Christening My D60 & Reading the Fine Print

We couldn’t wait to get out & play with the new camera after the lens finally arrived…

the Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm 1.8D to be exact

…thing was, I wanted my first shot to be special…

not just any quick shot to start things off.

So it actually took me a whole day after it arrived to finally pop the cherry.

Ok, so technically this isn’t the first photo taken, but the one I liked best from a series of first shots.

[Have I mentioned if you click on most of my photos here it takes you to my — or Dave’s — Flckr page?  Better view sometimes.]

What do you think?  He’s handsome, eh?

The excitement was short-lived as I realized the camera wasn’t auto focusing. ??

Hmmm.

After a little research, Dave discovered…

“AF-S & AF-I lenses: all functions fully supported…AF-D & AF-G lenses: all functions fully supported except auto focusing.” 😦

This was an AF-D lens in case you missed it 😉 & it just wasn’t going to cut it.

Fortunately we could exchange it for a different lens & opted for the

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm 1.8G

Now I’m just waiting for its arrival…keeping myself occupied…

making a few sensational protein bars to pass the time. 🙂

That’s right.

Sensational Cranberry-Hemp Bars

Inspired by Averie’s Protein Bars.

• 1 Banana

Mash.

• ½ C cooked Quinoa
• 1 ½ C 7Grain Rolled Cereal [or oats]
• 10 scoops [scoop = ~1T] Hemp Protein Powder [You can adjust this to your liking or leave it out completely; I wanted to amp up the protein.]

Combine & mix with mashed banana.

• 1T Flax, whole
• 1T Flax, ground
• 2T Chia seeds
• 2T Hemp seeds
• 1 tsp Maca powder
• 1 ½ tsp Cinnamon

Combine & add to oat-banana mixture.

• 1 C [apple juice-sweetened] Cranberries [or dried fruit of choice]
• ¼ C Cacao Nibs [optional — can use chocolate chips]

Add your stir-ins to the mix.

• ½ C Sunflower seed butter [or nut butter of your choice]

Stir this in as well — it takes a little skilled maneuvering to really mix it in.  😉

• ½ C Brown Rice Syrup
• ¼ C Coconut Oil, in liquid state [set jar in a bath of warm water to liquefy]
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Combine wet ingredients & stir into the mixture until well combined.

Now line an 8×8 [or other size] pan with plastic wrap [for ease of clean up] & firmly press mixture into the pan.

Chill in freezer ~2 hours.

Remove.  Lift firmed mixture from pan using the plastic wrap, cut into bars & wrap for individual consumption.

I cut mine into 12 small bars.

I don’t obsess over calorie-counting, etc…so I just roughly tallied the ingredients/nutrients…& roughly estimate my bars to be ~300 calories & ~10g protein each.  There is definitely more fat in these than many store-bought varieties; but it’s “healthy” fats from whole foods, so I’m not worried.  Plus, these are so much tastier.

But now Dave needs some!

Chocolate-Mint Powerhouse Bars

10 powerhouse bars

~350 calories & 12 – 13g protein

 

• 1 Banana

Mash.

• 2/3 C cooked Quinoa
• 1 ½ C 7Grain Rolled Cereal [or oats]
• 5 scoops [scoop = ~¼ C] Chocolate Whey/Soy Protein Powder

[If your protein powder is not chocolate flavored, just add carob or cocoa powder — maybe start with ¼ C ??]

Combine & mix with mashed banana.

• 1T Flax, whole
• 1T Flax, ground
• 2T Chia seeds
• 2T Hemp seeds
• 1 tsp Maca powder
• 1 ½ tsp Cinnamon

Combine & add to oat-banana mixture.

Don’t forget your stir-ins!

• heaping ½ C [apple juice-sweetened] Cranberries
• ¼ C Cacao Nibs [optional]

• ½ C Sunflower seed butter [or nut butter of your choice]

Stir in.

• ½ C Brown Rice Syrup
• ¼ C Coconut Oil, in liquid state
• ½ tsp Mint extract

Combine wet ingredients & stir into the mixture until well combined.

Now repeat the pressing, freezing, cutting process with your chocolatey-minty-yummy bars!

We have been storing ours in the freezer — just pull them out a few minutes early to allow them to thaw a bit before chowing down.

These are G O O O O O D.

Enjoy!

~

What are your protein go-tos?  I’m needing some ideas to switch it up a bit.