Any Ideas to Get More Protein?!

JandJ62914 · July 2015

I don't know about you, but this baby can't stand meat. Chicken, my favorite source of protein ever, makes me gag. Steak? YUCK. Fish? BLECH. I just can't with any of it right now...

Here's what I've been able to stomach:

-shrimp

-ground beef or ground turkey

-eggs

-peanut butter

-canned tuna

-mozzarella cheese

-SOME beans

Does anyone have any yummy ideas of what else to do with ground beef or turkey besides tacos and meatballs? (That's been the extent of it lately!) Or other suggestions of where I can get more protein in my diet? I know that protein is super important during pregnancy and I've been having to get creative to make sure I'm getting enough. But since it's going on 8 weeks of putting up with this aversion I'm getting bored with these foods! I'd love some ideas to refresh my menus.

jnshard · July 2015

How about Greek yogurt, almonds, black beans? If you are craving tacos then make a salad to go with it of black beans, corn and salsa, it is yummy

arose3eb · July 2015

I know it's kind of a taco, but we do ground turkey and season it really well and make lettuce wraps with that, shredded carrots, pepper jack cheese, and Sriracha. Sooooo easy and delicious.

SummerOH · July 2015

Hmm, you seem to be hitting the main ones. I'd add Greek yogurt (the triple zero or whatever it's called has 15g, I think), edamame and veggies with hummus as snacks, nuts, other nut butters, and quinoa. Quest bars are yummy and have a lot of protein, plus I can pronounce the ingredients. You can also buy flavorless protein powder (Amazon and Target have great prices) and add it to liquids or sprinkle it on top of stuff.

As far as ground beef and turkey - so much you can do! Mini meatloaves, stroganoff, chili, sloppy joes, lettuce wraps, stuffed peppers or zucchini, etc. Allrecipes is a great website for ideas...just type in the ingredient and it will return recipes.

narissa2013 · July 2015

I make thai food with ground turkey by putting peanut butter, soy sauce, and chilli paste. I then serve it with rice and side if green beans.
I also eat lentils (in soup) and its high in protein as well.

mg137 · July 2015

With my twins I needed over 100 g of protein a day. I'd start every day with a smoothie with some frozen berries, 1/2 banana, scoop of organic whey powder, scoop of organic raw vegan powder, coconut oil, whatever other healthy stuff I had around, like hemp, flax, chia, superfood powder, spinach, sweet pot, or whatever.

meg1334 · July 2015

Meatloaf/mini meatleaf. It's easy and can flavor it however you want. I also like to put it in Mac and Cheese! Shepards pie is another great dish, hamburgers. We eat a lot of ground beef and right now red meat is the only meat I con stomachs right now.

ChrissyD1203 · July 2015

I put ground turkey on a sweet potato and put salsa and Greek yogurt (as a sour cream sub), it's supposed to be the healthy version of a loaded baked potato. I saw it on biggest loser and it tastes great!

indibidule · July 2015

I'm a huge fan of Greek yogurt and almonds (not necessarily together). And I use almond milk instead of dairy milk and it has more calcium and protein than dairy milk.

stlmomof2 · July 2015

Tofu! Yogurt, beans, oatmeal, milk, granola bars

ChrissyD1203 · July 2015

@indibidule did you ever try rice milk? Not sure how it compares with almond from a nutritional standpoint, but I switched from regular milk to almond and then almond to rice because I love the way the rice tastes.

stlmomof2 · July 2015

For more protein and quick recipes I like to add tofu and eggs to Asian stirfrys.

I use tempura batter to batter up the tofu put it in the fryer until golden. The sauce used soy sauce, lemon, sherry I believe. The dish is called Agedashi tofu and it's Japanese. Delicious!

Beans I do chili, red beans and rice, black bean soup, baked beans (I use navy beans) taco salads.

Oatmeal I buy plain oats and season the way I like. Usually cinnamon sugar. I sometimes bake oatmeal raisin cookies.

And someone mentioned smoothies... They are so great in nutrition and also it's great at hiding certain flavors if you are having food aversions. Good luck!

indibidule · July 2015

@ChrissyD1203 I haven't tried rice milk, but I love almonds and so I love the flavor of almond milk, especially silk dark chocolate.

stlmomof2 · July 2015

Huge fan of almond milk myself in all flavors lol!!! Never tried rice milk... Have to give it a shot.

By the way to the OP you wanted more things to do with ground beef??

Stuffed peppers
Breakfast burrito with egg
Spaghetti Bolognese
Sloppy Joes
Baked Ziti

colomom2 · July 2015

I hate protein shakes in general. I did find vega one it's a plant based protein and tastes delicious when I mix it with my chocolate silk almond milk. Seriously, with the little hand blender, it is amazing and does not taste like the gross protein shake shake.

hailees · July 2015

Same problem here! Kashi has some types of cereal with good amounts of protein! It's something I've been able to stomach at all times. I found some Krave brand pork jerkey at Costco that is nitrate free. I also started drinking high quality dairy milk again just for the caloric benefit.

LauraFi · July 2015

Another option for ground meat is to make shepherds pie. Like pp have mentioned homemade smoothies can be a great source of protein, I normally include plain yogurt and hemp/chia/flax seeds which are all sources of protein in addition to a combination of frozen fruit (berries, mango, banana, etc) for flavour. You don't taste the seeds and they really don't alter the texture.

steph_pegasus · July 2015

Just another random suggestion - cottage cheese is also very high in protein, almost twice as much as regular yogurt and not a whole lot of fat. I know some people don't like it but if you do it's another good source.
Eta And I second the stroganoff vote, you can use plain Greek yogurt in the sauce to thicken it (I usually use sour cream) without much of a flavor difference.

NenaB54 · July 2015

Quinoa is high in protein - 24g for a cup , and delicious. I salute it with some onions and then add chicken stock or chicken bullion cube and boil it, add some mixed veggies, and season it.

Eastoncjr · July 2015

The choboni with steel cut oats have like 20g of protein in a cup and are delicious.

JandJ62914 · July 2015

You ladies are awesome. So many good ideas here...we love quinoa, but I always think of it as a healthy grain and forget that it's packed with protein. @nenab54 I like that way to prepare it though! I'll have to try that.

Almond milk is my favorite too. I replaced dairy milk with unsweetened vanilla almond milk a year or so ago and I actually like it better.

Looks like I need to go to the grocery store! Thanks for the ideas!!!

TurtleMeg · July 2015

If you have a crockpot, you can make some great soups out of ground turkey/beef! Taco soup is one of my favorites!

klbh · July 2015

I know you mentioned eggs already, but I've found that keepin hard-boiled eggs around as snacks means I eat more than if I had to scramble/fry/bake them each time. They're nice and portable and filling. Oat granola bars with nuts can be surprisingly high in protein too!

nataliep777 · July 2015

TurtleMeg said:

If you have a crockpot, you can make some great soups out of ground turkey/beef! Taco soup is one of my favorites!

Do you have a good recipe for taco soup?! I have been looking for one forever!

JandJ62914 · July 2015

nataliep777 said:

TurtleMeg said:

If you have a crockpot, you can make some great soups out of ground turkey/beef! Taco soup is one of my favorites!

Do you have a good recipe for taco soup?! I have been looking for one forever!

Yeah @turtlemeg I would love to know how you make taco soup also! That sounds delish.

ariasbabyblog · July 2015

You might also look into textured vegetable protein (TVP) We toss it into home made sauces and stews and it pretty much dissolves and acts as a very mild thickener, but adds no flavor and it is very high in protein. 1/4 cup has about 12g of protein. You can get it just about anywhere anymore, we buy it in bulk at our local Winco, but Bob's Red Mill brand has some, or your local co-op should have it too.

Beverly0628 · July 2015

If you have a crock pot, here is my go-to recipe for turkey chili:

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/iowa-girl-eats-1446014?blog=1446014&post=2188333625&viewer=true

It has quinoa AND sweet potato in there too! Tons of protein. Plus, sweet potatoes are awesome for our growing babies! You don't even have to pre-cook the quinoa. Just brown the turkey really quickly, and throw everything in. To make it faster, I use frozen chopped onion. I also sub black beans (more protein!) for the beans mentioned in the recipe, and I double the chili powder because I like it spicy! DH loves it. I parted ways with all other chili recipes once I found it.

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