Food & Fitness: September 8- 14

Food

My daily diet has become pretty consistent. Breakfast switches between oatmeal and protein pancakes. For lunch, I pack a salad with protein which is normally chicken or turkey. Dinner is a combination of chicken, sweet potato and steamed veggies.  I will mix up the seasonings and combinations for lunch and dinner so it does not get too boring. I have been loving Asian chicken and broccoli for dinner lately. 

Since my meals are pretty simple right now, I wanted to share my favorite protein bar recipes! I have become a huge fan of Quest Bars. Most flavors are under 200 calories and have over 20g of protein! Also, many of them are all natural! While they are amazing snacks on the go they cost a pretty penny! So I set out this weekend to create my own protein bar recipes. After taste testing, I have to say they taste more like dessert than a protein bar!

Homemade Quest Bar

Ingredients:
4 Scoops Whey Protein Powder (I used peanut butter flavored)
 Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter
1/4 cup of stevia

1/4 cup Almond flour

¼ Tsp. of Maple Syrup
A few Tbsp. of Water

Variations:
You can add a few extra ingredients to your dough to change the flavor.
-Cinnamon Roll: add 1/2 Tbsp of cinnamon to your dough
-Chocolate Brownie: add 1-2 Tbsp of cocoa powder to your dough
-Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: add 2 Tbsp of chocolate chips to your dough

Directions:
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then add peanut butter and water. Kneed the dough until all of the ingredients are well distributed. Press into a baking pan lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, cut the dough into 5 bars. Store these bars in parchment paper or foil in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Crunch Pumpkin Bars
Ingredients:
4 egg whites
¾ cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. sugar free honey 
¼ cup almond flour
2 scoops whey protein powder
½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp. cinnamon 
½ tsp. baking powder
handful of almonds, walnuts or pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, mix the egg whites, pumpkin, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. In another small bowl combine oat flour, protein powder, spices and baking powder. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix well to combine. Pour mixture into a square pan coated with cooking spray. Top with nuts. Bake about 18-20 min or until a toothpick comes out clean. cut into 7-9 bars. Enjoy!

Fitness

Alright, I have finally hit a wall with insanity. My legs are exhausted and my shoulders and constantly sore. I took two days off last week and completed some running as cross training. It felt so good to get outside and run! I was also happy to see that I have not lost my cardio endurance. I only have two weeks left..so after a big pep talk this morning I know I can power through it. 

Workouts 

Sunday:  5 mile run

Monday: Core Cardio & Balance

Tuesday: Max Interval Circut

Wednesday: Max Interval Plyo

Thursday: Max Cardio Conditiong & Cardio Abs

Friday: Max Recovery

Saturday: Max Interval Circut