SBJ is the new PBJ Power Bars

In addition to enjoying some awesome weather and family fun yesterday I was in the kitchen whipping up some great bars as inspired by Oxygen’s new Fat Blasting foods guide.

SB Protein Power Bars

Great as an afternoon pick me up with some green tea or some quick post workout fuel, these are super quick to throw together and the flavor combinations are endless. I’m thinking an almond butter and dried cherry batch is next 😀

*Inspired by Oxygen – Fat Blasting Food Guide with a few tweaks in ingredients for what I had on hand.*

Prep time: 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes (includes time in fridge to set)

Ingredients

8 oz dates

1/4 c water

1/4 c sunflower butter

1/4 c flax meal

1 cup vanilla whey protein powder

pinch of salt

4 oz dried apricots, diced

1/2 c Uncle Sams Original cereal, divided in half

Instructions

1. Blend together dates and water in food processor

2. Add sunflower butter and blend until smooth. May need to add more water to help thin mixture slightly *I could probably eat just this mixture smeared on a waffle or toast with banana – soooo good*

3. Add protein powder, flax meal, and salt; blend thoroughly. Add diced apricot and half of the cereal to food processor and pulse until just combined.

4. Place a long piece of wax paper into a baking dish – leave enough wax paper to hang over edge. *I highly recommend using the wax paper if you want your bars to come out in one piece – not pieces. The tin foil was kind of a fail*

5. Pour mixture into baking dish and use the wax paper to press evenly into baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cereal on top of mixture.

6. Place in freezer for an hour to firm up enough to cut into 8 pieces. Store individually wrapped in fridge or freezer.

Seriously delicious and a cinch to throw together! Totally recommend picking up  any of Oxygen’s publications but especially this Fat Blasting Food Guide – tons of great tips and recipes as always.

Purple Friday!

Had a great start to the day with a 6am wake up call and a bowl of Arrowhead Mills French Toast cereal with a cup of 2% milk mixed with vanilla protein powder and boiled egg on the side (no picture because I was a bit of a zombie).

Can’t say that was my favorite cereal combo- the mix of lightly sweetened cereal and vanilla sweetened milk was a bit over the top. It did keep me satisfied through dropping off the little brother at school, a sweaty lifting session at the gym and getting ready to head out to my local Starbucks for some resume work and job hunting.

But I did pay for waiting too long to refuel after working out because this morning bun somehow made its way onto my table for snacking … I did forgo my favorite soy eggnog latte for an Americano with 1 splenda and a splash of whole milk to balance it out.

And am definitely looking forward to finishing off this creamy peanut butter chocolate protein bar – only 230kCal, 8g of fat, 23 g carbs, and a whopping 20g of protein all with being gluten and sugar free. It smells like a reeses cup but that’s where the candy comparison stops. I do enjoy it over other protein bars because it’s a blend of soy protein and whey protein so I feel like it has less of a chalky texture and I do love the more true flavor of peanut butter this bar offers.

Stay tuned this afternoon for a banana cake and cream cheese frosting treat – a little snack for me to bring over to tomorrow’s STAR WARS – ATHON!

PS- I’m loving all the purple I see in support of this weekend’s game against the Colts (not too worried about that one though with the Colts being winless this season..)