Homemade Croutons

Partially hydrogenated oils don't just damage your cells, causing allergies, arthritis and auto immune diseases, but in they also make you fat!

Essential fatty acids are called 'essential' because your body NEEDS them and you can only get them through food. Your brain and body are very smart, even though your stomach may feel full, your brain never tells you to stop eating, because it still needs the essential fatty acids to sustain life. You will never be full until you do.

Partially hydrogenated oils make you gain weight because they interfere with the body's ability to ingest and utilize the healthy fats that you want to fill your cells with.

Imagine this, your cells are like neat parking lots. When you eat omega 3 fats, they are like little Smart Cars that park nice and neat into the parking spots that feed our body by decreasing inflammation (everything from joint pain to asthma to heart disease). BUT when we eat trans fats they are like huge SUVs that don't fit into these parking spots, but they force their way in anyway...damaging the cars around them so they can't run anymore (or help our body) AND they cause our fat cells to grow! If you eat even more trans-fats, those SUVs get mad because they can't find a parking spot, so they just drive around furiously in your body and bounce into all the cells causing free-radicals. To read more on how to decrease free-radicals, go to Supplement chapter in Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism.

Over time, more and more SUV are filling the parking spots which leaves no room for the Smart Cars. So new parking lots (fat cells) have to be built to make room for them. So now our body gets bigger, we have more inflammation and more health problems like asthma, arthritis, heart disease...not a good outcome!







Protein Buns
5 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3 oz Sour Cream or cream cheese
1/2 cup unflavored whey or egg white protein

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Separate the eggs and add sour cream to the yolks. Use a mixer to combine the ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff. Then add the protein powder. Using a spatula, gradually fold the sour cream/cream cheese into the white mixture, being careful not to break down the whites. Spray a cookie sheet with coconut oil spray and spoon the mixture onto the sheet, making 6 mounds. Bake at 375 degrees for 18 minutes. Keep oven shut, turn off oven and leave the buns in there for another 5 minutes or until cool. We use these for our hamburger buns, but in this recipe we are going to make croutons out of them.

Nutritional info (per bun): 80 calories, .9g carbs, 0 fiber, 6.3g protein


CROUTON RECIPE:
1 batch of protein buns, cut into crouton shapes
4 TBS butter
1-2 tsp garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the butter in a saute pan on medium heat until slightly brown, add the garlic and bread pieces to coat. Place buttery croutons on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until crispy. Let cool and enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per 1 cup):
Pepperidge Farm Seasoned Croutons = 186 calories, 25.4 carbs, 2 fiber, 4.3 protein
"Healthified" Croutons = 162 Calories, 0.9g carbs, 0g fiber, 6.3g protein