Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars

The first three words of the title should have you intrigued! I mean, who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter together?! I guess if you were allergic to peanuts you wouldn't...but that's beside the point, these bars are delicious!

I adapted this recipe just slightly from =Protein Pow(der). It's a great blog that has SO many recipes for any and all types of protein powder...and they all look so delicious!

Here's what you need:
1 1/2 cups chocolate protein powder
3/4 cup oat flour (ground oats)
1/4 cup peanut butter + 2 Tbsp
1/8 cup coconut flakes (unsweetened)
1/2 cup milk
dark chocolate bar

Mix everything together with a fork/spatula and press into a 3x9 baking pan and place in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

**Update: I forgot to mention that the extra 2Tbsp PB are to spread over the top of the pressed down mixture...because I love me some peanut butter! :)

For easy clean up, put down wax or parchment paper to prevent the mixture from sticking. Then take them out and cut them into 6 bars. Melt some of the chocolate bar on the stove, about 1/3 of the bar. When it's all melty, you can either dip the bars into the pan, or use a spatula and "paint" on the chocolate.
Place the chocolate covered bars on a wax paper lined baking sheet and place back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Then wrap individually and store in the freezer.

These bars are super delicious and taste like desert because of the chocolate covering!

These are the types of protein and peanut butter I used, in case you're curious:

MyoFusion is an okay protein, it has a good flavor, but after 5lbs of it I'm pretty tired of the same old thing! I do have to say that earth balance's coconut and peanut spread is the BEST peanut butter EVER!! I normally get freshly ground peanut butter from Vitamin Cottage, but this stuff is just to die for. It has a wonderful blend of coconut flavor to compliment the peanut butter.

I'm drooling just thinking about it right now...

Enjoy!

Full body workout and protein pudding

Once again, it's been a while since I've posted, but today I have not just a recipe (it's a delicious one too!), but I also have a full body at home workout!

School has ended and so has my gym membership, so I decided to try more at home workouts for a while to see if I like it. I can always get a gym membership somewhere else in town, but working out at home can save some money and I'm hoping it will change up my normal routine. This first week without a gym has been kind of frustrating because I want to actually lift weights and continue to get stonger, but I only have a 10lb medicine ball at home. I ordered some resistance bands online this week and I'm excited for them to get here so I can have more...resistance in my training! I do have to say that just in the past week, I have really improved with pushups, which is very exciting!

Even though there's been some hard feelings about not being able to lift heavy, I have come up with some great circuits and HIIT workouts, today's circuit was especially brutal.

4 rounds:
-10 rep: walkout plank with pushup
-20 rep: alternating single leg v-ups
-12 rep: chair dips
-6 rep each leg: single leg burpees
-20 rep: frog squats
-15 rep each leg: lunge hold with med ball twist

Including the 2 or so minute break I took between rounds, the whole workout took about 45 minutes and by the last set of burpees, my arms were pretty shot! This workout was also kinda tough on my wrists, so in the 4th round, I had to be mindful of keeping my fingers spread wide to support my wrists.

Afterward, I fueled up with some Chocolate Almond Protein Pudding!

Here's what you need:
1/2 avocado
1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 Tbsp almond butter
1/2 cup+ almond milk

Blend everything in a blender and enjoy!
You'll definitely get your healthy fats in for the day with this!!

Note: You may need more almond milk, I was adding it in splashes until I got the right consistency of pudding that I wanted. You could even add more to make it a "drinkable" shake instead of pudding. This pudding isn't very sweet, so if you want it more like desert, you could add some maple syrup or honey.

OH! and I should mention that I am a college graduate now! Here's a couple pictures from my graduation :D

Thanks for reading!

Do you prefer working out at the gym or at home?

 

Chocolate almond protein muffins

The other day I came across a list of low-carb snacks and one of them happened to be Almond Apple Spice muffins. I made a few changes to the recipe, adapted it to what I had as well as made it a little *healthier*.
They are gluten-free which is lucky, since today is my first day of gluten-free living! It wasn't so bad today, and I realized that I don't eat as many gluten products as I thought. My breakfast and lunch were pretty much the same as usual, it was my snacks that changed the most I think, cause many days I will have PB on ww toast or tortilla. But I also noticed that I would normally have something with gluten at dinner as well, or if I wanted something to cheat with, those almost always have gluten! I think it will be an interesting two weeks...

Here's the link to the original recipe for the muffins again.
And here's how I made them:

1 cup ground almonds
2 scoops chocolate protein powder
2 whole eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients in a bowl, melt the coconut oil slightly beforehand, if necessary. Spray a muffin tin with non stick cooking spray or use cup cake liners. Pour mix into muffin tins, (~3/4 full). Place tray in the oven and cook for 12 minutes. Make sure not to overcook as the muffins will become very dry.

This is a half recipe of what the site used, I figured since I'm just cooking for one person, it makes more sense to cut it in half. From this recipe I got 10 small muffins, they don't "grow" much in the baking process, so be aware of that.

The muffins are really nutty and the spices definitely make a nice overall "earthy" taste. It's maybe more of a autumn taste, than spring, but I like it all the same. They are extra good topped with a little almond butter, talk about a dessert-like snack! 

Enjoy!

Chocolate chia seed pudding

I've been wanting to write about the dinner and lunch items I've been eating this week, but I am currently spooning away this concoction:

And loving every second of it!

Meet Protein Chia Seed Pudding! In the "healthy" food-blog world there has been a uprising of chia seed recipes in the past year and I have jumped on the bandwagon in the past few months. I now use chia seeds in my oatmeal every morning to really "pump up" my oats and I also use them in all of my smoothies.

If you don't know about chia seeds, here's a bit of background. They are native to Mexico and Central/South America and the name actually comes from the aboriginal, Nahuatl word meaning oily. When soaked in water they "puff up" and produce a gelatin-like coating, but ground chia seeds can be used in baking. They are high in omega-3's and fiber which is why they have become a common health food today.

But you may also remember the ever-loved Chia pet which sprouts the seeds and makes an alfalfa-type plant.

 

Now, back to the delicious pudding.

Here's what you need:

3 Tbsp chia seeds

1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder (about 16 grams)

1/2 - 3/4 cup milk (or water)

2 Tbsp cottage cheese

And any other flavors you might want, a dash of vanilla or cinnamon would be great!

Blend all the ingredients in a blender adding more liquid if necessary; I had to splash a little more in as it was blending. Then let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes so that seeds are able to "puff up" in the liquid. I waited as long as it took me to do the dishes and then I dug in!

As you can see I added some chocolate chips on top for an extra treat!

If you've never eaten chia seeds this way before, the texture might surprise you a bit, it does have a gelatin-type texture, but I think it's refreshing. Especially when you use cold liquid in the mixture, it's reminiscent of real chocolate pudding.  

Notes:

If you don't have protein powder, a mixture of cocoa powder and sweetener to taste would substitute just fine. 

I hope you enjoy the recipe and join the chia-craze!

For more chia seed pudding recipes, visit pure2raw, they have tons of puddings and other great ideas for chia seeds too!

Did you ever have a chia pet? Do you use chia seeds in food?