"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall." - Vince Lombardi

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Day 92 - Raiden's Chocolate Granola Bars

I mentioned yesterday that I spent some time Sunday making my power/protein granola bars. This time they turned out better than the batch before as I made a few changes. I think that the recipe might be ready for sharing.

Granola:
4 cups oats
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup almonds (chopped)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup natural honey (heated)
1/2 cup applesauce (unsweetened)

Batter:
8 scoops chocolate protein powder
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup cranberries (dried)
3/4 cup egg whites (approx 5)
1 tbsp natural peanut butter (heated)

1. Mix dry ingredients for granola in a large bowl.
2. Mix heated honey and applesauce together
3. Drizzle honey and applesauce mixture over dry granola mixture and mix well to evenly coat
4. Spread granola mixture on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper (or waxed paper)
5. Bake at 325F for 30 min or more (until nice and toasty), mixing and stirring around at intervals of 10 min. to prevent outside portions from burning

While granola is baking:
6. In a separate mixing bowl, add water to protein powder and wheat bran mixture until it's close to a cake batter mixture consistency (hand stir with wooden spoon)
7. Add egg whites, cranberries, and raisins and mix well
8. Slowly add heated peanut butter and mix well.

9. Once granola is nice and toasty, mix it with the protein "batter" to coat the granola.
10. Lighty spread this mixture into either a 8x13 pan (thick bars) or two 9x9in pans (thinner) lined with parchment paper (or waxed paper). Spread it just so it reaches the edges of the pans and DON'T press it, just make it so it has a general uniform height. There needs to be spaces in the mixture to get a nice even texture
11. Bake at 325 for another 25-30 min.
12. Let stand to cool and then remove from pans
13. Cut into bars of desired size
14. Store in airtight container and enjoy!

According to fitday, the total batch is approx:
3746 calories, 31/51/18 protein/carbs/fat 287g protein, 564g carbs, 73g fat

I cut mine into 12 bars which yields 312 cal/bar, 23.9g protein, 47g carbs (7.8g fiber), 6g fat, <1g saturated

15 bars would give you 250 cals/bar, 16 would give you 234 cals/bar.

The protein content will of course depend on your protein powder (fitday uses 25g/ scoop). The carbs are split about 50/50 complex (oats, bran, and nuts)/simple (applesauce, honey, raisins, cranberries).

Some changes you can make to this are fairly simple.

Up the protein with an extra scoop of protein powder and egg whites.
Lower the fat: drop the peanut butter (I didn't find it added much taste)
Raise the fat: add 1/4 cup of walnuts or pecans
Lower the sugar: swap out some applesauce for the honey
Chewier and more complex carbs: more oats

Anyway, if you do make them, let me know and if you have any suggestions for improving them, let me know as well! I like the taste, but that's me. I'd like to know what others think.

Today's pics:

Day 92

5 comments:

Adam Waters said...

Hi Raiden, check my Day 397 blog post. If you want in post a comment there and you'll be good to go. Shred hard!
Adam

Otter Christy said...

I completely admire that you cook your own granola bars. This one recipe is more cooking than I've done in an entire year. lol But I'm growing and changing who knows what the future holds. :) In my mind this is a very exotic endeavor like ironing. You write very exact instructions. I almost feel like if I did have things like wax paper and a wooden spoon that I could actually make this. Really cool.

Luis said...

Thank you very much for the comment I will I WILL.....:) I am so exited.
You are looking great!!!!!!
Those abs.... those abs.... They are coming out :0 :)

Raiden said...

Adam, I'm in like flynn

Christy, I basically wrote the recipe as I recollected how I went about making them, so I guess my recipe is more like a story than a recipe! You don't necessarily need a wooden spoon, but the protein batter can get thick and hard like cement until you add the egg whites and enough water. You don't need wax paper either, you can either Pam spray the pan or grease it/brush with olive oil. The parchment paper makes it easy to clean and doesn't stick, so eliminates the need of adding more fat in the spray or grease.

Yes, I find ironing very exotic myself. I partake in it on the very rare occassion that my only clean dress shirt is wrinkled beyond recognition as an article of clothing.

Luis, I'm working on the abs, but it might be a while for they really come out! Gotta build them up and trim the fat! Good luck in your daily accountability!

KaliLilla.com said...

Thanks for the recipe. You'll have to post a pic of your next batch!