At last I experiment with hot chocolate from North Italy

The Protein Chef has alerted me to this one. I guess he modified the Italian recipe.

Here it is, modified by me

1 cup milk (I used skim milk)
1/2 tbl of smooth Peanut butter
1-1.5 tbl cocoa powder
1/4 xanthum gum (I got mine online from the Gluten Free Shop)

Directions. In a pot put milk, gum, cocoa and peanut butter. Heat while whisking hard. Take it off the heat when it gets hot but not boiling.  It thickens as it heats because of the gum, but will curdle if you heat too long.

Top it with whipped cream made from low fat ricotta with a little milk. Pipe onto hot chocolate.

I discovered you can make this with almond milk as well. No sugar, but oh so delicious.

And of course if you were keen to add protein powder you could do this too.

Crumbed fish, quinoa and veges for dinner

I guess to get a lot of protein into an elderly man who is short of it, I have had to cook a lot of fish. So last time it was crumbed fish. Dip fish into flour, then egg and then into breadcrumbs, seaweed flakes and seasoning. Fry lightly.

These days I am cooking quinoa instead of potato every second meal. Here we also have mashed kumera, the New Zealand sweet potato. And asparagus and tomato.

Chocolate and beetroot cake with no sugar has a good serving of protein

Who would have believed my husband is eating chocolate cake? And a very rich one too. I went through all the chocolate and beetroot cake recipes I could find, settled on one by Nigel Slater and then left out the sugar. It was fine. We actually took it to a pot luck luncheon and it went down a treat with strawberries and yoghurt, but here it is without the trimmings. It has nearly a cake of 70% chocolate in it.

This recipe has 5 eggs in it as well as all the chocolate.

Here is Nigel Slaters extremely moist chocolate cake and as I say, I left out the sugar and it was fine.

Tomatoes with beans make for good protein for seniors

So this is lunch and a satisfying one too. Just fry up some onions and add cut up tomatoes and put in the cooked beans. Season to taste.

Beans have 22g of protein in 100 grams of beans, quite a respectable ratio. Older people who need more protein because they absorb less could have beans in a variety of ways













And of course the next day you can use up beans by making fritters. You will need to keep them moist with a bit of oil, then whizz up, add fried onions, 2tbl flour, grated vegetable of your choice, 2-3 eggs, 1 tsp baking powder and seasonings. Drop into pan and fry lightly. Serve with salad.

Shrimps went down well and plenty of protein for the elderly there

This was a great success and I weighed the shrimps that he ate. It was 200gm. That is half the day's protein. I just fried them in coconut oil with onions and mushrooms and added lemon juice. Delicious. And the dried peas before they were transformed into a tasty smooth mush the next day. Broccoli contains some protein too. Altogether a good protein meal for an older person.

Leftovers and egg for lunch, together with the concoction made from dried peas and peanut butter, good protein here

This lunch has a surprising amount of protein it. The egg has 6gm, the quinoa has some and so does the avocado. Then there is the slop on the left. Well, I had some dried yellow peas which I had cooked. They were dry, so I put them in the whizzer with a bit of the juice from when I boiled them and added peanut butter (protein) and a bit of olive oil and a chunk of blue vein cheese for flavour. He loved it.

Here is the picture of how it looks

Dinner with chickpeas, left over mussel fritters, feta cheese, walnuts and broad beans

This wasn't a complete success. I decided the carrots were too hard for my husband's teeth, so I lightly fried them in oil. I should have cooled them before adding chopped up feta cheese. It would have looked nicer because the warmth of the carrots made the feta cheese melt into them. I had broad beans in the freezer and a couple of left over mussel fritters from lunch. The walnuts are good.

Nonetheless he loved it. He did remark that chickpeas are better when served as hummus, so I made a mental note to find other ways of serving chickpeas. The hummus is finished.

There would only be about 40 gm of mussels plus 1/2 egg in the two fritters. At26gm per 100 gm this only gives 10gm protein and 6gm in the egg. Total 16gm.

Here is nearly a cup of walnuts freshly shelled. There is about 15 gm protein in a whole cup so this one would be 13 gm. Rarely would a person eat more than 8-10 gms per serving.

Now compare the protein content of the above meal with this one. It is a slow cooked shank of lamb, thickened. Although it is a small serving of meat, nonetheless the protein in lamb is around 36gm/100 so even 50 gm of meat gives you 18gm of protein, slightly more than the two mussel fritters.

Tomorrow's Bircher's Muesli

This one has in it

1/4 cup quick rolled oats
1/4 cup jumbo rolled oats
chia seeds
pumpkin seeds
sunflower seeds
1/2 cup yoghurt
organic apple juice
Raisins
walnuts
strawberries
apricots from the freezer
1/2 banana


And if you want to add more protein, you could add some protein powder. (My husband doesn't approve so this gets left out.)

After eating this an elderly person wanting more protein will have little room for anything else. It sure keeps you going all morning.

Quinoa can replace potatoes in a meal

Quinoa is a good source of protein and is easily digestible. Hence it is excellent as a source of protein for seniors. 8gm of protein are in a cup of cooked quinoa so that adds to the daily total. Mind you, you would have to eat a lot of quinoa to rely on it too much as a source of protein. This serving is certainly not a whole cup.

So it is just as well this meal has a lot of fish (in this case butterfish). This particular meal has 160gm of fish so that is about 40g protein. Navy beans at 20 per cup are much richer in protein than quinoa.

And he had 1/4c of walnuts before the meal so that helped with the total protein content(about 4gm in those walnuts)

Going out to lunch happens – an occasion when you can't control the protein in the meal

Today was one of those days when we just had to eat out. Sometimes life is like that. No choice but to eat out.

Normally my husband stays in the car listening to the radio while I go in and eat. He doesn't approve much of the meals. But today he came with me (and the newspaper to do the puzzles)

I ordered a large slab of frittata and coffee and a second fork. Well blow me down he ate more than half of because he liked it. It had smoked salmon (I told him it was salmon and didn't mention the smoked so he ate it) And he loved it. Eggs, salmon and veggies. Best we could do.

He said he was still full from the Birchers muesli at breakfast time and I can believe it as he also had a poached egg.

Fish pie with boiled eggs "My word this is tasty"

When we go to a pot luck dinner one of the women, who happens to be a dietitian, said my husband usually makes a beeline for her fish pie. She told me what she had in it so I made it today. In the sauce I put just a little grated cheese, and I boiled two eggs lightly and chopped them in. Then I coated it with mashed potato and breadcrumbs and grilled it for a while.

Well that was a first. Can't believe he ate boiled eggs ( he usually only likes them lightly boiled) and of course in the sauce was a little. Several times while eating it (though I had overdone the serving of potatoes relative to fish and sauce) he remarked how tasty it was. Funny what cheese does to the appetite. Not too much that he gets mucous. And of course there was milk in the sauce. I have just got to be careful that added together the kefir, yoghurt, milk and cheese don't add up to too much.

The same nutritionist said put milk powder in some recipes for extra protein, haven't tried that. I must say some of the milk in that sauce was rice milk just in case. And there was water in it because it was too thick. Oh the wonders of cooking tricks we all get up to!

Salmon, kumera with peanuts, broccoli dinner

I must say this doesn't look marvellous but it is hard keeping the standard up. At least this meal has protein in it. Salmon is a favourite and I have thrown in some crunched up peanuts into the mashed kumera, put on a few almonds and the favourite raw broccoli.

Almonds have 6 gm protein per quarter cup so that is good.

Put peanut butter and avocado on your bread

Avocados are cheap in the early spring in New Zealand so use them if you want extra protein to feed your elderly mother or father according to their taste. Here is a piece of toast with peanut butter and avocado. I often put a bit of green curry on avocado or some chermoula for flavouring but lemon juice and pepper are great too.

Remember that when you are feeding his protein to seniors one source is actually whole grain bread, which of course has plenty of B vitamins in it too. The NZ Nutrition Foundations says 1 slice of multigrain bread 45 gm has 5.3gm protein in it, nothing to be sneezed at. And it is satisfying.

Peanut butter has 8 gm protein for 2 tbl.

So if this slice of bread has 5.3 and there is 1 t/l peanut butter of 4gm and a quarter of an avocado

Avocadoes provide all 18 essential amino acids necessary for the body to form a complete protein. Unlike the protein in steak, which is difficult for most people to digest, avocado protein is readily absorbed by the body because avocadoes also contain fiber. They are high in mono-unsaturated fat and loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, also more easily digested than animal fat. Avocados are filling and have a slow release of energy so very good for athletes. They are a better source of protein than cows milk. Protein content: about 2gm per 100 gm of avocado.

Eggs, peas and quinoa lunch

You see I also have peas with this lunch. Um, I think I will have to use peas in a cleverer way as he says he isn't very fond of them. All suggestions welcome.

The quinoa salad is easy. I used half a cup of brown quinoa with a cup of water and cooked it for 20 minutes with a clove of garlic and a bit of soy sauce. I added chopped tomatoes and chopped spring onion and bit of oil and lemon juice. Quinoa is rich in protein so if you can find it use it for dishes for seniors who need protein.

Here is another photo of the quinoa salad

Quinoa has 4.4gm of protein per 100 gm of cooked quinoa. Not bad. Must measure this next time! Peas have 7gm protein for a cup.

Back to quinoa. It has heart healthy fats in it. Moreover here, from a website called whfoods.com, is a quote about its protein value: "Quinoa has significantly greater amounts of both lysine and isoleucine (especially lysine), and these greater amounts of lysine and isoleucine allow the protein in quinoa to serve as a complete protein source."

And of course it has more than protein

"Neither quinoa nor any grains qualify as good vitamin E sources in our WHFoods rating system. However, in the case of quinoa, or rating system does not do full justice to the fact that quinoa contains significant amounts of certain tocopherols (vitamin E family members) largely absent from most grains. For example, one cup of quinoa provides 2.2 milligrams of gamma-tocopherol—a form of vitamin E that has been more closely associated with certain anti-inflammatory benefits in health research. Quinoa is also a good source of RDA nutrients like folate, zinc, and phosphorus in contrast to whole wheat, which does not qualify as a good source in our rating system.

Quinoa is an equally impressive food in terms of its overall phytonutrient benefits. In many Central and South American countries, the leaves of the quinoa plant are valued for their betacyanin pigments, which provide some of their bright reddish shades. But even the seeds themselves can be phytonutrient-rich and can provide significant amounts of antioxidants like ferulic, coumaric, hydroxybenzoic, and vanillic acid."

Fritter, whero peas and broccoli lunch

I have discovered whero peas which is the Maori name for field peas used as a protein crop for chickens and pigs. It is not heat treated and is a good source of lysine. It is apparently low in fat and rich in protein. Here is what one website says about it:

Grown in NZ. Has a strong peanut flavour. The pigeons discovered how tasty Whero Peas were first and it took us a little longer to cotton on. High in calcium, Iron & Phosphorus. Combine with Blue Pea, toss in olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning, barbque them or bake. Combines well with Feta cheese in salad.

Anyway it doesn't look all that attractive. Here it is for lunch one day with left over protein fritters and broccoli.

Bircher's Muesli has protein in it and is apparently very digestible

For this I soaked overnight organic apple juice

Half cup rolled oats

Handful of raisins

Handful of sunflower seeds

1 tbl linseed

Sesame seeds

A few dates

A few almonds

Add yoghurt or kefir the next day and then fruit.

Sesame seeds have 18 g protein per 100 gm

Sunflower seeds have 21 gm

Flax seed has 18 gm per 100 gm

Yoghurt has 24 g per cup (a big serving)

I'll be grating apples into this during the apple season, that's for sure. Apples they say are non negotiable and I have none in this! And you can do it with old fashioned oatmeal – if you can find it in the shops that is.

If you are feeding someone over the age of 70 then this is highly recommended as a breakfast food. My husband doesn't like porridge, but as he needs a lot of protein in his diet, this is a way of getting some oats into him at breakfast.

Here is 100 gm of sunflower seeds. Nearly a cupful. You are not likely to consume this in one meal but it has 21 gm of protein in it.

Mussels are cheap and you can dress them up

You can buy mussels in their shells. When I extracted out the flesh from this lot there were 200g. On this plate there are probably 130 gm which means it has about 35 gm protein.

I tarted them up by cooking up onions and garlic, then adding mussels and chopped cress. We had some new potatoes from the garden, very small but very tasty. No protein in that!

It would be no good an older man just filling up on potatoes as they need about 70 gm protein a day, depending on their weight and their body mass without fat.

Broccoli, quiche and salmon - meal for an older person like this is stacked with protein

I was surprised to learn that broccoli has some protein in it. Never thought of broccoli that way.

Now the quiche is a new introduction to the diet. A friend of mine said this one is her standard dish to take to a pot luck dinner and everyone likes it.

Basically you boil some spinach for short while (or broccoli or silver beet or cauliflower whatever you have) and drain.

Make a base of breadcrumbs. Put drained green veges on top.

Beat up three eggs with s and p and milk, grate over some cheese (I used a little sheep's feta as he is only just getting used to a bit of cheese) and pour over and bake till set. Easy as.. So the main dish is actually fresh salmon. Heaps of protein in this. Older men need quite a lot of protein and salmon has approx 26 gm of protein per 100 gm of salmon. This one is a big one. His main portion of protein for the day and now he has put on a kilo and a half of weight in 12 days. Energy slightly improving.

This green shake has avocado and tofu in it for more protein

You were probably wondering when the left over meals are coming. All families have left overs that they serve in different ways the next day. Well yesterday I did too much shake. So today I added avocado and tofu and presto here it is again.

And here is the sardines on bread arrangement. Oh dear I must learn to do more with sardines. And of course there is the fruit and kefir that he eats, with ground up linseed, sunflower seed and sesame seed.

All together this meal has quite a lot of protein, ideal for an older man or older woman.

Mussel fritters and walnuts for protein were popular

There might be 3-4 on this plate but he ate all the fritters I had made from the entire pottle of mussels.

2 eggs

2 big tbl cottage cheese

1/3 cup yoghurt

Flour and soy milk to mix to the right consistency

You can improve the protein content of these by adding tofu. When you get mussels from a pottle it is still the cheapest high quality meal I can think of. The walnuts and almonds also have little protein. You could also serve with the peas and curry paste mixture or serve with hummus.

Notice that I have lightly fried and steamed the cabbage this time so it is soft and easier to eat! No choking with this meal.

And by the way he has now put on 1kg, which together with his improvement in wakefulness and mood and energy is showing that when a senior has a high protein diet, his general health will improve greatly.