Chocolate Protein Bars

Good Evening.

This weekend we ventured southwest to the city of Sioux Falls to celebrate the 3rd Birthday of our nephew, Jakob. We had a good time catching up with our family and playing with the kids. Happy Birthday, Jakob! 

It is very difficult to resist temptations when you are not at home. And even though I did bring a cooler full of clean food (hard boiled eggs, nonfat plain yogurt with blueberries, oatmeal, and nutty maple cinnamon protein bars) I still found myself reaching for a rice crispy bar covered in chocolate (I only ate half of Allan's) or a piece of homemade pizza that Annie made (it WAS a pizza party and it did have lots of veggies on it) or going out to eat (fajitas for supper and a denver frittata with espresso for breakfast). I am not beating myself up for having these cheats - I had planned for them with a couple extra hard workouts and that's why I know that I will still be successful this week. It's just one of those things that you need to realize and plan for in order to be successful at reaching your goals. Also, you can't let it get you off track because one cheat can turn into completely ditching your clean eating lifestyle.

On Friday I did my usual Sunday preparations for the next week (since I knew that we wouldn't be home until late-afternoon today). I started marinating two 2.5 lb turkey breasts which I roasted this evening. I used the Asian Marinade from the last issue of Clean Eating magazine and the turkey breasts were terrific! This is one of my favorite meals. The meat was especially tender and flavorful after marinating for 2.5 days. As a side dish, I roasted some leftover veggies from last week in another pan: green beans, sweet potatoes, yellow zucchini, carrots, onions, garlic (grated), rosemary, salt and pepper. I now have lunch for a few days and meat to use in tortilla soup and whatever else I feel like making.

I will need some good and easy food to bring with me for next week after my mom's surgery this Thursday. I plan on working from her house next week to help her out while my dad is at work. I will also need a few good and easy recipes to make for my mom, dad, and sister next week for supper while I am there. Any suggestions?

On Friday afternoon, I boiled 14 eggs and made Chocolate Protein Bars. Many of you have asked me for my Chocolate Protein Bar recipe... so here it is. They are very easy to mix up and do not require baking. ENJOY!

Chocolate Protein Bars

Olive Oil Spray
1 C oats
1 C oat flour (process oats in food processor to make flour)
12 scoops chocolate protein powder
4 TB ground flaxseeds
1 C non-fat dry milk
10 TB natural peanut butter (no oil, salt or sugar added)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C water
1/2 C milk
1/4 C dark chocolate chips (optional)

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with olive oil.

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together.

Add peanut butter & mix until crumbly.

Add vanilla, water, milk and chocolate chips. Stir until all of the liquid has been absorbed. It may be difficult to mix – just keep mixing until all of the dry ingredients are moistened and the liquid has been absorbed.

Place mixture in the prepared pan and freeze or refrigerate until the bars are solid and cut easily with knife. Cut into 18 bars. Store in the fridge or freezer.

For nutrition information go here.