Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Protein Bars

I love this time of year!  

My tomatoes are ready for harvest...


the peaches are begging to be picked.... 


the zinnia's are blooming heedlessly...


 and my grapevine is..... 


...dying?  

Grrr.... I hate those little spider mites!  If my vine makes it through this year to live another summer and those mites come back next year, they are soooo dead!!!  I let them go too long not knowing it was insects that were yellowing-up my vine, but thought instead, it was the dry heat.  I started my battle against them much too late! And sadly, my birds didn't come back to their nest this year.  It's tucked right in the arbor!  Too bad for them, they would have had feasted 24/7!!

But aside from all the yummy (and not so yummy) food stuff going on in my yard, I love this time of year because this is when my boys are rushing home from school to put on their pads, pack up their water, and lace up their cleats before they grab a snack and run out the door on their way to tackle their teammates in the high heat of the late afternoon sun.


I love going to their practices! It's my excuse to watch my boys, peruse magazines, chat with other moms, and catch the last warm rays of fall!

Two hours of sprints, tackle drills, running plays and simply paying attention after a full day of school, requires energy and brain power. So, I want to be sure my boys have a highly nutritious snack with carbs to get them going and protein to keep them going.  For awhile I was buying Cliff Bars but at a dollar plus a bar and with some form of sugar as their 2nd, 3rd and 4th ingredient, I wanted to see if I could come up with something a little cheaper with less sugar but just as yummy.  After searching the internet I found a recipe I liked and, of course, I had to change it to please my own sense of taste and texture.

This is what I came up with....

2 1/2 cups oats - old fashioned
1/2 cup vanilla protein powder
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup chia/flax seed
1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds)
1/2 cup dried fruit (blueberries)
1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup nut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses


Prepare a 7x11 pan by placing foil in the pan and allowing for the edges of the foil to come up the sides.

Mix the first 8 ingredients (oats to salt) in large bowl until all the ingredients are well blended.

(This is how I chop my almonds)


 Mix the nut butter, honey and molasses in a small bowl. 

Pour the nut butter mixture over the cereal mixture. Mix until well blended and all of the cereal mixture is coated.

Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Using a the back of a large rubber spatula press the mixture down into pan firmly.


To remove the bars, lift the edges of the foil out of the pan.  Cut into 16 bars or squares. 



Wrap each bar in plastic wrap. 



Store the wrapped bars in a zip-top bag or plastic container in the refrigerator. 

That's it! There you have it! A cheaper - I can't honestly say (I never did the math) - great tasting snack with less sugar to provide energy for strong bodies to do some seriously hard.... play!  ;0)


Go get 'em, boys!

1 comment:

  1. I like the way you chop nuts ... it chops the nuts AND works out extra aggression. These look yummy!!

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