Almond Butter Collagen Balls

Thank you Vital Proteins for sponsoring this post so I can share the recipe for these quick and easy almond butter collagen balls.

When my life gets busy I often order healthy meals from a local meal prep delivery company to make sure I have healthy food options on hand when I don't have quite enough time to do my own meal prep.  I'll order some meals for my boyfriend as well, and recently my local meal prep company came out with some high protein snacks that they now offer in addition to regular meals and my boyfriend requested that we get an order of some high protein peanut butter balls they added to the menu.

We got the balls in our next delivery...and they were GOOD.  Like, really really good.  But I literally could not justify the price of paying for them when I looked at the ingredient list.  It was so basic that I knew I could make my own version in much less time than it would take to meal prep chicken and veggies! I figured I would save my money for the meals that actually really helped save me time on the weekends being able avoid meal prep, and try my own recipe for some nut butter balls!

Instead of using regular vanilla protein powder I used the vanilla collagen peptides from Vital Protein to give these balls some extra health benefits along with the protein. Collagen supports bone and joint health, and promotes healthier hair, skin, nails and digestion! I transformed these basic balls into a wellness powerhouse just by making one simple ingredient swap from protein powder to collagen.  That's why I love using collagen as a protein source now: you get so many other benefits from it and it's normally an easy swap in baking or making desserts!

No baking is needed for these treats though: it literally only took me 15 minutes to mix up all the ingredients and form them into balls.  You can drizzle some chocolate on top if desired, pop um in the freezer for a bit to harden up, and voila.  Good to go!

I also added flaxseed to these balls to give some extra fiber and used almond butter instead of peanut butter because that was all I had on hand.  Honestly I think any nut butter would work for this recipe - I used a smooth, creamy natural almond butter that was not sweetened so I did add some extra sweetener to the recipe.  If your nut butter is sweetened already you may want to omit that. I also used sugar free syrup as a low carb binding agent and sweetener, but you could sub honey/maple syrup for a less artificial option. 

 

Overall, these little balls are pretty hard to mess up and tasted great! I made them this weekend as a little surprise gift for my boyfriend before he left for a week long work trip to take along with him as a snack, but surprise surprise he forgot them and left them at home.  As a 36-year-old who constantly is forgetting his own toothbrush when we take weekend trips together and has to borrow mine (ICK) I'm not all that surprised.  I'm also not all that mad about it though...because now I have these yummy little bites to snack on all by myself while he is gone!!!

Nutritional Information

How to Make BCAA Gummies

 Thank you Vital Proteins for sponsoring this post so I can share this fun idea for turning BCAAs into a yummy and portable gummy snack!

BCAAs are short for Branched Chain Amino Acids and I recently started taking them over the past year to help give my workouts a little extra boost and to aid in muscle recovery. There are tons of benefits to taking BCAAs during workouts: they replenish amino acids in the body to build and maintain muscles, reduce muscle soreness, and they normally come in really yummy flavors! I've always just mixed my BCAAs with water for a flavored drink to sip on during my workout but it's actually possible to turn BCAAs into gummies!

That's right: you can turn your favorite flavors of BCAAs into a portable gummy treat to nibble on around workouts or whenever you feel like having a little snack that is super low calorie and will replenish your body with essential amino acids.

To turn the BCAAs into gummies you literally only need water, powdered BCAAs, and unflavored beef gelatin from Vital Proteins! The gelatin will "gel" with cold water to form the gummy shapes but it's role doesn't stop there: it also provides a great source of collagen protein that is great for better digestion and improved gut health.

If you are the type of person who always likes to be munching on something or would rather eat your food versus drink it...this is the perfect way to make a really high protein, low calorie and muscle building snack! 

You will need some type of mold to pour the gummy liquid into. I experimented with ice cube trays, silicone candy molds, and silicone cupcake liners.

While the candy molds made the cutest BCCA snacks, I found it was hard to pop them out in one piece and a lot of the gummies broke during the process.

I had the best luck using regular old silicone cupcake liners.  You can fill them as high or low as you would like and after the gel sets the gummies are really easy to pop right out of the liner.

You will be surprised at how many gummies one batch will make! The amount will vary based on the size of mold you use but it does make a LOT! You can just keep snacking away on these suckers though because they have amazing nutritional stats:

Nutritional Information

Healthy Chocolate Collagen Loaf (With Hidden Veggies!)

Thank you Vital Proteins for sponsoring this post so I can share the recipe for this chocolate loaf that tastes just like a sweet dessert but is actually packed with tons of fruits and veggies!

GUYS. I'm so excited to be sharing this chocolate loaf with you! First and foremost: it tastes amazing.  Like legit: tastes just like a slice of chocolatey deliciousness complete with mini chocolate chips and everything. But SURPRISE: I had to go and make it healthy and stuff it with some really good-for-you ingredients.

There are actually 18 DIFFERENT KINDS of fruits and vegetables in this loaf. Say whatttt??? Yup. 18!!! The largest quantity definitely comes from one of my favorite starchy veggies: sweet potato! Mashed sweet potato is used in this loaf to cut back on the amount of flour needed and to also add extra moisture. The result?? Soft, chocolatey, moist deliciousness that I promise tastes nothing like an actual sweet potato.

So where do the other 17 veggies/fruits come from? No- you don't need to break out a food processor to start grinding up 17 other veggies.  All you need is a scoop of Vital Proteins Collagen Sports Greens!

This collagen supplement from Vital Proteins is a POWERHOUSE of nutrients.  First and foremost: one serving includes 26 grams of protein from both collagen peptides and watermelon seed protein (a natural, plant based protein) so you get all the added health benefits of extra protein and collagen including healthy bones, joints, ligaments, skin and hair tissue. On top of that, it also includes 17 organic fruits and vegetables such as organic wheatgrass, organic kale, organic lemon, organic raspberry, organic spinach, organic acerola cherry and more.

Woah. That's a lot of stuff to stick in one loaf.  So the most important question...does is actually taste good??? Or like...organic watermelon kale loaf??? Have no fear - I promise it tastes delicious.  I baked this on a Friday night when my boyfriend got stuck out of state from work due to a snow storm.  He made it home the next day and tried the loaf without any idea of what was in it and declared it one of my best recipes yet! He's been enjoying it for breakfast and I've been enjoying it as my afternoon snack lately with some nut butter spread on top.

Crazy to say because it is MARCH but I'm actually typing this during ANOTHER snow storm that just hit us in Pennsylvania. Surprise surprise...my boyfriend got stuck out of state for work due to the weather AGAIN from a canceled flight.  I do miss him...but I'm not sad about the fact that I can polish off the rest of these leftovers without having to share ;) This loaf is a great source of healthy carbs so I think I'll gobble up a slice or two before heading out to shovel myself out.  We are supposed to get between 10-14 inches of "heart attack" heavy snow so I'm going to need some extra fuel to get through it!!

Nutritional Information

Healthy Chocolate Bark (Dairy Free and Vegan!)

If you ever get a craving for something that's a little sweet and a little salty, this healthy chocolate bark that is dairy free and vegan makes the perfect snack for the mid-day munchies or will cure that evening sweet tooth with just a small nibble! It comes together super quick with very minimal ingredients and you won't feel any guilt after snacking on this healthier chocolate treat.

You really only need three separate ingredients to make this bark but the most important one is Cocoa Bar in a Jar! This stuff is AMAZING: it is gluten free, dairy free, vegan, and tastes just like chocolate! Only better for you :) (Code "MYGIRLISHWHIMS10" gets you 10% off Cocoa Bar in a Jar)

I've shared a full recipe at the end of this post but here are some pictures of the process!

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and spread 8 tbs of Cocoa Bar in a Jar on top of the paper

Pecan Butter Protein Balls

This single serve recipe for Pecan Butter Protein Balls comes together in only 5 minutes and is the perfect portable protein snack

I've been wanting to try a recipe for protein balls for awhile now and I finally had some time this weekend to experiment a bit and try some recipes out! I'm happy to report back that these little balls turned out FABULOUS and I can see myself getting up close and personal with TONS more balls soon. Erm, protein balls I mean. I'm getting protein balls all up in my face is what I mean to say.

Is it bad that every time I talk about balls I act like I'm 16 again and try to make slightly inappropriate jokes about them? I did it earlier this month while making turkey meatballs for dinner, every time I go to barre class and the teacher says to "squeeze your blue ball" while we are squatting and working our inner thighs with ball work I snort a little bit to myself...sigh.  I think it's time to work on my maturity level a bit.

I DON'T have to work hard on this recipe though because it's seriously the easiest thing to make and part of why it's so delicious is because I used a reeeeeeally yummy pecan butter from Goodson Pecans as the nut butter in the recipe. Literally the only two ingredients in the butter are toasted pecans and salt and oh boy. That's all that you need to make some creamy delicious buttah for sure.

I whipped this batch up for my dessert Sunday night so I only needed a singled serve version (and I may or may not have only had enough pecan butter left for a single serving because spoonfuls of nut butter are my favorite guilty pleasure to indulge in on the weekend...whoops!) but you can easily double or triple this recipe to make a batch for the week.  Just store the balls in the fridge!

Thanks for sending me some pecan butter to try Goodson Pecans: (this is not a sponsored post but I was sent the butter c/o) you've gotten me hooked on this protein ball trend and I can't wait to try some more varieties!

Nutritional Information

This recipe makes four protein balls for 54 calories each, 4 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fat and 5 grams of protein each.