Feels like forever since my last post.
Really, though, it’s only been two days. I left the last post up for a bit because of its important message, and also because this gave me a chance to thoroughly read through all of the heartfelt and personal comments so many people took time to leave.
It was especially wonderful seeing readers responding to and encouraging each other in the comment section with ideas for high calorie recipes or just with support in general. Please, always feel free to respond to other commenters on my posts. If someone asks a question and you know the answer, share your knowledge! I don’t have all the answers, and so I’m happy when someone more knowledgeable speaks up.
Today’s post is a follow-up to Thursday’s. It was written for anyone who’d like some higher calorie recipes and is tired of resorting to so-called junk food all the time. I once tried the junk food route to gain weight. (For more about that, see the following post: My Junk Food Phase.)
It did not work for me, and I felt awful. No way could I continue to scarf down pints of vegan ice cream every day, or eat two slices of cake as a daily snack—I was beginning to hate dessert! I finally had to take a good look at my diet and try something new. That “something new” was adopting a healthy, but still high-calorie, diet.
Many of my favorite recipes on this blog are the high calorie recipes (or the ones that can be high in calories if you employ some of the optional ingredients or substitutions). For example: One of my favorite “weight gain” recipes is actually a recipe I specifically highlight as being low in calories:
Yes, the recipe has half the calories of peanut butter… So if you eat 1 or 2 tablespoons on a sandwich, you’ve saved calories. But I like to eat the entire recipe in a serving, which makes it closer to 500-600 calories. It’s one of my favorite high calorie recipes, and it’s not made with hard-to-find ingredients. Just peanut butter and banana… what could be easier??
And if you use a frozen banana (I highly recommend you do!), it’s like ice cream. So incredibly delicious! Other recipes on my blog that are—or can be—higher in calories:
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Shake
Seriously, forget Boost. This shake is way better. Actually, I’ve never tried Boost since it’s not vegan… For awhile I did drink some weight-gain-type shakes (called Power Dreams) from the Imagine Foods company. I liked the chocolate ones best. (Surprise!) But then the company went and discontinued those drinks. Oh well; I like my own better anyway.
(People with peanut allergies can easily sub almond butter or an allergy-friendly alternative like sunbutter or soynut butter.)
I always always always add the optional oil when I make these pancakes for myself. And if you can spare the calories, I highly recommend you do the same. Using coconut oil makes them taste like buttery shortbread, bursting with giant blueberries.
Darn it, now I’m craving pancakes.
Another one of my favorite things to eat. These little candies are absolutely addictive. You cannot eat just one two seventeen. Thankfully, they’re also incredibly easy to make. I prepare a huge amount at once… but, even still, they disappear so fast!
Chocolate-Raspberry Fudge Cake
Yet another personal favorite. Ok, so I have a lot of favorites. Since first creating the recipe a few years ago, I don’t think a week has gone by where I haven’t had a slice of this fantabulous fudge cake. For extra calories, eat more than one serving. You can do that, right?
I certainly always do! And yet, it doesn’t leave me feeling gross and sluggish like when I used to eat those sugary layer cakes every day.
Those are “Oatmeal-Raisin Cookie” Bars in the photo. They’re one of my favorite high calorie recipes on the blog. (How many times have I said “my favorite” now in this post? Sorry, can’t help it.)
I don’t really like the crunchy texture of granola, but I sometimes use this recipe as one would use granola– sprinkled over other foods, or just eaten straight from the food processor. Really, why bother shaping into bars? That just burns calories ;).
This ice cream has just 50 calories per serving… If you use almond milk, that is. Opt for the super-creamy version made with creamer or canned coconut milk and you can easily (painlessly!) take in some extra calories.
A glass of nothing but frosting? Heck yes! This recipe is very high in healthy fats. And none of the sugar or processed ingredients found in that Pillsbury stuff. Which means… go ahead and eat the whole glass. You know you want to!
What are some of your favorite high calorie recipes?
If you can’t tell from this post, mine include coconut, peanut butter, and really dark chocolate. Also, most raw nuts, and olive oil (on things, not plain lol!). Every now and then, I give avocado another chance because I want to like it; it’s so healthy! But alas, I just can’t see what everyone else seems to love about it.
For more, see the following: How to Gain Weight on a Healthy Diet.
I used to be a heavy boy up until high school and I started running and learning more and more about food and nutrition. Here I am now, 12 years later with many endurance running events behind me and currently trying to lay off the monotony of running and work on weight training for strength.
Long story short, you have to eat more to support muscle growth, and I love using your recipes (I might change a few things) to make this increase in food intake a pleasurable and tasty one! It’s really hard for me to eat above maintanence, but I I want to give it a try and make myself eat more. Some might think it’s easy, but I beg to differ….
Oh yeah, pretty sure fresh ground peanut butter is my favorite high cal food; add a banana to that and I’m set!
Goodness! Hopefully at this point you will just ignore the eating disorder comments. Not worth dignifying anymore – not really the point of your blog. I am kind of stunned by them. However I just watched another recipe blog I follow get some out of line vaccination comments when she mentioned her son’s 4 month shots, so I think I just comes with the larger readership.
Good for you for watching out for the bones. I do know that is more of a challenge on a naturally thinner build.
I love my avocados, nuts and peanut butter for my fats. I had forgotten my walnuts in my oatmeal for a few months and my body really really let me know.
RC I agree with you. I still don’t always get my balance for maintenance versus building…even more compounded by the fact that at least for me my needs have changed as I have aged and depending what my dominant physical activity is.
Sad but true. You just can’t please everyone, no matter what you do. I’ve been a huge people-pleaser all my life, so I’m really struggling with that as my readership is growing and more and more people are asking for (or demanding!) different things :-?.
It’s a good learning experience to be true to oneself!
I actually understand the people-pleaser “problem.” 🙂 Boy do I relate to that one.
The problem with written criticism (and this stuff isn’t even “constructive”) is that it is there to be read over and over. I have always maintained that the written word can do far more damage than almost anything said in person, even irrationally heated.
I actually worry what some of these people say on sites that are truly eating disorder web sites (whether the writer is in recovery or not).
I bet you are are learning a lot about yourself and public audience in this process! Someday you can write a book about it. 🙂
Have a great day.
Well, you certainly manage to please very many people. Your recipes are AMAZING. I guess you just have to focus on the people you DO please, not the ones who refuse to be happy.
Great post and great response to your previous one. When I make your recipes, I change the oil content (or other higher-calorie source) according to the recipient. For me, it’s always oil all the way, I just don’t feel satisfied without it! My favorite high calories snack is nut butter, in any form. I’ve tried to go without it for a little while, but I just never felt truly satisfied. I think one of the take-aways from these couple of posts is that anyone can enjoy dessert, high calorie or low calorie, but having the ability to adapt recipes to your own needs is important!
Thank you for a great pair of posts 🙂
My husband has a metabolism I would do unspeakable things for. He’s heading out on a three week hiking trip and I’d like to send him out on the trail with a bit of extra padding – so these are exactly what I need!
Any idea how your larbar recipes store? Instead of buying processed high calorie bars for his hike we’d prefer to make them.
Unfridged a few days, or fridged a few weeks… or frozen for months! 🙂
I love this post so much. These are pretty much all of my favorite recipes of yours too. I can’t wait to try that shake with sun butter…gosh, have you ever made sun butter? I made some the other day and it was just divine…it was just like peanut butter, but sunflower seeds are cheaper and I have a nut-intolerance, so perfect compromise. I can’t wait to make it again ( I ate it all! 😛 ) and try it in your shake.
I don’t know if you knew this but when I first started visiting your website I was below 100 pounds and recovering from anorexia…I’ve found your site to be a very encouraging source for me to eat healthy amounts of food. Keep up the wonderful work and don’t be disheartened by those whom you see use it for bad choices. No matter what you do in life, someone is going to use something you say wrongly, and although it sucks, there’s nothing you can do about it except allow them to learn from their own mistakes.
Much love to you, lovely, beautiful lady. Oh and your picture in your newest entry is just fabulous!! You look so beautiful, as always. Take care.
I could eat peanut butter with almost anything…at night I like to make a snack with peanut butter and honey on crackers–then I sprinkle some dark chocolate and raisins on top!
I also regularly make trail mix with nuts, dried fruit, a little chocolate, and other fun mix-ins!
Okay, as someone who’s recovered from an eating disorder myself–and now as a blogger who writes about both eating disorder recovery and healthy eating on a regular basis–I thought I’d chime in on some of the above comments.
It is a challenge for me to maintain a focus on fitness and healthy recipes on my blog, while still showing my belief that a truly healthy diet is all about balance and moderation. I don’t think it’s idea for anyone, especially someone who’s suffered from an eating disorder, to focus on ONLY eating a certain way. Even if that focus is healthier than in the past, it can be a slippery slope when you are cutting out entire food groups. On my blog, I post recipes that I like but try to give suggestions for those who like different things. And I also regularly post tips on keeping a balanced attitude about food and fitness.
Katie is true to posting recipes that have been successful for her readers–she is focused on creating delicious dishes that all of you who read the blog will respond to. If her recipes were like recipes you could find anywhere else, her blog would not be as successful as it is today. What I like about Katie is that she is also open to other diets and trying new kinds of recipes that other readers will enjoy.
I think many, many of us have distorted ideas about food sometimes, even if not a full-fledged disorder. The key is being aware of our eating habits and our reasons for them, and just doing our best to make healthy choices. No matter what Katie has experienced, we should not attack her or accuse her of things. She has ALWAYS been an advocate of including healthy fats in her recipes, and paying attention to health rather than weight loss.
Thank you. Thank you for pointing that out. It’s very true.
Hmmm… specifically high calorie snacks that I love? Coconut butter is pretty high on my list – anything with coconut really. Chocolate (tofu) pie is pretty high on that list too, and we eat it for breakfast, lunch, snack, and everything in between… I’m sure I’ve eaten half a chocolate pie in one day before. 🙂
As for avocados… I like them, I really do, and I love adding them to sandwiches for their creamy taste, extra flavour, and bonus calories. Just don’t ask me to eat them any other way… eew… most people are picky about avocados in some way.
It’s so sad you have to justify what you eat to people! Anyone who actually looks at your blog without jealously can see you’re probably ten times healthier than most of us and the beautiful picture show it! 🙂 Ohhhh please you NEED to try chocolate avocado mousse! I just blend really ripe ava with cocoa and soy milk (and sometimes a little agave or nutella) and have served it to SO many people who absolutely love it, it’s amazing! …I know you love your chocolate bar pie but It’s seriously ten times better anything I’ve made with silken tofu!! ^__^
I just found you a couple of weeks ago and…wow. I even wrote about you on my blog. I never write about anything except how lazy I am, so you gotta believe how much I love your stuff! Keep it coming.
Crystal