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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Cowboy Caviar Recipe

This cowboy caviar recipe is a delicious dip packed with beans, avocados, corn and loads of more southwestern flavors! A perfect side or appetizer. It comes from my Dad’s side of the family, but I think each family has their own version. I happen to love ours. 

I love that you get that creamy coolness from the avocados with some crunch from the peppers. I love the sweet and the little hint of spicy… mmmmm so yummy. And, it’s easy which is great for when you want something really tasty but you don’t have a lot of time to put something super fancy together. It’s just simple and delicious. Just how it should be.

This recipe is perfect for a potluck or family gathering. I wish I would have thought to bring on our last Deer Valley adventure. As you already know, we are a die hard Deer Valley family. We absolutely love visiting and we are begging our readers to go too, which is paying off because so many of you have emailed (keep them coming!!) about your trip to Deer Valley. 

Deer Valley

We went up a few weekends ago and oh my goodness it was fun! I know it’s ch

Traeger Smoked Cheezits

Irresistible snack alert!!! I don’t even know how this happened or what to tell you other than, I smoked cheezits and then I ate them all. 

Ok, I didn’t eat them all but for someone who isn’t really into rando snacks like this, it’s a pretty big deal that I couldn’t keep my grubby little hands out of them. 

We had some of our best friends over one night for dinner and swimming and afterwards ended up in the backyard roasting marshmallows and chatting away until the stars came out. If you’ve snagged a copy of our cookbook, Raised in the Kitchen you know what this is called, Sobremesa and it’s honestly my favorite part of the entire book. I’ll let you read all about it yourselves, but man, it was suuuuch a good night. 

And then Steve mentioned that his friend had smoked cheezits and I became obsessed. I lasted 4 days before curiosity got the best of me and I went for it. I decided to not google any recipes but to just wing it on my own and I am pretty dang sure that’s why it turned out awesome, it was pure inspiration. 

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Cheese Stuffed Pretzels

Why are soft, salty homemade soft pretzels so dang good? Picture a golden chewy pretzel dotted with coarse grains of salt and…wait for it…stuffed with melty cheese! Bam!

Pretzels are going to take over the world. Or my blog. Probably both. We love our soft pretzels with cheese sauce, but I started thinking what if I put cheese on the inside? Nailed it! So good! For our sweet tooth people, we have our cinnamon roll pretzel bites that are heavenly and I just can’t stop thinking about variations of soft pretzels!

These cheese stuffed pretzels blow Annie’s in the mall out of the park. Dude, do not tell me you don’t secretly love those hot, salty, bready pieces of deliciousness dipped in oh, so very fake cheese. Gosh, I can taste it sitting here!!! Sometimes you just need one of those to get you through the shopping!

But these homemade pretzels are so much better! The outside is all chewy and salty and wonderful, and the inside is like pure squishy, soft flipping perfection, but then, oh my gosh, then you hit the cheese. It’s blasted wonderful! It’s so melty! And, and, it’s not fake cheese! It’s the real deal!!!! And when you tear a piece off, it like stretches with the bread like an awesome piece of pizza. HECK YES!

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Creamy Artichoke Dip [+ Video]

This is the best creamy artichoke dip we’ve ever had, at home or in a restaurant. Plus, it’s super easy and can be made in the oven or slow cooker.

This creamy artichoke dip comes from my Mom’s best friend. This is definitely one of the most meaningful recipes we have, which is why my mom will be guest posting further down.

I remember everyone raving about it at every gathering we went to growing up. I have never once brought this dip to a party or gathering without someone requesting the recipe. In fact, many times I have quite a few people requesting the recipe. It’s just that good. In fact, out of all the dips I have ever had, including restaurant versions, this one remains my favorite. Is it healthy? Heavens no, but you’ll be quite happy with how delicious it is and let’s be honest, a little applause from your thighs as you walk couldn’t be all that bad, right?

I love how a good recipe can immediately flood you with memories of a person, loved one or event. I sincerely believe that recipes should be shared and passed on between family and friends. They are just as important as stories in our family history.

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