Banana Oat Bars

The other day I saw Tami make these banana oat bars, and a quick run down her ingredient list I thought I had just about everything to make them.  I thought they would be the perfect grab and go for my pre-workout meal in the morning.  No need to wait to toast an English muffin.

I had to make a few changes, because I didn’t have date sugar and for the life of me I cannot find my 8×8 baking pan.  I am sure it’s at work, at my desk, in the cabinet under my kitchen counter, in the pantry, on top of the refrigerator – yep, I never put anything back in the same place and it drives Tony nuts.  I am just used to my scattered brain.

Banana Oat Bars (inspired by Tami!)

8 servings: 186 calories, 6.6 fat, 29 carbs, 4.5 fiber and 4.1 protein

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chopped dried fruit – I used 1/4 cup craisins and 1/4 cup chopped dried dates
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tablespoon of honey

Heat oven to 350.  Since I am lazy, I just threw everything in a bowl and mixed it up with my hands to break up the banana and make sure that the applesauce covered everything – at first I thought it was going to be dry, but after a couple minutes it got all combined.

I spread it in a cake pan, having never found the 8×8 pan and giving up, and baked it for 30 minutes.  I let it cool, then cut it into 8 slices.

The verdict?  Very tasty – as in I ate the whole thing – my problem?  It was a texture thing – a bit too chewy for me.  I am a Nature Valley crispy crunchy granola person, so I baked the remainder of them last night for another 20 minutes at 350 and they became crunchy on the outside, yet slightly chewy on the inside – perfect!  Thanks Tami!

When I saw that I only had legs on the strength calendar and no cardio I was a bit perplexed, and actually thought I might get a break.  Um, no.  First, can we just all laugh at what it says at the top of the workout?

“Walk across this workout and step to victory!!”  Ha!

First of all, to go from doing 3 sets of 20 reps (both legs being 1 rep) of the walking barbell lunges, THEN going to single leg barbell squats – well, my legs were like jello at the end.  I couldn’t have even tried to do cardio after that if I wanted to.

I used 8 pound weights with that exercise above.  The whole routine took me 40 minutes.

And since I had so much time before I had to get to work, I took a super long hot shower, and had time to put on makeup, fix my hair AND wear jewelry!  That’s my new goodwill outfit – the pants cost $2.99 – they are Body by Victoria pants – I didn’t even know Victoria Secret made anything other than underwear!  And the top was .99 cents – score! 

Of course, Tony thinks that people die in these clothes, then pee on them and then their family gives them away.  I say no way – bring on the deals!!  I do wash them before I wear them!

So I decided while the granola was baking last night to throw together a sort of breakfast bake.  I lined an oven safe dish with 3 ounces of sliced canned potatoes, then mixed 1/2 a cup of egg whites with 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1.5 ounces of chopped rosemary ham, and 1 slice of American cheese.  I poured the egg mixture into the potato lined bowl and baked it for 25 minutes, or until the egg was set.

I have to say, that pre-workout granola bar stuck with me!  I ate it at 6:45 and didn’t heat up my breakfast until 10:15.  At work I inverted the bowl and then put it under the broiler to heat up – and it ended up crisping up the potato “crust” so it was crispy on the outside and eggy in the middle.  So good – this “bowl” comes in at 274 calories and 26 grams of protein.

With some blackberries and banana on the side – I’ve learned that if I eat a banana with berries it doesn’t spike my blood sugar as much as if I were to eat the banana by itself.

I had an errand to run at lunch so no lunch time workout – I kind of missed the pool! 

My lunch was more lasagna soup!  This time with whole wheat egg noodles – I am really loving these egg noodles – you can’t taste that they are whole grain at all.

The afternoon dragged on and it was time to drive home in the dark – but the ride went by quick!  I am being interviewed for a diabetes magazine!  I’ll provide the details later, but at first I was only going to give some tips on how to deal with high and low blood sugars.

But after talking to the interviewer, she talked to her editor and she said “she’s just so upbeat and positive” for having diabetes!

Well, anyone who knows me well knows that I am a half glass full kind of person.  In my mind there could be worse things than to have diabetes, like breast cancer, lymphoma, etc.  And while a pain in the ass, it is a manageable disease.

They are even sending a professional photographer to my house to take pictures – weee!!  (note to self – get your eyebrows threaded before then!).

So dinner was quick and easy – fried chicken thigh with mashed potatoes and baby cucumbers.  Comfort on a plate, no?’

Stats for the Day:

• 1550 calories, 163 carbs, 73 protein, 68 fat, 22 fiber
• 39% of calories from fat, 18% from protein and 42% from carbs
• Grade of B on caloriecount.com

We have chest and abs on the strength training menu today,  followed by 30 minutes of cardio – but my bags are all packed and I am ready to roll.  Make it a great day!