I’ve decided. My favorite food is spanakopita. The buttery flaky phyllo dough, the tangy feta, the satisfying spinach. I can’t go to a greek restaurant without ordering it. However – once I learned how to make it, I learned how much oil/butter it actually takes to make the flaky layers so delicious. Sad Day. So I created this version which was morphed from a crustless quiche recipe I make often. It’s high protein/low fat/low carb which makes it the perfect food for me. I eat this for breakfast, lunch, snack, post-workout. It’s seriously so good – and so easy to make. Plus, it reheats really well.
Healthy ‘Spanakopita’ – minus the phyllo dough!
½ C egg whites
1 package frozen spinach (16o z)
1 cup low fat 1% cottage cheese (no salt added)
3 eggs
½ c Feta Cheese
1 t Silly Salt (salt, pepper and garlic mix)
Directions:
Drain frozen spinach. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. I like to think I came up with a genious way to do this: Put a plastic colander inside a plastic bowl. Put spinach inside and put in fridge. As the ice melts, it drops into the bowl and voila! No soggy spinach. Other way is to just throw the forzen spinach in the microwave and squeeze out the excess liquid. This works in a pinch but the scalding hot/ice cold frozen spinach dilemma always gets me...
1 package frozen spinach (16o z)
1 cup low fat 1% cottage cheese (no salt added)
3 eggs
½ c Feta Cheese
1 t Silly Salt (salt, pepper and garlic mix)
Directions:
Drain frozen spinach. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. I like to think I came up with a genious way to do this: Put a plastic colander inside a plastic bowl. Put spinach inside and put in fridge. As the ice melts, it drops into the bowl and voila! No soggy spinach. Other way is to just throw the forzen spinach in the microwave and squeeze out the excess liquid. This works in a pinch but the scalding hot/ice cold frozen spinach dilemma always gets me...
Add all ingredients in a bowl and mix. (If you microwaved your spinach and it's hot - let it cool down first, otherwise you'll scramble your eggs). Pour mixture into a greased 8x8 baking dish. Bake in oven at 325 for 35 minutes or until center is set.
The whole thing: 765 Calories Macros: 27g Carbs 31g Fat 85g protein | Cut it in 9 pieces: 85 calories per slice! Macros: 9 carb 19% 10.3g fat 21.5% 28.3g protein 59.5% |
What’s this “macro” nonsense?
'Macros’ is short for Macro Nutrients (Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats). These are the basic building blocks of the foods you eat. You can manipulate the percentage of each of these that goes into your body to achieve a certain goal (such as fat loss). Many body builders/dieters calculate their macros to an exact amount to ensure they are meeting their goals. Here’s what I say about it….
'Macros’ is short for Macro Nutrients (Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats). These are the basic building blocks of the foods you eat. You can manipulate the percentage of each of these that goes into your body to achieve a certain goal (such as fat loss). Many body builders/dieters calculate their macros to an exact amount to ensure they are meeting their goals. Here’s what I say about it….
Alright – so I really have no desire to calculate my macros on a daily basis, but it’s good to know a general rule of how you should be splitting up your food. Even if you eat just lettuce all day, your metabolism is going to suck because you haven’t had enough fats and proteins. Get it?
So how do I calculate my macros?
I found this awesome calculator- If It Fits Your Macros: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
It allows you to really customize your daily activity level and how many calories you should be eating to maintain, lose fat, or bulk. It also will tell you your macros based on those calories based on the diet plan you choose (zone, low fat, low carb etc).
This is NOT rocket science people. It’s telling me to maintain my weight, eat 2169 calories per day. To lose fat, I should be consuming 1844 calories per day. It's saying my macro breakdown (%) should be 44Carb/40Protein/16Fat. That's nice. I totally use this as a guideline though, mostly because I don't eat enough % of my calories from protein (working on that).
Rome wasn't built in a day people. Neither are my abs, obviously.
So how do I calculate my macros?
I found this awesome calculator- If It Fits Your Macros: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
It allows you to really customize your daily activity level and how many calories you should be eating to maintain, lose fat, or bulk. It also will tell you your macros based on those calories based on the diet plan you choose (zone, low fat, low carb etc).
This is NOT rocket science people. It’s telling me to maintain my weight, eat 2169 calories per day. To lose fat, I should be consuming 1844 calories per day. It's saying my macro breakdown (%) should be 44Carb/40Protein/16Fat. That's nice. I totally use this as a guideline though, mostly because I don't eat enough % of my calories from protein (working on that).
Rome wasn't built in a day people. Neither are my abs, obviously.