Peanut Butter and Chocolate Protein Brownies: recipe bust

I found this post I started almost a year ago in my drafts!  I thought I would post it despite it being a while back!

I have been wanting to make my own protein bars for a while.  I searched the internet for some recipes.  I ended tweaking one of the recipes I found and this is what I came up with.

Before you run off to your kitchen and go to start preparing this deceiving little morsels, let me give you the low down. The name was deceiving.  The wonderful aroma that wafted in the kitchen was deceiving, I gotta be honest with you, they weren’t very good, at all.

So if I were to rate them on a five star scale it would go as follows:

Taste*

Texture*

Chocolaty goodness**

Energy Boost****

Although these bars were down right gross, I had to give them 4 stars for keeping my energy up and warding off hunger.  Often times I need a boost and I crave something sweet, but what I really need is a swift kick of energy to keep me going.  This nasty bar did it for me.  So rather than dump them all in the trash I have stashed them away in the fridge.  The recipe recommended cutting them up into 8 bars.  I could only stomach ½ a bar, and still was given the boost I needed.  The nutrition information is based upon 8 bars though.

One other problem I had with the recipe…. It recommended cooking the batter on waxed paper, which I did.  I could not remove the wax paper though.  I pulled what I could off, but there was no way this paper was coming off.  Maybe next time I will try parchment paper, or just spray the pan.

Please let me know if you try them out and have better luck!!  Or if you have a good protein bar recipe I would love to try it out. Thanks!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Protein Brownies

8 Servings

½ cup old fashion oats

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ cup vanilla flavored protein powder or 6 scoops (I would have done chocolate, but I didn’t have enough)

½ cup dry unsweetened cocoa powder

2 egg whites

1 tbsp chocolate syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup natural peanut butter

½ cup-1cup water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Blend oats until flour.  Add remaining dry ingredients.  Mix egg whites, chocolate syrup, vanilla and peanut butter in large bowl.  Add dry ingredients.  Slowly add water until "gooey". (this does not turn into a batter; it is very thick in consistency).  Pour into 9x9 pan lined with wax paper.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack.  Cut into 8 bars.  Refrigerate. 

211 calories per serving

18 grams of carbohydrates

10 grams of fat

26 grams of protein

3 grams of fiber

Keep in mind that nutritional content will change with brand of protein powder

Hypoglycemia and Your Blood Sugar

I found this video on youtube, that gives a great explanation of your body’s chemistry and how our bodies work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuA3uYS2ws8

Sorry, I tried to embed the link, but it wasn't working.

Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge: Week 3

Initial: 189

Week 1: 187.3 (-1.7)

Week 2: 186.9 (-.4)

Week 3: 185.0 (-1.9)

Things are moving along this week.  I did not track, it was my little experiment.  I tried to eat as I would if I were tracking, being moderate.  I exercised four times at the gym and got in an additional walk.

I choose not to track my food, to get my mind off of food.  I have found when I am tracking I am constantly thinking about food.  I think it makes me more hungry.  I didn’t skimp on calories, so it is surprising I did lose weight at all.

One of the other reasons I didn’t want to track is I wanted to really focus on listening to what my body needs.  A few weeks ago I had all sorts of labs done at the doctor, cause for the last little while I have been feeling off.  The only thing that we have found deficient is my iron.  It has been running a little bit low.  It makes sense, I feel like it has been more than my blood sugar.

This week when I felt like things were getting low I made myself a green smoothie (water, milk, spinach, strawberries and protein powder). I guess that is another reason I didn’t want to count calories.  They aren’t the lowest calorie snack (266 calories), but they help me level out.  And hey, I still lost weight!  I am not going to worry about how many calories are in my green smoothies.  They help me keep my energy up and keep me from snacking too much between meals.

So here we are venturing off into the next week.  I will post some updates about my book a little later this week. I am at my in-laws for the weekend so things have been on hold.

Have a great week. Let's rock week 4!

Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge: Week 2

Initial: 189

Week 1: 187.3 (-1.7)

Week 2: 186.9 (-.4)

This is going to be brief, but I am ecstatic for my minuscule loss.  I finally broke 187, barely.  But I am going to take it and run with it! I am slowly breaking free from my slump.  I am feeling better and feeling emotionally stronger (which is one of the areas I have been suffering the most over the past couple of weeks).

I expect the numbers to keep declining this week.  I am getting back into the gym and pushing myself again and I will conquer my difficulties.  Today I am very sore from yesterday’s awesome work out.

This week I am going to push harder on my workouts but I am going to take a different approach on my eating.  I am going to step away from counting calories and really pay attention to my body's cravings.  Since I have started counting calories (in June) I have found that I am not eating as much red meat and in turn my iron is low and I think that is one of the reasons I have had difficulty keeping myself in balance.  Low iron and low blood sugar creates a cranky tired person.  I really won’t do much different in my eating, but I need to take away the tracking for a week to see what things are like.  I know some of you will consider this a dieting sin, but it is what I need to do.

Have a great week.  I am looking forward to finally getting my head into to the Christmas Dress Challenge!!

The Low Blood Sugar Handbook: Chapter One....tidbits

I thought I would post a little blurb from each chapter of my challenge book….

The Low Blood Sugar handbook:

Edward and Patrica Kimmel,

Chapter One—Could this be you?

The first chapter of this book goes over common symptoms of low blood sugar.  The list is lengthy. I will list my symptoms I deal with when I don’t take care of myself (through diet).  Unfortunately my list is lengthy too.  I think I had all but maybe 5 symptoms before my diagnosis of Hypoglycemia.  In doing my first research I found that the only way to treat blood sugar is through diet.  What!!! No magic pill!!  Bummer.

Take a look at this list, does it seem all too familiar?  Maybe you are a low blood sugar sufferer too.  I will continue to post information from my challenge book maybe you will find it helpful too.

Tiredness

Headaches

Drowsiness

Concentration problems

Irritability

Sleeping difficulties

Dizziness

Anxiety

Forgetfulness

Visual disturbances

Depression

Fainting/blackouts

Nightmares

Digestive problems

Aching eye sockets

Lack of sex drive

Indecisiveness

Heart palpitations

Internal trembling

Mental confusion

Antisocial behavior

Obesity

Restlessness

Back ache and muscle pain

Cold hands/feet

Nervousness

Exhaustion

Temper outbursts

Sensitivity to light

Sensitivity to sound

Allergies

Crying spells

Negative thoughts and attitudes

Feeling of going mad, insane

Staggering

Craving for sweets

Unnecessary or excessive worrying

Mood swings

Waking up tired and exhausted

Sighing and yawning

“motor mouth” constant talking

Phew….  That is it, I think.  Hang tight I will cover chapter two soon to give you a little more information about what hypoglycemia is and how it can be treated.