Sunday, August 19, 2012

Halfway Homemade: "Whey" Yummy Protein Bars


So lately I have been trying to find snack foods that are yummy and filling without having tons of ingredients that I don't know what they are. I don't know about where anyone else lives but, here in small town USA, we don't have a wide variety of food stores. I searched online and finally came across some recipes. I changed it up some to accommodate the ingredients I had in my home and to make everything the right consistency. 


THINGS YOU'LL NEED:
  • 4 scoops of whey protein powder (vanilla or chocolate) (I use chocolate)
  • 2 cups of plain oats
  • 5 TBS of peanut butter (alternatives at the end of this post)
  • 1/2 C  of milk (or almond milk or water)
 
Put the protein powder and oats in a large bowl
 
Put the milk in a microwave safe bowl and add the peanut butter.
Microwave for 30-45 seconds. (Just long enough to slightly soften the peanut butter)
 
Add the milk and peanut butter to the powder and oats and mix with a spoon until everything looks the same. 

Spray a baking dish (9x12) with some cooking spray and add the protein bar mix to it. 

Pat the mixture flat and put in the refrigerator for two hours.
 
After the two hours, take it out and cut up your bars. 
This recipe should yield about 8 decent sized bars.
 
 
NOW...The way listed above is the right way to do it...they turn out delicious! The way I am about to explain is the way I did it that generated some interest on my Facebook after posting a status about them.

3 scoops of chocolate whey protein powder
1 cup of apples and cinnamon oatmeal (from a pack)
2 1/2 TBS peanut butter
1/4 C milk

Now, I know this sounds strange, but I had less protein powder than I thought and no plain oats. I got a little ahead of myself and started adding stuff and microwaving before I realized I was a little short on ingredients. Follow the steps above for preparing these. 
 
In my not paying attention...I added 1/2 C milk instead of 1/4 cup so mine did NOT harden correctly...I can still cut them and eat them and they are SUPER DELICIOUS but, they  are SUPER GOOEY and when I try to pick them up they kind of just go limp and get stuck to the plate I have them on so it turns in to me eating protein bar pieces haha!

The finished product for the Chocolate Apple Cinnamon Peanut Butter Protein Bars are "whey" yummy....get it...whey yummy...way yummy...yea...anyways
 
 
I think next time I may try chunky peanut butter. Also, if you are allergic to peanuts (or just don't like it like my friend Katie over at Simply Put) you can use one of these alternatives.
  • Soy Nut Butter
  • Sunflower Butter
  • Barney Butter
  • Almond Butter (or other nut butters)
  • Nutella 
Now, before you make it with one of those alternatives and come back saying it didn't taste right, I have NEVER used anything other than peanut butter to make these. I just googled alternatives for PB for all my non-PB loving readers.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Halfway Homemade: Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

So, my friend Katie over at Simply Put... made this recipe a few weeks ago and it looked super delicious so I decided to give it a try. I did a few things differently than how she did it so I figured I'd post my way and give you a link to her page so you can use both of them to create your own delicious stuffed pasta!

Things you will need:
-1 regular sized bag of baby spinach
-1 jar of tomato pasta sauce
-1 box of jumbo shells
-1 regular size tub of ricotta cheese
-1 bag of mozzarella cheese
-1 TBS of garlic powder
-9x12 baking dish
-Enough tin foil to cover the baking dish

What to do:
Chop (or tear) your spinach in to smaller pieces.
Add the entire tub of ricotta cheese and half the bag of mozzarella (1 cup) and the garlic powder.
Stir it all up until it is creamy.
*This took a little longer than I thought it would. Once you get to the point where in your mind you're saying, "This will never get creamy! Why am I doing this?!" just stir it a litttttle bit longer and it will be creamy...I promise!
Up next, boil your noodles. Stir them often to keep them from sticking. I used a spatula to stir and if they got looped up in each other, I picked them out with the spatula and gently pulled them apart with a fork. 
*Seriously...gentle...you don't want them to tear*

Drain your noodles
While waiting for your noodles to be cool enough to handle, pour half of your tomato sauce on the bottom of your cooking dish.

Preheat your oven to 375.

Then, it's time to stuff em! I tried a few different ways of stuffing them and this is the best way I found. 

Step one:
Get the noodle in your hand with the ends near the tips of your fingers and the palm of your hand.
Step two:
Gently squeeze the noodle
*One side should make a "U" shape.*
Step three:
Get a spoon full of your spinach and ricotta mix and place your spoon in the noodle with the "U" lined up with the base of the spoon.
Step four:
Turn the noodle so that where the "U" is, is at the tips of your fingers.
Step five:
Using the noodle, gently slide the spoon out while applying light pressure to "scrape" the contents into your noodle.
Step 6:
Lightly squeeze your noodle shut so that is spreads the filling throughout.
Repeat these steps until you have filled your pan with stuffed shells. (Approximately 30)
*I used all of my spinach and ricotta mix and filled my pan but I had about 8 plain noodles left over*
Cover your noodles with the rest of the tomato sauce. I tried to make sure that all the noodles had at least a light coating because I didn't want the noodles to get over cooked in the oven and hard.
Then, top the tomato sauce with the rest of the mozzarella cheese.
Cover your dish with tin foil.
Then pop it in the oven and let it bake for 30 minutes.
When you take it out, take off the tin foil and marvel in the beauty of this delicious dish you just made!

I made plates with 4 noodles each then drizzled the sauce from the bottom on top of them.
This is how yummy the look on the inside.
Eat and enjoy!

If you try this recipe let me know how you liked it or if you did anything differently!