Day 83: Clean Eating Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

Original Source: The Gracious Pantry

My Teen Boy has become a gym rat, and since the rest of the family is health conscious 80-20, I like finding recipes like this where he can get a bulk of calories (Yes, these are NOT calorie light) but from good ingredients and not wrapped in chemical, prepackaged hell. I took a bite after I pulled them out of the oven and was really disappointed since the cost of ingredients wasn't cheap. However, the longer they sat, the better they became. By the next morning, My Guy was packing them for work and told me he ate them all day, so I guess they're a keeper after all. (He's thin, he can handle the calorie load.)

Get the recipe HERE

Day 12: Frosty Protein Shake

Original Source: Meals and Moves

Get recipe HERE

This one's going to be short and sweet. No need for a picture (and honestly, there was no time). But mine looked pretty similar to this, just a bit darker. Maybe I used more cocoa powder. Regardless, the thickness comes from an ingredient called xanthan gum, which I certainly didn't have in the house.

But since a lot of upcoming recipes call for this anyway, I decided to hunt it down. It wasn't hard. I found it at a local health food store. They have it in jars for about 10 bucks, or little packets (much like active dry yeast pouches) for about 60 cents each. I went that way. Also, because I felt victorious for just finding this stuff, I used only it and skipped the guar gum since it was merely a suggestion. 

Anyway, this tastes NOTHING like a frosty. It tastes just like a plain chocolate protein shake. The only thing I can guess is she named it after the texture. My Guy and Teen Boy liked it well enough, but the name led to expectations that I think, in turn, led to disappointment. I'm not sure I'll ever make it again, but at least now I know I can toss in some of that xanthan gum to give shakes a more ice cream texture!