Citrus Everywhere!

Hi!

So today I took a little trip to Whole Foods… and discovered that citrus season has officially hit! I love this time of year because there are so many varieties of citrus all at reasonable prices. I was able to find some blood oranges which have a slight berry hint to them and they are gorgeous. They have a red hue to them that remind me of rubies or a dark raspberry. I also found Meyer lemons that are an almost sweet lemon that have more flavor than just sour. They are unique but easily substituted for regular lemons.

The blood oranges make pretty mixed drinks because the juice resembles the vibrant color of the flesh. But me personally, I like to just peel the skin and eat them like a normal orange or if I’m feeling ambitious I’ll peel them with a knife and slice them to top a salad. Either way they are delicious but in the salad they look extra pretty because you can see the beautiful exposed flesh.

Meyer lemons are good to put in your water or make a vinaigrette with the juice and some olive oil for a nice tangy salad dressing. The Meyer lemons would also make a delicious homemade lemonade.

You can see the ruby red hue of the blood oranges. They look like normal oranges on the outside but sometimes they have a bit of blush. Meyer lemons are usually smoother than regular lemons and a bit smaller but they are still a juicy lemon.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Protein Fudge Bars

Hey!

So i’m sitting here listening to Christmas music and still can’t believe its only a few weeks away, actually only a couple of weeks…Yikes! I feel pretty good about it though, I have my mom’s present and Sean’s present just got ordered last night so I guess I’m half way done. I just have my dad, my mom’s boyfriend Bobby and Sean’s parents left. Now on to this fudgey (this is not a word according to spell check but I’m a rebel and using it anyways) chewy and delicious peanut butter concoction.

I was talking to my aunt over the holidays and she was talking about a protein bar recipe that was really delicious, so of course I wanted to try it. She sent me the recipe and I turned it into this. If it wasn’t for my vitamix I probably would have just followed the recipe. But that beast of a machine lets you be lazy and mix everything together without any effort. Win. I suggest not trying this recipe in a regular blender because it will probably not mix well or burn it out. Nobody wants that. Who knows when you’ll want a frosty drink. So the base of the recipe is peanut butter, oats, flax seed, and honey.

Fudgey and Chewy Peanut Butter  Protein Bars

1 cup oats

3/4 cup peanut butter or other nut butter

1/2 cup honey plus another tablespoon if you feel like it (I did. although i’m sure it would be plenty sweet without the extra tablespoon)

1/4 cup flax seeds or 1/2 cup ground flax meal

dash of salt if you wish (it helps brings all the flavors together)

1 teaspoon vanilla or more if want

1/2 a milk chocolate bar but you can use up to half a cup of chocolate chips if you’d like

5 scoops of protein powder (mine is a 10 gram scoop and for every scoop there are 9 grams of protein)

I also added a couple tablespoons of water to help everything come together.

***The protein powder I use is called Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides. I love it because it is completely unflavored, to the point where I’ll add it to my tea in the morning and not be able to taste it at all. I LOVE it. I’ll include a picture of it at the end of the post.

Instructions:

1. Blend the oats and flax together to be more like a flour if you’d like a smooth consistency. If you’d like the texture you can skip this step.

2. Add all of the ingredients into the blender and pulse and blend until it is a thick almost gooey texture.

3. Then dump into whatever sized pan you’d like. I used a 9 inch cake pan because it is what I had on hand.

These bars almost remind of caramel in a way but peanut butter flavored. If you like a stronger chocolate flavor feel free to add more chocolate or cocoa powder to your mix. I’m also interested to see how these would be with dates in the mix.

My favorite protein powder. And the one I have found to be completely flavorless. To the point that you can barely taste it in water and it is flavorless in juice or another beverage.

I hope you enjoy these bars as much as I do!

Kelly 🙂