Believe it or not, I took you guys to the kitchen this week to show you one of my favorite recipes, pumpkin protein bars!
If you know me, you know cooking is not my favorite thing to do. I avoid it as much as possible actually... but I understand that eating a consistently nutritious diet (that is budget-friendly) does require me to cook every so often. This pumpkin protein bar recipe is one I continually go back to, to batch more nutritious meal options.
Nutrition plays a huge role in how we feel and train, so it is important to find a method that works to help you stay consistent with getting more nutritious foods on a regular basis. To help myself stay more consistent, I use an approach I like to call meal batching. I make a large amount of one to two things per week, and eat those meals for lunches and dinners throughout the week. I do eat other easily makable things other than what I batch throughout the week, but batching food ensures that when I am feeling extra lazy, or don't feel like making anything, that I still have a more nutritious option available to eat.
Now, this may obviously not work so well for you if you enjoy having more of a variety of meals throughout the week, or have a family to cook for. If you do cook dinner most nights, I would suggest trying to make enough for lunch the next day, just so that you don't have to do extra prepping for a nutritious lunch. There is an option that works for everybody!
The video below walks you through exactly how to make a yummy batch of protein pumpkin bars from a recipe by Precision Nutrition. It is straight out of their book Gourmet Nutrition. I love this cookbook because all of the recipes are simple, very easy to follow, and most importantly, they are highly nutritious!
Now, the recipe is a little high in sugar, but I primarily use these bars for a post-workout treat to get some protein and carbohydrates after my training. They also make a great high protein holiday/ party treat as well!
The protein I use in the bars is a whey protein called Optimum Nutrition. I've been using Optimum Nutrition Whey protein for years and like the quality of the product as well as the fact that they verify the ingredients in their product with a third party. I'm using the Vanilla ice cream flavor for the pumpkin bars, one of my favs, but they have many other options as well.
Let me know if you give the protein bars a shot and what you think by commenting below! Enjoy!
Full disclosure: This post does contain affiliate links. If you choose to purchase a product through one of the links, I do receive a small commission for the referral, at no additional cost to you. This definitely helps support my blog and video content, but the decision to purchase is completely up to you!