No-Bake Energy Bites a.k.a. Protein Poppers

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry oatmeal (the picture is deceiving, but I used rolled oats)
• 1/3 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup nut butter (I used 1/4 cup almond and 1/4 cup peanut butter)
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, but I didn’t use them this time around)
• 1/3 1/4 cup raw honey (I found 1/3 to be too sweet for my taste)
• 1 tsp vanilla (I was out, so I omitted this)

Directions:

1.   Mix together all the ingredients. It takes a little time and some elbow grease, but you want to make sure everything is mixed together really well. This helps with forming the balls later.

2.   Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour. I’ve found that the longer you chill it, the better the balls bind together.

3.   Roll, roll, roll the mixture into balls about 1-inch in diameter and enjoy!

 Find the original recipe here

In total this recipe has roughly 1661 calories.

Divided by 20 balls that comes to about 83 calories each. 

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I’ve made this recipe several times and omitted coconut and vanilla the first few times because I was out. The most recent time, I had coconut but not chocolate chips. As you can see in the first photo, I got out some dark chocolate. I was going to melt it and dip the balls in, but I ended up eating them before I had a chance.

This recipe makes between 20 and 30 balls, depending on how big you roll them. You can modify this recipe to your liking, but I don’t recommend messing with the honey and nut butter quantities. Those are important in binding everything together.

Substitutions:

Dry ingredients:

• White chocolate or butterscotch chips
• Dried cranberries, raisins, or chopped apricots
• Chopped almonds, pecans, or walnuts
• Sunflower seeds or pine nuts

Wet ingredients:

• Agave nectar for honey
• Sunflower seed or soy nut butter for peanut butter

*Update 8/29/12* Someone has told me that sunflower butter works well, but the mixture ends up a little gooey, so they added extra oats to make them stick together better. Also, I refrigerate them because I like them chilly, but as far as I know, they don’t have to be refrigerated, although they’d probably last a few weeks longer if they were.

Next time, I hope I can resist eating these long enough to try the chocolate-dipped version.

Ants on a Hill

General Guidelines 

1 of your favorite apples, cored & diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1-2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter 

1 teaspoon mesquite honey (optional)

1/4 cup raisins 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix ingredients in a bowl and Enjoy!

5 servings | 70 calories each

Oxygen Magazine Peanut Butter Protein Balls & Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

Oxygen Magazine Peanut Butter 
Protein Balls

Ready in 5 minutes • Makes 14 servings 

Ingredients:
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
2 scoops chocolate whey protein powder
    (separated)
3 tbsp ground flaxseed
3 tbsp dark chocolate chips

Instructions:
Mix together all ingredients except 2nd scoop of protein. Should be the consistency of Play-Doh.
Add scoop # 2 of protein, continue mixing.

Roll into 14 small balls. 

Refrigerate/freeze to firm them up, overnight for best results. 

Enjoy!

Nutrients per serving (1 ball):
Calories: 87, Total Fats: 5 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Trans Fat: 0 g, Cholesterol: 3 mg, Sodium: 28 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 9 g, Dietary Fiber: 1 g, Sugars: 5 g, Protein: 5 g, Iron: 0 mg

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Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

1 large egg

1.5 cups natural peanut butter

1.5 scoops whey protein powder, chocolate or vanilla

1/3 cup Sucanat

1/2 cup almond meal (I substituted GF flour, flax, and wheat germ)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a bowl beat the egg. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Form little balls with your hands and space evenly on a lightly greased baking sheet.

4. Bake for 12 minutes. Balls will puff up and lightly brown.

   Let cool for a few minutes and be careful handling them while hot, they are very delicate and will crumble apart!

Frozen Bananas. Luscious Ice Cream-Like Desserts

PB ‘Nana Cream Bites
I hes­i­tate to even call this a recipe, as it’s so basic it’s really more of a guide­line. These cold morsels of nom­ness con­tain the tri­fecta of fla­vor– banana, peanut but­ter and choco­late. You can always sub­sti­tute a dif­fer­ent nut butter.

2 large bananas
1/4 cup nat­ural peanut but­ter
1/2 cup choco­late chips
2 tbsp-1/4 cup milk of choice

1. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper or parch­ment.

2. Slice bananas into coins about 1/2–3/4 inch thick. 

3, Spread a lit­tle dol­lop of peanut but­ter on top of each one. 

4. In a small bowl, com­bine the choco­late chips and milk (remem­ber, less is more). 

    Microwave in 15 sec­ond incre­ments until you can whisk them together. You want it to be a dipable con­sis­tency, not spread­able. 

    (Add a splash more milk if nec­es­sary. )

5. Dip the banana chunks using a fork as a lit­tle chocolate-coating fork­lift, dip­ping them into the melted choco­late. 

6. Place choco­late coated bananas on the pre­pared sheet and place in freezer until com­pletely frozen (3–5 hours). 

7. Remove frozen banana chunks from the sheet and store in a freezer container.

Source: NomNomNom

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FROZEN BANANA BITES
What you'll need . . .

2 large bananas
1/4 to 1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/4 to 1/3 cup natural peanut butter
Unsweetened coconut flakes
Method . . .

Set out a large plate or bowl with a piece of parchment or wax paper on it.
Cut up the bananas into good-sized chunks. Each banana should give you around 5 to 6 pieces.
Heat the peanut butter and chocolate chips in the microwave on high for about a minute. Then stir until smooth.
Dip the banana pieces in the chocolate-peanut butter mixture. Lay them out leaving some space between them on the parchment/wax paper. Then when you've "covered" them all, use the remaining mixture to spoon over the tops (for even more chocolate-y goodness).
Then sprinkle the unsweetened coconut flakes on top. Transfer to the freezer for about an hour until hardened.
You can enjoy them like this (but they really aren't frozen yet -- and when they're frozen, the banana tastes like vanilla ice cream) . . . I suggest then covering with some plastic wrap (or really you can do all of this in some kind of Rubbermaid container) and let freeze overnight.

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BANANA -- AKA 1 INGREDIENT -- ICE CREAM(OK. It's one ingredient plus some flavors.)

What you'll need . . .

2 ripe bananas, chopped
2 tablespoons peanut butter
Handful chocolate chips
(But really ANYTHING GOES!)
Method . . .

1. Chop bananas into smallish chunks (original post called them coins) and freeze overnight on a plate.

2. Then transfer to a food processor (I think a smaller one works better) and process until bananas are in little bits (like in the photo above).

3. Then add your flavors. There's no right or wrong way to do it. No right or wrong measurements. 

4.Continue blending until smooth.

Source: (never)Home Maker

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Protein Shake & Megan's Chocolate Banana Protein Shake

dark chocolate peppermint protein shake
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or milk of choice)
1 scoop all natural vanilla protein powder
1 1/2 T dark cocoa powder
1/4-1/2 t peppermint extract (depending on your taste buds)
1/8 tsp each of xanthan & guar gums
about 10 ice cubes

place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. serve immediately.

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Thin Mint Protein Shake -- Check out the original recipe here
1.5 scoops chocolate protein powder
1 cup almond milk (regular milk would also work well)
5 ice cubes
1 tsp. Bob’s Red Mill xanthan gum (a must-have for thickness!)
Peppermint extract, to taste (CAUTION: Add a tiny bit at a time. This stuff is strong.)
2 large handfuls fresh spinach

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Megan's Chocolate Banana Shake
1/2 scoop chocolate flavored protein powder
1/2 banana
1 T. Natural Nut Butter
1 c. milk (any kind you fancy)
1/4 cup ice cubes .             optional:
(1) 1 tsp of flaxseed oil
(2) substitute half the liquid for cold press coffee or espresso shots

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Megan's Creamcicle Protein Shake

2.5 - 3 clementines (40 cal each)

Vanilla protein powder

2 Tbsp. half and half
1/2 cup & 2 Tbsp. cold water

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Peanut Brittle Shake:
2 Scoops Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
10 oz. Skim Milk
1/2 teaspoon Butterscotch FatFree SugarFree Instant Jello Pudding Mix
1 tablespoon Nut Butter (optional)
Blend until creamy and delicious.
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* Instant Jello pudding is really a beautiful thing in protein shakes.

It not only has a thickening effect, the many different flavors add an amazing amount of variety to the boring daily post-workout shake.

Puppy Chow [Muddy Buddies]

Ingredients:
9 cups Chex cereal (any variety)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.

2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, stir together chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.

3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Popcorn [Poppy Chow alternative]

Yield: About 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients:

9 cups plain popcorn
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Put the popcorn in a very large bowl.

2. In a microwave (at 50% power) or over a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter until melted and smooth. Stir in the vanilla.

3. Pour the chocolate mixture all over the popcorn. Using a large spoon, stir until all of the popcorn is evenly coated with the chocolate/peanut butter mixture.

4. Sift the powdered sugar over the chocolate-covered popcorn and stir until each piece is evenly coated. Spread the mixture out onto a baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or until the chocolate is set.

5. Break it up and serve! Store leftovers in an airtight container.