Health Warning! These Cookies ARE NOT for the Faint of Heart!

I hold The Ranting Chef entirely responsible for this utterly unhealthy treat. His post about “The Bacon Industrial Complex” inspired me to have a go at making a protein-enhanced version of his cookies and darn they’re good!

Around four and a half hours (and a mega workout) after eating one and I’m only just starting to feel hungry!

Peanut Butter Bacon Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies
Makes 18, 350 calories, 34g carbs (3g fibre, 21g sugar), 14g protein, 18g fat

Ingredients:

• 6 rashers of streaky bacon
• 200g smooth peanut butter
• 125g crunchy wholenut peanut butter
• 75g butter (or margarine)
• 275g golden caster sugar or soft light brown sugar
• 150g pea protein isolate
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 175g dark chocolate chips
• 260g rolled oats
• Water to bind

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C/160C (fan)/340F
2. Place the bacon in a non-stick baking tray and put in the oven for 15 minutes whilst you prepare the rest.
3. Line two large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
4. Beat peanut butters and butter/magarine together until well combined.
5. Add sugar and cream together.
6. Add pea protein isolate and bicarb and beat in.
7. Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix well (the mixture will look like breadcrumbs at this point).
8. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips then add enough water to bring the mix together.
9. Take the bacon out of the oven. Drain the fat into the cookie mix and crumble in the (now crispy) bacon.
10. Take fistfuls of dough, roll into rough balls and place on the tray and then flatten. They won’t spread so you don’t need to leave a lot of space between them.
11. Bake for around 20-25 minutes until starting to turn golden around the edges.
12. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before eating (or they’ll fall apart).

Meal Planning… Or Failing To Do So

I posted up a picture of my shopping trolley on my Instagram and Twitter feed recently and a friend asked me if I could follow up with a little about how I plan my shopping and meals.

The short answer is that I don’t really plan very well. Here is my usual shopping process:

1. “Bugger, I’ve run out of peppers/turkey/eggs. Grant, can we stop at the supermarket on the way home?”
2. Head to the supermarket on the way home.
3. Wander to the vegetable cheap shelf and grab some cabbage or kale (because there’s always cabbage on the cheap shelf). Grab 1-2kg of carrots, 1kg of leeks, onions (if needed), 1-2kg of sweet potatoes, sometimes 2-5kg of potatoes, two big bags of peppers and some salad.
4. Trolley is now half full. Head to the meat cheap shelf.
5. Grab whatever looks good on the meat cheap shelf, if there is anything.
6. Wander back to the meat aisle and buy a selection of meats from the “3 for £10” offers (or similar) – usually turkey breast mince, sausages, pork mince and/or beef mince.
7. Grab lots of bacon.
8. Spend ten minutes debating what we’re going to cook for the rest of the week… disagree… eventually I win.
9. Get some sort of large piece of meat (if it’s on special offer).
10. Check the bakery cheap shelf for Grant’s second breakfast.
11. Grab whatever store cupboard items we’re short of (soy milk, GF flour, oil)
12. Remember that I forgot to get Greek yoghurt so go back and grab that.
13. Wander to the tills.
14. Remember that I forgot to check the cheap shelves a second time and run back.
15. Decide that I need Ben and Jerry’s… so buy two tubs.
16. Check out.

Not very organised, really. In all honesty, I’m not a great planner. I see what’s there, I grab what’s cheap and I plan based on the use-by dates (or throw things in the freezer and defrost as needed).

My meals are planned around workouts. If it’s a heavy day the next day, I’ll throw something in the slow-cooker or plan to do something quick and easy (i.e. stir-fry with noodles). If it’s a rest day, I’ll plan on spending a little more time cooking something like a lamb curry with a vegetable curry and rice.

I usually bake muffins on Sunday in batches of 24 so that we can eat four on Monday and freeze the rest for the week ahead.

I did try for a while to be good and plan a week in advance, but these days I plan a day or two in advance. I make sure I always have a lot of vegetables available to me and a good selection of meats so I can be disorganised.

You might think that this leads to a lot of waste, but it really doesn’t.

I ignore use by dates on fruit and vegetables (FFS, it’s obvious when they’re going off) and generally keep most of my meat in the freezer until the day before I cook it. Almost everything that goes in our food waste bin is vegetable trimmings, egg shells, skin or bones… leftovers are eaten unless there’s something wrong with them and if it isn’t tasty it’s my own fault and I eat it regardless.