I have to eat protein in the morning or else I crash by 10am. Thing is, I don't like breakfast to be that sweet. These bars/muffins are low in fat, high in fiber and protein. This is a master recipe that you can customize to your taste. I've even made them pizza flavor with tomato sauce, low fat mozzerella and soy pepperoni. The recipe was inspired by Alton Brown's protein bar recipe that you can find at food.com. Yeah, I really use a scale for this recipe, it comes out perfect every time.
Protein Nuggets
Makes 24 pieces (2 WeightWatcher's points per piece)
Ingredients
- 4 oz soy protein powder (NOT soy flour)
- 2.75 oz whole wheat flour
- 2.25 oz oat bran
- .75 oz wheat germ
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- spices (I usually put 1tsp of cinnamon and some nutmeg and allspice. Any pie/cake spice combo will be good.)
8-11 oz dried fruit chopped small (I highly recommend putting in some candied ginger. I chop the fruit in my food processor because I like the pieces very small.)
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- 1 box of soft silken tofu (12.3 oz) The boxes are great because they are shelf stable but I've used used refrigerated soft tofu as well.
- 1/2 cup milk or juice
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup of applesauce or canned pumpkin. (Pumpkin is great but then you'll have most of a can left over. I buy the little cups of applesauce so I don't have a whole bottle of applesauce to use up before it goes fuzzy)
- 2 heaping tablespoons of something sweet. (I've used pumpkin butter, jam, and maple syrup. I've also forgotten to put sweetener in and the nuggets are still edible but it's better with the sweetener in.)
Preheat the oven to 350
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix each of the wet ingredients thoroughly before adding the next ingredient. You want the silken tofu completely whisked into a smooth consistency. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix thoroughly. Fold in the fruit. The batter will be stiff and not very pretty.
Grease your pan! I use two 12 cup mini muffin pans and baker's spray (the flour and oil stuff) but you can just use oil. The mixture will not rise or spread in the oven. It will bake into whatever shape it's in when you put it in the oven. Put the pans in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Bars might take 5 minutes longer depending on the thickness.
Storing
Let the nuggets cool completely (completely) before storing. I pop the nuggets out of the muffin tins right away and cool them on a rack. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge. I microwave them at work for 5 sec before eating. I eat three for breakfast and make a batch almost every weekend.
Variations
As I said, I've made a pizza flavored version. The original recipe called for peanut butter but the taste is very strong and it adds a lot of fat to the recipe. I made a gluten free version for a friend using a mixture of gluten free flours and a wheat free breakfast cereal. I like to use a mixture of dried fruits. My most recent batch was apricots, cranberries, apples, and candied ginger.
Hope you like them!
O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.
Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass. 1900.
By health I mean the power to live a full, adult, living, breathing life in close contact with what I love — the earth and the wonders thereof — the sea — the sun, all that we mean when we speak of the external world. I want to enter into it, to be part of it, to live in it, to learn from it, to lose all that is superficial and acquired in me and to become a conscious, direct human being. I want, by understanding myself, to understand others.
- The Journal of Katherine Mansfield (1927), entry for Oct. 14, 1922
I gave in and got a facebook account. Now I learn about my friends through their status lines. The friends without accounts I have to actually call because they don't publish their moods publicly. That's weird and maybe wrong.
I'm in Mendocino for work and I'm exhausted so here's a little stream of consciousness to start off the blog.
Angel's trumpets only scent at night but what a perfume!
Can you put a little more awe in it? Coming out of the redwood forest to a view of the coastline.
Northcoast Brewing company (makers of Red Seal and Acme) needs to put their good beer in bottles and start selling it at TJs instead of the yucky hoppy stuff that's there now. the brown ale, the stout and the belgian - sooooo good
I think I'm starting to understand why people pay so much money for a view
It's a tech tech world. My cell has no signal but the hotel has wireless internet in the lobby.
E. and I are in the bar drinking G&Ts talking with J. the 25 year-old bus driver from Illinois and he says he has a tattoo and we say oh of what and he says of an American flag with a corvette logo in the middle and it takes me 2 beats to realize he's not kidding
Must sleep now.
