Homemade Protein Bars

When first embarking on my clean eating journey, it was hard to find to healthy snacks that I could take on the go other than fruit, raw veggies, and nuts. Sometimes I really wanted something that tasted guilty, but would still fit into my nutrition guidelines... sound familiar?

I started carrying around quest bars but eventually just got sick of them! I realized the amount of money I was spending on buying boxes of clean bars (I mean really clean...) was crazy! After looking at the ingredients on many of the bars that were portrayed as being "clean" I couldn't believe all the crap that was listed in the ingredients!!

So as you guessed, I made my own. I adopted the recipe from a few other recipes I came across and just picked and chose new ingredients to make my own, CLEAN bar! The result? This is one you need to add to your MAKE NOW list!!!

What You Will Need:

• 2 cups rolled oats (I used gluten free)
• 1/2 cup protein powder (I used the vanilla quest powder - if you want to keep the bars dairy and gluten free opt for a vegan protein such as vega one)
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I used the enjoy life dairy free/gluten free) -- OPTIONAL
• 1/2 cup chia seeds 
• 1/4 cup chopped, pitted dates
• 1 cup PB2 (mix the powder with unsweetened almond milk until you get the creamy consistency of peanut butter)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg

To Make:

1. In a food processor blend the oats until you get the consistency of an oat flour. Only blend the first 1 1/2 cups, save the other 1/2 to add to the batter as is. 
2. In a large bowl add the oat flour, remaining oats, protein powder, chocolate chips, chia seeds, and chopped dates.
3. In another bowl mix together the almond milk and peanut butter. Pour peanut butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir until completely mixed.
4. Spread mixture into a 9x9 baking dish and cover with tin foil. Refrigerate 5-6 hours until hardened and then slice into 12 bars. I chose to slice mine into 24 pieces just as a satisfying bite sized snack! 
5. Keep stored in the refrigerator!

Nutrition per serving (1 of 12 bars): 223 calories, 8.8g fat, 29.7g carbs, 8g fiber, 4.7g sugar, 11g protein

Nutrition per serving (1 of 24 bars): 111.5 calories, 4.4g fat, 14.8g carbs, 4g fiber, 2.4g sugar, 5.5g protein