North End Training Camp

Looks like we are going to head up to Bellingham this weekend for a North End training camp for bike season.

We are going to do this route on Saturday, stay overnight at Spiz's and I'm heading back Sunday morning. The route looks fantastic with initial views of the Pacific Sound for the first half of the day and views of Mt. Baker for the second half.

Unfortunately Robin can't make it, the poor guy hasn't received his Passport yet, so he will miss out on all the fun. Skoda, more beer for me! :)

Homemade Power bars

Ok, since I am constantly sucking down Cliff Bars, I decided to try to make my own and see what I could do. After reading a great article on how to make your own energy bars, I made a few tweaks, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work.





My Ingredients

3 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 scoops protein powder
1 T cinnamon
1 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup chopped dates/raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup Ovaltine

1 banana mashed
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup Honey or Agave syrup
1 t Vanilla extract
1/4 cup juice
2 egg whites
1 T vegetable oil
1/4 Cup apple sauce

Optional
1/4 cup Peanut butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients in a bowl
(mix the dry ingredients together before adding liquid ingredients, then mix everything)

2. Put spoonfuls on the waxed paper (use some non-stick spray on the paper)
and form into bars (I use a plain table knife for doing this.)
Spreading the spoonfuls out a bit as you put them on the paper makes this much easier

3. Bake at 330°F for approximately 17 minutes or until the bottoms of your bars are golden brown

Here is what they looked like before going into the oven:















And then after baking:
















The batch yielded 14 bars and were very close in size to a Clif Bar.


I did a nutritional analysis of these bars (yes, I know I'm a geek) and here are the final numbers:


Calories per bar: 253.5

Fat per bar: 6.4 g

Protein: 9.0 g

Sugar: 22.8 g



These numbers were extremely close to the Clif Bar as well! (Almond/Cherry was used in comparison)

The fat content was a little higher in my bars due to the added nuts, but you can tweak as you like. I opted to add chocolate chips, and next time may add Peanut butter, look forward to a revised recipe soon!

All in all, they turned out great, fit great into the snack ziplocks (which are reusable so less waste). If you try, let me know how they turn out!