Perfect afternoon pick me up! I’ve been playing around with date caramel a lot lately and happened to have some homemade apple purée in my fridge so thought I’d whip up a caramel apple protein smoothie!
This is my go-to breakfast smoothie almost every day. This recipe was originally posted over at the Pure Form Fitness Kitchen. It’s full of goodness and absolutely delicious. It’s so important to have breakfast but sometimes it’s hard to eat a big meal early in the morning, especially if you workout early. This smoothie is perfect pre-workout fuel – light enough to make sure you don’t feel sick but satisfying enough to keep you going. It’s great to grab on the go too. The protein powder keeps you full and the L-glutamine is great for muscle recovery.
You can change things around with this – use different nut butters if you like, add other bits and bobs eg frozen berries, guarana, chilli powder, chia seeds etc but this is my favourite base.
This mixture usually makes 2 – 3 shakes and it’s fine in the fridge for a few days.
You will need:
2 cups non-dairy milk (almond, soya, oat etc)
2 large or 3 medium Bananas
1 tbsp Cashew nut butter
4 scoops Protein Powder (I use About Time vegan protein powder – but you can use any one you like)
2 scoops L-glutamine powder (optional – but great for muscle recovery. I use MyProtein L-glutamine powder)
2 tsp ground Cinnamon
2 tsp Coffee (decaf or caffeinated – your choice)
1 – 2 tbsp raw Cacao powder
1 cup Ice
Sprinkling of Chia seeds
Put all the ingredients in to a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into glasses and sprinkle the chia seeds over or pour into protein shakers and pop in the fridge if not drinking immediately. Enjoy!
I get hungry, especially after a workout and I love a good flapjack or energy bar but I hate the fact that so many of the store bought ones are just full of sugar. Many of the ‘healthier’ versions I’ve bought are tasteless and unappetising so last Saturday, after a full on day, I thought I’d create some homemade protein flapjacks – full of good things!
I thought I’d do a little video to show you them in the flesh – so here goes:
and the finished product:
These don’t take long to put together and you can always substitute things if you don’t have them in the cupboard or don’t like them.
You will need:
300g rolled porridge oats (gluten-free or spelt if you want)
100g desiccated coconut
100g flaked almonds
100g Pumpkin seeds
215g dried, soft Prunes
315g dried dates
175g Almond butter (or your nut butter of choice)
100g Liquid sweetener (I used rice malt syrup but you can use agave, maple syrup, honey etc)
2 tbsp Coconut oil (measured when solid)
4 tbsp Vanilla protein powder (any brand you like – or you can also omit this)
4 tbsp Water
2 generous tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
Preheat the oven to 170 C.
Line a baking tin (I used a 20 x 20cm one) with baking paper. Mix the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds and coconut together and pour into the baking tin. Place in the oven for 20 mins or until starting to brown. Make sure you turn regularly with a wooden spoon so the whole mixture gets toasted.
While that’s in the oven pop the dates and prunes into a blender or food processor and blitz to a paste. You may need to keep stopping to scrape the mixture back down in to the bowl. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth – a few lumpy bits are good!
Remove the oats from the oven and stir the protein powder through the mixture. Allow to cool.
Put the date mixture, nut butter, liquid sweetener, coconut oil, water, cinnamon and salt in to a large saucepan and heat very gently. Stir and allow the mixture to come together. Remove from the heat and pour the oats into the liquid mixture and mix really well.
Using a spatula scrape the mixture back into the lined baking tin and press down firmly. Then allow to cool and pop in the fridge. Do make sure you lick the saucepan (once it’s cool enough!!!) because the mixture is divine when warm! 🙂
Once it’s chilled you can cut in to slices. It makes the perfect post workout snack on the go and is great to pop in to lunchboxes too!
Whenever I feel like I need a boost, or the craving for chocolate kicks in, I’ve just grabbed one of these and they do the trick!
I don’t have specific quantities for these as I just grabbed what I had in the cupboard and threw it together – but I’ll give you a vague idea! It doesn’t really matter what quantities you use – it’s about what you like and finding a combination that’s tasty for you 🙂
What I like most about these is that they’re also full of protein and good fats.
I used freeze dried raspberry powder in this version – I got mine online (here) but your local health store might stock it too.
a big handful of Nuts – I used hazelnuts, almonds and cashews (you can chop these up if you want to – I couldn’t be bothered!)
a few tbsps desiccated Coconut
1 – 2 tbsp Chia seeds
1 – 2 tbsp Sesame seeds
half a handful of dried Cherries
2 tbsp of freeze dried raspberry powder
2 scoops of Vanilla protein powder
Put the nut butter and sweetener in a frying pan over a low heat. Stir while it heats through and combine the butter and sweetener. Don’t heat too fast or you’ll just end up drying the nut butter out. After a minute or so add in the rest of the ingredients. Stir well. You want to be able to squish the mixture into balls so if it’s too dry add a little more sweetener or nut butter. If it’s too wet add more nuts etc.
Remove from the heat and whilst still warm form little balls! You can roll the warm balls in desiccated coconut, sesame seeds, chia seeds, cocoa powder etc but I like my balls naked!
Pure and Simple Bakes 