Peanut Butter Protein Bars

I'll quit whining about how busy I've been lately... and share with you one of my best recipes that I've come up with lately.  Like I mentioned a while ago - I was looking for something to give me a quick boost between work and teaching classes.  

Typically if I want a sugar boost before a tough workout that won't take a long time to digest, I'll have a couple of dates.  But I was looking for something just as fast, but with a bit more substance.  Here is the resulting recipe. I love these, but do not kid yourself, just because they are made of 'super foods', they are not low calorie.


 

Peanut Butter Protein Bars

by Denise Boyd Dunlop

Prep Time: 5 minutes + 30 minutes freezin

Keywords: dessert breakfast appetizer vegan

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Ingredients (12 bars)

• 1 cup of natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup vegan vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 cup cocao nibs
• 1/2 chia seeds
• 1/2 cup goji berries
• 1/2 cup flax seed

Instructions

Heat peanut butter and maple syrup in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in protein powder 1/4 cup at a time mixing evenly. Mixture will be quite thick. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Spread in an even layer on a parchment line 9x13in cake pan. Cut into squares. Freeze until bars are set. Separate into individual bars and store in freezer until ready to eat. Allow to thaw slightly before eating.

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Back after an unitended break

No - I didn't have a computer melt down... just an exceptionally busy month.  I knew before the month of May began that I would be busy... I just didn't think I would have to miss out on things I love. 

In the first three weeks of May in addition to my regular job which has felt really busy lately I also taught 14 classes, organized a running race, celebrated my daughter's birthday and completely reorganized my house. 

This is the long weekend so I decided to get away with the girls and hang out and have some fun!!!  We packed the kids up and went here....

We are staying at the Hampton which is an ok hotel, but we have a waterpark pass and spent the afternoon in the waterpark downtown.  The girls are exhausted... which is perfect for all of us to hopefully sleep in.  We'll hit it tomorrow before heading home.

Hopefully when I get back to my super clean house... I'll catch up on all my great posting ideas!

Tommy Europe Boot Camp in Toronto

Yesterday I headed into the city with Gina and Katherine to the Tommy Europe Boot Camp.  The boot camp was taking place at the Optimize Health Expo and the Toronto Marathon race kit pick up.  You'd think with all of that going on the expo would be really busy, but it wasn't.  This was really nice because we had time to stroll through and enjoy a lot of the booths.

I tried tons of free samples - tofu, energy bars, raw chocolate, coconut butter.  I have to say this was one of the best expos I've been to.

If you've ever watched the Slice network in Canada, you know who Tommy Europe is.  Tommy has two shows Bulging Brides and the Last Ten Pounds.  He whips women into shape with tough workouts, yelling at them in a mega phone.  The women usually swear at him and tell him they hate him.  But in the end after they've lost the weight they are all mushy gushy and love him.

Gina had been to one of Tommy's boot camps before and loved it, so she convinced Katherine and I to sign up for it.  We all started out in this rather smallish room for the number of people working out.  Tommy gave a little pep talk and lead us out to the public corridor - that was where we were working out.

At first I wasn't thrilled about working out in such a public place.  I know I'm a runner and usually run outside, but here people could stop and watch.  I couldn't run away.  It felt a little exhibitionist.  But Tommy and his crew had a way of pumping up everybody.  There was a DJ.  Tommy had his megaphone.  And once the workout began I really didn't care... I was way to busy sweating.

This was an awesome workout - not only was Tommy engaging and enthusiastic.  But he had eight other trainers working around the room correcting form, encouraging and demoing the exercises.  Tommy also hopped off the stage and worked with people one on one.

 I had such a great time with my girls and got a major sweat on.  I realized I'm a total push up wimp and am going to try to do push ups in more of my workouts.  But this boot camp was super fun - so much so that I bought the t-shirt!

We also got a ton of free energy bars and a magazine... I don`t know about you - but I love free stuff!

Dill Pickle Kale Chips

A few weeks ago on one of my W.I.A.W. posts I showed a picture of kale chips and promised to post the recipe soon.... well here it is.

A bit of history on this recipe or rather the necessity of it.  I've decided to 'share' some of the household responsibilities I used to do on a regular basis as I've been busy with my teaching lately and I'm finally understanding that my husband is perfectly capable of buying groceries... even with the kids in tow.  

So... when I asked him to pick up some kale it was 3 for $5... so he bought 3 bunches.  Never having cooked or used kale before I can understand if he thought it was like spinach.  But nonetheless... we had some kale on our hands!  I needed recipes and pronto!  My favourite aside from smoothies - kale chips! 

There are tons of recipes out there for kale chips.  I love kale chips and can eat a ton at one sitting.  My husband - does not like kale in chip form or otherwise.... except in a smoothie. But I thought... what if I recreate one of his favourite potato chip flavour... maybe...  bring on the dill pickle kale chips.  Did he like these?  Not as much as chips... but I think they are brilliant!





 

Dill Pickle Kale Chips

by Denise Boyd Dunlop

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10-15 minutes

Keywords: bake appetizer snack vegan

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  Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 bunch kale
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon liquid from dill pickles
• 1 small dill pickle finely minced

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325. Cut tough stem from kale and chop into bite sized pieces. Wash kale in a salad spinner. Mix oil, pickle juice and minced pickle together. Toss with kale.

Spread kale evenly in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet, using two if necessary. Cook in oven stirring and turning every 5 minutes to ensure even cooking. The edges of the kale will be slightly browned when finished and the kale will be crunchy. Cooking time is between 10 to 15 minutes.

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