I’m also not one to put protein powder in my oats, pancakes and smoothies on a regular basis. I’ll throw a scoop of Sunwarrior in my smoothie after a lifting workout, but that’s pretty much it. I like to get my protein from whole foods like beans, lentils, quinoa, tofu, tempeh, nuts, eggs, tuna and wild salmon. And let’s be real…more often than not protein powder tastes like chalk. So when I got a delightful package from my friends over at MCT Lean consisting of two big tubs of vegan protein powder, I was a little hesitant. Right off the bat, I loved that it was vegan and boasted 20 grams of protein per serving. I wasn’t a huge fan of the medium-chain triglyceride oil that came with it, since I’m not one to advocate using oils as a dietary supplement. Cooking with coconut oil is enough medium chain triglyceride goodness for my liking. It’s made primarily with non-GMO pea (which is super trendy right now) and rice protein, along with a few amino acids, some fiber, and some stevia to sweeten. You’ll also see medium-chain triglycerides derived from coconut oil, which are shorter chains of fat than can be absorbed more directly and efficiently in your body as opposed to being stored as fat. It comes in two flavors: natural vanilla and natural cocoa. The serving size (2 scoops) has 120 calories, 20 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. Pretty nifty stats, huh? Since I haven’t been keen on riding the green smoothie train recently, I decided to stuff the protein powder into some yummy peanut butter cookies that I could snack on throughout the day or after a workout. They’re perfectly sweet from the honey and have a fab texture from the whole-grain cereal flakes (I used Arrowhead Mill’s sprouted multi-grain cereal flakes). Each “cookie” has 138 calories, 6 grams of protein and 3 grams of filling fiber. These are a great little snack to boost your energy levels throughout the day and they’re SUPER easy to whip up. I promise they don’t taste like peanut butter cardboard.
