Outfit Details // Dress: Soprano High Neck Shift Dress | Necklace: Extra Large Ribbon Letter Monogram, c/o BaubleBar | Shoes: Converse Chuck Taylor Shoreline Sneaker | Earrings: Nadri Stud Earrings | Clutch: Glint Embellished Straw Clutch | Watch: Michael Kors Oversized Lexington Gold Watch | Rings: David Yurman Albion Petite Ring, & David Yurman Wheaton Ring | Lips: NARS Lip Gloss in ‘Tasmania’  

Recipe & Decor Details // Gold Mirrored Tray: World Market Gold Mirrored Tabletop Tray | Protein Powder: Beverly International UMP in Vanilla | Coconut Flour: Bob’s Red Mill Coconut Flour | Sweetener: Baking Stevia | Nut Butter: Essentially Coconut Creamy Cashew Coconut Butter | Cake Mix: Simple Mills Vanilla Cake Baking Mix

I can’t believe the Fourth of July is just around the corner! It’s one of the most fun weekends for me, because Andrew and I always meet our friends down at the lake for the long weekend.  However, it’s hard to be healthy when you’re surrounded by yummy greasy food, cocktails that are loaded with unnecessary calories, and ‘merican inspired desserts.  I typically just take those kinds of weekends off and just do my thaaang, but I decided that next weekend I’m going to behave.  There’s a way to be healthy and still enjoy what you’re eating — hence, this recipe for these ‘merican inspired protein cake bars!

As many of y’all know, I eat a crazy amount of protein a day.  Actually, it’s not too crazy, but for people who aren’t used it, it seems like a lot.  When I travel, it’s hard to meet that protein everyday, so I rely on protein whey and protein bars. I fooled around with this protein cake bar recipe in the kitchen, and loved how it turned out!

I just want to warn y’all, that if you’re not used to protein whey or the way protein whey bakes, you may be in for a not-so-grand surprise.  You always see recipes for protein pancakes, I’m sure, that always includes a scoop of vanilla protein powder.  You may have even made the recipe and found that it looks AMAZING, but the texture and taste aren’t what you expected… well, that’s why people use flour and not protein whey to cook and bake.  For someone like me, who needs these kinds of bars to meet my protein, I’m okay with the way it tastes, along with its texture {which isn’t bad by the way, just different}.  I always put something on top of these bars or pancakes to give it some sweetness, like drizzling it with honey or adding light cool whip and sprinkles. Additionally, you can always increase or decrease the amount of protein {I typically increase it because I need as much as I can get, but I recommend not using as much}.

Today, I’ll be sharing with you the recipe to these protein cake bars {that utilize protein whey}, as well as other healthy options for cake bars that don’t use protein whey, but use natural and wholesome ingredients!

Ingredients:

1 scoop vanilla protein whey {I use Beverly International UMP}

1/2 cup baking stevia {or you can use splenda, if you’re sensitive to the taste of stevia, but use their conversion table!}

2 tbsp coconut flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup Fage 0% yogurt

pinch of salt

2 tbsp cashew butter {or any type of nut butter you like! I love PB2!}

1/4 cup egg whites {or more for consistency}

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, and whisk the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
3. Mix together to form batter.
4. Spray a baking dish with coconut oil or Pam spray.
5. Put batter into dish and bake until center is cooked {it took mine about 20 minutes}.
6. Place cake on a cooling rack and once cooled, cut into squares.
7. Spread cool whip on the bars and throw some sprinkles on there!

If you would like an alternative recipe that doesn’t include protein powder, then follow the recipe below!

Ingredients:

1 box of Simple Mills Almond Flour Vanilla Cake Mix

3 eggs {or 1/2 cup egg whites}

1/2 cup water or unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/2 cup oil {I use coconut oil}

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

^Simple Mills is a great brand, and their mixes are delicious!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk eggs, oil, water, and extract.
3. Add baking mix into the wet ingredients.
4. Spray a baking dish with coconut oil or Pam spray.
5. Pour batter into baking dish.
6. Bake until center is cooked {around 25-30 minutes}.

Hope y’all enjoyed these recipes! I’ve got a fun healthy sangria post coming up this week, so stay tuned!