Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars

I used to buy Luna bars at the health food store and really enjoyed them, but I wanted something I could make at home, so I set out to find a recipe that would be healthy and yummy at the same time. After trying many recipes, I combined two different ones to get this delicious sugar free protein bar! Who know healthy could still be so good? :-)

 

 

 

Bar Ingredients: 

  6 cups rice cereal ( I buy this brand at my local health store, because it is sugar and gluten free)

  1 1/4 cup peanut butter (the kind that is just peanuts)

  1 cup honey

  1 tsp. sea salt

  4 tsp. vanilla

  6-7 Tab. hemp protein powder (I like to use this one)

 

Chocolate Frosting:

  1/2 cup coconut oil (I get this at Costco)

  1/2 cup honey

  2 tsp. vanilla

  1 1/4 cups unsweetened coco powder

 

 

Mix peanut butter and honey in a saucepan and heat just until it mixes together easily (you want to do it the least amount of time as possible so that you don't kill the enzymes in the honey). 

 

Stir in the vanilla, salt, and protein powder

 

Add the rice cereal and mix well

 

 

  Place in a food processor and pulse until some of the cereal is crushed. If you don't have a food processor, you can use the back of a spoon and keep crushing it as you stir it together. The goal is just to make sure that it pushed together well in the pan 

 

Press down VERY firm into an 8x8" pan (the one I use is 6x11" pan), you can use a smaller one it you would like your bars thicker, or a larger one if you like them more thin.

 

For the frosting...on VERY low heat, heat honey and coconut oil just until melted (again you don't want it to get too warm or it will kill the enzymes in the honey and take away some of the nutrients in the coconut oil)

 

The above picture is when I put it in the pan (you can see that some of the coconut oil is a little solid). The below photo is what it looks like after heating it for just a minute. Add the vanilla at this point.

 

 

 Next add the chocolate and stir well

 

 

 Spread chocolate over bars and place in freezer until firm

 

 

When firm, cut around the edge of the pan and pop the bars out

 

Cut into squares (I do 16, but you can do it whatever size you want)

 

Store in a air tight container, or put in small Ziploc bags, and store in the refrig or freezer. Because these bars are all natural you have to keep them cold or the chocolate will melt. I make these for my brothers to take to work and they just know to keep them in their cooler until they are ready to eat them at lunch. I store them in the freeze in small snack bars so they are all ready to go when they grab their lunch before leaving for work!

 

Breaded Zucchini Chips (Gluten Free)

Ingredients:

• 1 Medium – Large Zucchini
• 1-3 Tbsp Palm Oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup almond meal (depending on the size of your zucchini)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp. Nutritional Yeast
• 2 Tbsp. Sesame Seeds

Directions:
      Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Beat the egg in a separate bowl.

Slide zucchini into thin coins.

 On medium heat, heat your frying pan and enough Red Palm oil to almost coat the bottom of your pan.

 

Dip zucchini coins in the egg

 Then dip them in the almond mixture

Place in frying pan and fry on one side until golden brown. Make sure your pan is hot enough to brown them, but not so hot that it starts to burn them

 

Flip and fry on the other side

It's that simple! They are really good with sour cream, or for the kids, ketchup! These should also be THM approved, as an "S" meal!

 

 

Coconut Almond Skinny Chocolate

Ingredients:

1/2 c. coconut oil

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

3 1/2 Tbsp Xylitol or Truvia, powdered

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c. dried coconut, shredded and unsweetened

1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)

 

 

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients except oil in a bowl.

 

 

 If your coconut oil is at a solid, heat gently to make stirring easier. You don't want to heat it too much though because you'll start to kill the healthy enzymes (note my coconut oil looks a tiny bit brown in the picture because I added my vanilla to it).
 

Stir your oil and the rest of your ingredients together.
 

 

 Pour into a glass dish lined with wax paper, refrigerate for a couple hours before cutting.
 

Peel off wax paper and cut into squares.

 

Store in refrigerator or freezer to keep your chocolate solid. Coconut oil makes a delicious chocolate, but since it is oil it will melt if not kept cold.

 

This is an "S" dessert if doing it with THM!

 

 

 

No-bake lime cheesecake shooters

 

I found this recipe on a site called "Oh, That's Tasty". I've changed it a little to more suit what I had on hand and to be THM (Trim Healthy Mama) approved. Also, I didn't have any shot glasses, so I use 6oz Mason jars. The next time I make them I want to use the 4oz jars, but I need to buy them first, so the 6oz work for the time being! This is an "S" if you're doing it along with THM.

Makes 6-8, depending on serving sizes

Crust:
3/4 cup walnuts

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
zest of one lime
juice of one lime (or 1/2 or 3/4, depending on how sour you like things)
2 tablespoons Xylitol or you could use Truvia to taste instead
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. heavy cream

Topping:
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 tab. Xylitol
1/2 t. vanilla

 

To make crust: place whole nuts in either a food processor, or a powerful coffee grinded (what I use) and process until very fine (see picture below on right). The original recipe called for 1/2 cup pecans, (which I want to try sometime) but since I didn't have any when I decided to make this, I used 3/4 cup of walnuts.

Gather 6 empty jars, 8 shot glasses or any kind of small glass bowls.





Divide the finely ground nuts among the jars and press the nuts down using a skinny bottle (that's been washed) or anything the will fit inside of the jars.

Whip the 1/4 cup heavy cream in a bowl until soft peaks form:

Peel some of the lime peel and slice into small strips:

Zest and juice lime:

Combine lime zest and juice along with the cream cheese, vanilla and sweetener. Whip this all up till it gets past looking like cottage cheese (top part of the image below), and starts to look smooth and creamy (bottom image).

Split the filling between the six jars and spread over the nut crust. Whipped the remaining heavy cream with the remaining vanilla and sweetener until soft peeks form. Spread over the filling mixture and garnish with the lime strips.

Store in the refrigerator enjoy ;-)

 

Note: Since I used xylitol in this recipe, I wanted to share with you the difference between the two xylitols I have. The one to the left in the picture is the one that I used. It's much finer so it dissolved quickly. The one on the right is a much coarser xylitol. You can use this as well, only make sure you put it in the food processor or a coffee grinder first, so that it's fine enough to incorporate into your filling and cream without tasting the granules.   

Nut, Seed, Fruit Bars

 

I was searching Pinterest, desperately trying to find some healthy snacks and came across this. I love it because it has protein from the nuts, no sugar (since I used dried fruit without it) and a lot of nutrition from the seeds and good oil! Plus these are extremely versatile so you can make them with whatever you have on hand!

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

 

2 1/2 cups nuts and seeds (I use 1/2 cup of cashews, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds 

                                            and a 1/4 cup sesame seeds and sunflower seeds)

1 cup dried fruits (I use 1/2 cup dates and 1/2 cup raisins)

1/4 cup coconut (I use dried unsweetened)

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup almond butter (could use peanut butter or cashew butter if desired) 

1/3 cup honey (I use raw)

1 tsp. vanilla extract (you could use other kinds to vary the flavor if desired)

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Place all nuts/seeds in your food processor.



Add dried fruit and coconut

Pulse until everything is chopped

Place the rest of the ingredients in a sauce pan and warm on low JUST until combined (you don't want to heat it too much, cuz heat kills enzymes that you want).

Pour liquid mixture over your fruit, nut, seed mixture

Mix until everything is combined!

Place into a wax paper lined pan

 Press down firmly

 Place in refrig just until cold to make sure it sticks together well. Cut into bar size pieces!

Store in the refrig or the freezer in an air tight container with wax paper in-between, or wrap individually for an easy snack on the run!!