Katrina and I at a fitness conference in LA
This week we are going to feature energy/protein bars. When I think of a protein bar, I usually think high protein, low sugar; energy bars have some protein, but quite a bit of sugar for energy.
I have become good friends with a fitness professional in Orange County. Her name is Katrina and she is a celebrity trainer and has had over 15 million youtube views for her fitness and nutritional videos through diet.com. I am working with her now to get her ready for her first fitness modeling show which I am very excited about! Katrina will be sharing with you a recipe for an energy bar. It is a little high in calories, so my mom put on her experimentation hat and worked at tweaking it to make it more calorie friendly.
I am also working at finding other healthy premade protein bars. It is tough, because most are just glorified candy bars.
So here is my moms post!
This week we are taking on the energy bar; three of you suggested this one-Louise, Sharon, and Bill-so let’s see if we can get something interesting happening here. It just so happens that our AOL server had that discussion up this morning, so I checked it out-they listed the top 10 that their research came up with, called them diet bars, but did not say what their criteria was for rating them. Then they opened it up for comments, and I copied down a lot of websites and personal preferences listed, but have not had time yet to check them all out.
We’ll get back to this later, but now I’d like to give you a recipe for an energy bar that Katrina featured on her website, as Dustin has told you about. I have just finished trying it out, with some adjustments; if you’re like me, you are ready for something to make rather than trying to find one you approve of at the store. So, let’s get busy!
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KATRINA’S ENERGY BAR
3 scoops protein pwd.
1 c. natural peanut butter
1 c. raw or roasted slivered almonds
1 c. diced dried apricots
1 c. old fashioned oats
¼ c. raw honey
Cinnamon, optional
In Katrina’s video, they melted the peanut butter and honey together, then added all the rest of the ingred.. I experimented with a small batch and just stirred everything together, but melting things would be easier; however, if you are in a hurry for the finished product, skip the heating stage, as they should be chilled around 45 min. before cutting into squares. Backing up, spray a baking pan or cookie sheet and press the ingred. into it to desired thickness; Katrina used a 9″ sq. pan and cut her recipe into 16 bars, after chilling. Wrap individually in either plastic wrap or foil, or just use a sandwich baggie. The only thing I changed is the amount of honey; Katrina used 1 cup, but the bars have around 270 calories and would be best used for high energy needs, like for a marathon or long distance bike trip. I experimented with less and even no honey (adding a small amt. of water to hold things together), letting the apricots provide the sweetness. I settled for ¼ c. honey (may still need a very small amt. of water). You might wish to use agave or maple syrup instead. Here are the approximate stats that I figured, using a prot. pwd. that has 21 g. of prot./28 g. scoop, with NO fake sugars. Also, I recommend cutting them into 32-1 oz. bars, putting them more into the average weight and calorie range of other bars. I think my next batch will have more prot. pwd. in it. Anyway, have fun changing this basic recipe to fit your own needs, or using what you have on hand.
Nutritional Info. For approx. 1 oz. bar:
Cal.: 115
Prot.: 5g.
Fat: 6g.
Carb.: 9.5g.
Fiber: 2g.
Sugar: 5.5g.
We would love to hear what your favorite homemade bar recipe is or a store bought one!
Keep eating~healthy!
Dustin’s Mom~Joy
For additional recipes click the links below!
30 Healthy Snacks, 21 Healthy Snacks, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Tofu Pie, Pureed Vegetables, Roasted Veggies, Quinoa, Chicken, Omelet, Pizza, Guacamole, Hummus, Carrot Soup
. Dustin said we’ll do another week of just grilling, so this week we will try to zero in on what we can do with just an actual campfire and see how creative we can all get. I’ll start us off with about the most basic recipe there is and trust that not everybody has heard of it already.
THE PACKET PLAN:
SIERRA NUGGETS~COUNTRY STYLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
This week’s food item is focusing on avacadoes. Avacadoes have a high amount of healthy fats. They are calorie dense so portion size is important when eating avacadoes. Today, my mom has given you a great guacamole recipe. I love guacamole, but I usually get in trouble with it, because I eat so many chips with it… yes chips are my biggest food weakness! Avacadoes are great to put on sandwhiches, salads, and on chicken (ok, I haven’t tried that last one, but felt it necessary to come up with 3 things that avacadoes go good with besides the obvious chips!)
!! 
