ice storm...

Would you believe that we are having an ice storm here in Oklahoma. Since being here in December I have witnessed some very extreme weather for the time of year, from blizzards to warm sunny days and now an ice storm.

I have never seen anything like it! Ice has literally wrapped itself around everything, almost cocooning cars, trees and garden ornaments. Snow has started to fall now so I guess we are in for another cold week and icy roads.

We woke up this morning to find two, really big branches from the tree in the front garden has literally broken off with the weight of the ice. The boy and I had to pull one of the larger branches down from the tree and boy, did it come crashing down.

Here are a couple of photographs from this morning.

power smoothie...

I am a guy that likes to use the gym and train on a regular basis. However, in order for my body to accept the hard and sometime very rigorous training I put it through, it needs to be fuelled in the correct way so that it can deal with whatever I decide to throw at it.

Hence this post. There are a million sport supplements that are available to us, from protein powders, weight gainers and energy drinks, the problem is, they are all so damn expensive.

So I asked myself "what if I could make my own, all in one supplement drink that does not cost the earth" and that is exactly what I did.

Here is the how to :

Ingredients Required

Protein Powder (i use EAS 100% Whey Protein, 5lb bag, $30 or around £30 in the UK)
Old Fashion Oats - 1kg tub
Ground Flax seed - package size varies
Semi Skimmed or 2% milk
Bananas


What to do

Take half of the Oats and add them to a food processor, then add around 4 to 6 table spoons of Flax seed and blend until it all turns into a fine powder.


Then place to finished mix into a separate, seal able tub. This is the energy and calorie part of the smoothie completed.

Add around 40oml's of the milk to a food blender, add your protein (usually two scoops) and blend with the milk. Whilst the blender is running, add a single scoop (the one provided with your protein will be sufficient) of the Oat/Flax seed mix and two bananas. Blend until smooth. Pour the contents into a large glass and drink.


By my calculations, based on the nutritional information on the packaging of each product, this shake gives you approximately the following:

25g of Protein (this is based on the protein powder you used)
470 calories:

150cals from Oat/Flax mix
120cals from Protein mix
200cals from Milk
(for more calories add an extra scoop of your Oat/Flax seed mix)

I have found this to be an excellent, cost effective supplement drink for anyone that enjoys regular visits to the gym and does not have the budget for pricey supplements.