P90X Protein Bar Recipe

Update: I added a second recipe. There are now Chocolate Chip Bars and Oatmeal Raisin Bars. My husband and I both agree, better to underbake these than overbake. We much prefer gooey to dried out.  Dried out/overbaked bars are pretty much inedible, and the line between "gooey" and "brick" is a fine one.

Update 2: We got a dehydrator and now usually dehydrate these on the "fruit leather" sheets in the dehydrator. We like the texture better (since we don't like the cooked edges in the baked version). Either way--oven or dehydrator--works!

Frequently it's really easy to make homemade version of pre-packaged foods. This goes for P90X protein bars. We looked up the nutrition facts of their bars, and then made our own version. Here's how:

First, we pulled up the label on a P90X bar. The stats are like this:

Calories: 260-270

Fat: ~7 g

Carbohydrates: ~32 g

Protein: ~20 g

Then I made a chart showing the stats for each of the ingredients I planned to use. Amounts of protein, fat, carb, and protein are per cup of ingredient. 

		Calories	Fat	Carb	Protein
Peanut butter	PER CUP	1600	120	56	72
Honey	PER CUP	1024		272
Oats	PER CUP	307	5	56	11
Cereal	PER CUP	172.9	3.325	34.58	2.66
Protein	PER CUP (80g)	322.4	5.2	7.8	65
Chocolate Chips	PER CUP	1280	64	160	16

Then I made another chart to alter the amount of each ingredient to change the ratios to match the P90X nutrition stats. 

Here's what we got: (This does not include addition of water!)

	RECIPE!	Calories	Fat	Carb	Protein
Peanut butter	0.8 cup	1280	96	44.8	57.6
Honey	0.75 cup	768	0	204	0
Oats	1.75 cup	537.25	8.75	98	19.25
Cereal	1.75 cup	302.575	5.81875	60.515	4.655
Protein	4 cups	1289.6	20.8	31.2	260
Chocolate Chips	0.5 cup	640	32	80	8
	TOTAL	4817.425	163.36875	518.515	349.505
	TOTAL PER BAR (20 BARS)	268	9	29	19

So, the ending recipe is....

P90X Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars!

0.8 cup peanut butter (all natural, ours was creamy Costco brand)

0.75 cup honey

1.75 cup rolled oats

1.75 cup honey bunches of oats cereal

4 cups protein powder (ours is whey unflavored--Nutra Bio brand)

0.5 cup chocolate chips (ours were trader joe's)

~1.5 cups water (maybe more maybe less)

Mix the dry ingredients together. Put honey and peanut butter in a bowl and microwave ~30 seconds to soften/liquify. Add the peanut butter/honey and dry ingredients together, and add water until the mixture is very thick and pour-able. Scrape into a lightly greased 9x13" pan and bake for ~15-20 minutes at 350 (the edges should be slightly brown but the center will still be gooey). Cool on counter until near room temp, then put into fridge until hardened up. Cut into 20 bars. 

Update: I find that if you like really gooey bars, then it is great to use the 9x13" pan. If you prefer less gooey bars, use two 8 or 9" square pans. (You'll get a more even bake in the smaller pans, unlike the large pan, where the edges will overbake and the center will stay gooey.)

----------------------

By the way, P90X is going really well. It's tiring, but we can definitely see the difference. For one, I am VERY glad to have changed to a higher protein lower carb diet. I have the most sensitive stomach EVER (generally plagued by problems) and have found that many fewer carbs have helped a lot!). We have finished three weeks, so are just starting our recovery week (well, that is, after our 109 mi bike ride tomorrow..then we will "recover").


UPDATE!! 

I created another recipe! This one is oatmeal-raisin. 

Here's the chart:

RAISIN RECIPE!
	RECIPE!	Calories	Fat	Carb	Protein
Peanut butter	1 cup	1600	128	48	56
Honey	0.75 cup	768	0	204	0
Oats	2 cup	614	10	112	22
Cereal - Grape Nuts	1 cup	400	2	96	12
Protein	4.5 cups	1451	23	35	293
Raisins	0.75 cup	390	0	93	3
	TOTAL	5223	163	588	386
	TOTAL PER BAR (20 BARS)	261	8	29	19

And here's the user-friendly recipe!

P90X Oatmeal Raisin Protein Bars! 
1 cup peanut butter
0.75 cup honey
2 cups oats
1 cup grape nuts
4.5 cups protein powder (ours is whey unflavored)
0.75 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon (or your preferred spices. I might use more than a tsp)
~0.5-1 cup water

See instructions for the chocolate chip recipe above.

WHEY PROTEIN POWDER INFO!
This is the one we buy.  Yes, we are serious about protein powder--that's a 5 gallon bucket in the pictures below. A little ridiculous. **If you order from Nutra Bio, be sure to check their "$6.95 Shipping" link at the top of the page--otherwise the shipping will be super expensive. When I looked the coupon code was SAVE4.

GRA-nola

I made healthy granola last week, and it was actually good! A lot of times, things that are healthy aren't actually that good. Like, raw carrots. I'm just not a fan unless a dip is involved.

This granola was amazing when served on top of Fage 2% greek yogurt with a spoonful of my blueberry lime jam. (I had that for lunch three days in a row!)

I used a recipe from here but omitted the nuts and reduced the baking time:

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup honey

2 tsp cinnamon

Mix the applesauce, honey and cinnamon together and then stir in oats. Bake at 325 for about a half hour (check often because mine got a little over-brown and the original recipe called for 45 minutes), stirring a couple times during baking. 

Pickles. 

Last week I made dill pickles! We opened the first jar today while at my parents' house. They were great! I made two types: some with red peppers and some with black peppers. We tried the red pepper kind; they were perfect with just the right amount of spice. Each jar has a clove of garlic.

I'm ready to be done with pickling cucumbers now....

Quick Dill Pickles (from a canning course hand out)--this recipe makes ~3 pint jars (I made 9 jars)
2 lb cucumbers (if larger slice, if quite small leave whole)
3 tsp salt
1 c vinegar
1 c water
1 1/2 tbsp dill seed
whole black peppercorns or dried red peppers
whole cloves garlic

Wash and prepare cucumbers

Combine vinegar and water; heat. Pack cucumbers into clean hot jars. For each pint jar, add 1 1/2 tsp dill seed, 3 whole black peppers (or red peppers--I put two per jar for spicy pickles), and 1 tsp canning salt. If desired, add 1 clove garlic per jar also.

Fill with vinegar/water solution leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Seal.

Process 15 minutes.

Enjoy! Great as a snack, with burgers, on sandwiches....

Elderberry liqueur!

Elderberry liqueur--courtesy of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook!

This was very easy to make. I harvested elderberries at work last Friday and put this together over the weekend.

Just: wash berries, put in jars, add lemon peel (no white pith), fill jars with vodka. Let sit! For weeks! Then open jars, add sugar to taste (maybe about 1/3 cup for the whole batch according to the website above). Yes.

Now that I've done this, I'm considering doing other infused liquors. Citrus vodka when citrus is in its high season? Berry flavor? Peach? Hmmmm....

Fishy business.

We are trying to eat more fish. The good kinds. We have eaten so much wild Alaskan Salmon I don't even want more. So, we're onto mahi mahi (the Atlantic kind).

We've been experimenting with it a bit. I really like it grilled, and usually served very simply (with lemon and vegetable and starch side dishes). We did get a little bit fancier though, just recently.

My work garden has an abundance of tomatillos. I had never done anything with tomatillos before (they are unusual little green tomatoes with husks). But--it was easy!

I made this:

Mahi mahi taco (only 1 each because we only had two tortillas...) with tomatillo salsa, roasted corn, and chips and more salsa on the side.

For the salsa--I swear it was simple--here's what I did:
1. Peel husks off tomatillos and wash, cut in half.
2. Cut some onion into chunks.
3. Broil tomatillos and onion for about 5 minutes to soften and slightly brown.
4. In food processor, chop tomatillos, onion, some jalepeno, lemon or lime juice, and a handful of fresh cilantro. (Salsa: done!)
Grill some mahi mahi and corn. Serve as fish tacos topped with fresh garden (red) tomatoes and the tomatillo salsa, corn on the side, lemon or lime to squeeze, and tortilla chips to dip in the remaining green salsa.

We had this with margaritas---it was fantastic!

Cocoa-Peanut Butter-Sugar-Butter-Chocolate Chip-Fantasy-Heaven

Thanks to Picky Palate, another blog I follow, for this:

Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Swirl Fudgy Cookies

That was like an extra 1000 calories I took in tonight...so much for the health kick (one night off..I am actually doing well otherwise! Going to work it all off this weekend anyway...).

I'll add photos tomorrow! (Done!)

It is enough to say that they are amazing. I ate enough dough while making them that I didn't even eat a baked cookie. Made these to take to a potluck in the mountains this weekend!

Butter and sugar craving...

So, I've been trying to eat healthier lately. For like a week. It's really hard! My main thing is to take a break from baking (and therefore not eat baked goods) as well as stop eating as much in the evenings (no dessert, no after dinner snacks, a little less for dinner).

Today, I saw this: Buttery Sugary Goodness With Cinnamon
AND I WANT IT.

(Photo from thekitchn.com, see link above)

Those are not healthy, not even close to healthy. But so much better than plain carrots! (To me, at least!)

Food. Frozen. Fresh. Fantastic.

My house is clean. It is Thursday evening. Well for you it might be Friday. Which I think is better, so lucky you.

This post is about two things:

Bananas

Basil

.

First, the Bananas. (Which can be breakfast, or dessert. Or dinner.)

On The Kitchn I found this recipe for ah-mazing peanut butter chocolate chip milkshakes. 

I made them once for dinner on a Friday...I was totally hooked!

Now I make banana peanut butter (omit the chocolate...I know, that's kind of illegal but I'm trying to be more healthy) shakes for breakfast a few days a week. They are so easy and delicious! 

Basic recipe and instructions:

Frozen bananas

Milk

Spoonful of peanut butter

(Chocolate chips if you want...or if you want really decadent, Reese's PB cups)

Blend with hand blender! Done!

I pre-slice and freeze ripe bananas and keep them in freezer bags. 

Just peel, slice, lay out on parchment or wax paper on a cookie sheet, and freeze. 

Then transfer to bags to store. 

Easy! Those shakes are awesome, and so is this.

On to the basil! 

(Interruption: After typing the whole thing about the bananas, I had to go make a shake for dessert...no chocolate though!)

Tonight for dinner I made: 

Pesto (from scratch)

Thin spaghetti

Sautéed zucchini

Grilled mahi mahi (<--Husband grilled this)

The pesto was amazing! I made a huge mess with olive oil during it (all over the counter), but worth it:

Eventually I might get a better camera and improve my picture-taking skillz.

Yes that is sunshine on my zucchinis! I do love all of the windows in our house.

We ate garden-fresh tomatoes as a snack while I cooked. This photo is mostly to show the hard water spot ON THE GARDEN FRESH TOMATO. Straight from the garden. <3 hard water.

By the time I was done making dinner, I was so hungry I ate it without taking pictures of the finished product...sorry. It was great! 

Approximate recipe...

Pesto (based on The Joy of Cooking)

2 cups basil leaves

1/3 cups pine nuts (I used toasted walnuts)

2-3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup grated parmesean

Whirl in food processor into a thick paste. 

Then drizzle in 1/3-1/2 cup olive oil while processor runs.

Eat. 

Cook thin spaghetti. 

Wash, slice, and saute zucchini in a little olive oil until soft. 

Grill mahi mahi filets (ours were 4 oz each) about 4 minutes per side over med-high heat. 

Mix some pesto with the pasta, top with zuc and a dollop more of pesto, top 

with mahi mahi...squeeze lemon over the top. 

Have a great weekend! We are going adventuring...

Slow baked country style pork ribs...YES.

I made that.

-BBQ Country Style Pork Ribs with Salad and Bread-

Delicious, and very easy to make!

I mixed some barbeque sauce with a little water and/or juice (ideally I think you'd use orange juice, but we only had tropical guava...it worked but I used mostly water so the pork didn't taste like Hawaii). Frequently I make my own barbeque sauce (like for pulled pork sandwiches) but I was lazy so I used Bull's Eye original (one of the few that does not have corn syrup as the first ingredient, actually it has no corn syrup at all, just sugar). Pour the sauce-juice-water mixture over some boneless country style pork ribs in a 9 x 13" dish, cover with foil...bake at 300 for three hours, then uncover and increase the heat to 350...30 minutes more, turn ribs over, 30 minutes more, done.

YES.

Served with large salad (lettuce, beets, garbanzos, tomato, dried cranberries and cherries, carrots) and toasted buns (to make your own sandwich or for cleaning the sauce off of your plate).

Enjoy!

Summer cookin'

Last night I made a frittata. 

Living in the California Central Valley definitely has its perks. 

Here, specifically fruit and vegetable perks. 

And eggs. Egg perks, too.

This frittata (with zucchini, onion, shallot, tomatoes, chard, and cheese) was accompanied by a mash made of potatoes and turnips, fresh corn, and for dessert--chocolate chip zucchini bread. 

(pre-broil)

My mom introduced me to making frittatas and I love them...you can put any leftover or fresh vegetables and meat in them, so they are a great way to clean out the fridge and make something healthy! Recipes follow....

Frittata

10-12 eggs (we get ours from our dog trainer, she has a bunch of chickens!)

various vegetables, maybe a little meat

I used:

~10 leaves chard (from farm garden)

1 zucchini (farm garden)

1/2 onion

1 shallot

tomato sliced on top (from Pedrick's our local produce stand)

Cheddar cheese (you can mix this into the eggs or put on top)

(Sometimes I had chopped chicken sausage or sliced up salami)

Crack eggs into a bowl and beat

Saute your vegetables (meat too if using) in an oven-proof pan (I use either a metal handled one or a cast iron one depending on my mood..)

Pour eggs over, add toppings if using (mine were the tomatoes and cheese)

Cook on the stove until the edges are set, then move under the broiler in the oven and broil for a few minutes until eggs are set. 

Potato-Turnip Mash

~ 2 dozen small turnips (mine were from the farm garden, none 

bigger than ~2 inches across, most ~1 inch across)

4 potatoes (I used reds)

Butter, milk, salt, pepper

Scrub turnips and potatoes, cut up into small pieces (kept mine pretty thin for quicker cooking, like 1/2 inch chunks)

Put into pot with water, bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the roots are soft

Drain, use potato masher to mash, add some milk, butter, salt and pepper to taste

I'll be posting later about the zucchini bread...I'm going to try as 

many different recipes as possible this summer!