As so many men are, my husband has been blessed with a super fast metabolism and needs to eat a TON to keep from losing weight (must be nice huh? I eat one crab rangoon and am bloated for a week, lol). Given this fact, I am always looking for creative and healthy ways to provide J with snacks throughout the day in addition to the lunches (yes, multiple lunches – why can’t failure to gain weight be my problem? lol) I pack him, because if he were to buy all of his meals/snacks at work we would literally have zero money, haha. I’ve had a lot of success with sending him with “protein balls” (we’re a big fan of this recipe for no bake energy bites) or little egg muffins (I’ll post my version of this recipe soon!), but we’re always looking to switch it up. Since he prefers his pre and post workout meals to be something quick and not too heavy, I decided to create a recipe for flourless protein muffins. In coming up with this recipe, I adapted it from several that I viewed online, just omitted flour and added extra egg whites and nutella since I had it on hand (and who doesn’t love nutella?). Well, I whipped up a few batches during the fake Independence Day hurricane while we were stuck in the house, and J gave me the thumbs up! Granted he will eat anything, but I tried one myself and really like it, you won’t even miss the flour in the recipe (probably because of the yummy nutella lol). Needless to say these went right into the snack rotation for the next work week, since they will keep in a ziplock bag or container for about 3-4 days, I am able to make a large batch on Sunday and have them ready to go for the week. Try these out in place of your protein or power bar, as they are super high in protein and are much more cost effective!

BANANA NUTELLA PROTEIN MUFFINS (MAKES 6)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 whole egg
• 3 egg whites
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1/4 cup Nutella (sub peanut butter or another form of nut butter if you wish)
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (or vanilla, whatever you have on hand)
• 1 Tsp. baking powder

DIRECTIONS

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix all ingredients together until smooth. 

Step 2: Line a muffin tin with six cupcake or muffin liners (I use the foil ones) and fill each about 3/4 of the way with muffin batter.

I didn’t use muffin liners for my first batch but will from now on for easy clean up.

Step 3: Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the tops are no longer gooey and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Enjoy!