protein content, though, this recipe is indicated for whoever does resistance training which means lifting weights. Also if you do calisthenics or gymnastic and you are on a ketogenic diet, this recipe is good for you too!
Besides being keto friendly, this recipe is also suited for the following diets: Paleo, Primal, LCHF.
You can replace the wine with beer, vinegar, chicken broth.
Without further ado, here’s the recipe!
GIF Recipe
Chicken Stew with “Fake” Potatoes
Potatoes…who doesn’t love them, am I right?!
All those calories though!
What if I told you that there is a vegetable that tastes and “behaves” 90% like a potato but with half of the calories?
Let me introduce you to a new staple in your diet which makes for a great food hack.
Enter rutabaga.
Yeah, bizarre name. But you might also know it as neep or swede.
I stumbled upon it almost by chance, really.
I live in the Netherlands and my Dutch is very bad. I asked for “Kohlrabi” and the fruit seller packed me a rutabaga. Which I discovered only when getting home and finding this HUGE and weird looking vegetable in my bag.
It actually took me some time even to understand what it was hahaha
I found a lot of delicious recipes on the internet but I didn’t have much time to do fancy stuff so I decided to treat it like I would normally treat a potato and use it to make this chicken stew you can see here.
I am pretty sure that if you would serve this to anyone who didn’t see you cooking, they might never tell that it’s not made with actual potatoes. The more sophisticated foodies might spot the difference and tell you “what kind of potatoes did you use for this dish?”
The difference is incredibly subtle.
The rutabaga/neep/swede has ONLY 36 kcal/100g!! It also provides a mere 8g of carbohydrates of which 3g are fibers. If you are on a ketogenic diet and miss potatoes, this can be for you!
From the nutrition point of view, unfortunately, as with regular potatoes, this is nothing spectacular as it doesn’t provide that high amount of nutrients. Though it has more vitamin C than regular potatoes providing 42% of the Vitamin C RDA in 100g. But to be honest, you need to have a very crappy diet not to consume enough vitamin C 😀
Also for those of you cutting and missing potatoes, try to have some rutabaga! I am going to show you more recipes in the future that are great for cutting!
I decided to make a very quick chicken stew using “kipkluifjes”. I have no idea what’s the English word for that and the closest approximation is chicken thighs though they are very small.
Of course, you can use bigger chicken thighs, drumsticks, and even chicken breast.
This high-protein recipe is a healthy bodybuilding meal great for dinner or post-workout.
At 850 kcal this recipe can be a bulking one for those looking to increase muscle mass. If you are cutting, use chicken breast or remove the skin from the chicken.
This recipe is also high in protein since it provides 54g per serving.
With 32g of net carbs, this can a good post-workout recipe for people on the targeted ketogenic diet (TKD).
If you don’t want to use beer, use wine, vinegar, or chicken broth to make this recipe paleo/primal.
GIF Recipe
Pork Belly & Brussels Sprouts (Vitamin K & C Booster!)
I used to HATE Brussels sprouts.
Like any cheap plot you can think of, I am now in love with them, of course.
It all started when I wanted to pair some veggies with my beloved sardines.
I was experimenting with different things and I decided to give Brussels sprouts a try. And boy I was hooked!
I don’t know what happened but I actually really like them now. Go figure!
Brussels sprouts are a nutrient powerhouse!
100g of Brussels sprouts provide:
- 142% of your Vitamin C RDA
- 221% of your Vitamin K RDA
- 15% of your Folate RDA
- 3.4g of protein per 100g (not bad for a vegetable!)
- fullness and satiety
This recipe is a great way to pack some vitamins together with some great flavor (and a lot of protein!).
In the recipe I used beer. Feel free to substitute it with wine or vinegar (apple cider goes great here!).
If you don’t want to use sweetener, you can use applesauce for a more natural and whole ingredient (I didn’t have it at hand). Apple goes very well with pork, you should really try.
This is a full meal great for clean bulking. I would recommend this as dinner or post-workout. You get protein, fat, and healthy carbs all in one meal!
You don’t need to eat junk food to gain muscle mass. You can have perfectly healthy bodybuilding meals to gain mass and this recipe is an example.
This is a one-pot recipe which means that you won’t have to spend much time for cleaning up since you do everything in one pan.
This is a very easy and quick bodybuilding recipe which is also good for people on the paleo, primal, lchf, iifym diet.
GIF Recipe
Gordon Ramsay’s Muscle Building Pork Chops
Once, I found out Gordon Ramsay’s YouTube channel and I ended up spending the entire Sunday morning watching is cooking videos.
I was drooling over my keyboard.
The guy is a whizz and he’s incredibly passionate about cooking. You can see his heart is in there when he seasons the meat, chops up the onions, or sears a steak.
Given that pork chops is relatively high in protein and I’m bulking, I decided to give Gordon Ramsay’s pork chops recipe a try.
The recipe itself is rather simple though I never basted meat before so that was sort of tricky for me though I managed at the end. It’s a nice technique to bring more flavors and speed up the cooking so that the meat doesn’t dry up and you can give it a try with this recipe.
I wouldn’t recommend this recipe to someone who never cooked before. There are easier recipes that can provide you great taste as well.
The taste was great: rich, full of aromas from the herbs and butter, sweet and sour from the vinegar and the peppers. Some sour cream or crème fraîche would make a great topping for this one or even just some quality extra-virgin olive oil.
Despite being high in fat, it doesn’t have a high amount of calories: only 590kcal/serving. Since I am bulking, I ate 2 😄
How Can All That Fat Help Your Muscle Gains?
Olive oil and pork meat are rich in monounsaturated fatty acids which can increase anabolic hormone levels.
Pork and butter are also a source of saturated fatty acids which, as well, can increase levels of anabolic hormones such as testosterone and growth hormones.
This will contribute to gaining muscle mass faster by increasing your testosterone levels in the long term.
Be sure to include polyunsaturated fatty acids in your diet as well such as omega-3s which you get from eating fatty fishes or by taking fish oil supplements for a proper balance.
Each serving will also provide 35g of protein which is a good high amount for people who want to build muscle and strength (you still need to train though 😜Â ).
Reference
http://jap.physiology.org/content/82/1/49
GIF Recipe
Chicken Drumsticks with Cherry Tomatoes
You know when you open your fridge and you can find just a couple of ingredients and get discouraged?
That’s what happened to me before making this recipe.
I opened my fridge and I just had chicken and cherry tomatoes.
On top of that, I wanted to make something quickly.
That inspired me to create this one-pot very simple and easy recipe which also takes 10-15 min to make.
This recipe is great for a meal-prep too since you can make it in advance, store in the fridge, and reheat before eating.
It’s very high in protein and so low-carb that even people on the ketogenic diet can make it.
The taste is completely unexpected: sweet from the cherry tomatoes, sour from the wine and garlic, and great savoriness from the chicken blend together to give you a unique mouth-watering experience.
This makes a great post-workout or dinner when you are looking to pack some muscle mass with an high-protein meal.
Besides being Keto, this recipe is also Paleo, Primal, LCHF, and ofc IIFYM.
If you want to add more carbs, pair this with some rice or (oven baked) potatoes fries.
About the wine: it doesn’t to be the expensive stuff. I truly buy the cheapest there is and, once opened, it can last in the fridge basically forever. You can use wine for a lot of recipes to make them even more delicious so it’s not a waste!
Gif Recipe
Mouth-Watering Italian Pork Sausage with Mushrooms and Ricotta
Pork sausage was on discount, therefore I bought 1.5 kg.
What to do with it?
Pork sausage is one of those foods that you can put together with anything and it will taste superb.
This does indeed in this amazing recipe I am presenting to you today.
It’s pretty low in carbs so perfect for a ketogenic diet or low-carb high-fat (LCHF).
If you don’t care about your carbs intake, this goes perfectly with pasta. I had it with some gnocchi and, boy, was this foodgasmic!
Trust me, it tastes way better than it looks 🙂
Gif Recipe
Sausage and Beans (Rural Italian Classic)
Have you ever heard of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill? They are famous Italian actors, famous for action-comedy movies such as “They Call Me Trinity”.
In this movie, there is an epic scene of almost 3 minutes in which the main character is eating a delicious beans course straight from the pan.
The scene is so well done that you start drooling right away.
Your brain goes: “MUST. HAVE. NOW.”
I tried to imagine how that recipe would be like and went about to re-create it. t was as delicious as in the movie.
It was as delicious as in the movie it seems to be.
This is a healthy, high-protein, low-carb recipe which is great for building muscles!
If you want to be as strong as Bud Spencer, you should try this recipe. It’s super easy!
This recipe is also gluten-free.
Note: the carbs indicated on the nutrition label are already net carbs (as in the style of European nutrition labels)
Gif Recipe
2
Pork Sausage with Lentils (Very Filling High-Protein Lunch/Dinner)
How to make a cheap, (fairly) healthy, and high-protein dinner?
Well, you use pork, legumes (lentils in this case), and veggies!
This recipe is a great high-protein lunch/dinner idea since it packs a lot of proteins and a ton of fibers (for those of you struggling with fiber intake!). It delivers an incredible 38g of fibers per serving. If I remember correctly that’s the recommended intake for an adult male!
While being all good for your intestinal health, it’s also very delicious as the aroma of the pork meat perfectly combines with the texture and taste of lentils and tomato sauce. Then, the added spices add a touch of unexpected flavor that blends delightfully with the whole dish.
It’s not a quick recipe (it might require up to 50 min), mind you, since you have to cook the lentils but if you have a slow cooker than it’s perfect!
Since this is a high-calories recipe, it’s ideal if you struggle to gain weight and muscle mass.
This recipe is good also for people on the slow-carb diet!
The amount of carbs in the label is net carbs (as in European nutrition labels’ style).
Gif Recipe
Natural Stamina&Libido Boosting Recipe
I know, I know, the title of this video sounds super scammy, but stay with me for a second and I will explain to you why this recipe may (YMMV) will increase stamina and libido.
Sardines Testosterone Booster
I’ve been eating sardines for more than 1 year, every day.
Not only sardines are high in protein, they are also packed with omega-3, vitamins, and minerals. Ah, and I haven’t mentioned how cheap they are…
Where I live (The Netherlands), you can buy a can, containing 88g of sardines for just 53 euro cents!
100g of sardines will provide you with 25g of protein, 1.5g of omega3s (!!), 68% of your RDA of vitamin D3, and 9% of your RDA of zinc.
Why did I mention specifically omega3s, vitamin D3, and zinc?
Because higher intakes of these are correlated with high testosterone levels.
Do I have to tell you why having higher testosterone is good for you?
Besides that, omega3s are anabolic, which means that they promote by themselves increases in muscle mass and strength (you still have to train though).
Stamina Boosting Foods
But this dish doesn’t contain sardines only. We have a whole combo of manliness enhancing foods!
Beetroot
Enhances blood flow in your body. It can be for this reason be used as pre-workout to “increase the pump” or to increase endurance. Now, it has never been studied as a “sexual performance enhancer” but my guess is that if it enhances endurance exercise it will naturally enhance stamina too.
Garlic
Aka “natural viagra” aka “vegetable viagra”. Since I started eating 1-2 cloves daily (steaming or boiling removes bad breath giving compounds) I feel 14 years old again.
Ginger
It is not very well known as testosterone/libido enhancer yet it can increase sperm count and quality, testosterone, and ejaculate volume. Besides that, it’s truly a great “superfood” enhancing also your memory and lowering inflammation.
Then we have other components in this dish that are just straight good for your health and immunity. Because even if you have high libido and stamina, if you’re sick, there’s no use to that 🙂
Sauerkaut are a source of probiotics, fibers, and vitamin C (and lemon juice too). These will make you less susceptible to getting sick and there’s one study saying that vitamin C can lower the symptoms of depression, leading to more frequent intercourses (the study is funded by a pharma company so this last piece might be total bs).
That’s it! Simple, easy, high-protein, and also tastes great! Try this recipe for yourself and let me know how it goes!
References
http://jap.physiology.org/content/82/1/49
http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/5/2/509
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26679702
http://jap.physiology.org/content/early/2015/08/27/japplphysiol.00066.2015
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/102/1/115.abstract?etoc
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2958879/
https://examine.com/supplements/ginger/
https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-c/
https://examine.com/nutrition/non-traditional-use-for-probiotics-illness-in-athletes/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3249897
https://examine.com/supplements/beet-root/
Gif Recipe
Smoothie Recipe for Strength: Creamy Avocado Pre-Workout
I always wondered: why do people love avocados?
They taste like nothing to me (and this could very well be that the ones we get here in the Netherlands are probably the worst).
Sure, the usual olive oil, salt, and pepper thing. I heard about that already. But, but…where’s mah protein?!?
So, one day, I thought: “what if I put an avocado in my pre-workout smoothie?
Honestly, I was doing just for the calories, I wasn’t expecting much of it.
WARNING: the following recipe will make you want more and more and more and more of it.
As I opened the blender to scoop the whole thing out, I was bewildered to see the consistency, thickness, and texture of this smoothie.
Never would I have predicted what I was going to experience as tasting a spoonful of this recipe.
My mouth watered, my brain starting shouting “holy moly what’s happening here? are we having sex?!”.
Yes my friend, what I was having was not your average foodgasm. This was a real thing.
After that, none of my smoothies lacked this fundamental ingredient, the avocado.
I would strongly suggest you try it as well, next time you make yourself a smoothie and be ready to experience pleasure.
Here you have it, a smoothie recipe for strength!