Since my husband is preparing for his third Ironman, Vineman, in Napa, I’ve been experimenting with power bar recipes. I’ve yet to find a recipe that allows me to create perfect “bars”, but rather I’ll I’ve come up with so far is a “crunch” that fits nicely into a plastic sandwich bag.
These bags of protein were perfectly suited for this weekend’s Human Powered Racing training camp, which covered 12 hours of swimming, biking and running (in the cold.)
The team also had lots of Guinness cake to keep them moving through the transitions. (Team, the recipe for that cake is here.)
What’s great about this protein power crunch recipe is that the protein source for this crunch comes from real egg whites and nuts, rather than protein powder. You can experiment with using different protein-fortified grains too, and use whatever you have on hand to mix up a batch. How awesome that one team member, who wants this recipe, just happens to have a flock of chickens in her backyard, and gifted us these beautiful, beautiful colored fresh eggs.
(From Araucana Chickens?)
As a thank you for the eggs, here is the recipe for the protein power crunch.
- 1/4 cup nuts. Sliced almonds are great.
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 cup flaxseed meal (Optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup oats. You can add variety to this by combing whatever grains you have on hand. Just be sure that at least 1/2 cup is oats. The batch the team had this past weekend included this ration: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup 10 grain cereal.
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place nuts and grains on cookie sheet and bake until toasted, 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Combine honey, egg whites, flaxseed (if using), cinnamon and salt in large bowl and mix well. Add nuts and grains and mix well.
- Spread mixture back on lightly greased cookie sheet. Or, drop by rounded teaspoons and place 2 inches apart, to create protein balls.
- Bake 12 minutes or until lightly browned.