Evening peeps! As promised I’m back with this week’s meal plan and that protein bar recipe I told you about. But first, an update! Cuz I’m willing to bet that you’re wondering if I stuck my guns (get your tickets? mwhahahaha!!) this week or not.
Well, I am super pumped to report that, yup, I did it! I did not stray a smidge AND even though it has been hot enough in Van this weekend to make me seriously contemplate sleeping in a bathtub full of ice water (and I am totally not complaining) AND I had originally planned on allowing myself one treat at the end of the week, which most definitely would have been ice cream or frozen yogurt (I discovered a delightful looking frozen yogurt place called Menchies), I didn’t splurge. I decided that I wanted to keep my momentum going and that if I can make it through this week, I’m gonna pay an inaugural visit to Menchies on Sunday.
So now, down to this week’s plan. There’s really not a whole lot new because I still have a ton left from last week’s big cook-out and I don’t want to waste any of it. Here’s what I’ll be chowin’ down on from now ‘til next Sunday -
- 2 whole eggs and a protein pancake (or bowl of oatmeal with berries as a splurge on the weekend) for brekkie
- Veggies and hummus
- Tosca’s Keep it Tight Tilapia
- The Gracious Pantry’s Clean Eating BBQ Chicken pizza on Ezekiel pita crust
- Eat Clean Turkey, Apple Breakfast Sausage (from The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook 2)
- Meal-in-a-Bowl Soup (from The Eat Clean Diet Recharged)
- Tosca’s Keep it Tight Tilapia
- Apples
- Greek yogurt and berries
- Tuna and spinach salad
- Oh She Glows Nut Butter Crusted Parsnip Fries (I made some today and they are, as Angela of OSG says, life-changing!)
- One bedtime snack recipe that will remain a surprise for now
- And finally, today’s recipe, and an old favourite of mine that I got hooked on when I started doing some digging into this whole eat clean business last year –
The Gracious Pantry’s Clean Eating Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Protein Bars (and as usual, insert heaps of blog love now)
I’m sharing the recipe with you here, even though you can just click the link above to go directly to the original, just cuz I wanna tell you about where I made changes or bought certain ingredients. But you should still definitely click the link anyway and check out the rest of Tiffany’s yummy recipes along with her super helpful clean eating tips.
Ingredients
- 2 cups oats roasted in the oven for 10-15 minutes
- 1 cup natural peanut butter (I haven’t tried, but I’m betting almond butter would also rock)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 tbsp chocolate chips (I cut up six of those tiny Lindt 72% dark chocolate squares. I might have already told you this, but you can get a huge sack full of ‘em at Costco for like $13, which is totally worth it if you have a sweet tooth, but still wanna keep it clean)
- 1 cup unflavoured or vanilla protein powder (I used vanilla)
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp chia seeds (Costco also sells hugeantic bags of chia)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (just easier to clean up)
- Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl (you made need to bust out the gun show, all of that PB and honey makes the batter pretty thick!)
- Spread the batter onto the parchment lined cookie sheet (mine took up about 3/4 of the sheet)
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until nice and golden around the edges
- Remove from oven and let cool before cutting into bars
So, I know there’s a bit more fat and carbs in these babies than in some of the recent protein treat recipes that I’ve shared, but I like these guys cuz there’s still quite a bit of protein in each one and they give me the illusion that I’m eating a decadent baked treat (and homemade baked goods make me slightly weak in the knees).
That’s all I’ve got for now, but come back and check out my surprise recipe in a couple days. I’ve got an awesome reason for saving it 
!
Night from Van y’all (that’s for you Rocket Scientist)!
