Tuesday

A few weeks ago I tried one of these:

Organic Food Bar, Protein variety

Ingredients: Organic Almond Butter, Organic Brown Rice Protein, Organic Dates, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Bio Sprouts - Flax, Organic Biodynamic Raisins, Organic Sesame Seeds.

Nutritional information: 330 calories, 13g fat, 33g carb, 22g protein

I liked it because it was tasty, filling, and didn’t contain whey, gluten or processed ingredients like a lot of other protein bars.

Here’s my version:

Homemade Protein Bars

(makes 8)

Ingredients

• 8 Tbsp (160g) Melrose almond spread
• 8 scoops (approx 170g) unsweetened brown rice protein*
• 1 cup (184g) dried dates (the pitted ones!)
• 8 tsp (64g) agave syrup (I used dark agave)
• 8 tsp (16g) flax meal
• 8 tsp (40g) raisins
• 8 tsp (24g) sesame seeds

Method

Using a food processor or similar, mix all ingredients together until they are finely chopped and sticking together (you may need to add a little water, depending on the brand of rice protein you use).

Lightly grease a rectangular dish (I used a medium-sized Pyrex dish). Empty the mixture into the dish and press out so that it spreads to fill the dish. If you’d like your bars to have a smooth top, place a sheet of baking paper over the mix and rub over it with the back of a dessert spoon. Remove the paper.

At this stage you can cover the dish and place it in the fridge to help the mixture stick together more (or not, if you’re like me and couldn’t wait). Use a sharp knife to cut the contents of the dish into eight ‘bars’ (run the knife under hot water if it gets too sticky to cut cleanly). 

Each day I’ve been taking a piece out and having it for my morning tea.

You could cut and individually wrap each portion though.

*I tried making this with chocolate Ladybird rice protein and it was way too sweet (the dates, agave and raisins are sweet enough).

For this batch I used Lotus Organic Brown Rice Protein Concentrate (bought from my local health food store), which contains lots of spices, so it’s almost like eating gingerbread – yummy! Unfortunately it’s quite expensive. For the next batch I’ll try natural Sun Warrior Protein.

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Today I was inspired by Leigh Peele’s post 30 Days – No Problem. She wants to see how people react to a 30-day challenge if they are given lax requirements and unknown reasons for reward.

Instructions on how to enter the challenge and information about the reward are listed in the post.

I decided to enter, not so much for the reward, but because I have a habit I want to work on: drinking more water. So for the next 30 days I’ve challenged myself to drink a glass of water with each meal. It might not sound like much but I often forget to drink water (don’t enjoy it) but never forget to eat. I’m hoping that by trying to have a glass of water with each meal, I’ll increase my water consumption and improve my hydration. And since I take photos of my meals (and will be including the glass of water from now on), I’ll be able to ‘measure’ my compliance.

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Breakfast today was Empty Peanut Butter Jar Oatmeal (I used fresh strawberries instead of frozen mixed berries, and less stevia),

Here’s the almost empty jar:

and here it is filled with the oats:

I also had two boiled egg whites:

For my morning snack I had a homemade protein bar and some celery:

 

Lunch was Crispy Roasted Chickpeas with Moroccan Spices and spicy tofu on salad of romaine lettuce, kale, coriander, spring onions and tomatoes:

For my afternoon snack I had almond butter mixed with rice protein and stevia, and apple slices:

Dinner was a stir-fry with chicken, carrots, broccoli, peas, onion, tamari, chilli, ginger, garlic and sesame oil:

 

Later I had a kangaroo sausage and some cashews:

 

and an apple:

Water with meals: 6/6