Homemade Protein Power Balls Recipe

I am writing this blog to those who are either grazers (like me) or to those who always feel hungry. Here is a snack idea for you. 

Last week at the gym, my boxing partner was raving on about these protein balls that she made. Let's call my boxing partner, Jane. Jane had just ate one for breakfast and was still feeling full. Jane keeps them in her draws at work for an afternoon snack to help her lose weight (although my professional opinion is that she doesn't need to lose weight, she is not overweight). She loves them because they are made from real natural food and are healthy. She said how easy it was to make and it only took her 5 minutes and she froze a batch of them for later.

After hearing her speak about them for like 30 minutes, I was sold. I wanted to make these protein balls to see how great they are. I was suspicious about the taste but willing to give them ago. 

The recipe for the homemade protein balls are found at http://www.thehealthychef.com/2011/09/protein-power-balls/. 

In regards to the ingredients, I followed the recipe and used almonds (Jane said almonds tastes better than walnuts) and used a pea protein brand (Phyto protein) it was the one we had at home. I think it is a pretty random thing to have pea protein at home and I suspect if you want to make this recipe you will need to go out and buy it, but we had a tub of pea protein just lying around. 

I followed the instructions exactly and did not make any modifications. The amount of water isn't specified in the recipe and you just add until it forms a ball. I ended up using 1 cup of water, I think it depends on how moist the dates are. I ended making 19 balls (not 14 as per the recipe).

This is what they looked like. 

Nutritional information

I worked out the nutritional content of the balls myself using the information on the packaging and the Calorie King website (http://www.calorieking.com.au/). The values I got were different and higher than the healthy chef website, and I even made my balls smaller. 

Per Ball (I made 19)

Energy 586kJ (140 calories)

Protein 7g

Carbohydrates 8g

Fat 10g *

Fibre 3g (high in fibre)

*For those who are asking why the fat content is so high? It is from the almonds, nuts contains a high percent of fat. The types of fat are unsaturated, the healthy ones. 

These balls also happens to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan friendly. 

The taste test

While I do wish the protein balls were sweeter but I think the fact that they are not that sweet, stops me gobbling up more than one at a time. After a few minutes, I felt satisfied, even though I only ate one. It is a great way to eat your daily serve of unsalted nuts. I would recommend these as a healthy snack. It is pretty easy to make and a handy snack to keep in your fridge. 

I would probably eat one at supper time to stop the midnight munchies, and probably 1 as a snack with a glass of milk after a gym session. 

So if you are a grazer or have the munchies, then give them a go! 

Have you tried camel meat?

My husband and I love grocery shopping because we love to try new foods. One day we came across camel meat at our local Coles supermarket. The camel meat was in the form of burger patties. So after a short discussion as whether we wanted to try it, we decided to buy it and put it in our homemade burgers. I have to say that I wasn't that keen to try it because it sounded weird.

This a picture of our burger with the lot (multigrain bread, lettuce, tomato, fried onion, patty, pineapple, beetroot, bacon, egg, beetroot, cheese).

What did it taste like? The best way to describe the taste of the patty is it taste like the sausage patty from McDonald's Sausage McMuffin (maybe I've been eating camel all that time and I didn't even know it?!). The patties are meant to taste sweeter because they have a higher glycogen (sugar) content but I really couldn't taste the difference.

So after eating my delicious camel burger, I decided to determine whether if camel meat is actually healthy for me. This is what I found out.

It is similar to other red meats (e.g. beef, goat and lamb), but it has less fat and more moisture. The fat content is pretty low, about 1-7% depending which part of the camel you are eating. And like other red meat it is an excellent source of iron and zinc. One group of scientists classified camel meats as a meat with low cholesterol content 51-53mg/100g of meat.  [Further nutritional information
books.google.com.au/books?isbn=178064101X]

In some parts of the world camel meats has been recommended to those with hyperacidity, hypertension, pneumonia, prevention of cancer, heart disease, colds, sciatica, and fatigue. Who knew camel meat could do so much? However I couldn't find journal articles to support all of those claims. Most articles do recommend camel meat for heart diseases, probably because of its low fat content. [ Further reading: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/232041869_Minerals_and_Nutritional_Composition_of_Camel_(Camelus_dromedarius)_Meat_in_Pakistan/file/9fcfd5073aabc88ca5.pdf]

I am not sure if camel meat is good for any of those conditions, I am eating it because it taste good. Be brave and give it a try!

We found the home of Sydney's biggest pizza!!!!!

Johnny's pizzeria is a small shop in a row of other eateries on a very busy main road in West Pennant Hills www.johnnypizzeria.com.au. We were greeted by friendly staff, who let us rearrange their tables and chairs to create a table to fit 8 people. If you are planning to go to Johnny's then you should probably book because there are only 6 square tables, fitting a maximum of 24 people. However, it appears that most people who frequent this shop order take-away. There is a giant TV playing channel V and A-league soccer which can be a distraction if you want to have a conversation over dinner. Also, you can watch them make the pizza, here is a photo of them making "the big one".

There were 8 of us who came to the restaurant. We weren't really sure how many of "the big ones" we needed to order, but it turned out one was enough. The pizzas are a giant 25 inches in diameter, which if you have trouble imagining 25 inches (like me), it is the size of a small round dining table.  Here is a photo of the pizza pan and our 6'2'' friend, Johnny, to help you judge the size. 

Once you decided what size you want then you have to decide on the flavour. If you are indecisive then you might have difficulties choosing a pizza flavour because there are 42 different flavours including "Ham and um.. Pineapple". We decided to have the lot. So we ordered "the big one" in the flavour of "Super Supreme" with anchovies. Mike (my husband) and I love anchovies if you don't already know. Here is a photo of us with "the big one".

Now, it is time for the taste test. The DOUGH - It's hand-rolled and you just have to love it! It's crispy on the base, and light and "airy" in the middle, and it's relatively thin.  The TOPPING - is generous and tasty. I like the way the giant pizza is served on a giant lazy Susan. I just love lazy Susans. The SIZE, it is truly giant. Overall, we left Johnny's feeling very full and very satisfied with the quality. Mike even said he was "defeated after just 3 slices".

If you are wondering how many people this giant pizza feeds, then I think that it will feed 3 very hungry males or 8 very hungry females.  It fed our group of 8 with 2 slices left over (3 adult males, 2 adult females, 2 teenagers, and a child.

As an aside, we also ordered the pizza named after the shop - "Johnny's". It was like eating a lamb kebab. Delicious.

We have found the home of Sydney's biggest pizza, and it's a big thumbs up from Kit! It was a delicious! And it was good value, less than $10 per head.

But where is Australia's biggest pizza? We would love to know if there is a place in Australia that sells pizza larger than 25 inches and good quality.