A new blog format where I answer one common client question and share a new recipe success!

This week I discuss what to look for in a pre-workout snack and share with you a new chicken shawarma style marinade. Comment with your favorite pre workout snack to give everyone more ideas!

I make this meal probably every week. Its easy and requires items I usually have lying around or that can be easily found at the corner market. Mayonnaise may sound weird, but it has a great effect. It helps flavors stick to the chicken, keeps the meat moist, and has a nice crispy browning effect. If you struggle to cook chicken without drying it out, give this a try.

In the past year, new research has indicated that vegan diets can be as conducive to strength gain as omnivorous diets! Although this isn’t completely new news, its great to see more and more good research confirming that a choice to avoid meat doesn’t mean you can’t get just as strong as your meat eating friends.

I cover a few key points about why we were historically worried vegan diets wouldn’t be good for strength, what vegan athletes still do need to worry about, and I will wrap it up with one of my favorite vegan recipes!

Here’s a recipe I’ve been loving lately. It’s been well received both by clients and friends! Those who care about fitness focused meals approve. Those who just care about delicious meals also approve. This is always the goal as I want to stay focused on my goals inside the gym without scaring my friends away with sad flavorless meals.

In order to prioritize my protein intake without fully preparing a week’s worth of the same old meal, I love to cook a large batch of a tasty protein source (like this baked chicken) that can be used in a wide variety of lunches. Throw 2-4 pounds of this chicken in a marinade overnight and set yourself up for healthy lunches throughout the week.

Meatballs are a comforting, affordable, high protein option that can be easily be made more nutrient dense without sacrificing that crowd-pleasing comfort food factor. These are the two recipes I default to most often - both crowd pleasing recipes can be made with multiple kinds of ground meat.

Stew can be the perfect warm comfort food in the fall and winter months (or really anytime in San Francisco since the weather never changes). Other reasons to try it: it’s cheap, it makes good leftovers, and it even freezes well!

These days I’ve been experimenting a lot with stir fries. I think they’re a great way to cook a healthy, flavorful meal that covers all your bases.

I recently made this *amazing* recipe, which was taken from a blurry picture that someone else took of a cookbook. That’s to say, it was passed around and I’m not quite sure where it’s from but won’t pretend to be versed enough in this type of cooking to publish an original recipe! This is a great Palestinian dish that can be made in just one pan. Most of the ingredients, outside of barberries (which I replaced with…raisins) are quiet accessible at a regular American grocery store.