Pocket Protein Bites

To me there are few things worse than getting hungry in the middle of a bike ride or long run...that dull stomach pain and woozy-headed feeling that threatens to cut my run or ride short. Here's the solution I came up with!

Graham crackers offer portability and a little bit of needed salt & sugar, while soy protein offers quick-digesting muscle fuel. So let's put them together for an emergency mid-run/ride snack...

Ingredients

• 1 sheet of graham cracker
• 1/2 shot glass of unflavored OR naturally-flavored soy protein powder (see notes at the end)
• honey (to taste)
• 1/2 shot glass of water

Tools

• mixing vessel
• fork
• tin foil or plastic baggie
• shot glass

Dump half a shot of protein powder into your mixing vessel. If it's unflavored, maybe add a bit of honey. Add about half a shot glass full of water to the protein and mix until it's a paste consistency. Start off using less than half a shot of water and add more as needed to moisten the powder. You don't want it to be too liquidy. 

Spread the protein paste on your graham cracker, add a bit more honey if you used the unflavored kind (if you want). Now wrap it in tin foil or put it in a baggie. Throw it in a jersey pocket or hydration vest pocket and hit the road with your emergency snack!

Anticipated F.A.Q.s:

• Why soy? Soy is ideal protein to consume during endurance exercise. You can make this with whey if you prefer, but the texture will be much different and you'll need to add more protein to get a reasonable amount of sandwich filling. 
• Why unflavored/naturally flavored? This has a lot to do with my personal preference. At a concentrated level like this, artificial sweeteners taste really strong and tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth, so I opt for something with real sugar or no sugar for this form of consumption. However, my friend really liked the version of this I made with cookies & cream flavored whey protein.
• Will it get soggy? It will get a bit soft after a while, but not soggy or unpleasant. 
• Will it make me fart? Probably not.

Notes:

• As it appears here, this protein bite has about 90 calories and 6 grams of protein. Double the recipe or just take half depending on your needs.
• The good news is this is very inexpensive if it's wasted. I calculated 26 cents per serving :)
• Not sure it's evident from the pictures, but the filling is very smooth and kind of creamy