Weightloss Wednesday: Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Protein Bars!

I love protein bars. There great for after workouts or even a great snack since they are VERY filling and you get all the great benefits from it. This recipe is low calorie, it's high in carbs, fiber, and protein :D and ultimately, YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!! 

Let's Get Started!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of peanut butter (can be crunchy if preferred)
• 1/2 cup of organic / pure honey
• 1 cup (not scoops) of your favorite protein powder
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 2 tsp of cinnamon (you can do 1 if you like, but i like the taste of pb & cinnamon)
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips
• A foil lined 9x13" pan, or you can use a smaller one if you want your bars to be thicker

I prepped my pan before hand by just covering it in foil, I did this recipe once before, and without the foil, you basically get protein bar mini bites, in other words you basically just eat it out of the pan haha

 In a saucepan on medium heat melt your peanut butter and honey. Add your vanilla & cinnamon.

 While your peanut butter honey mixture is melting, melt your chocolate chips in either a microwavable safe bowl, or putting it in a bowl above a pot of boiling water and melt them that way, either way works fine.

 After about 5 minutes your peanut butter mixture should be smooth and creamy :) if you want your bars not to be so dense, you can add a little milk or water.

Next add your protein powder. I used body fortress chocolate peanut butter protein powder. You can get a huge container of this at walmart for $15.00! That's cheaper than what I used to buy at canex and it was $35.00! BONUS!

Combine this together with your peanut butter mixture until its good and mixed.

Next add your 1 cup of oats and combine it as well as you can. It will be thick, and feel like your stirring cement, but think of how amazing these will taste when your done! You get an arm workout while making workout food, win-win!

Apparently I skipped the step of taking a picture of pressing it into your pan.. OH WELL! Press your mixture into your pan trying to get it as evenly as you can and then cover your mixture with your melted chocolate. You can either cover it completely, or go for the drizzle. I went all out and covered every inch with chocolate. SO GOOD!

Either let it sit out on the counter for 40 minutes to make sure it all sets properly. I opted out and shoved it in my freezer for half an hour. Wow. Also skipped another photo step.. Cut into your preference size of bar. I did 16, but you can also do 24 they'll just be smaller bite sized ones :)

MMMMM Don't they look delicious?! Apparently I didn't leave them long enough so my bottom was still a bit sticky but my top was rock solid. I turned them upside down so they wouldn't stick to each other when I put them back in the fridge.

 

Chow down and Enjoy! These are quite delicious I might add again. They can be pretty decadent too depending on what type of chocolate you used, in that case.. they go amazing with a cold glass of milk :D  

NUTRITION FACTS

CALORIES: 171 PER ONE BAR

FAT: 9.5 GRAMS

FIBER: 1.7 GRAMS

PROTEIN 6.2 GRAMS