Zone Bars

Silke #2's Note:

These are homemade nutrition bars that maintain a 40-30-30 ratio of carbohydrates, protein and fat, respectively. Really easy to make, really tasty, and good for you! I originally based this recipe on Beth Boomer's Corn Syrup bars on bicyclesource.com, but they were too sweet for me, so I modified it and came up with this.

• Total Time: 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 15

• 250 g oats
• 120 g peanut butter , any style
• 150 g golden syrup or 150 g corn syrup
• 240 g whey protein (chocolate flavor works really well)
• 120 ml water

Directions:

1. Put whey protein into a bowl and add water. Work it together, it's ok if it doesn't all combine, it should be sort of pasty with a bit of powder, but try to mix together as much as possible. Set aside.
2. Pour syrup into a microwavable bowl and microwave on high for 30-40 seconds, until it just softens up a bit. Stir in the peanut butter and mix together. It shouldn't be too hot, if it is let it sit just a bit until it's just warm. Whey protein does not combine well with really hot substances.
3. Stir into the whey and combine. You should be able to dissolve any remaining powder into the peanut butter/syrup mixture, and you've got a very sticky mixture now, so be careful!
4. Either fold the oats into the mixture if your bowl is big enough, or put the oats into a big bowl/pot and add the whey protein/peanut butter/syrup mixture to it with a spatula.
5. After adding the oats, you should knead it into a solid ball, before pressing it into a pan. Let it sit in the refrigerator for about an hour and cut into bars.
6. Note: whey protein can be substituted for soy protein, making the product vegan and non-dairy, though you may need to add a bit of additional sweetener. Can also be done without a microwave, you just might have to put a bit more muscle into combining the peanut butter and syrup.

Reviews

[Chef #164674]

These are excellent. if you cut into 15 servings you get a 1.8 block snack. to get to 1 block you must cut into 27 these get kinda small but they are very simple and tasty. Here is the conversion from grams to ounces 250G oats = 8.8 oz 120G peanut butter = 4.2 oz 150G Golden Syrup = 5.3 oz 240G Whey protein = 8.47 oz 120ml water = 4.057 fl oz (1/2 cup)

[lorilu1]

These bars are very sweet and very filling, however, my mix came out very gooey and runny. I had to just ball it up into servings and put them into individual baggies. Then I read the nutritional info to the right and had a slight heart attack (i'm on the zone diet) that the info provided there wasn't in the zone. It is 31 fat, 56 percent carb and 13 percent protein...but then I saw the note on the bottom that they didn't include the whey protein...whew! Anyway, I thought I followed the exact recipe, except I used honey instead of corn syrup. They are a bit too sweet for me.

[Catherine Robson]

This is very good. My husband was looking for some variety for zone meals. This makes a tasty snack- without the guilt. Thanks for sharing