A cadence meter may help to find out if you are riding on too high of a gear. They are little magnets that attach to the chainstay and pedal and communicate to something that you can read... maybe a cycling computer or maybe your phone. I finally got mine working and found out that even after actively trying to spin a bit more, I still was riding at about 70-80 and have been trying to increase that by 10 more.
I understand the protein issue. After a long, hard ride I am ravenous for half an hour. But after that I don't feel like eating for hours. I find that if I can get something into my system in that first half hour (even just a couple of hard boiled eggs) I recover better. Sometimes simply cooking later in the day can "wake my stomach up". The smell of cooking a meal sometimes makes me feel hungry again so I find myself cooking even when I'm not hungry. Oh and sneaking protein and a bit of fats into salads. Not too much but adding some cheese, boiled eggs, a bit of meat, nuts/seeds, etc seems to help. And use MyFitnessPal to make sure I'm not adding too much. I plan to do this a lot in the summer. Because the last thing I want on a 115 degree day is a hot meal. But adding some grilled chicken to a salad should really help keep things balanced and energy level/recovery time stable.