Iron & Bloom

The Bloom
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10 high-protein recipes that taste like the food you actually crave.

Free · 10 recipes · ~50g protein each
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High-protein food has a reputation for being sad. Dry chicken, plain rice, a scoop of something beige. It doesn't have to be that way — and this little book is proof.

Every recipe here is built the way we build the whole Iron & Bloom catalog: real comfort food first, macros engineered to fit underneath. Burgers, quesadillas, fried chicken biscuits, cheesecake bowls — each one lands enough protein to actually move the needle, with numbers you can plan a day around.

Pick one. Cook it tonight. If it makes you forget you're "eating well," it's doing its job.

— The Iron & Bloom kitchen

10tested recipes
~50gprotein, on average
8cravings covered
What's inside

The menu

01Cottage Cheese Berry Protein Bowl60g protein02Cake Batter Protein Cheesecake Bowl55g protein03Big Mac Bowl52g protein04Chicken Quesadilla + Protein Sour Cream65g protein05Loaded Mac & Cheese60g protein06Teriyaki Chicken & Fried Rice63g protein07Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta56g protein08Pad See Ew with Chicken45g protein09Honey Hot Chicken Biscuit32g protein10Protein Banana Bread Slice11g protein
01
🍳  Breakfast

Cottage Cheese Berry Protein Bowl

503cal
60gprotein
41gcarbs
11gfat

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup Good Culture cottage cheese
  • ½ cup Fage 0%
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein
  • ½ cup mixed berries
  • 2 tbsp low-sugar granola
  • Cinnamon

Method

  1. Blend the cottage cheese alone for 30-60 seconds, scraping the sides, until totally smooth with no curds. Don't skip this; it's the difference between a mousse and a lumpy bowl.
  2. Add the Fage and protein powder and pulse just until combined, about 15 seconds.
  3. Add a splash of water if it's too stiff to fold, a teaspoon at a time.
  4. Taste and stir in cinnamon to your liking.
  5. Scrape into a bowl and top with the mixed berries and granola.
  6. Add the granola right before eating so it stays crunchy, and finish with a last dusting of cinnamon.
Make it easyNo-cook and ready in 5 minutes. Blend a double batch of the base and keep it covered for up to 3 days; add fruit and granola fresh.
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1 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
02
🍳  Breakfast

Cake Batter Protein Cheesecake Bowl

330cal
55gprotein
25gcarbs
3gfat

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Fage 0%
  • ½ cup Good Culture cottage cheese
  • 1 scoop Clean Simple Eats Cake Batter protein
  • Splash of Fairlife milk
  • Cinnamon
  • Optional: strawberries / blueberries

Method

  1. Add the cottage cheese to a blender or small food processor and blend 30-60 seconds, scraping down the sides, until it is completely smooth with no curds left. This is what makes it read as cheesecake instead of cottage cheese.
  2. Add the Fage and protein powder and blend another 15-20 seconds, just until combined. Over-blending past this point thins it out.
  3. Add the milk a splash at a time, blending briefly, until it's thick and spoonable like cheesecake batter.
  4. Taste and adjust with cinnamon.
  5. Scrape into a bowl, cover and chill 10-20 minutes. It firms up noticeably as it cools.
  6. Top with strawberries or blueberries and a final dusting of cinnamon before serving.
Make it easyDoubles as the dessert top-off in the meal plan. Chills well up to 3 days, covered.
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2 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
03
🍔  Fast Food

Big Mac Bowl

450cal
52gprotein
25gcarbs
16gfat

Ingredients

  • 6 oz lean ground beef (or chicken)
  • 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • ¼ cup fat-free cheese
  • 2 tbsp diced pickles
  • 2 tbsp diced onion
  • Special sauce (recipe below)

Method

  1. Finely dice the onion. Reserve about half raw for the bowl.
  2. Set a skillet over medium-high heat and mist with cooking spray. Add the ground beef and the remaining diced onion.
  3. Brown the beef 6-8 minutes, breaking it into small crumbles, until no pink remains and an instant-read thermometer hits 160°F. Season with salt and pepper and drain off any liquid.
  4. Pile the chopped lettuce into a bowl and spoon the hot beef over one side.
  5. Scatter the fat-free cheese over the beef so it softens, then add the pickles and reserved raw onion.
  6. Drizzle the cold special sauce over the top and serve right away, while the lettuce is still cold and the beef is hot.
Make it easyKeep the sauce cold and the beef hot -- that hot-cold contrast is what makes it read as the real thing.
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3 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
04
🌯  Mexican

Chicken Quesadilla + Protein Sour Cream

500cal
65gprotein
40gcarbs
10gfat

Ingredients

  • 1 Carb Balance tortilla
  • 6 oz ground chicken
  • ½ cup fat-free shredded cheese
  • 1/2 cup sliced bell peppers
  • 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • Protein sour cream (recipe below)

Method

  1. Stir the Fage with salsa, taco seasoning and lime juice in a small bowl; keep it cold and set aside. Never heat it or it splits.
  2. Dice the peppers, mushrooms and onion. Mist a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and cook them over medium-high 5-6 min until the mushroom liquid cooks off and the edges brown; season with salt and pepper and scrape onto a plate.
  3. Raise the heat, spray the pan again and add the ground chicken. Spread it flat and leave it alone 2-3 min to brown, then break it up and cook 3-4 min more to 165°F. Drain any liquid in the pan.
  4. Return the vegetables to the pan and toss with the chicken; season with salt and pepper.
  5. Wipe the pan, set it over medium and lay the tortilla in dry. Scatter the cheese over one half, pile the chicken and vegetables on top, and fold the tortilla over.
  6. Toast 2-3 min per side, pressing with a spatula, until the tortilla is spotted brown and crisp and the cheese has melted.
  7. Slice into wedges and dip into the cold protein sour cream.
Make it easyCheese against the tortilla on both faces glues the fold shut so nothing spills when you flip it.
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4 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
05
🍗  Southern

Loaded Mac & Cheese

520cal
60gprotein
50gcarbs
10gfat

Ingredients

  • 1 serving Goodles mac
  • 5 oz ground chicken
  • ½ cup fat-free cheese
  • Splash Fairlife
  • Jalapeños

Method

  1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the Goodles to package directions, just to al dente. Reserve about a quarter cup of the starchy pasta water, then drain.
  2. While the pasta cooks, heat a skillet over medium-high and coat with cooking spray. Add the ground chicken, spread it flat and leave it alone for 3 to 4 minutes to brown before breaking it apart.
  3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and finish cooking, 3 to 5 minutes more, until no pink remains and it reaches 165°F. Drain off any liquid in the pan.
  4. Return the drained pasta to the pot off the burner. Stir in its cheese packet with the splash of Fairlife and a spoonful of the reserved pasta water until glossy.
  5. Add the fat-free cheese off the heat and stir until it disappears into the sauce; the residual heat melts it, and boiling would turn it grainy. Loosen with more pasta water if it tightens.
  6. Fold in the browned chicken, taste and add salt and pepper, then top with jalapenos and serve right away.
Make it easyFat-free cheese only melts smoothly off the burner with a little moisture -- add it last, never let it boil.
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5 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
06
🍽  Restaurant

Teriyaki Chicken & Fried Rice

773cal
63gprotein
87gcarbs
18gfat

Ingredients

  • 5 oz chicken
  • 1¼ cups fried rice
  • 3 tbsp low-sugar teriyaki (or make the sauce below)
  • 1 cup mixed veggies
  • ½ cup egg whites
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds

Method

  1. Use cold, day-old rice if you have it -- warm fresh rice steams into mush instead of frying. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high, mist with cooking spray and sear the chicken 4-5 minutes a side, until browned and 165°F. Move it to a board to rest.
  3. In the same pan, cook the mixed veggies 3-4 minutes over medium-high, until they take on some color.
  4. Push the veggies to one side, pour the egg whites into the empty half and scramble them 60-90 seconds, until just set, then break them up into the veggies.
  5. Add the rice and press it into the pan. Let it sit 60 seconds untouched to catch a little crust, then toss. Repeat 2-3 times, 4-5 minutes total, until hot and toasty.
  6. Slice the chicken, return it to the pan and pour the teriyaki over everything. Toss 30-60 seconds, just long enough to glaze and lacquer.
  7. Plate and top with sesame seeds.
Make it easyHibachi-style plate, carb-forward. Teriyaki goes in last over high heat for under a minute -- any longer and the sugar burns bitter.
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6 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
07
🍽  Restaurant

Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta

887cal
56gprotein
79gcarbs
39gfat

Ingredients

  • 3 oz dry penne
  • 6 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
  • 3 tbsp dairy-free basil pesto (or make the sauce below)
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes
  • 2 cups baby spinach
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp pine nuts
  • 1 lemon

Method

  1. Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil. That water is the only opportunity you get to season the pasta itself rather than the sauce sitting on it.
  2. Slice the chicken into strips, season with salt and pepper, and sear in the olive oil over medium-high heat 4-5 minutes, turning once, until it reaches 165F. Set it aside to rest.
  3. Boil the penne to package al dente, then scoop out 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water before draining. That water is what turns thick pesto into a sauce that coats.
  4. Toast the pine nuts in the dry pan 1-2 minutes over medium heat until they smell nutty and turn light gold, then tip them out immediately -- they go from toasted to burnt in about 15 seconds.
  5. Return the drained pasta to the warm pot off the heat, add the pesto and the halved tomatoes, and loosen with the pasta water a splash at a time until every tube is glossed. Keep the heat off: pesto cooked over a flame turns dull and army-green.
  6. Fold the spinach through -- the residual heat wilts it in about a minute -- then the chicken.
  7. Finish with the pine nuts and a hard squeeze of lemon, which lifts a dairy-free pesto that would otherwise read flat without parmesan's salt.
Make it easySauce the pasta off the heat. Pesto is an emulsion of raw oil and basil; put it back on a burner and it splits and browns.
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7 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
08
🍜  Asian

Pad See Ew with Chicken

918cal
45gprotein
123gcarbs
26gfat

Ingredients

  • 5 oz sliced boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 8 oz fresh wide rice noodles
  • 3 tbsp store-bought sweet soy stir-fry sauce (or make the sauce below)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tbsp avocado oil
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped Chinese broccoli
  • 2 minced garlic cloves

Method

  1. Separate the fresh rice noodles by hand before they hit heat. If they came refrigerated and stiff, microwave them 30 seconds so they pull apart without shattering.
  2. Slice the chicken thighs thin, mince the garlic, and cut the Chinese broccoli into 2-inch pieces, keeping the thick stems separate from the leaves -- the stems need a head start.
  3. Heat the avocado oil in a wok over the highest heat your stove makes. Add the garlic and broccoli stems and stir-fry 1 minute, then add the chicken and sear 3-4 minutes until it hits 165 degrees F.
  4. Push everything to one side, crack the egg onto the bare metal, and scramble it hard for 45 seconds before folding it into the chicken.
  5. Add the noodles and the sweet soy sauce. Now stop stirring: let the noodles sit flat against the pan for 60-90 seconds so they pick up char. That smoky edge is the whole identity of pad see ew.
  6. Toss once, add the broccoli leaves, and give it a final 60 seconds until the leaves wilt and the sauce has fully coated the noodles.
  7. Slide it straight onto the plate. Rice noodles keep cooking in a hot pan and go gummy if they sit.
Make it easyThe char is non-negotiable -- if your pan is not smoking before the noodles go in, you are making a sweet noodle stir-fry, not pad see ew.
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8 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
09
🍞  Fried

Honey Hot Chicken Biscuit

400cal
32gprotein
38gcarbs
13gfat

Ingredients

  • 1 Real Good breaded chicken patty
  • 1 light biscuit or protein English muffin
  • Hot honey (recipe below)
  • 6 dill pickle slices

Method

  1. Air fry the chicken patty from frozen at 400F for 10-14 minutes, flipping halfway, until crisp all over and 165F inside.
  2. While it cooks, stir the hot sauce and sugar-free honey together to make the hot honey.
  3. Split and toast the biscuit or English muffin until the cut faces are golden.
  4. Brush the hot honey over the hot patty so it soaks into the crust.
  5. Set the patty on the bottom half, top with pickles, and close it up.
  6. Eat immediately -- the crust softens fast once the sandwich is built.
Make it easyBrush the honey on the chicken, not the bread -- the bread turns to paste.
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9 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
10
🍰  Dessert

Protein Banana Bread Slice

151cal
11gprotein
15gcarbs
5gfat

Ingredients

  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1/2 cup egg whites
  • 1/3 cup oat flour
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp sugar-free chocolate chips (optional)

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F and line a small loaf pan with parchment or coat it with cooking spray.
  2. Blend the banana and egg whites until frothy and completely smooth, about 30 seconds.
  3. Add the oat flour, protein powder, and cinnamon. Blend in short pulses only until no dry flour remains -- over-mixing protein batter makes the loaf rubbery.
  4. Pour into the pan and scatter the sugar-free chocolate chips over the top if using.
  5. Bake 25-32 minutes, until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs -- not clean. Protein bakes dry out fast, so pull it while it still looks slightly underdone.
  6. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then lift out and cool at least another 15 before slicing; hot protein bread tears.
  7. Serve a slice warm, or reheat a slice 10-15 seconds in the microwave.
Make it easyKeeps 3 days wrapped at room temperature, or slice and freeze -- a frozen slice reheats in 30 seconds and tastes fresher than a fridge-cold one. Makes about 4 slices -- the macros shown are per slice.
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10 / 20 · Iron & Bloom
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