The Ingredients:

This recipe is simple to make with ingredients you have at home. With each ingredient able to be adjusted for personal preference and budget, this recipe allows flexibility for nutrition and price. To follow the recipe, use coconut flour, protein powder, peanut butter, maple syrup, dark chocolate chocolate chips, and coconut oil.

Substitution Ideas:

• Honey or agave can replace maple syrup, for personal preference.
• Different nut butters can replace peanut butter for allergies or preference. Seed butters, like sunflower seed butter, are a good substitute for those allergic to nuts.
• Chocolate chips can be milk, dark, or white chocolate.
• Most protein powders can be used for price flexibility, different flavor profiles, and personal preference.
  

Additional Protein Powder Notes:

Casein, brown rice, or paleo protein powder is preferred. Whey protein is not recommended, as the texture can be incredibly sticky and won’t form the bars well.
If your batter is too thick/crumbly, add water or milk until a firm batter remains.

We chose PB2 as our protein powder. Regular PB2 is a powdered peanut butter that you add water to to reconstitute. If you would like to use the protein, make sure you get the “Peanut Protein” version. We like this protein powder because it is protein derived from peanuts and brown rice, it provides 20 grams of protein per serving, and it uses monk fruit extract as a sweetener for a great no calorie natural sugar alternative.

Directions:

1. Line a deep pan with parchment paper and set aside. For thicker bars, use an 8 x 8-inch pan. For thinner bars, use any size bigger.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients and mix well.
3. In a small mixing bowl, melt your peanut butter with sticky sweetener until combined.
4. Add to dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.
5. Transfer protein bar batter into the lined baking dish and press firmly in place. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.
6. Once firm, cut into bars and cover in optional dark chocolate and enjoy!

Chocolate (optional):

Let’s be honest – the only thing that would make these simple protein bars better is a smooth, dark chocolate top. When applying, you can cover the top while still in the pan, or slice and remove to dip fully. The more, the better, right? Melt your chocolate chips with a spoonful of coconut oil for a smoother finish, and place back in the freezer for a final set.

Nutrition, storage, and more:

When cut into 12 different bars, each bar contains approximately 20g protein. For peanut butter lovers this is it! The PB2 used creates a smooth consistency that makes your mouth water. The dark chocolate on top creates a dessert-feeling snack that is healthy and helps you achieve your goals. Protein helps build and repair muscle in the body, provides energy, and keeps you healthy. These are better cold so throw them in the freezer or fridge depending on your needs. If you need a snack in an hour or two but don’t have time to go home, you can take one out of the freezer and it will thaw by the time you want to eat. If you want one as your heading to class take one out of the fridge and eat it on your way!

Nutrition:

Serving: 1 Bar
Calories: 150kcal
Carbohydrates: 5g
Protein: 20g
Fat: 7g
Sodium: 109mg
Potassium: 150mg
Fiber: 3g
Vitamin A: 9IU
Calcium: 20mg
Iron: 1mg

References:

thebigmansworld.com/no-bake-peanut-butter-protein-bars-keto-sugar-free-vegan/

No-bake Protein Bars

Author: Wednesday Group 4 Courses:Breakfast, Gluten Free, Plant-based, Snack, Vegetarian Recipe Keys: M macro-friendly H high-protein C college-student

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 15 minutesCook time: minutesSet Time: 25 minutesTotal time: 40 minutesServings:12 barsCalories:150 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

The recipe is high in protein, healthy fats, and fiber. For college students or college athletes, it is an easy on the go snack that can be prepared in advance and taken anywhere. College students/athletes are pressed for time and often go without eating or turn to fast, less nutritious options. This is a great on the go, nutrient dense option!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 1/2 cups protein powder
• 2 cups peanut butter
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp coconut oil

Instructions

1. Line a deep pan with parchment paper and set aside. For thicker bars, use an 8 x 8-inch pan. For thinner bars, use any size bigger. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients and mix well. 
3. In a small mixing bowl, melt your peanut butter with sticky sweetener until combined. Add to dry ingredients and mix until fully combined. 
4. Transfer protein bar batter into the lined baking dish and press firmly in place. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.
5. Once firm, cut into bars and cover in optional chocolate and enjoy!

Notes

• TO STORE: Store at room temperature in an airtight container. Protein bars store well in the refrigerator, too! Let them sit at room temperature for several minutes before enjoying. 
  TO FREEZE: Freeze in a sealable container for up to 6 months. 

Keywords:easy, gluten-free, make-ahead, meal-prep, nutritious, protein, Quick, simple

The most important meal of the day should not be skipped because it’s too complicated, takes up too much time, or simply is inedible. Gluten free options can be so hard to find these days and we want people to know that there are so many options for them. These gluten free breakfast peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cakes from Eating Well make for a nutritious breakfast. The peanut butter is a great source of protein, and the oats contribute fiber. The milk can be substituted with plant-based milk to meet other dietary needs. To ensure these muffins gluten free, use gluten free oats!

See how we made these muffins in the video below the recipe.

Cost Breakdown

Check out the cost breakdown for this recipe:

Ways to make these muffins cheaper or more sustainable:

• Buy generic ingredients if you can!
• If you want, use organic peanut butter or applesauce
• For the eggs, an option is to use cage free eggs, so we know the chickens were treated appropriately!

In a typical college setting and schedule, it can be hard to incorporate variety and nutrition into our meals all the time. This recipe is an awesome option for cooking steak—a meat that is something more commonly cooked on a grill or other resources from a more established home. It can be intimidating to incorporate steak into a diet without cooking experience or understanding of preparation methods, especially given the typically limited space of a college apartment. Let’s bridge this knowledge gap and see how we can incorporate variety into our diets with our awesome, yet limited resources.

Despite the reduced space in an apartment and the typical lack of some cooking appliances, this meal is quite simple. After baking the potatoes for some time, the steak, oil, parmesan mixture, and asparagus can all be broiled in the oven:

• To broil, you simply push “broil” on the oven and place and rack closer to the top. After a few minutes, you can decide how well done you want your steak to be.
• If the potatoes or asparagus are being burned or cooked too much, you can remove them temporarily or cover them with tin foil to deflect some of the heat.

This meal may seem intimidating, expensive, and complicated, but those factors can be controlled for:

• To reduce the cost of the meat, especially for a singular college student, you can buy less and use a cheaper cut of meat than flank steak. Also buying ingredients on sale and freezing meat is a great option.
• Asparagus can be pricy when it is not in season, so either buying in season or choosing a different vegetable can reduce cost. Instead of using baby potatoes, dice up regular size potatoes into uniform sizes.
• Other ingredients, such as olive oil, can be purchased as a store brand and these ingredients are generally used frequently in other recipes. All of these suggestions for reducing the cost of this recipe were methods I used.
• If you are cooking this meal for a larger group of friends, you can suggest that everyone bring their own meat to reduce financial stress that could burden a college student in social food situations.

Here is a cost breakdown of all the ingredients in this recipe! This can be reduced by following the suggestions above:

Step-by-Step

Lets get cooking! The process is simple. Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Then cut and wash potatoes and asparagus.

Fun Fact: This preparation is called, “mise en place” meaning “everything in its place”. It is the first step of any cooking process!

Step 2: After tossing the potatoes with the salt, 1/3 of the garlic, and olive oil, bake the potatoes for 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Step 3: While the potatoes are cooking, make the parmesan mixture (¼ cup parmesan, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, pepper) and spread part of it over your meat. When the potatoes are done, add the meat, asparagus, and remaining parmesan mixture to the pan.

Step 4: Set your oven to the “Broil” setting and leave the pan in the oven for 4-5 minutes. Take the pan out, flip the meat, and let cook for another 4-5 minutes (or cook until the meat is as done as you prefer).

Thankfully, this meal is not labor intensive! You could even do some of homework while the potatoes and meat are being cooked! This meal is delicious and something I regularly crave. After a long week, steak can be a great meal to celebrate accomplishing so much.

I chose the pesto chicken and vegetables recipe because it allows you to get your daily amount of vegetables through an actual dinner meal. The DRI for vegetables is 2-3 servings per day. I feel like oftentimes when I go about trying to eat my veggies daily, I eat cucumbers or carrots as a snack with ranch. This recipe allows vegetables to be implemented into an actual meal. This recipe provides a good way to implement vegetables without going out of your way. The recipe also tasted very good and the pesto added a great flavor to the vegetables and chicken.

Cost Breakdown

About the Recipe

In order to make this recipe more budget friendly you could use cheaper vegetables that would fit well into the stir fry mix. You could also ask to use someone else’s salt, pepper, and cooking oil or just use the ingredients that you already have at home. In order to make this recipe more budget friendly you could also grow the vegetables yourself or buy the vegetables that are currently in season. If needed, you could also use canned chicken breast where it is cheaper.

The Snac Pantry supplies canned corn, canned green beans, canned diced tomatoes, and fresh celery sticks all which could be implemented into this recipe in place of other vegetables.

With some vegetables being more in season than not, I chose to use different vegetables than the recipe called for.  I added mushrooms, peppers, onions, broccoli, carrots, and celery to my veggie mix. This is a typical stir fry mix. All the vegetables tasted very good with the pesto sauce. I especially recommend adding mushrooms into your dish as they absorb the sauce very well.

Overall, I loved this dish and I would cook it again! It also stores and reheats very well! I had leftovers and ate them the next day and they tasted just as good as freshly cooked! This recipe gave me my daily vegetables and gave me a good way to incorporate vegetables into a meal rather than just a snack occasionally.

Cost Breakdown

This dish doesn’t take much time, but it does require a bit of prep. The part that takes the longest is slicing your potatoes. If you’re not extremely skilled with your knife, that’s okay! If the potato slices aren’t as thin as you’d like, all that means is that you might have to cook the dish just a bit longer until the potatoes are fork tender.

One thing I really love about this dish is how flexible it is! I added in some spices that I like (I used an italian seasoning blend, and some dried chives). Feel free to use whatever you have on hand to spice it up a bit! I also have an extreme sensitivity to gluten, so I simply replaced the regular flour with gluten free flour when making the cheese sauce. And if you are a super cheesy person, don’t shy away! You can always add more cheese on top. Like I said, this dish is SUPER flexible so don’t be afraid to experiment a bit!

I also used a 9×13 pan because that’s what I had on hand. This just made the dish less thick with not as many layers.

Now one thing to note about this recipe is that it does take some time in the oven, so it does take a bit of planning. But with an hour in the oven it is an easy thing to stick in the oven and work on something else while it is cooking. Just remember to set your timer!

Budget friendly tips

1. Buy in bulk (especially with potatoes). If you buy more potatoes, the cheaper they are and potatoes save fairly well so you can buy more
2. Buy generic brands (works great for flour, butter, and cheese). Generic brands will be much cheaper than the name brands, and since the cheese is melted into a roux you really can’t tell a difference
3. Use whatever seasoning you have – I like to use italian seasoning because that’s what I normally have on hand, feel free to use what you already have to season your potatoes
4. Flour and dry milk can be found in USU’s SNAC pantry
5. The recipe can easily be doubled or cut in half if those options are more sustainable for you. You can add in an extra cheese if you have some that might go bad soon, or you can buy potatoes by the pound in smaller amounts as well.

I really enjoy this dish, and it really does fit into the crazy college student life. This dish is also easily customizable. You can add just about any topping you would like. Some ideas include bacon or onions. This dish can easily be paired with some veggies, like broccoli or asparagus if desired, or you could add in some ham chunks to make it a more filling meal and a stand-alone dish. The possibilities are endless, it just takes a bit of creativity!