Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Mark inspired homemade protein bars...and texture Tuesdays...

"Life is like photography.  You use the negatives to develop."-unknown

For the 4th of July, Warren and I spent it with our son, Mark, and his family. Mark has been a proponent of a Ketogenic diet for quite sometime now, and others of us are gradually warming up to this way of thinking.  In particular, me.  I have always had trouble with my Cholesterol being high, and when I was on medication for it, my joints ached so badly that I stopped taking it.  Hence, I have tried to manage it by diet.  Recently, a local clinic offered a "super test" which included a lipid profile that tested for more than your standard lipid profile.  I found out I have two of my lipoproteins that put me at risk for stroke, or heart disease.   When I went in to discuss my results with my doctor, I was told to cut my carbs even more than what I do now. (85-100 carbs/day).  So now, I am on a strict ketogenic diet following the guidelines from a website by Dr. Peter Attia called the eating academy.  I will have results of this diet later when I go for another blood test, so stay tuned for updates.  Mark makes his own protein bars, since those found on the market are so high in sugars, and carbs.  Inspired by his idea, I made my own version of protein bars.

I call these Coconut Cashew Protein Bars.  I was careful to measure all the ingredients, so I could determine the nutritional information.  This recipe makes 4 bars.

2 TBS. almond butter
1 TB. of coconut oil
1 scoop of protein powder.  I use the Nectar brand, flavor vanilla bean.  It has zero carbs.
1 TB. unsweetened coconut flakes, chopped
9 cashews
1 TB. cream

Mix, shape into long narrow rectangle, cut into 4 bars.  Wrap in wax paper, and refrigerate.  These are so good.  The nutritional breakdown: Calories: 127.5; fat: 12.6 gms; Protein: 8.1 gms; Carbs: 4.0

The carbs come from the Almond Butter, and cashews.  Nuts not only have fat, but carbs as well.

Today, I made chocolate protein bars...no cashews, add 1 TB. of hershey's cocoa.  Equally good.  The cost is so cheap compared to the ones on the market.  They taste better, too.

So thank you, Mark.  And since it is texture Tuesday on Kim Klassen's blog, I texturized a photo of my son, Mark, since he inspired me.  He dreams of marketing his Protein bars one day.  Be mindful that I grunged him up quite a lot, and added an urban feel.  I added Kim Klassen's texture called kk_moremagic with all the wonderful type written words.  I felt this texture was appropriate since he has inspired me to create a healthy lifestyle for myself.


Be blessed today everyone!

6 comments:

Beverly said...

I love protein bars, and especially homemade ones! Your recipe looks very tasty, and I will try it. The grunge textures really suits the photo of your son! Very manly.

Karen Andrews said...

Can't WAIT to make these protein bars! Quest will be so sad to not take all my $$ from now on! :)

suzoreo said...

Does this mean you will be snacking on butter now? Your protein bars look good, I really must try these but I might have to throw in a few chocolate chips:-) Do you chop the cashews? Raw cashews or regular salted cashews? Great photo of Mark and I like your creative touches. Now may I pleeeeeeeeaaaaaase have your recipe for wheat/almond flour bread? I have never heard of this and I would love to try it. Please, please, please? Thank you:-)

Roxi H said...

A most awesome portrait! I will be making these for sure. I have a recipe you might like. Hope to get it only blog soon.

Rob said...

Oh thank you everyone.

Rob said...

Chocolate chips would be good, and I did chop up the cashews. These protein bars are delicious. I suppose you could use peanut butter if you did not have almond butter.

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