Protein Energy Bites - A Grab & Go Snack • Where We Gather

One of the many adjustments in the first year and a half of being married, has been learning that Chris always needs to eat 3 square meals a day. Shocker, I know. Call me crazy, but this is just never how I lived as a single woman. When I am home alone (which is always, since COVID), I am a “grazer.” I grab a bite to satisfy my gnawing stomach and keep on going with my day. I am not going to pretend that this is satisfying, because I am always back in the kitchen in 45 minutes looking for another bite to eat. Chris, on the other hand, is planning out lunch while finishing breakfast. That said, these quick, tasty, nutrient-packed, protein energy bites have been a lifesaver for both of us over the past couple of weeks since I started making them.

I love baking, but I don’t love cooking. This can be dangerous, because instead of having balanced leftovers in the fridge to eat, I grab a slice of zucchini bread, a muffin, or a brownie. Not ideal while we are all trying to keep up our motivation to do our home workouts. These protein energy bites are somewhere in between. No baking or cooking involved even though they are packed with the good stuff. They don’t take any work once they are made, aside from walking into the next room to grab one, which I think I can handle. AND it keeps me from getting ravenously hungry and eating whatever I come across first, all because I was too lazy to make food while my hunger was still manageable.

the process of mixing and forming protein energy bites

Chances are that if you have little ones, they will probably like helping you make these and they will likely eat them too! Total win/win when trying to come up with things for them to do at home all day plus getting them to eat something healthy.

Not that you asked, but… I am learning from Dr. Beth Westie just how important it is to eat way more protein than we do, as women, all for the health of our hormones. That said, I think it’s a real game changer that these bites also include protein powder, SO DON’T LEAVE THAT INGREDIENT OUT! (Also, you should definitely check out what Dr. Beth Westie has to say about the huge role that hormones play in our health.)

Ok, but back to what you really want to know. Here’s how to make them:

ingredients in a bowl for protein energy bites

What you will need:

1 1/3 cups old fashioned oats (rolled oats) I’m sure this would be great with gluten free oats as well
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup of creamy nut butter (I use almond butter, but I have also used a mix of almond and cashew butter because it’s all I had. Both were great.)
1/2 cup honey
1/8 tsp salt

*pro tip: Add your ingredients in the above order with the same 2 Cup measuring cup, and you will only need to dirty one item. Dry ingredients first, wet ingredients second. Take it from someone who doesn’t have a dishwasher!! You can even put your nut butter and honey in the measuring cup at the same time to save time scraping out the cup twice.