{Recipe} Peanut Butter Protein Power Ball

After trying these at Jen's one day, I was hooked. If you like eating cookie dough, this will definitely be something you like, too!

In the past three and a half months I've made a version of this recipe three times. On my third try, I think I found my permanent version. :)

You can find the original recipe here and work out your own version, OR read on to learn my secrets! ;)

The ingredients come in quantities for about 4-5 batches. It's worked really well for me to make up a batch, split it into two bags, freeze one bag and take the other bag to work. I keep it in the refrigerator and pull one or two protein balls out when I need a snack mid-afternoon or some protein after a workout.

Pictured below is the finished product, the ingredients, and how much mess this recipe makes - you're welcome! :)

Click to Enlarge

Peanut Butter Protein Power Ball Recipe 

Ingredients:

1 cup Peanut Butter (I’m using up a huge jar I have from Aldi, but all natural would be better for you)

4 scoops of Protein Powder (I’d like to try chocolate sometime, but so far I’ve only used vanilla)

1 cup of Honey (Anyone know where to get local honey?)

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

3-4 Cups of the Following Ingredients:  

Almonds

Peanuts

Mini-Chocolate Chips (The first two times I made this I used regular-sized chocolate chips, but I think the mini will work the best)

Oatmeal

Flax Seed (ground)

Directions:

Mix the protein powder, honey, vanilla extract, and peanut butter together in a bowl. You can use an electric mixer or food processor if you want, but a strong spoon will suffice as well. If you decide to use granulated sweetener instead of liquid sweetener you may have to add a drop of water, just to thin out the mixture a bit. If you have used a particularly oily brand of natural peanut butter, you might need to add more protein powder.

Next add all remaining ingredients except chocolate chips to blender and blend for rough texture (I use whole almonds and peanuts and I prefer not to bit into a huge piece). Pour half of blended ingredients and all of the chocolate chips into peanut butter/honey mixture and mix together with large spoon or spatula. Add remaining blended ingredients and mix together until mixed thoroughly. If you have used all 4 cups of additional ingredients, you might need to add more honey.

Roll scoops of the batter into balls. Place balls onto wax paper and put in freezer for a 10-15 minutes. Store peanut butter protein balls in a Ziplock bag. Refrigerate or freeze them if you want them to stay round.

Makes approximately 30 balls about one inch in diameter.

 

Enjoy!!

 

{7 Things to Know}

This week’s edition of 7 Things to Know...

1. Enchiladas! Oh, these were tasty! ...and I just happen to have everything in my cupboard when I made them last week. After reviewing several recipes I thought this was what best fit the ingredients I had on hand. Since I didn't want it too spicy, I added one ingredient: 1 can of cream of celery soup.
2. One of my favorite things about a Friday night is turning of my alarm for a sleep in Saturday. Ahh...zzzzzzzzzzz
3. I know of one person who seriously plays the ukulele.  (Shout out to April on Guam: Hey!)Watch this - you may never look at a ukulele the same way again. 
4. Don't miss it! Last week I blogged about on my job. Raise your hand if 5 times in one post is too many times to use the word crazy! :)
5. This week was just as busy as last week, and I'm already dreading next week. Tax day on Monday means that I'll be processing of many checks for clients trying to get in last minute 2012 IRA or Roth IRA contributions. Hopefully these checks will be for already-opened-accounts. Opening new accounts would add more work :/ Speaking of new accounts...I've been opening a lot of investment accounts lately, and not just to accommodate 2012 contribution checks, but for transfers for new clients or clients who had accounts at other firms. I think this week I opened 10 accounts, and I have several sets of paperwork ready for clients who are coming in for a meeting or I have mailed out paperwork for clients to sign and return.
6. The boys are back! Jess and Luke have had their 3 foster boys back since Saturday when they got back from their North Carolina trip to see Jake, Meg, Lily & Ella. E, V, & F have changed a lot in the couple of months they were with their family. I got to help with bedtime a couple of nights. My parents drove over this week to see them. V is really talking up a storm - well, as much as a 2 year old does with one word sentences. My favorite was when we were almost ready for dinner, the table was being set, and he came over to me and said, "come on" while waving his hand and motioning me to come to the table. Of course, I came. He even pointed to a chair telling me where to sit. So cute, so cute.
7. April showers bring May flowers. What do Mayflowers bring? We've had 8 days in a row of rain or snow. On one of the worst days (in order to not have to scrape my car and sit in traffic) I walked to the bus stop a couple of blocks from house. When I headed to the bus stop, the bus was supposed to be 9 minutes away. The sidewalks were not cleared so I sloshed my way through several inches of gloppy snow, but made it with time to spare...yeah, lots of time.

me at the bus stop...waited for 30 minutes for my bus

A view of the snowy sidewalk.

My car at the end of the day. The windows didn't need scraped -- just shoveled off.

My spot didn't get plowed since I didn't drive to the park n' ride.

Snow, snow, go away.

 

Make it a great week!

{7 Things to Know}

This week’s edition of 7 Things to Know...

I'm bringing back my 7Things to Know posts and kicking it off with a few recipes that I love or want to try sometime very soon!

1. Healthy Peanut Butter Granola Bar Recipe - These look yummy! Must try them!! ...can I do it without bananas?
2. Peanut Butter Protein Balls - My sister gave me this recipe and I've made them once...I have ingredients to make them again very soon though! The best part about this recipe is that you switch it up a bit depending on what ingredients you have on hand.
3. Resurrection Rolls - Warm cinnamon rolls with marshmallows? Yes, please!
4. Apple Bundles - When my niece asked my sister to put her hair in a "bundle", these Apple Bundles were not what she was talking about. (My Li'l Cop Sis regularly wears her hair in a "messy bun" and the first time my niece wanted to copy her hairdo, she asked for a bundle. :))
5. Broccoli Salad - Even before I liked broccoli on its own, I liked broccoli salad. I don't think I've made the salad for myself, but I think I'd like to try!
6. Cinnamon Swirl Cake - I love a good coffee cake, especially if it's cinnamon. (No, I will not be drinking coffee with this.)
7. Pizza Balls - Pizza is good any time! I was thinking it would be a good bake and freeze item to pull out in the morning and bring to work for an easy lunch. 

 

 

Make it a great week!

in boxes and such

Just a few things I like and a few things I've read lately...

• This blog post about having a physical InBox feeds my inner-organizer. I'm not even sure how I stumbled on this blog, but he's also got interesting things to say here about not checking email all day long. I'm not totally cured yet, but I like the idea and think it will help with my productivity. So for now, I'm just working on checking it less.
• This lazy guy has some investing info that is food for thought about his recent investment reality. I've learned a little about saving money and other stuff from him. You should add him to your Google Reader.
• For the first time I did my own taxes this year. I learned a little and enjoyed it a lot.
• Due to my recent interest in taxes and such, this guy at No Debt Plan has some more thoughts on saving money.
• I wish I could make bread like this lady. I've really only tried once, or maybe twice, to make yeast bread without a bread machine. It wasn't pretty so, of course, I gave up. (I can't wait to try some, warm oatmeal bread that should be done in about 2 hrs and 47 min!).

Hope you enjoyed these links! Now, what are you reading these days?

butterscotch chips

I've had some butterscotch chips in my fridge for a while, just waiting for me to get the baking urge. This easy, easy recipe recipe (from another blog I read) found me this week so I thought I'd try it. This recipe is so easy, that I had to tell you about it before I even pull it from the oven to taste it! Enjoy! :D