Buff Bake Cookie Protein Almond Spread

My Review: Buff Bake Cookie Protein Almond Spread

Rating: B+
Tasting Notes: Chocolate, semi-sweet
Food Facts: Gluten Free, 2 tbsp: 200cal, Fat 15g, Carbs 10g, Protein 11g, Sugar 3g

I am so sorry it has been a while since I posted about my recent peanut butter adventures the holidays made time fly by, but I plan on posting a review at least once a month.

SO here we are! A new flavor to chat about! If you couldn't tell from my last few reviews I am on a Buff Bake Brand kick! Mainly because their nut butters are delicious and have good quality ingredients, in my opinion. 

This flavor confused me a little bit because I am not sure where the "cookie" piece came into play. It didn't really taste like a cookie nor did it have chunks of cookies in it or anything of that nature. To me, it tasted like chocolate almond butter, which isn't a bad thing! But again, I didn't really taste/understand the cookie component of this almond butter. 

Also, this almond butter was a little bit thicker than the other flavors I have had. Now that could be because I let it sit in my pantry for a little while before I opened it. I mean I had like 3 other jars of peanut butter open! So once I did open it the oils and almond butter separated (Which says so on their container!) so much that I had to blend it to make it smooth again. I think the texture was fine, not too creamy, but not too rich, so the flavor thing could be my fault that I let it sit too long.

However, I did learn throughout this that a good rule of thumb is if you're having a hard time mixing a jar of nut butter throw it in a blender/nutrabullet/Ninja for a few pulses and it will blend it together for you perfectly!

Like I said this tasted a little more chocolaty to me so it wasn't one of those nut butters I put on everything. Here is what I DID put it on:

• A blob in the center of my oatmeal (So good!)
• A topping on my yogurt
• Banana bread
• Rice Cakes
• Straight from the jar when I had a sweet tooth

This cookie almond butter was REALLY GOOD for curbing any sweet tooth I had. Also, occasionally I would mix 1/2 tbsp of this almond butter with 1/2 tbsp of another kind of peanut butter, like creamy Jiff PB, and the nut butter swirl would be DELICIOUS! If you don't mix your nut butter together I would definitely give it a try!

Have you tried this flavor? If you have, let me know how you like it! Happy Nut Butter Eating!

**These are my own personal food reviews and I am not sponsored or endorsed by any nut butter selling company. I just want to share my love of nut butters with the world! 

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

When you have extremely ripe bananas what do you do with them? Why you make banana muffins of course!

I am currently in the middle of preparing for a bikini competition so I couldn't eat one of these muffins, but you can bet I had my in-home taste tester (aka my boyfriend) give me feedback on them. From the time they came out of the oven to being slathered in butter they looked and smelled so good! Albert was in the middle of an afternoon long en-devour to hang the curtains in the bedroom so as a treat I brought him one of these muffins.  It was the perfect pick me up he needed to finish the curtains (They look fantastic!).

These muffins whipped up super fast with little prep involved. One thing I loved about these muffins is the base mix is very generic so you can make a lot of different flavor combinations! I decided to add peanut butter, chia seeds, and chocolate chips to this batch. You could easily switch out the ingredients and instead substitute in peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, blueberries, almond butter, etc.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast, a mid afternoon snack, and store perfectly for those on-the-go days. I would even go as far to warm one up and put a scoop of ice cream on top!

Check out the recipe below and get baking!

Ingredients:

- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1.5 cups of white flour
- .5 cups of melted creamy peanut butter
-1/3 cup of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup of honey (or sugar)
-1 teaspoon of vanilla
-1 teaspoon of baking soda
-2 teaspoons of chia seeds

-1 cup of chocolate chips
-Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spray muffins tins with nonstick spray (Do not use muffins liners).
3. Mash bananas in a bowl until its a smooth puree.  Add in melted butter and mix until combined.
4. Add honey, egg, and vanilla to bowl and mix until well combined. 
5. Add in salt, baking soda, and flour and mix just enough until everything is combined. Do not over mix!
6. Fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
7. Divide evenly among the muffin tins. Fill each tin about 3/4 full.
8. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. If you see the edges darkening gently place a sheet of aluminum foil over the top to prevent burning.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.  Enjoy!

6- Ingredient Peanut Butter Protein Granola Bars

I LOVE granola! I am not kidding when I saw I could sit and eat a whole bag of it.

I enjoy snacking on granola, putting it in my yogurt or oatmeal, or just dipping a few pieces into peanut butter for a sweet treat.

Unfortunately, granola bought from the store can contain high amounts of sugar, fat, and should only be ate a few times a week. However, I like to eat it A LOT more than that!

That is when I decided to make my own granola bars, and they WORKED! 

These granola bars are perfect to break up and put in yogurt, an after workout snack, or to cure a sweet tooth. I always crave a sweet after lunch and this comes in handy!

These 6-ingredient granola bars take less than 10 minutes to make and take a total of 1 hour before they're ready to eat (Don't worry all of that time is them chilling in the freezer!).

Ingredients:

2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup of honey
3/4 cup Vanilla Shakeology (Any Vanilla Protein)
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips 
1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1. Add the first 5 dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and combine.
2. Put 1 cup of peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and put in microwave for 30 seconds. Remove and stir.
3. Pour peanut butter into the mixing bowl and stir until all ingredients are equally coated.
4. Line a rimmed pan with parchment paper. Pour mixture onto parchment paper and spread evenly into a square. Use a spatula to get an even level and to create the square shape.
5. Optional- top with shredded unsweetened coconut.
6. Place pan into freezer for 45 minutes to an hour.
7. Remove pan from freezer and cut into individual bars, about 2 inches long and 1 inch thick. Individually wrap each bar in plastic wrap and store in a gallon zip lock bag in the freezer. They will be good for at least 2 weeks, if you don't eat them all first :-)

Enjoy!

Protein Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love muffins just as much as the next person, but lets face it, when you're trying to eat healthy muffins don't usually make the cut. I mean, what is so unhealthy about eating a huge muffin the size of your 2 fists, toasted and then slathered in butter?? Yup, you got me, nothing!

Unfortunately, we can't all be in denial. A fresh blueberry muffin from the bakery can have upwards of over 400 calories, 18 grams of fat, 61 carbohydrates, and 37 grams of sugar. I can't imagine what the nutrition would be for a double dark chocolate or a apple cinnamon sugar muffin! 

Enter Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes. I had heard of this brand before, but I didn't want to buy it from the grocery store because a tiny box of their pancake mix was over $5. So when I saw Costco had a HUGE box of sale for $7 I grabbed it right up. Their Kodiak Cakes it mainly for making waffles and pancakes, but you can also make pizza, pot pies, and many other food items with their mix. Their mix can be substituted as a healthy alternative in recipes: swap 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of Kodiak Cakes Mix and omit the salt and baking powder. When I saw that you could make muffins, I was all over it.

Before I dive into the recipe, there are some substitutions I wanted to share with you. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 of melted butter. I did not follow that and instead I added 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of applesauce, and 1/4 cup of honey; that way I was still getting the sweetness without the extra processed sugar. 

Ingredients:

2 cups Power Cake Mix
1 cup of milk (I used Unsweetened Almond Milk)
1 egg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Handful of chocolate chips.

Directions:

Mash 2 bananas in a bowl until they looked pureed. Combine all other ingredients in the bowl. Grease all muffin cups with cooking spray to prevent sticking (Even if you use the muffin liners spray them as well). Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes (I cooked mine for 16 minutes and they came out perfect). Makes 16 muffins. 

Note: I did not add chocolate chips to the batter. I filled each muffin tin 3/4 full and they I add 3 chocolate chips on top and then pressed them into the batter. Either way is fine though. 

Servings Size: 2 muffins have 12 grams of protein. 

Enjoy! 

Vegetable Egg Cups

Eating breakfast during the week can be challenging. I usually start my day off with my daily dose of Shakeology because it provides all of my nutrient needs, but sometimes I want to switch it up! I started flipping through one of my cookbooks called FIXATE, it provides recipes based on the 21 Day Fix portion control container system, and it has some great recipes. I turned to a page labeled Vegetable Egg Cups and thought perfect!

These little vegetable egg cups are perfect to put together on Meal Prep Sunday or Monday. They are great for a quick breakfast or packed in your lunch for a mid-morning snack. The vegetables I chose for my egg cups were spinach and diced orange peppers. You could also add chopped mushrooms, diced green or red peppers, broccoli, maybe a little cheese...anything you would put in your omelet! Also, you could make these with meat by adding crumbled bacon pieces or crumbled sausage. 

What you will need is a muffin tin, cooking spray, and the following ingredients below:

12 Large Eggs

1 medium orange pepped, diced

3 cups of fresh spinach

Salt and Pepper to taste 

Medium Salsa (Optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 375.

2. Coat a twelve-cup muffin tin with non-stick spray

3. Crack eggs into a large bowl and whisk until blended. 

4. Add in your chopped vegetables (and meat preference is you desire). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Evenly pour egg mixture into muffin cups (See below for desired level of fullness).

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a fork inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

7. Top each egg with 1 tbsp of salsa if you desire. 

Reheat Directions- Place on a microwaveable plate and microwave for 45 seconds. If using a toaster oven, set to 350 and bake for 3 minutes. 

If you are following the Beachbody portion control container system, 2 egg cups equals 1 red container. 

Enjoy!