Experimenting With Purium

I have been using Purium products for some time now.  I have used lots of their products from doing the 30 day Lifestyle Transformation, to the Can’t Beet this powder, and the MVP sport powder.  Their products are all natural and have such great health benefits.  I usually just have the powders straight up by themselves but after sometime of doing this I started to think surely there is more I can do with these.  I started experimenting with the MVP chocolate powder first. 

The first thing that I have done for a while when I have MVP in my pantry is make a nice protein shake.  I start off with a frozen banana, add in a helping of MVP and then I switch between using either 2% milk, almond milk, or water depending on what I have in the fridge and what texture or creaminess I am looking for.  For a thicker creamier shake I use the 2% and then the thinnest shake I use water.  I absolutely love a frozen banana with it makes the shake super cold and refreshing. 

Lately though I have been experimenting with adding even more stuff into my shake to see how it changes the texture, taste and how long it sustains my hunger.  My husband and daughter really enjoy the shake when I add in a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter.  This makes it taste like a Reese peanut butter cup shake and it is delicious.  This definitely helps the shake sustain my  hunger and really fill me up with that scoop of peanut butter.  I also have tried adding in a teaspoon of coconut oil to give me some healthy fats.

After watching some health youtube videos of people making homemade protein bars and seeing some other Purium recipes on the Purium facebook page I figured I would experiment trying to make a protein bar or protein ball.  I gathered my ingredients and just started playing around with it.  And I ended up making these delicious chocolate protein balls.  

Here is my recipe roughly, there were some extra add ins here and there to get the right consistency. 

Chocolate Protein Balls

• 1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
• ½ cup buckwheat flour
• ½ cup tapioca flour 
• 1 cup MVP chocolate protein powder
• ¼ cup cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup Almond milk
• ½ cup honey 
• Tablespoon of peanut butter 

I did have to play around with how much almond milk and honey I added to get the sweetness and consistency that I was looking for.  I started out thinking I was going to make a protein bar, but when I tasted the batter and it was very rich so I decided to go with some protein balls instead. 

I used my baking scooper to scoop the protein balls into little tablespoon balls.  Laid them on some baking paper and popped them in the fridge to set for a bit.  When you have them plain like this it is absolutely like a gooey brownie bite.  Which is delicious but it felt like it needed something extra.  So trying lots of different things I coated some in coconut flakes, chopped walnuts, chopped pistachios, and chopped almonds.  I think the best one in my mind was the chopped walnuts added.  Just the right enough crunch on top of the gooey chocolate was absolutely delicious.  Everyone in the house reaches for those to satisfy their sweet tooth and I rest assured knowing that it is definitely a healthier alternative to candy.

The most recent thing I have tried with the Purium MVP chocolate is a smoothie bowl.  I recently made homemade granola, which was just some oats, dried cranberries, chopped dates, almond slivers, coated in coconut oil and honey baked in the oven for about 30 minutes so it’s crunchy.  So what better to top a smoothie bowl then with this homemade granola. 

Smoothie Bowl

So I used about 1 ½ frozen bananas, with MVP chocolate, tablespoon of cacao powder to add super chocolaty flavor, a handful of ice, almond milk, and a tablespoon scoop of peanut butter.  It is roughly the same as my regular shake that I made with just a few alterations. I blended it till it had a smooth consistency.  Poured into a bowl and added a chopped banana, the granola and some cacao chips to the top of the smoothie bowl and then dug in.  It was absolutely delicious.  I could definitely see having this instead of having ice cream, or even having this as an afternoon snack on a hot day.  It was so cold and refreshing and with the crunch and bananas on top it was just absolutely delicious.  

I have really enjoyed finding delicious ways to incorporate the MVP into my diet in other foods than just a shake and am definitely excited to see what I can do with maybe the Vanilla MVP or even some of Purium’s other products.