Homemade version similar to an Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar

 

My regular readers know I'm not a big fan of chocolate.  Or peanut butter for that matter.  I don't hate chocolate or peanut butter, but I don't crave it and would certainly pass it up for something similar in vanilla.  However, my husband loves chocolate.  And peanut butter.  And a typical work day lunch for him involves grabbing a cup of coffee and a high protein, low carb, low sugar bar.   The thing is, they are so expensive!  

Last winter (or spring?) I started to collect recipes and idea's for a homemade version.  Then, last week, I did a few trial and errors and tweaking to see if I could come up with something that was similar to the protein bars my husband was buying, tasted good, was portable for him to take to work and yet was low in sugar and carbs.  I ended up with one that I think is pretty good and my husband told me to stop 'tweaking' as he likes it just like it is.  Not any sweeter, not any more chocolate.  Not anything.  He said this is it.  Since they were ultimately for him anyway, I said "OK" and there you go!

Homemade Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars

1 3/4 c chocolate protein powder (I use Isopure - link at the bottom of this post)

1/4 c (kind of heaped) peanut flour

2 T cocoa powder

2 T Xylitol or favorite natural sweetener

1 t vanilla extract or powder

1/4 c butter

2/3 c sugar free, natural peanut butter (I used Smuckers*)

1/4 c heavy cream or half and half

1/4 c water

Also:

1/3 c peanut butter (Smuckers*)

1 T butter

2 T cream

2-3 T Splenda or Ideal sweetener

Blend the protein powder, peanut flour, cocoa, vanilla powder and Xylitol in a bowl.  In a microwaveable bowl, place the butter and peanut butter and microwave until melted.  Stir in the cream and water - and if you are using vanilla extract instead of powder, add it to this bowl.  Blend the wet and dry.  It seems a bit crumbly at first but use your hands and continue mixing until it starts to bind.  You can add 1 teaspoon of cream more if you really need to.  Pat and press the mixture into a lined or sprayed 8X8" pan.

Melt the 1/3 c peanut butter and butter in a bowl in the microwave and add the cream and Ideal or Splenda.  Spread this over your bars.   Refrigerate until the topping sets up then slice into long bars.  I get 10 bars from this. 

I then wrapped each individually in saran wrap to make them portable and quick to grab.  We keep ours in the refrigerator. 

*I use Smuckers brand because other brands of 'natural' peanut butter tend to be runny and won't set up well.  Be careful not to use a 'spread' because your bars won't set up well and the topping might not set up and stay runny.

Products I used in my recipe;


             

Sugar Free Almond Poppy Seed Muffins ( a low carb option!)

Almond Poppy Seed -  Low Carb and Sugar Free!

Last night I was in the mood for muffins.  An almond poppy seed muffin to be precise.  The thing is - as some of my readers know, we are currently embarking on a month of 'sugar free' and 'low carb'.  It's something we do about 3 times a year and have since 2002. That means you can't just grab a slice of bread, a piece of cake, a cookie or... a muffin.  If you want a food that is similar to the unhealthy sugar laden, refined white flour version; well, it takes a little work and a few special products to make it happen.

The Almond Vanilla Poppy Seed muffin I came up with started out as a basic 'idea' from the cookbook; 500 Low Carb Recipes.  As I always say however; play with your food.  Make it your own.  I took the idea behind a lemon muffin and tweaked it to my own tastes.  I'm still going to tweak this one a little more but it's close enough right now that I'd happily serve these 'almost like the real thing' muffins to guests without hesitation.




Almond Vanilla Poppy Seed Muffins
Sugar free and low carb

1 c almond meal
1 c vanilla flavored whey protein
1/4 c coconut flour (optional*)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c Splenda
1/4 c Xylitol or Erythritol
2 T poppy seeds
1 c sour cream
2 eggs
1 1/2 T water
1 t vanilla
3 t almond extract

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and whisk the sour cream, eggs, water and extracts in another.  Blend them together using a wooden spoon or rubber scraper briefly, but don't beat the batter.  Stir just until blended well.

Pour the batter into about 15 regular sized paper lined muffin cups (or sprayed with a non-stick oil).  Bake approximately 17 minutes or until golden brown and done in the center.  Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool. 



*I like the addition of the 1/4 cup coconut flour because it thickens enough like 'real' flour to make the batter look and feel like a regular muffin batter and gives the muffins a great texture - without any coconut flavor imparting itself into the finished product.  You can leave this out, but the batter will be a little bit runnier and the muffin a little tiny bit more eggy and less muffiny.


UPDATING IN JUNE 2019 TO ADD:  Another great muffin that uses pumpkin in it can be found in my January 2018 post here.

 

You might be interested in these low carb cookbooks;

        


500 Low-Carb Recipes: 500 Recipes from Snacks to Dessert, That the Whole Family Will Love
1,001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes from Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back
500 More Low-Carb Recipes: 500 All New Recipes From Around the World

Homemade Deviled Eggs with Mayonnaise and Vinegar

Growing up as a child in the heartland of the Midwest we had Deviled Eggs fairly often, but there was never a recipe.  At that time we simply mashed the yolks with a heaping spoonful of Miracle Whip, scooped them into the shell and sprinkled with paprika. 

In my home today we don't use Miracle Whip so much as real Mayonnaise and there still isn't really a recipe, but I did a pretty good 'guesstimate' this last time I made them.  The cool thing about Deviled Eggs is once you get your basic recipe down, you can play with it.  Not that most people want you to - but you can.  Add onions,, cheese, pea's, chipotle, olives...  the list goes on.  

Although I did not add them to the eggs in the photo, our family loves them topped with green olives.  Usually sliced thin, I put 2 slices and one tiny sliver of red pimento on them and they look beautiful.  When we ate the eggs in the photo above, we each took a whole green olive and pressed it into the center filling.  Yum!


Deviled Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs
3 T mayonnaise
1 t mustard
1 t vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika

Hard boil 6 large eggs.  I say 6 only because most deviled egg trays hold 12 finished halves.  If you have a larger tray or don't need to only make 12, then by all means double or triple the recipe!  After you cool your eggs, slice them in half lengthwise.  Carefully pop the yolk into a bowl.  Place the white half on your tray.  If you need or want your eggs perfectly smooth, smash them through the wire of a colander.  Most people however (me included) simply mash the yolks in a bowl with a fork or spoon and with 3 tablespoons mayonnaise, a scant teaspoon of mustard and 1 t vinegar.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Either pipe the filling into the egg shells with a frosting applicator tip or just squeeze through the snipped corner of a plastic baggy or just spoon the filling in the shell halves evenly.  Sprinkle with paprika and serve chilled.


Need to know how to make a hard boiled egg that is EASY TO PEEL?  I have the secret in a previous post;  here.





         

Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes (that just happen to be sugar free and low carb)

Chocolate Coffee Cupcake with Creamy Vanilla Frosting - all sugar free and no flour!

If you are just discovering An American Housewife and it's your first time here (where have you been since 2006!?)  I am currently posting a number of low carb and sugar free options.   I'll probably be doing this for another week or two but also still posting regular recipes as well.  So if you are here for the low carb and sugar free - welcome!  Enjoy the delicious choices you might not have even known were available.  If you are here for the regular recipes - welcome!  I have thousands of those too!

My family loves me all the time, but they especially loved me last night when they dined on chocolate coffee cupcakes with fluffy vanilla frosting.  I even surprised them with a few of the cupcakes holding a special surprise in the center;  a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! (Sugar free of course!).  Those little buggers are expensive though, so I only did 4 cupcakes with candies in the center and the rest were just chocolate.  (For the record, I found a great deal on the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups online at Amazon;  12 packages for only $25, which is a steal over the price I paid for 1 at the grocery store this weekend!)




Low Carb, Sugar Free Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes

1 heaping scoop (about 3 1/2 - 4 T) sugar free whey protein powder**
1/4 c cocoa powder
3 1/2 - 4 T almond flour
3/4 t baking powder
dash salt
1/2 c Erythritol
1/2 c Splenda
2 t vanilla extract
1/3 c cold coffee*  You can substitute water if you don't like coffee flavor at all
1 egg
1/2 stick butter (1/4 c)
1/4 c heavy cream

Mix the protein powder, cocoa, ground almonds, baking powder, salt, Erythritol, and Splenda in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk or mix to blend.  Add the cold coffee or water, vanilla, egg and butter.  Mix with an electric mixer until blended well.  Add the cream and carefully pulse so it doesn't splatter, mix until blended.

Spoon batter into about 6 regular sized cupcake paper lined muffin tins or if you have a cupcake maker (see photo below) you can make a ton of mini-cupcakes.  I actually did both sizes yesterday.  If you choose to fill them with a peanut butter cup, only fill them 2/3 full and press a candy in the center.  For the rest, you can fill about 3/4 full or to the top as they will fall while cooling to a flat top (they don't stay peaked like sugar and flour cupcakes do).

Bake at 350 until the centers are done (or in your mini cupcake maker according to directions, which is about 5 minutes or so until the light clicks off).  Carefully remove and let cool completely before frosting. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have a variety of frosting recipes here on An American Housewife that you can click on by the label to your right - however I didn't use a recipe yesterday.  I just whipped up a basic frosting by using;

Butter
Ideal Confectioner's Sugar Substitute
Vanilla
Cream

I probably used about 3 T butter, 1t vanilla, a cup of sugar substitute and about a teaspoon or two of cream.  Whipped until smooth.  Note:  I made two batches of cupcakes yesterday and two different batches of frosting.  The first, I used Swerve sweetener.  The second, Ideal.  I preferred the Ideal brand.  It whipped up fluffier and smoother than Swerve and tasted sweet and 'real' while the Swerve left a 'cool' feeling in my mouth as if I'd eaten mint.  My husband liked both.

** I made two batches yesterday and used Isopure Vanilla Whey Protein for one batch and the Chocolate Isopure Whey Protein for the other.  I think both work equally well, but the second gives it just a hint of a deeper chocolate flavor.  I choose the Isopure brand because it's the only one I've found that is 0 sugar and 0 carbs.








You might be interested in some of the products used in this recipe;

                   

 

Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinner Idea: Pizza's on Tortillas (Low Carb option too!)

When I was younger I know friends used to make individual pizza's on English Muffins.  While I support them enjoying this snack or lunch, I can't say I ever enjoyed it.  I guess my love and adoration for English Muffins goes so deep that I can't imagine defiling them in that way... and admittedly I would much rather eat them toasted with butter or maybe a slice of American cheese, or peanut butter - or on a home version of the McMuffin.  Another idea people use for quick pizza is a nice, thick, flour tortilla.  Now this is an idea I can get behind...  especially when we are currently cutting out sugar and eating low carb meals!

What could be easier than laying out flour tortillas, smearing them with a yummy pizza sauce and then topping them as you wish?  Popped into the oven to bake and you have a hot, delicious pizza.  My personal favorite for a thin tortilla pizza is a Greek feta, spinach concoction but my youngest would tell you 'cheesy garlic' and my husband would answer 'pepperoni'.  No problem.  We can have them ALL.

Use YOUR favorite brands!  Tortilla shells, pizza sauce and toppings....  whatever you wish.  Our family used a low carb tortilla and the lowest sugar sauce I found at the grocery store on Saturday, which happened to be Rao's brand with just 2 grams sugar per 1/3 cup - but because you only use less than a tablespoon per tortilla, the sugar is almost null.




Quick Tortilla Pizza's

Rao's Pizza Sauce (or your favorite brand)
Low carb tortillas (or your favorite brand)
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Optional toppings;  banana peppers, pepperoni, diced ham, favorite cheeses, mushrooms, olives, onions, peppers, sausage, hamburger, spinach, chicken...  whatever you like!

Spread each tortilla with sauce.  Top with your favorite toppings.  Place in a pre-heated oven at 425 degrees.  I placed mine on a pizza stone that I keep in the oven at all times.  You can also place them directly on the rack or a baking sheet or a pizza pan.  Bake approximately 8 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.  Remove with a wide spatula to a waiting plate.  Slice and serve.