Weekend Food Prep–Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Protein Bars

I’ve been enjoying oatmeal bars as my afternoon snack lately. I’ve seen lots of different variants on the idea, so my guess is you can adjust this quite a bit to your preferences. Here’s a good starting point, with a balance of macros and a nice, cakey texture.

Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Protein Bars

one. Whisk together the dry ingredients:
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 scoops whey protein powder⁽¹⁾
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs. ground flaxseed
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

two. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients:
3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup liquid egg whites
2 Tbs. canola
1 tsp. vanilla extract
6 tsp. crunchy natural peanut butter, warmed until liquid
2 overripe bananas, roughly chopped

three. Stir the wet and dry ingredients together just until combined.

four. Pour into a large (mine is bigger than 9×13, maybe 10×15 or so?), lightly greased baking pan and spread evenly. Bake until firm in the center, about 25-30 min.

Yields 6 large “meal” size servings, or 8 or more smaller snack servings. This freezes and thaws well, if you need to store some for longer than a few days.

⁽¹⁾ _{I have used both sweetened, flavored whey isolate and unflavored. Both work fine, as long as the flavoring blends with banana and peanut butter ok. Of course, it makes a sweeter final product to use a sweetened protein powder, which may or may not be a bonus in your book. I haven’t tried other kinds of protein powder, so I can’t say how well it might work with other types.}