Review of DR ZAK'S High Protein Pasta

Hey Guys and Dolls,

I am writing my first ever product review! DR ZAK’S is a British Company out of London; they were kind enough to send me one of their many high protein products to sample. I was not paid to do this review, it is my honest opinion.

When I started my weight loss journey it is safe to say I cut out a lot of carbs such as pasta, rice and bread, yes I ate some whole wheat produce but I kept it to the bare minimum due to the carb content. Pasta was a luxury and I was only ever above to fit in possibly 2/3 TBSP (yes that little!). So you cannot imagine how pleased I was when I then discovered DR ZAK’S. I immediately went for their bread, I mean who doesn't love bread and I missed it so much? Look at my previous post where I attempted a homemade bread (it was good, but isn't it better when someone else makes it for you?)  The texture is amazing and tasted just like any whole grain bread on the super market shelves only it was better and 2 slices contains a whooping 30g of protein.

I was super excited when my DR ZAK’S High Protein Pasta arrived and quickly ensured that I was able to incorporate it into my meal plan for the day. I will first give you the Nutritional information before I go on to review taste, texture and my overall view on this product.

This picture is curtsy of www.dr-zaks.com

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Per 100 g Serving:

Calories: 396

Fat: 7.5g

Carbohydrate: 31g

Fibre: 2g

Protein: 50g

This pasta contains a whooping 50gs of protein per serving which I find astonishing, what I find even more amazing about the product is that it only has THREE INGREDIENTS : Pea Protein Isolate, Durum Wheat Semolina and Fresh Eggs. I've always imagined creations like this would involve adding extras for taste and composition in order to make it taste and look like the ‘real thing’.  

TASTE, TEXTURE AND OVERALL REVIEW

The high protein pasta, tastes just like real pasta, I cooked mine as instructed on the cooking instructions and it came out perfect. I served it with some diced turkey breast and tomato sauce (yum) it tasted no different to any other store bought pasta, with the added bonus of 50g of protein for them muscle gains!!

The texture of the pasta is just right as well, I for one know it is not easy to look for alternatives to fit into the fitness lifestyle in order to achieve ones goals, so it was either cut the food out or look for an alternative. It must have taken DR ZAK’S some time and patience to get this one right, because I have experimented with protein pancakes, protein ice-creams etc. and the amount of time I had to throw it away because it went badly wrong (shed a tear for the wasted protein) so I commend their team because it must have been tough to get the formula right to ensure it wasn't just about feeding consumers with a high protein product that doesn’t taste good or crumble horribly in their mouths as they chew.

So overall I really enjoyed the pasta, and as their slogan says I’m ‘PUTTING PASTA BACK ON THE MENU’. If you would like to try and of DR ZAK’S High Protein products they currently stock in some selected Tesco Stores (check out their facebook page – DR ZAK’S for store information), also online at www.dr-zaks.com. Also look out for their High Protein Bagel which is due anytime soon, I can’t wait guys!!

Take care

B xxx

Protein/Energy Balls

10 protein/energy balls (would be a good post workout snack)

250g pitted dates 

1/4 cup almonds 

1tsp cocoa powder 

2 scoops whey protein ( I used choc and vanilla) 

1 tsp sweet freedom natural sweetness 

1 tbsp biona organic coconut oil 

Directions 

1. Blend all ingredients together until comes together and able to roll in a ball without mixture crumbling. 

2. Remove from blender and roll into small balls. I made 10 out of them.

(You can roll into chai seeds or coconut shreds if you want. But I opted not to.)

:( forgot to put my peanut butter so I'll be having that as a side with them of course! Lol

Whole mixture was 360g so I was able to get 10 balls which were 36g each. 

Macro:

Totals for 10 balls: kcal 975, fat 29.9, carbs 171.4, protein 50.7

1 ball (36g): kcal 97.5, fat 3, carbs 17.1, protein 5.0

Enjoy snacking the healthy way! 

Avocado Mousse/pudding

Ingredients

140g Chopped Avocado 

2 tbsp Pure Honey 

16 g/ 2tbsp cocoa powder 

1 tsp almond/vanilla essence 

2 table spoons of water 

Directions

Put all ingredients into food processor/blender and blend till smooth and mousse like consistency..

 

Macros

You will get roughly 170g from mixture, I split it in half to make two servings to fit my macros for the morning! 

1 serving (85g) 

Total kcal: 176, fat 11.5, carbs 8.4, fiber 6.1, sugar 1.6, protein 3.8

The almond Essenes isn't necessary but gives it such a sweet aroma. 

Coconut Chicken Boob and Cauliflower 'Rice'

So today is meal prep day for me and I bought lots of chicken boob, fish, veg, hearts and other things to sustain my body though out the week. 

I divided my chicken boob into 2 batches as I wanted to marinate them differently for variety. First batch main ingredient was coconut and here is what you need (bear in mind this should last me a few days. I don't cook for just one day!) 

For the 5 Servings of Coconut chicken you need the following:

Coconut chicken

- 1400 grams Chicken Boob

- 1 cup coconut milk

- 1 cup chopped parsley

- 2 cloves garlic 

- 1.5 tsp Braggs amino

- 2 chopped green chilli

- 4 spring onions

- 1 tsp Dijon mustard 

- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil 

Direction: 

1. Mix/ blend all ingredients together apart from chicken & olive oil 

2. Marinate chicken with mixture

3. Put olive oil in pan and fry all the chicken. Add olive oil as needed, but I didn't bother juice from the marinate was enough to cook it without pan burning and boobs drying out. If you want you can bake instead. 

One serving (230g)

Calories: 325.6/F5.28/C3.28/P66.64

Cauliflower 'Rice' 

One cup chopped up cauliflower boiled for about 10 mins with 0.5 serving of Braggs aminos 

Calories: 25/C 5/ F 0/P2

Total for meal: calories: 351/C 8/F5/P69 

This meal is great for anyone who is thinking of doing carb cycling. Very low in carbs and high in protein! 

Enjoy and watch out for what I make with the other batch of chicken. 

Healthier carrot cake recipe

Healthy Carrot Cake Recipe

 

So I promised to put up my healthy carrot cake recipe last week and I just got a minute at work and thought I would quickly post the recipe.

Healthy Carrot Cake:

-          2 cups Whole wheat or oat Flour

-          1 tsp Baking Powder

-          1 tsp Cinnamon

-          2 cups grated carrots Xylitol (if you can’t get use brown sugar)

-          3 tbsp Coconut oil

-          3 large eggs

-          1 tsp vanilla extract

-          ½ cup Almond milk or milk of your choice.

Frosting

-          ½ cup low fat cream cheese

-          2 tbsp Xylitol

-          1 tsp ground cinnamon

-          1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Directions: For carrot cake:

Mix wet ingredients with carrots and mix dry ingredients separately.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.

Put in mixture in baking tin and place in preheated oven (200 degrees) for about 20- 30 mins. – do the fork test if not cooked leave for as long as it takes, but check it 

 

Frosting:

Mix all ingredients together, wait for cake to cool down before adding frosting

Sorry I don't have the macros for this one! As I said very quick post! Back to work! 

Enjoy my lovelies 

 

 

 

Recipe for plantain waffle/pancake

Hey all as you know I've been shouting and counting down on twitter and Instagram about my Refeed day which is tomorrow yay! In order not to labour myself in the kitchen I have already made my pancake which I will eat like a traditional waffle and chicken recipe. I will post a picture on twitter and Instagram tomorrow before I bite into it! 

I'm increasing my carb intake by 100% so will be eating 4 of them babies if my stomach can handle it 😁😳

It is is such an easy recipe and I got my cook to test it out for me lol. It yields 6 pancakes and I've also done the macro break down for 1 pancake. Enjoy! 

Plantain waffle/pancake

312g plantain

6 tbsp whole wheat flour

1 tsp coconut oil

1tsp baking powder 

2 eggs

Mix all ingredients together in a blender and either cook in waffle iron orin a skillet like a pancake! 

1 pancake 

Kcal 148, fat 2.8,carbs 23, fiber 2.2, protein 10.9, 

Obviously I would not be indulging in these on my low carb days!!

Follow me on twitter and let me know how you get in with these 

Watch out for more recipes 

Low Carb, High Protein Bread

So today I was really craving a bagel with smoked salmon and avocado, however as you all know I'm 'cutting' so need to control my carbohydrate intake! And I'm trying to do that especially by leaving out starchy carbs as much as possible. 

So here is a low carb high protein bread I made, as I've mentioned on twitter I don't have an oven in Lagos so this is a flat bread made in a skillet, it is one serving and you can get two slices out of it. 

Low Carb, High Protein Bread Recipe: 

8 almond flour (blend whole almonds in food processor)

2 egg whites 

3/4 tsp baking powder 

1/2 scoop TPW Vanilla Whey Protein

1 calorie olive oil spray/ olive oil

1, blend almonds in food processor to get flour consistency 

2, add all the dry ingredients together first

3, incorporate wet ingredients with dry and mix well till get nice dough consistency 

4, spray skillet once/twice with olive oil spray let it heat up on medium heat and pour in dough and let it cook. 

This should get you 2 slices of flat bread and the macros are as follows: 

Total kcal: 140.5, fat 5.5, sf 1, carbs 4.8, protein 19.95, 

Enjoy!