Fudge Brownie Protein Bars

Protein is an essential part of a healthy diet. It's responsible for building and repairing tissue, and making enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. Protein aids in building bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood. And children need an even greater percentage of protein compared to adults as they are constantly growing. Protein also serves as an important part of weight management. One study showed that eating approximately one daily serving of beans, chickpeas, lentils or peas can increase fullness, which may lead to better weight management and weight loss. (Li SS, Kendall CW, de Souza RJ, Jayalath VH, Cozma AI, Ha V, Mirrahimi A, Chiavaroli L, Augustin LS, Blanco Mejia S, Leiter LA, Beyene J, Jenkins DJ, Sievenpiper JL. Dietary pulses, satiety and food intake: a systematic review and meta-analysis of acute feeding trials.Obesity, 2014. Aug;22(8):1773-80.)

As a busy mom, I'm always on the lookout for healthy snack options for my family. I have tried to be like the French and not feed my kids (or myself) snacks inbetween meals, but that lasted all of thirty minutes before a revolution of another sort happened en route to Costco. In light of these harsh realities, I place a priority on finding snacks that won't make my children resemble deranged chimpanzees five minutes after consuming them. Enter, the Fudge Brownie Protein Bar.