Elvis Protein Bars

A really healthy, high protein recipe on Dinner Plan-it? Here's Kimber!









Well, look who is back again. Me! I know, I know...another long hiatus, but I am back for a post...and you'll be seeing a bit more from me too here and there.

Life is ever changing, to say the least. No longer am I a Clevelander. Once again, Pittsburgh is my home. Yep, you got that right, I've moved back after many years to help with my Dad.

One thing he needs the most (besides a new heart) is good food packed with protein, so along with homecooked meals loaded with chicken, beef, beans and lean pork (he won't eat most of the hospital "food"), I've been experimenting with protein bars, protein breads and all sorts of stuff to pump up his protein level. Somme attempts have been epic fails, some turned out okay, but the one I will share with you today is top notch. I can attest to this because my dad really liked these protein bars, I liked them, but most surprising of all, my mom LOVED them!

So here is what I have for you. It's a nod to Elvis' favorite peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich. The result is a little bit of rock n roll made up of a bit of smooth and crunchy peanuttiness, a little maple-y, banana-y sweetness, a punch of protein and the salty smokiness of bacon. Yes. Bacon. It's what I like to call Elvis Protein Bars!

For the protein, I used Muscle Pharm Combat Protein. It has an excellent nutrition profile and the taste is awesome. I purchase it through Bodybuilding.com or Musclepharm.com. You can certainly use other proteins, but of the ones I've tried I just found this to be the best tasting product for this particular recipe.

If you work out - like I do - or just need a pick-me-up during the day, this might be the rockin' recipe for you.

Elvis Protein Bars

• 1 1/4 C dry-roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 2/3 C Muscle Pharm Combat Protein, Banana flavor (4 scoops)
• 2 C oats - I used certified gluten-free oats to make these GF (for my mom)
• 1 very ripe banana
• 1 heaping t cinnamon 
• 1/3 C plus a smidge more of REAL maple syrup
• 8 slices bacon, cooked very crisp (but not burned!), crumbled
• 1/3 C dark chocolate chips - again, use gluten-free chips if you're making these GF

Put 1 cup of the peanuts and the salt into a food processor and process until it becomes peanut butter (this takes a few minutes - be patient...it will happen). 

Add protein powder, oats, banana, cinnamon and maple syrup to food processor and mix with short pulses until it comes together into a dough-like consistency. If it's too crumbly, add a bit more maple syrup, if it's too sticky, add a bit more oats (the size of the banana can be a factor in this part). Fold half of the bacon into the mixture until mixed in evenly.

Take an 8" X 8" baking pan and line with parchment paper. Press the protein bar mixture into the pan evenly.

Chop the 1/4 cup of remaining peanuts coarsely and sprinkle over top of the protein bars, then sprinkle remaining bacon on top of that. Gently press the peanuts and bacon into the top of the protein bars.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave and drizzle over the protein bars. Place the pan in the fridge for 20 minutes to set. Once they are set, cut into 10 bars.

Nutrition Per Bar: 277 calories, 28 carbs, 12 g fat, 18 grams protein, 182 mg sodium, 11 g sugar

Thai(ish) Coconut Peanut Noodle and Veg Salad with Grilled Steak

Summer pasta salad fatigue setting in yet? Getting tired of the same pasta salads over and over again? You know what I mean...macaroni salad - been there, bow-tie pasta salad - done that, all the mayo-based or Italian-salad-dressing-doused or from-the-box-ala-Suddenly-Salad kinda salads that turn up on every picnic and dinner table in America. Ho hum. What to do...what to do....

Bored and in the mood for a little something different - and just maybe a little exotic - I set about making a Thai-inspired noodle salad with a box of Annie Chun Pad Thai noodles I had on the pantry shelf. The warm salad included lots of bright green basil, broccoli and spinach, crisp sprouts, a little heat of finely slivered jalapeno, freshly squeezed lime juice, sweet and creamy coconut milk accented with umami flavors of peanut butter, fish sauce (don't turn up your nose...it doesn't taste fishy, just adds BIG Thai notes) and tamari.

To serve this one-dish-meal-in-a-salad, we grilled up a cap steak from the rib eye, sliced it into medallions before laying it lovingly atop the salad, scattered crunchy, salty peanuts over all and garnished the whole thing with extra basil and lime to taste. The result? I'm positive our tastebuds gave an appreciative standing ovation to the salad excitement they beheld (and be-tasted?). Vive la summer pasta salad différence! 

Thai(ish) Coconut Peanut Noodle and Veg Salad 

with Grilled Steak

Serves 4

• 2 ribeye cap steaks - or your favorite cut, seasoned and grilled how you like it - 1/2 steak per person

• 8 ounces rice noodles, pad Thai style (I used Annie Chun brand), cooked according to package directions - al dente - drain in a colander and rinse well with cold water - set aside

• 1 cup fresh spinach, julienned
• 6 medium basil leaves, fresh, cut into chiffonade
• 1/2 large jalapeno chile pepper, seeds and ribs removed, sliced thinly into slivers 1/4" long
• 1 cup bean sprouts, fresh, rinsed and dried
• 1 cup peanuts, salted - reserve 1/4 cup for garnish
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 cup broccoli florets, cut into small pieces

• 3/4 cup lite coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste
• 2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce, wheat-free to make this GF or regular soy sauce if gluten isn't an issue for you
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Make the salad ahead of time and grill the steak the way you like before serving.
 
Mix the dressing ingredients - coconut milk through fish sauce - in a bowl until the peanut butter is thoroughly incorporated and pour over the cooked noodles. Add the spinach, basil, jalapeno, sprouts salt, broccoli and salt. Toss well until all the veggies, noodles and sauce are well-combined. Arrange the salad on a platter and top with sliced steak and garnish with the rest of the peanuts and lime to squeeze as needed.
 
NOTE: Feel free to make this by itself without the steak for a lovely side dish!

Peanut & Pretzeled Gluten-Free Texas Sheet Cake

 


The excitement is building! Already recipes are thoughtfully being created! The next Annapolis Food With Friends event is only a month away and there is MUCH to do. The theme? Barbecue. Barbeque? BBQ? Whatever you call it, just be sure to call ME when it's ready, okay?  

BBQ experts are heading down from the far north of Canada and up from the deep south of Georgia to smoke up some of the best 'Cue out there. The experts? Two of our very own members: Adrienne, a BBQ competition judge who also heads up a BBQ competition team that has won awards across the U. S. A. She's the Canadian member, eh. 

Greg is our Southern barbecuer who is a caterer, barbecue judge and is part of a amazing group of barbecue humanitarians working under the auspices of Operation BBQ Relief. What's that? What do they do? 

Operation BBQ Relief (http://www.operationbbqrelief.org/) sends teams of BBQ competitors, along with their BBQ rigs, from at least nine states into disaster areas. They first organized to feed victims of the F5 tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri in 2011.  Since that time, they've set up operations in Alabama, New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Kansas...just to name a few.

The rigs are self-sufficient fuel-wise, which allows the mobile cooking teams to serve up good food with or without power. Along with food, they serve up much needed hugs and friendship to victims and workers alike. (Check out the link above to find out more about the work this group does...make a donation if you wish!)

Back to Food With Friends, folks. The theme (BBQ) being established and the proteins being decided by Adrienne and Greg, the rest of us teamed up to create the rest of the menu. Marti, Brian and Carol are on appetizers. Donna and Maria are working on side dishes and Sherron and I are doing dessert(s). Other members head up other items and still others will lend a hand...not everything has been decided yet! 

Sherron, food blogger AND food photographer  (http://www.simply-gourmet.com/) AND one amazing individual and I quickly got our heads together behind the scenes to decide on a few BBQ-friendly desserts. I can't tell you what the big dessert items will be right now (I don't want to spoil the surprise), but I can tell you gluten-free Texas Sheet Cake is part of it. 

In researching gluten-free recipes out there, I found most used a different method of preparation and much different proportions of traditional cocoa, butter, water, flour, sugar, etc. Hmmm...does gluten-free flour react differently to heat? Is that why they use a mixer instead of whisking up the ingredients in a pot on the stove?

I trusted the "experts" on the internet and changed my regular recipe. The result? Not so wonderful. Instead of being fudgy, the cake was dense and heavy. The normally thick batter was runny. Instead of baking up into a beautiful cake, it ran over the sides and onto the bottom of the oven. And instead of taking the very precise 22 minutes to bake, it took over an hour before it set. Back to the drawing board. 

So I reverted to my old recipe and simply substituted a commercial gluten-free flour blend (Jules' All Purpose Gluten-free flour blend to be specific) instead of all the changes that clearly didn't (no pun intended) pan out. And it worked. Beautifully. So well that my taste testers at work couldn't tell it was even gluten-free. Success! The old and trusted recipe was a winner!

In addition to making the old recipe gluten-free, I turned it into a salty/sweet treat by crowning the fudgy frosting with crushed pretzels and salted peanuts. Nice. And I won't make you wait until next month for the recipe.  Here it is.

Peanut & Pretzeled Gluten-free Texas Sheet Cake  

(Not gluten-free? Just use regular all purpose flour!)

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 4 tablespoons cocoa, heaping (REALLY heaping!)
• 2 cups Jules' gluten-free flour blend (or regular all purpose flour if gluten isn't an issue!)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (dissolve this in sour cream above)
• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons cocoa, level
• 6 tablespoons skim milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pound box powdered sugar

• 2 cups gluten-free pretzels (or regular if gluten isn't an issue), measured before gently crushing
• 1 cup salted peanuts

Put butter, water and cocoa into pot; bring to full boil.  Remove from heat and add flour, sugar and salt; beat until smooth and add sour cream (with soda in it) and eggs.  Mix well and pour into greased 17" X 9" X 1" high cookie sheet with rim.  Bake for 22 minutes at 375.

In same pot the cake was made in (and you don't even wash the pot!) add 1/2 cup butter, 4 level T. cocoa and milk and bring to a full boil.  Remove and add rest of ingredients.  Beat well.

Spread the frosting over cake as SOON as it comes out of the oven.  Evenly sprinkle the peanuts and crushed pretzels over the top of the frosting, pressing gently into the frosting to set them in place.

Refrigerate cake, cut into squares and serve.  Best when cold.   

Before cutting into squares - I just liked this pic!