Here's some cooking tips from a guy who likes to explore a lot on cooking food.

Boiling eggs for a workout

Boiling eggs take 20 minutes. That's my experience if you it to come out clean and nice and you crack open the shell. A good thing you might want to do is to boil it a few hours before you intend to eat it.

I personally wake up in the morning, grab 3 eggs and start boiling them in cold water, leave them on the stove and bath and prepare to go to work. 10 minutes in the shower, 10 minutes dressing up, and the eggs are done.

If you intend to eat in the morning buy don't have time to boil it in the morning too, boiling them before you sleep (say you sleep at 10.30pm) would be a good method. But boil it before you are sleeping. This should be done last. Overnight eggs aren't that good actually, but this helps a little.

Steamed Soy Chicken

As much Chicken as you want
Light Soy Sauce
Dark Soy Sauce
Oyster Sauce
Sesame Seed Oil
Pepper to taste
Bawang Goreng to taste

Marinate all the ingredients above except for Sesame Seed Oil and Pepper and Bawang Goreng. Leave them overnight and when you wake up next morning, sprinkle some Sesame Seed Oil and steam it up. It should take 15 to 20 minutes to be done. When it's done, sprinkle pepper and the bawang goreng. DONE!

Giving some flavor to food with shallots, garlic and ginger

Common Malay recipes would want you to peel shallots / onions / ginger and frying them up before doing the rest of the process. Since we may not have that much prep time due to work and what not, here's what I used to do when I was in Uni.

Grab 2 bawang merah
4 little cloves of garlic.
ginger the size of the garlic.

Now peel those skins off, and get a mortar and pestle and smash them up until it's nicely look a good mixture. Now, whenever you need to make a meal for at most 2 people, grab a teaspoon of the mixture and fry em. Since you will have leftovers, keep in the fridge. The mixture should last for the next 2 to 3 days in the fridge.

color my food!

If you think my Steamed Soy Chicken recipe is quite bland in terms of color (it'll just come out a nice brown soy color in the end), consider having green and red bell peppers in the ready. Once whatever food is done, just go ahead and give a wash, cut them, and spread it on the food. Then, stir it up. It gives a nicer presentation than seeing bland bodybuilding food.

Readying veges for a week

Lifehacker has a good idea. Consider cutting veges in the weekend for a week's duration (practically, i'd do 3 to 4 days since it depends on your mood what vege you want during the days you live in). Prep time takes a while, and this should shave it, while still giving you the nutrients you need. More on that in this link:

http://lifehacker.com/5922608/save-kitchen...es-in-one-batch

That's all I've got for now.

Lets be real: Bodybuilders / Concious weight watchers don't really get a chance to indulge in a snack that is supposed to serve as guilty pleasures.

And baking protein bars does get some eye brows raised (because you don't want to subject protein into heat).

But what if I told you that you can actually make a snack, that is high in protein, doesn't have to be flavorless, and you don't have to even feel guilty about it?

Well, Whey Protein Ice cream is your fix.

http://blog.recipeforfitness.com/2011/07/p...am-recipes.html

The blog gives some good ideas on what kind of flavors you can mix in. No sweeteners too (unless you somehow get a chance to use Stevia / Splenda of all things).

Hard to find Almond Milk? Water is still fine. The reason why Almond Milk is more considered is due to the natural fat qualities that help give an extra boost. So it won't just be proteins, you'll get some nice fats too.

No ice cream maker? Do the trick with the ziplock bag. That works too. Or, order a super cheap ice cream maker that you can shake with. (Well, at least it is cheaper than buying a maker)

I'll see if I've got more tricks and tips to add more color and flavor to food.

Ah oatmeal... I either love you or hate you. But since I'm a horribly picker eater, I have no choice but to consume you (since you also help me lower down my cholesterol level).

If you feel that eating oats with hot water and a pinch of salt would do you good enough, then you're good. But for picky eaters, I have these suggestions for you.

- Peanut Butter and Raisins. What I personally chose was Steffi's Natural Peanut Butter (Based on content, it's just Peanut butter and some additives I think. And price is RM 11 at Cold Storage) and Sunmaid Raisins (During offers, they can be HORRIBLY CHEAP).
- If you can't find Steffi's, Jif is fine too. But I can only vouch for these 2 brands, and nothing else.
- If you still feel a little down and out, or you just want some sugar at times, there's no harm with a TEASPOON (READ: TEASPOON) of evaporated milk. But of course, at times lah.
- Another one I would also do personally is 3 teaspoons of Milo (This is actually based on how many spoonfuls of oat you put into the bowl. I use the Chinese Plastic Soup Spoon for measurement). But Cocoa powder might help you out better (if you like it bitter).
- Want a spike in your routine? Coffee then. But 1 teaspoon for up to 3 spoonfuls. Anything more than taht and you'll be drinking coffee with oats inside.
- You might oppose against this, but I find that if you're not chugging down on a protein shake, having a scoop or 2 of whey into the oats can help too.

And the good thing is that you can keep the items in office so if you're in a rush, at least you can pop open all that stuff and eat it there.

My method is by dunking in the eggs in cold water and begin heating up. By the time I was done with my activities, it would be just nice and easily peeled.

But hey, everyone has their opinions. So do heed his advice too guys.

When I was studying, I never used any sort of protein.

Just consistently I remembered to eat 6 small meals (1 of them being just an apple), cooked most of my meals (only going out when I feel I have extra cash) and making due with whatever I could.

I still bulked up. Just that it took a while since I was still young with the knowledge.

Satay satay satay.

I actually love Satay. A whole lot. You find the right people selling and you get chunks of bite sized meat on a stick. And these chunks store a WHOLE LOT of awesome flavor.

But the other reason, and perhaps actual one, is really the peanut sauce. It's peanuts. It's calorie dense!

I have this recipe that I can show to you guys that has real Malaysian flavor to it (i've read some others from AllRecipe.com, but they don't have TUMERIC/ Kunyit in them. WHAT THE HELL?)

http://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-chicken-satay/2/

Now, I can't vouch if it tastes good or not. I have yet to try myself. But this is still a good thing because:

- You can do this in the weekend since MARINATION is important as hell. It needs to be marinated for a long time (or you can actually marinate in 2 hours minimum if you just can't tahan). And you can keep it for a few days too.
- Don't fancy eating from a stick? Stir frying is also a plausible idea. The trick is to drizzle some oil (olive if you want the healthy route) when heating the pan. I'd recommend non stick.
- A grilling pan won't work so well. Since what actually drives satay to be fun is the chargrilled elements. You can't emulate that without the common charcoal net/ bbq station grill. you can try putting it on sticks and placing it on direct fire, but that'd be a waste of natural resources. (unless you precook the chicken by baking)

That's the satay, here's the peanut sauce.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/satay-sauce/d...&e7=Home%20Page

http://rasamalaysia.com/malaysian-sataynow...peanut-sauce/2/

Again, i've not tried the sauces, but bear in mind this 2 very different ways for a sauce. I've yet to see any tricks to modify it (unless you're willing the lower the fat content by changing the santan or finding someway to make the sambal for the 2nd recipe not have too much oil), but I guess these will do.

Consider that you get protein, calorie dense nuts with good fats in them. The carbs are also there through the nuts, so you don't really need rice to eat with. Cucumber should be a good addition though. But if you're also picky like me, dip green peppers into the sauce rather than eating cucumbers.

best eaten IMMEDIATELY after they're done cooking. You store them any longer and you'll have some tough meat to chew instead.

I've got 2 ideas.

There used to be a way that if you're very busy with work and you don't have time to cook, roasting a turkey would be the best choice. I know how expensive turkey can be. And let's be honest, Malaysian Chicken aren't that huge. You can finish 1 whole bird in a whole day given. (unless you spread your meals of when you want to eat chicken and everything else).

There's plenty of ways to roast a good chicken or turkey. You can find it everywhere. but if you want a simple one from me, the soy sauce recipe from the steamed chicken earlier can also be put to use here. You'll only need.

Dark soy Sauce.
Light soy sauce.
salt and pepper.
and... BUTTTERRRRR

Again, marination is crucial. But what makes a good roast chicken is also on how well you spread the seasoning you've got. Youtube videos can give you a better idea, but I like to do this:

- Rub salt and pepper first. Above skin, under skin, the inside.
- Pour dark soy sauce first, and give it a good massage around.
- Top it off by pouring light soy sauce all over.
- And lastly, place butter in wherever desired. I'd cover as much as possible, but try coating the chicken with small sticks. And give those sticks like 5cm apart from each other. The good part is actually watching them melt and cover the chicken. hehe.
- Optional, you can throw in some veges like potatos and let them bake in the pan.

Ayam / Daging Masak Kunyit (Stir Fried Tumeric Beef or Chicken)

This is horribly simple. I may have covered this, but here's an idea still.

-Chicken/beef chunks.
-Tumeric Powder.
-Salt and pepper for seasoning.
-Optional: Onions, green and red peppers, any vege that's small enough for you to try as long as it's not leafy.

Marinate them meat with the tumeric powder and salt and pepper. Heat your pan, throw them in when it's hot, fry until dry. That's it. Once it's dry then you can start throwing in the other optional items.

And walah! Another speedy dish. But take note that beef can take longer to fry.

Yeah, both times are ok.

But if you're not losing, that means you're not resting well enough. Rest periods are going to be important too.

Dude do it at the sales thread. Not here.

Trail mix! Or a variety of nuts mixed together. Good fat and good protein contents.

When it comes to snacking, the cheapest option is indeed nuts. If you are going to want protein and good contents of fat, there you go.

However, if money wasn't an issue, yogurt is fine. But if you hate eating yogurt on it's own, grab some cinnamon powder and some raisins. That counters the sour taste. If that's too expensive or too low in Protein contents, you can definitely get a can of tuna. Don't think about the brand too much, just something adequate.

but if you're in a budget, I can't think of any good alternatives. Unless you don't mind buying RM 1 sardines/mackarel. I'm serious. Those small cans actually pack around 22 grams of protein (per 100gram). That's a good serving of an uncooked drumstick.

The good thing about Malaysia is that while our dairy is crap in price, our fish is awesomely affordable.

This post has been edited by Kyoyagami: Oct 12 2012, 06:38 PM

This gives me a good idea for a night snack.

Cinnamoned Banana Ice cream!

You'll need:

Frozen banana, ripe.
Cinnamon powder to taste
Raisins or dried cherries.

Slice them frozen bananas.
Put them in a food processor and blend.
Blend until it's consistency is like an ice cream. Soft serve ice cream.
Scoop em up when done.
Mix the raisins or cherries and sprinkle the cinnamon powder.
Kacau. If not enough cinnamon flavor, sprinkle somemore. You don't want it to overpower the banana nor the dried fruits you mixed in earlier.

Walah, 10 minute snack done. For added protein, I'd go with some a few spoons of yogurt after blending it. Then it because some awesome fruit yogurt.

WAY.TOO.LIGHT. At least go for a 5kg EZ Bar.

At least it's close to double of what he's doing. Or her. Let em do it. We all start somewhere.

Hell no. That's never sufficient considering chipsmore has sugar. Throw that. Now.

If you're more adventurous, try and roast them yourselfs. get them at the raw area and do it on your own.

If you're lazy, then yeah, the ones that are packed already would work too. But try to avoid the nuts that contain palm oil and sugar. Salt try to be more reasonable.

if you want ideas on what kind of nuts would work together, here's some:

Peanuts
Pistachio
Walnuts
Almonds
Cashews

Jumble em up. If you want a little sugar/carb, dried fruits in the mix would be good. But don't roast them all. It's mixed after you mixed the nuts, and roasted them a little.

Frankly speaking, you can at least attempt half of that. And that would be just be great.

Frankly speaking also, I have no idea how it takes to go efficient. There's been the notion of 6 small meals, 3 big meals, 2 mega meals, or even 7 meals. But what you should do is ask yourself how many protein, carbs and fat and do you need per day.

Once you've sorted that out, figure out the vitamins you'll need and where to get them. It gets easier after you figure out the 3 important macros needed.

Ferrugia has a point. He always had. But it will still depend on people. Some peak at 60, some lesser. Hence why some people might benefit working out shorter compared to longer.

I have a feeling he's counting it wrongly. But hey, take his advice and look at the Nutrition for Beginner's link.

Maybe you should try the barbell instead of the dumbbells now.

An easy rule for this is that if you're not slimming down, that's your maintenance.