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."