It is hard to meet anyone that doesn’t like peanut butter. The spread has some of the most beautiful tastes, and the way it sticks to the roof of the mouth before it melts for your taste buds is just excellent. Peanut butter defines the term delicious in a unique way.
But the question that many peanut butter lovers’ has on their minds is whether it is healthy. How does peanut butter help our bodies? We explore these questions below.
Apparently peanut butter all over the US has been contaminated by salmonella. Here is the story of the tainted processed legume product.
Image credit: Sparta Systems
On the way out the door to a meeting or an appointment, you feel a twinge of hunger. You really need to grab a quick snack, but you are sick of fruit and protein bars. The solution is simple: grab two peanut butter protein balls and you’ll be good to go for the next 2-3 hours.
The exact ratio of ingredients will depend a little on the kinds of protein powder and peanut butter you use. I used a low carb, French Vanilla flavored protein for this recipe, but other flavors work fine as well; in fact I think next time I will try chocolate.
Some natural peanut butters have more or less oil than average, so you might need to increase or decrease the amount of protein powder based on your PB. You can choose to use the vanilla extract or the additional ingredients. I would advise experimenting.
If you are anything like me or the rest of the bodybuilding / powerlifting / weightlifting world, you answered “ME ME ME!” to both questions. If so, this recipe is for you. I could not post an easier recipe and prepping a meal can’t be quicker unless you are unwrapping a protein bar. That said… on with the recipe!
1 scoop of protein powder; chocolate, vanilla, or peanut butter
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
milk or water
Mix all ingredients together in a small glass bowl. If the resulting mixture is too thick add a couple drops of milk or water to loosen it up until it reaches your desired consistency. Since it is already in a glass bowl, microwave on high for 30-45 seconds. Mixture should come out to a cake/brownie like consistency.
Many friends of mine have doubted this recipe, thinking the peanut butter protein brownies would be mediocre at best. Instead what they find is a protein party in their mouths. Give this one a try for a quick high protein, high ‘healthy-fats’ snack.
The reason I make a big deal about the use of a glass bowl, is because you do not want to be cooking anything in microwave safe plastic containers. Plastic containers contain trace amounts of phytoestrogens, which seep into food when it is stored or cooked inside such containers. A lifetime of these estrogens can have a negative impact on testosterone levels and they tend to promote cancer in laboratory animals. It might not kill you, but your best bet in today’s toxic society is to avoid anything that could possibly be related to cancer. Every little bit helps.
