Heading to your local health food store on a weekly basis to restock on expensive, chalky and very processed protein bars for your post-workout snack? Take a detour to your regular grocery store to collect your favourite ingredients instead–it’s time we make these snacks from scratch.
Peanut butter bars
For peanut butter lovers: this bar is a perfect combination of crispy and sweet, combining peanut butter with other seeds and nuts for a healthy variety of protein sources. This one was passed along to my family and instantly became a fan favourite.
Ingredients
- 1 cup natural peanut butter (or another nut butter) *64 g protein
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds (or crushed walnuts) *9 g protein
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds *9 g protein
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries
- 3 tbsp sesame seeds *6 g protein
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cup puffed rice cereal
Instructions
Combine the ingredients together thoroughly with a spatula, but mix in the cereal last, to avoid it getting crushed. Scrape and press into an 8″ x 8″ pan, then cover and refrigerate for two hours. Cut into bars of your desired size (eight bars will be about 11 g of protein each).
Wrapping these bars individually (or just separating them with sheets of parchment) and sticking them in the freezer until you’re ready to eat them will make them last longer and make them perfect for a grab-and-go snack. Like most protein bars, avoid allowing them to get warm–they will melt in the heat.
No-bake energy bites
(Adapted from Gimme Some Oven)
These energy balls are smaller snacks that are packed with nutrients and will satisfy your sweet-treat cravings. They are naturally sweetened, combining peanut butter with chocolate and coconut–what’s not to love?
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes (sweetened or unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (or another nut butter) *32 g protein
- 1/2 cup ground flax seed *13.5 g protein
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tbsp chia seeds *2.3 g protein
- 1 tbsp hemp seeds *3 g protein
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Mix ingredients thoroughly in a bowl before covering and refrigerating for about 30 minutes. Roll the “dough” into balls about 1″ in diameter, and place spaced out on a sheet or plate in the fridge or freezer. Once they firm up a bit, store them in a container in the fridge for up to one week, or stick a few straight in the freezer to make them last longer. If you make 20 bites per batch, each one will have about 2.5 g of protein. You can always sneak some extra peanut butter and seeds into the mixture, or roll into bigger bites if you want to load up on the protein as much as possible.
