As I mentioned when I posted that sweet potato veggie burger recipe, I’ve been on a kitchen mission lately to recreate things I regularly buy. It saves money, and it means I know exactly what is in everything I’m eating—always a nice bonus. I try to eat as little pre-packaged food as possible, but it can be tough to avoid the convenience of granola and protein bars when I’m running around in between teaching classes, getting in my own workout, and working on the blog. There are some wholesome, real-food bars out there, but for the most part, reading the ingredient labels on those things is like reading a chemistry equation. Why not just make my own? Can’t be that hard, right? Right! These are super easy.  [amd-zlrecipe-recipe:54]

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m not a huge animal-product consumer. The protein powder I used in these bars was introduced to me by a BTone client—Healthy Skoop is plant-based, and I’m really liking it! I admittedly don’t supplement my diet very often, but when I do make a morning smoothie or a recipe like this, the vanilla Healthy Skoop has been great. If you want to try it out, you can use the code PUMPS15 to get 15% off any purchase through 2/28/15 (excludes the super sampler).

Do you use plant-based protein powder or stick to whey? What’s your go-to brand? How about protein bars—what brands do you like?

Hope all you Northeast readers are staying warm and enjoyed the snow day yesterday!

This post is possessed! It published itself yesterday, then deleted itself, then rescheduled itself to be posted in 2015. What the what?? Let’s try this again…

Normally, when bananas are about to go bad, I’ll peel them, slice ‘em up, and put them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer to use in smoothies. But lately my smoothie fuel bag has turned into bags, and I needed to find another way to prevent my browning bananas from going to waste. 

These quinoa breakfast cups are delicious and filling—each one is dense, so it only takes one (or, ok, maybe two) to satisfy morning hunger. You can eat them like a muffin, or break one up in a little bit of warm almond milk and eat it like oatmeal (I did this one morning and loved it!).

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:31]

Make a batch and eat them all week for breakfast or as a post-workout snack. They’re definitely best warm, but can also be eaten cold on the go. 🙂 

What’s your favorite way to use over-ripe bananas?