Sharing a super delicious and healthy homemade peanut butter protein bars recipe! Perfect for meal prep and grab-and-go snacks. Plus, they’re gluten-free and dairy-free.

Hey! How are you? I hope your morning is going well! I’m here getting everything together for Spring Shape Up – workouts and meal ideas go out on Friday! – and hopping on a podcast interview. I hope you have a lovely morning!

How about a little protein bar with your morning coffee?

I love protein bars as an on-the-go snack because they’re healthy yet delicious. At the same time, I don’t usually love the ingredients for many of the ones on store shelves. My top bars right now are these good! bars (which are impossible to find; usually Sprouts has them), Aloha, and the chocolate whole foods bars.

Homemade peanut butter protein bars

While it is possible to find tasty ones with good ingredients, they can also be a bit on the pricey side! They’re so quick and easy to make at home, way less expensive, and they don’t require any cooking or baking skills. Peanut butter is one of the popular ingredients used in protein bars (and one of my fave flavors!), so today, I’m sharing a peanut butter protein bar recipe that you can make at any time!

What Is A Protein Bar Good For

A quick snack when you don’t have time for a full meal

Sometimes it gets busy and instead of skipping a meal because you don’t have time to make a full meal, I’m ALL about relying on convenience. If these are in the fridge ready to go, you can enjoy one along with a hard-boiled egg or an apple – it’s perfect if you don’t have time to actually cook anything. Is it a substitute for a real meal? Nope! Buuuut it can give you extra fuel and nutrients when you’re on a time crunch and in a hurry.

For travel

I love wrapping up a homemade protein bar and popping it in my tote bag when we’re traveling, along with the usual suspects: jerky, tea, an apple, some chocolate, LMNT packs, trail mix, and a tuna pouch. I can never find any of my go-to protein bars at the airport, so it’s nice to have one on hand that you know you enjoy.

Post-workout fuel

These are great if you’re heading to the gym and then have to head straight to an appointment or back to work. It gives you a burst of protein, carbs, and healthy fats, plus it’s portable and not messy. 😉

Late-night snacks

Despite what you may have heard, it is not harmful to eat before you go to bed if it’s macro-balanced. Sometimes if you’re hungry, you may need a bit of protein and carbs to prevent a glucose crash in the night, disputing sleep. Just make sure that it’s balanced and not too sugary, which makes these bars an excellent choice. More of my favorite pre-bedtime snacks include hard-boiled eggs and some fruit, yogurt with some grain-free granola, and deli meat rolled up with hummus.

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Re-sharing this post because it’s a yearly staple for us and I know so many of you love them, too!! These flourless pumpkin chocolate chip bars are SO good and I usually have all of the ingredients for this healthy fall dessert on hand and ready to go.

Let the avalanche of all things pumpkin begin.

I feel like this year, a lot of people are playing it cool when it comes to pumpkin. You know, trying not to act *too* excited about its arrival. (Also it could totally be the fact that many of us are still experiencing true summer weather.) And then, there are people like me who have already enjoyed a PSL (or a few….), and upon seeing the shelf of pumpkin-filled cans at Trader Joe’s, I did the slow-mo run to them, arms wide open, and a creepy smile on my face.

I just can’t help myself.

While the Pilot doesn’t go crazy for pumpkin at all, I gave birth to two pumpkin-obsessed little friends, who share my enthusiasm for this festive gourd.

Flourless Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

This afternoon, I decided to embark on my first pumpkin baking adventure of the season, with chocolate chip pumpkin bars. It was a twist on my beloved flourless blueberry breakfast bake (recipe is in the book!), and uses creamy almond butter and egg as the base. The result: a dense, buttery, perfectly spiced, and sweet healthy pumpkin dessert or snack. It’s also amazing in the morning with some butter and a side of scrambled eggs.

Here’s this healthy pumpkin recipe if you’d like to give it a try!

and a video!

Sharing this quick and healthy snack recipe for crispy ranch air fryer chickpeas!

Hi hi! How is the day going? We’re chilling here at home and taking it easy today. I’ve been studying, cleaning, participating in retail therapy, and cooking some tasty eats. I made these super delicious air fryer chickpeas and wanted to share the recipe with you.

The kids and I LOVE the Bienas chickpea snacks (we order them from Thrive Market!) but they tend to be a little on the pricey side, especially when the three of us consume a bag in a single sitting. I was looking at them the other day and thought it would be a fun experiment to make them on my own.

It was way easier than I thought and I made a giant batch that we enjoyed yesterday afternoon. These will definitely be making another appearance as part of meal prep and packed lunch snacks for the kids.

Crispy Ranch Air Fryer Chickpeas

Here are the ingredients to make these lil beauties:

2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Avocado oil (you can also use olive oil)

Seasoning of choice. Since I did a ranch version, I included onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley, dried dill, dried chives, salt and pepper. You can also get wild and use Everything But the Bagel Seasoning, Dill Pickle seasoning, curry, anything you like!

How to make crispy air fryer chickpeas

Step one

Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Gently pat dry with a paper towel. Preheat the air fryer to 390.

Step two

Lightly coat the chickpeas with a drizzle of oil and make sure that they’re fully coated.

Step three

Make the seasoning mix in a separate bowl. Stir well and sprinkle the chickpeas with the seasoning mix.

Step four

Add the chickpeas to the air fryer, and make sure they’re evenly spread out. Gently season with salt and pepper.

Step five

Air fry for 12-15 minute

Sharing a recipe for the best dairy-free broccoli salad. This is the perfect side dish for dinners, delicious leftovers for lunch, and an awesome healthy summer BBQ or potluck side dish.

Hey friends! How’s the day going so far? We’re back in town after a trip to Phoenix for Nationals, and have a mountain of laundry + have some virtual 1:1 appointments.

For today’s post, I thought I’d share a summer side dish recipe! Whenever we have friends over during the summer, finding recipes for the *fun* stuff like appetizers and desserts is always super easy. I always like to make sure we have some kind of salad or vegetable, and am always looking for new favorites. Mia recently shared her favorite broccoli salad recipe with me and I knew I had to post it here on the blog! It lasted about 15 minutes in our house.

I accidentally found out that the girls love raw broccoli when we were low on groceries and I was running out of options while packing their lunch + snacks for school. I’ll typically roast broccoli with dinner and they tend to be pretty meh about it. I needed one more spot to fill in their lunch bento boxes, so I added some raw chopped broccoli. When I picked them up, they both said how much they loved the broccoli in their lunch, and I’ve been adding it ever since. This broccoli salad was a HUGE hit in our house – we each had a bowl and it was gone.

Broccoli salad is a great source of fiber and vitamins. It’s also dairy-free, and includes blanched broccoli, which still has a crunch, but can be easier to digest than raw. You simply mix all of the ingredients into a bowl and enjoy! It’s also a versatile recipe; feel free to customize it as you like. You can swap out the almonds for another type of nut, or use a different type of dried fruit (like dried cranberries or raisins) instead of the dates. Just make sure that you don’t skip the celery seed, as it gives it a unique flavor and crunch.

The best dairy-free broccoli salad

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli (or a 12 oz bag of pre cut florets)

Avocado oil mayo (Chosen foods, Sir Kensington or homemade. I like to make my own, or order Sir Kensington from Thrive Market)

Maple syrup (or honey) for a little bit of sweetness

Celery seed – don’t omit this ingredient!

Salt & pepper, to taste

On

This post is sponsored by my friends at NOW Foods. I’ve been a fan of NOW® products for years and am so thrilled to be partnering with them for this post. Check out their site here and use the code FITNESSISTA for 20% off through 12/31/22! They have an amazing selection of supplements, essential oils, beauty and health products, pet products, and sports nutrition. 

Hi friends! How’s the morning going so far? I hope you’re enjoying the day! Since I’ve been home with the kids this summer, I’ve found my way back to quick and efficient at-home workouts. A workout doesn’t have to be long or insanely intense to reap the benefits; a short block of movement and I’m feeling energized and ready to tackle the rest of the day.

Here’s a workout circuit I’ve been enjoying lately. You can do this one anywhere and all you need is your own body weight, which makes it an ideal travel workout. With a warmup (I like 7 minutes of easy cardio), you can complete the whole workout in less than 30 minutes.

As always, check with a doctor before making any fitness changes. Honor your body and modify as needed.

Total Body Bodyweight Blast

Squat to single-leg deadlift (touch the floor):

Place your feet just under your shoulders with toes slightly angled out. Keep your chest lifted and a tight core as you sink back and down into your squat. Pretend like there is a chair behind you, and you’re going to tap your booty to the chair. The weight should remain in your heels. As you rise, come into a single-leg deadlift with both hips square to the floor and touching the floor. Switch sides.

Curtsy lunge to side leg lift:

Start with one leg forward, and toes angled out 45 degrees. Step your other foot totally back behind the front, so that your foot is behind the opposite shoulder. Sink low into a curtsy lunge, them as you exhale, lift the back leg out to the side. Really think about squeezing your glutes to lift your leg. Make sure that you take a nice big step back and to the side for your curtsy lunge.

Inchworm sprawl:

Start standing and walk your hands to bring your body into a plank position. Jump your feet to the outside of your hands, then back to plank position. Walk your hands back to your feet, stand, and repeat. For low-impact, try this against a wall.

Push-