Double Chocolate Protein Cookies

They're real, and they're spectacular!

Looking for a tasty protein packed snack that is a cookie in disguise? I fed these to coworkers and they had no idea they were good for them. SCORE.

That is totally my go to test for if a recipe is a win or not. Pass it on to coworkers and see if they happily eat it, and then the most important part, ask for more :D

Check out the recipe for these chocolate protein cookies on Food Fanatic.


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Svelte Protein Drinks Giveaway

I am so excited to tell you about this next giveaway, because these drinks are over the top delicious! We are giving away a case (12 bottles) to one lucky winner, and a sample pack (4 bottles) to 2 runners up!!

(images taken from CalNaturale Website)

The wonderful people at CalNaturale contacted me to see if I was interested in trying their organic soy protein drinks. Can I tell you just how happy I was that they contacted me? I am addicted to the chocolate, and cappuccino flavors now and can't wait for the stores up here to start carrying them.

A 15.9 oz container is not only cute, but it's loaded with 16g of good for you organic soy protein. It is also packed with 8g of fiber, and only 9g of sugar! So many bottled protein drinks out there are loaded with 2-4 times that in sugar per serving (no thank you!) The container is 260 calories and 10g of fat, 1.5g saturated. I was kinda wishing the fat wasn't so high, but the taste was so amazing I stopped thinking about it after the second sip.

These drinks have a nice thickness to them, it's not like you are drinking flavored water with a little something mixed in. Cappuccino is a hard flavor to get right, a lot of drinks end up tasting like fake coffee or leave you with a medicinal aftertaste. Not at all the case with svelte, it was perfect. Same goes for the chocolate flavor, no fake, syrupy sticky sweet, just real, good, chocolate. The french vanilla didn't seem as thick as the other flavors, not sure why but I kinda wish it was a little thicker. As for the chai... I've never been a fan of the flavor... in anything, so I had a friend who does like chai try it and she thought the flavor was great!

Other uses I discovered: Add some into your coffee instead of creamer, it's delicious!

UPDATE FYI: A commenter who's opinion I highly value mentioned that she didn't like how sweet these were due to the stevia used, and also felt they were bitter due to the stevia. I would have to personally disagree though, I've tried stevia sweetened sodas and hated the stevia bitterness, but I didn't taste anything like that in these. It really is up to your taste buds and for me I love these things :) and still highly recommend you trying them!


So what do you think? Want to try some? Here are the rules on how to enter:
Giveaway only open to US shipping addresses (sorry my international peeps)
1. Leave a comment picking your favorite Svelte flavor
2. Tweet about the giveaway make sure to include @steph_chows and @calnaturale and a link to the giveaway
3. Facebook about the giveaway and link to the giveaway and to Svelte

You have until 11pm (EST) on Tuesday the 8th to enter!

Can't wait for the giveaway to end or live outside the US and want to try some now?
You can go on their website to see what stores near you carry their product, or purchase them online. For all you Rochester NY folks, they are coming soon to TOPS and are currently in discussions with Wegmans (come on Wegmans put them on your shelves!! I'll totally buy it!!!)

Chocolate Almond Shake

Well I couldn't just stop at cookies with the almond butter! We had to add it into a protein shake for a little something fun :)

Why is a protein shake in a shot glass you may be wondering... because things are always cuter in smaller packages :)

John is a protein powder connoisseur. Some people may know wines... John knows protein powder! Hmmm I'd say it's a 2010 with a very floral bouquet...

umm yeah anyway... some protein powder has a really chalky taste to it.. bleh! But adding a dab of almond butter solves that problem quick!


John's chocolate almond shake

2 scoops chocolate protein powder
2 cups fat free lactaid
1 Tbs MaraNatha almond butter

toss it all in a blender, hit go... drink it up!

New & Improved

Ahh the infamous poose cookie. What's poose you ask? Well, it's me, a nickname that is. What started as Cookiepuss (the lovable carvel ice cream cake) morphed into Cookiepoose and was then shortened to just poose... among other iterations. The name was bestowed upon me by my good friend John, who we now all know as fiance John! I'd go into all the iterations of his nicknames that I've bestowed upon him... but something tells me that wouldn't make him to happy :D

Anyway, Poose cookies, like my nickname, have morphed over time, and now I bring to you the NEW and IMPROVED PROTEIN POOSE COOKIE!!!

*ta daaaa*

let the drooling begin! It's a healthy cookie, packed with whole wheat flour, oats, protein powder... eat them as a snack, eat them as a meal, just eat them! I'm in love with these cookies and so is John... I have no clue how many I've made for him to date... but I make a batch every weekend. Yeah that's right, I know how to treat my man :) Onto the recipe!

Protein Poose Cookies!
recipe by me, stephchows AKA poose

ingredients
1 cup King Arthur whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whey based chocolate protein powder
1 cup Quaker oats (not the quick cook kind)
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbs Splenda sugar blend (or 1/4 cup white sugar)
1 package (7 ounces) Gerber Prunes with Apples baby food (NOT plums and apples) (contains 2 – 3.5oz containers)
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or dark chocolate chips!)
.25 cup walnuts (optional)
pam cooking spray

instructions
preheat oven to 350
In a small bowl whisk together flour, oats, protein powder and baking soda. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Set aside.
In a large bowl stir together splenda sugar blend, applesauce, and prunes with apples containers.
Beat in egg.
Stir in vanilla. (if you want add a little more, mom always said a little extra vanilla never hurt anyone!)
Gradually stir flour mixture into wet mixture. Adding 1/2 cup at a time and stirring until incorporated.
Drop tablespoon fulls onto a silicon baking pad on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Will vary with oven used.

Serve warm or for a summer treat transfer into the freezer and eat frozen a few hours later!

(to make these even healthier, take out some of the chocolate chips and sub in dried fruit and nuts - delicious)

Coffee coolata shake

You already know I'm a gym rat.. when you are a gym rat you learn about things like protein powder... I know what you are thinking.. yuck right? Nope! Especially if you sneak it into a yummy delicious ice cream shake! John and I made these the other day after a run as a snack. So tasty!! We served them up in wine glasses too for a laugh.

while taking a sip "Hmmm this was a good year"
while swirling and sniffing "yes a very nice bouquet with chocolaty undertones"

yes we are nuts... it's true :)

Coffee / chocolate protein shake
1 cup ice coffee (see recipe here)
1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
1/2 cup packed low fat coffee ice cream (i use low fat wegmans cappuccino chip mmmm)
1/2 cup skim milk

Toss in a blender and blend away...

The 100% whey chocolate protein powder has 120 calories in a scoop and 23g protein and it tastes like chocolate milk when you mix it up.. yum! I buy it at BJ's for cheep but here is a link

mmmmmmm