As promised, this week I am sharing a couple of recipes of homemade protein/energy bars. They are a fantastic alternatives to the store-bought, sugar-laden, artificial ingredient-containin’, protein bars.
Yesterday I ran out of the house forgetting my home-made over the weekend protein bar. The day at the gym was long enough for me to get hungry before dinner. I stopped at the local Walgreens in hopes to find a replacement. 15 minutes later after reading through the ingredients of every single bar they had on the shelves I walked out empty-handed. All of them contained too much sugar, processed stuff, and artificial coloring. Thank God our staff at the gym keeps snacks like raw nuts handy.
PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE BARS (anytime)
This bar is great for any time of the day due to it’s lower carb content, while providing you with good fats and lots of protein.
prep time: 5 minutes
serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
4 scoops of chocolate protein powder
2/3 cup of flax meal
4 Tbsp of chunky natural peanut butter
1/4 cup of water
DIRECTIONS
- Mix everything together in a large bowl and start stirring. At first, it will seem like there’s not enough water, but keep stirring, and it will eventually become a sticky blob of dough. If you have to, add water 1 tablespon at a time.
- Devide mixture into 4 equal portions, and put them together into separate pieces of plastic wrap, shaping into a bar within the wrap. It’s easier to shape them by laying plastic wrap in one side of a small casserole dish, pressing the dough into the natural shape of the dish.
- Put the bars in the fridge, or store them in the freezer. Mine don’t last long enough to be stored in the freezer though:)
NUTRITION INFO per serving:
Calories: 283
Protein: 29g
Carbs: 11g
Fat: 15g
Second bar is now my go-to postworkout treat! Here the fat and carbs are flipped, while protein is still high. The tartness of the dried cranberries provides balance to the chocolate and oats.
Prep time: 20 min
Serves: 6
CRANBERRY OAT BROWNIE (post-workout)
INGREDIENTS
1.5 cup of rolled oats (ground into powder in food processor)
1 cup of whole wheat flower
5 scoops of chocolate protein
2 teaspoons sugar (use substitute if desired)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2/3 non-fat plain yougurt
1/3 cup applesauce
2 Tbsp of honey
1 Tbsp of olive oil or flax oil
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl (except protein powder), mixing briefly.
- In a food processor combine yogurt, applesauce and oil. Mix on low. Add protein powder, 1 scoop at a time, to the mixture till thoroughly blended.
- Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients. Add honey and mix well untill everything is incorporated. Warning: things will get sticky:)
- Transfer the dough into an 8×12 inch cooking dish (greased with oil)
- Bake at 350F for 10 minutes
NUTRITIONAL INFO per serving:
Calories: 306
Protein: 26g
Carbs: 41g
Fat: 5g
Side Note: Some of you might not even need the extra sugar/sweetener if your chocolate protein powder is sweet enough. I didn’t add any to my Peanut Butter Fudge Bar, and it came out just fine.
Recipes Credit: Precision Nutrition (www.precisionnutrition.com)
SKILLED NUTRITION 