267/365 Homemade Energy Granola Bar

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Though I totally love Kashi's GoLean Crunchy! granola bars, I've always wanted to make my own bar. FYI: if a granola bar says "energy" in the title, it usually means its high in carbohydrates and/or fat. If it says "power" then it is most likely high in protein. Moving along, here is my first attempt at this allrecipes.com recipe:

note the incredible texture  :)

It is loaded with carbohydrates and good fat from all the oats, seeds, and peanut butter (I also added sweetened coconut flakes). Sadly, I didn't have enough peanut butter when I made this so it kind of falls apart. Still, it is very good! If you want to try this recipe, cut the salt down to 1/4 tsp because 1 tsp is a little too much especially when you've used roasted and salted sunflower seeds and mix in the chocolate chips. Anyway, I recommend this recipe and I will definitely try this again with all the right ingredients; it makes 24 servings. Each bar has about 200 calories according to livestrong.com's "My Recipes" feature.

In health,

Lauren

241/365 DIY Junk Food: Banana Bread

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,


I never like tossing out over-ripened bananas. Generally I will make cookies with them but, this time I decided to make some banana bread. Sadly, I didn't have a loaf pan so I had to bake it in an 8x8 pan, still came out great.





The original recipe was from allrecipes.com. I made a few adjustments to make it a little healthier.
- 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce instead of butter
- 1/2 c. sugar (1 c. would have been over sweet since my bananas were really ripe = really sweet)
- added 1/2 c. ground flax seed
- omitted milk (read: forgot to add in milk)
- used whole wheat flour instead
- since my pan was not the traditional loaf pan, my baking time was decreased by about 10 minutes.

Voila! A super easy, delicious banana bread. I hope you enjoy!

In health,

Lauren

231/365 Happy Snack Tip 3: Seeds

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,


To piggy back on what I wrote about yesterday, nuts are a great way to add protein and fat to your happy snack. However, not everyone can eat nuts (sorry to those of you with allergies). An alternative to nuts are seeds!

From freshman Biology, you can recall that seeds are mostly made up of nutrients so that the fertilized cells can grow into big strong plants. Hence, seeds are a great addition to your snacking repertoire. Sunflower seeds have vitamin B1, B5, B9, and E in a 1/4 cup worth ~180 calories, 16g fat (unsaturated, the good kind!), and 6g protein. You can read more about them here. Pumpkin seeds are also a good option.

If you get the seeds in the shells, you also have to work a little harder to get your snack. This can be good for those of us who sometimes speed through snack time. It allows you to slow down and really decide if you're hungry and need more energy from a snack.


In health,

Lauren