When weather gets warm, it's time to work out again, even it's not your usual habit. I'm ashamed to say for the last winter I almost dropped workouts totally, only doing some Pilates here and there (which I don't even count as work out as it's more or less relaxing and stretching). Anyway, no more excuses, I think it's time we pick up some hard work out again, such as lifting a little weight or doing some cardio. To compliment that, you can prepare something to go with it at home. It tends to be fresher and more affordable.

Besides protein shakes, I also made this delicious and fresh energy bar. As I exercise in the early morning, sometimes I felt a bit hungry but I have no time to make breakfast so this energy bar usually comes to my rescue. I also eat it as a snack between the meals occassionally. It doesn’t taste like commercial snack bars, but I know it’s good stuff I am putting inside. 😉 If you’re working on your fitness, it is definitely worth some time to make these and freeze them so you will have a convenient fuel for the week! The only disadvantage of this one is that they get soft once defrosted, I don't know if dehydrator helps solving the problem. If you ever own one and try it, please let me know the result!

Kitchen Gadgets: Food Processor

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh dates
• 1 small apple
• ½ cup cooked quinoa
• ¼ cup flax seed powder
• ¼ cup almonds
• ¼ cup hemp seed powder
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• pinch of sea salt

Instructions

1. Remove the core from the dates and chop them into small chunks. Cut the apple (with skin on) into small chunks. Put all the ingredients into the food processor and process until smooth, or to the texture that you desire. I personally like crunchy almonds in the middle.
2. Scoop the mixture into the bar-shaped silicon molds, this fills six 7.6×2.7×3 cm (3×1×1.2 inches) molds.
3. Wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
4. Remove the energy bars from the molds and put them into a freezer box or bags, keep them in the freezer and eat directly from the freezer. If it’s too cold for you, you can wait until it reaches room temperature, but don’t wait for too long, otherwise they turn soft and mushy.