These tasty protein nuggets are super yummy and satisfy cookie cravings. They also make for an awesome pre-work out energy bump! 👊 They taste even better than they look, and they are easy make, no bake! A cool, chewy, low-calorie pastry just in time for summer. They are Vegan friendly, no dairy, no eggs, no added sugar, or flour, or oil, and they are absolutely delish!

A while back I was looking for a healthy snack to curb those after-dinner-dessert cravings and found a neat looking recipe by Hummusapien. Excitedly, I set about trying it out. When I got to the mixing dry into wet stage there just didn’t seem to be nearly enough wet. Almond butter and syrup were already added, followed by the 1 tablespoon of almond milk and it was still a bowl of dry stuff. Eying the powdery mixture dubiously, I instantly decided to modify it.

I found that I needed a full cup of almond milk, instead a tablespoon and a full, heaping cup of almond butter, bulging towards a cup and a half! I also upped my maple syrup to a half cup. At that point everything was moist and ready to clump. I’m grateful to the other recipe for providing me with a launching point.

When I’d gone shopping at the store for some reason I was having trouble finding the vanilla plant-based protein powder that day. I went with an unflavored plant protein powder instead. I put in the tablespoon of vanilla extract along with 10 drops of vanilla stevia and that easily made up for the powder’s flavor loss. I find having a vial of vanilla stevia really helpful to have around and so far, keeping my fingers crossed, I have yet to some across any compelling arguments against Stevia and I’m not the only one who thinks this.

This snack is awesome first of all for the healthy fats of almonds which is packed with 14 grams of monounsaturated fat – the good kind you need to fuel your body – 6 grams of protein, 3.5 grams of fiber, calcium, vitamin E, magnesium and vitamin B2 (riboflavin). This is all really great stuff. I also want to talk briefly about why you might want to take the time to make your own protein snacks.

There are tons of protein bars out there touting low-to-no sugar so you’re thinking “Wow! this is great! and so convenient.” I felt the same way. But when you eat them they taste sweet so you know SOMETHING is being used to sweeten them. Curious, I began reading through the label of the cookie dough protein bar I was munching on and found the culprit: Sucralose, a.k.a Splenda.

So, I did a little research. Sucralose is attractive for its touted zero calories, but this is actually not true: it has the carbs dextrose, glucose in disguise, and maltodextrin which bring the real calorie count up to 3.36 calories per gram. Sucralose is made from sugar through a chemical process that turns hydrogen-oxygen groups into chlorine atoms. At this point, I started back in alarm, the word chlorine shouting through my brain. I thought to myself there is no way chlorine can be good, let alone safe, for my body.

The article I read stated it has the potential to raise the blood sugar of those who don’t regularly consume artificial sweeteners. If you bake with it the heat may break the sucralose down into harmful substances: Chloropropanols, (there’s that chlorine again!), a substance that may raise cancer risk. And, finally, sucralose has the potential to kill off friendly bacteria in your gut while leaving harmful bacteria alone. Studies with rats were done and the results did not sound good.

Many of the products out there that contain Sucralose claim to be good for weight loss but in actuality they do not improve weight loss at all and there are new studies suggesting Sucralose may effect you metabolism. Obviously, if your metabolism gets slowed down it will be even harder to loose weight. More studies are needed but there are enough negatives here already for me to want to steer clear of it and it gave me the motivation to make my own protein snacks.

Anyway, on to the recipe! The limited ingredients of this recipe and no baking make it super quick, easy and summer-perfect because you don’t have to heat up the house with that oven. I tried making the bars and they were fun but the nuggets are great too and allow for smaller portions. And you save time by skipping the parchment paper tussle. If that’s going to make all the difference between making and not making them then go baller! Healthy eating doesn’t have to be hard. ☺️

No-Bake Cranberry Vanilla Protein Nuggets or Bars

Makes 24 nuggets. Servings size 1 ball. Calories 72.

Makes 9 – 11 bars. Serving size 1 bar. Calories 144.

• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 3 scoops plant-based protein powder, vanilla or plain. (Whey won’t work.)
• 1 heaping cup unsweetened almond butter.
• 1/2 cup maple-syrup
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup cranberries or cherries

Instructions

1. If you want bars, line a loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside. If making balls, skip this step.
2. Place oats, ground flax, coconut and protein powder in a blender or food processor. Blend until the mixture is an integrated powder.
3. Dump dry mixture in a medium mixing bowl. Add in all the almond butter, almond milk, maple-syrup, and vanilla. Stir until well combined. It may be necessary to finish mixing with your hands. If you used plain protein powder add in about 10 drops of vanilla stevia. Fold in cranberries. If using cherries, which are a bit bigger than cranberries, I recommend chopping them up before adding them in.
4. If making bars scoop mixture out into the lined loaf pan. Press down firmly using your fingers until flat and smooth. The lined loaf pan can be a bit of a hassle. Freeze your bars for at least 30 minutes before slicing. If making nuggets roll the the mixture into small golf-size balls. Chill for 30 minutes before eating.
5. Store in fridge or freeze.

Went taking them out from the freezer to eat, it’s best to give them a minute or two to thaw a tiny bit before biting in.

This chilled green wonder has been a morning staple for me for years now and somehow I never tire of the light vegetal flavors with cooling vanilla-lemon overtones. I drink it at least five times a week!

This smoothie is packed with dark, protein-dense, greens, healthy fats, and vitamin C. Every time I gulp one down I feel my insides thanking me. The lightly-sweetened flavor is soothing, cool, and a pleasure to drink every day. The only sweetening ingredient in it is vanilla protein powder. We never get enough vegetables into our daily meals so this smoothie is an amazing way to sneak a huge serving of veggies into your breakfast.

There was a time when I would have refused any drink made with vegetables. The idea of drinking spinach or kale did not sound good to me. Smoothies were made with fruit, period. And fruit is good for you, right? Turns out the answer to that is yes and no. Yes, fruit has a lot of vitamins and fiber. The no part has to do with the naturally occurring sugar that is in fruit.

I had been visiting personal trainer, Craig Dinger, at the gym to get help with my exercise routine and diet. He explained to me that the naturally occurring sugar in fruit counts as part of my daily sugar in-take and would effect my ability to loose weight.

Those of us in the weight-loss game know the two main things that have to be cut back are carbs and sugar. Fruit, melon in particular, is high on the glycemic index, meaning it has a high sugar count. Without going into scientific detail, foods that are low on the index are beneficial for weight loss. Fruit is still better than the straight-up processed sugar in cookies, soda and stuff, but if I was serious about loosing weight and toning up then cutting back on fruit was going to be part of that. You know you’re serious when there is too much sugar in fruit! lol.

As part of my training, I was on orders to drink a protein smoothie every morning. So, one smoothie everyday. No fruit. And I was getting sick of chocolate peanut butter. I had to come up with something to mix things up, literally!

I turned to the Internet researching vegetable smoothies looking at sites with massive lists of like 37 different recipes and quickly got overwhelmed, but gained a rough idea of what should go in. I decided to try something on my own and came up with the green wonder-drink I’ve been drinking ever since. I have tried other green smoothies but this one is still my favorite – a testament to it’s delicious balanced flavor.

To keep up with my green smoothie habit, I started buying the mega-huge bags of spinach at Costco, two at a time! Feels like I’m buying bails of hay to feed horses instead of humans. My husband is also a big fan of this green smoothie. With both of us drinking it, needless to say, we go through A LOT of spinach every week.

Cooling Wonder-Green Smoothie

Serves 1. Calories 332

• 2 cups of spinach (or kale!)
• Half 1 avocado
• Half-cup chopped cucumber
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (Whey, soy, pea, whatever powder type you prefer. Cookies n’ cream flavor also works! )
• 1 cup water
• half-cup ice

*Optional – Spice things up with a teaspoon (or tablespoon, if you love it) of fresh grated ginger. I always keep a chunk of ginger root in my freezer. Frozen ginger is waaaaay easier to grate. The standard recipe is my every day. If I’m feeling zesty I’ll toss in some ginger.

Note: Depending on which protein powder you choose you may feel like you want a little more vanilla flavor in your cup. An easy fix for this is adding 5 drops or so of vanilla stevia. This stuff is potent! Use cautiously until you get a feel for how vanilla-y you like your smoothie.

Directions: If using Ninja pro, or other similar blender type, load ingredients in spinach first, then avocado and cucumber, followed by powder, lemon juice, water and ice last. You want the ice to hit the grinder first. Blend for about 30 seconds or so. You want to make sure you get all the little bits of spinach integrated. The end result should be a smooth velvety texture. Did I mention I LOOOOOVE my Ninja pro? It is awesome! Daily smoothie making is fun and easy with it. You can customize smoothies for each person because the blender is the drinking cup. Clean-up is a breeze.

*Tip: Since the blender is the drinking cup you can easily prep a smoothie in the morning to drink later. If you are doing that pre-load all ingredients except the scoop of protein. Add the powder right before blending to avoid it getting dried stuff stuck on the sides of the cup that refuses to come off during blending.

Did you try the green-wonder? Let me know how you liked it. What’s your favorite green smoothie? Was this post helpful? Thanks for dropping by. ☺️