protein bar

Spring is upon us and summer is here. That means shorts, tanks and duh nuh nuh. . . BIKINIS. I’ve been trying really hard to get fit lately and make healthier meal choices.  BUT It’s hard to stay healthy when I love to cook; my favorite ingredients are butter, cheese and bacon, and my boyfriend orders pizza every weekend. That being said, I do try! Here is my effort aimed at my sweet tooth and meeting my protein macros!

These cookies however are AMAZING. I made Aaron (my boyfriend) try them because he’s pretty skeptical about anything I make with protein powder in it. Even he liked them! I used Dymatize ISO-100 Banana flavor for these. However, you can substitute whatever protein powder you might use: vanilla would be fine, or if you have chocolate- you could even add a little cocoa powder or chocolate chips. Nuts might even be a great addition! The possibilities here are endless, and I will definitely make these again, most likely in many variations- but hey. You can’t go wrong with peanut butter-banana anything!

I also like to make these with PB Crave- have any of you peanut butter lovers tried this? OMG. If not you’re missing out. It’s peanut butter with tasty little morsels of delicious-ness mixed throughout the jar- I typically eat it with a spoon, but it also tastes great in these cookies! (I like the PB Crave Cookie Nookie flavor. Also, did you know October is national cookie month?)

This will be my first recipe I’ve included nutritional information on (however basic) I’ve only included them for the purpose of counting  macros- which I’m putting a good amount of effort towards (and yes, when you stick to them- you CAN tell a difference! I’m down 3 lbs)

Serving Size: 2 BALLS = 142 calories

(I prefer to say balls over cookies.Well. . .because that’s the type of person I am. Sorry I’m not sorry.)

• Carbohydrates: 14.14
• Fats- 4.6
• Protein: 10.8

I calculated these numbers myself by measuring all ingredients, adding each macro amount, and then dividing it by the total yeild (14 BALLS). If you are confused about all this “MACRO” talk and are interested to find out what it’s all about, its basically a system that allows you to eat real food in moderation, aka “flexible dieting”. IT WORKS! If you use different peanut butter or different protein, please note the calculated macros will be different!

The vanilla I’ve used in this recipe is from “Lockerbeans”, a small family business out of Indianapolis, IN.  They’ve been batching and bottling Vanilla for 1.5 years.   started simply as a way to work on something together as a family, and a side benefit is that Andrew and wife get to teach their kids about starting a business.  All research says that home-made/hand-crafted extract is the best of the best, but hard to find. Plus- I think it’s totally rad to support locally owned and operated businesses! Hoorah for Indy based businesses! If you’d like to order any of their products,  here is the link: (you won’t be sorry!) www.lockerbeans.com.

 As a side note- I often buy bananas and then let them turn completely brown before I ever get around to eating them. I’ve started freezing them and using them in my baking endeavors. When baking, it doesn’t matter how brown your banana is. In fact, you can freeze it- dethaw it in the microwave and then simply cut off the top and squeeze the opposite end of the banana. It should squirt right out, with some banana juice which is great for flavoring whatever dish you are baking! YUM! Today I doubled this recipe and the two bananas I used were completely black (and from my frozen stash)- see? They weren’t bad after all!

Anywhooo- I can’t wait to share these little morsels with my fitfam!  I hope you all enjoy them as much as I am!