Chocolate Chip Zucchini Protein Muffins

These Chocolate Chip Zucchini Protein Muffins are flourless, gluten-free, oil-free, AND refined sugar-free. The perfect addition to your breakfast, or a great pre-workout snack with 10 grams of protein in each muffin!

So I hope you all aren’t sick of zucchinis yet. I know I’m not. Fritters, ZOODLES, you name it! I’m all about those zucc’s right now  😉

This is the second time I’ve made these muffins, tweaked from a recipe by Aloha, which was featured during the first week of the Summer SWEAT Series. Don’t know what the Summer SWEAT Series is? Check out Ambitious Kitchen and Fit Foodie Finds… for the past five weeks they have set up both workouts AND a meal plan… FO FREE. (Bridesmaids anyone…?) If you’re looking to change up your workout routine, these workouts will definitely do it. For how often I make exercise a priority, some of these workouts have kicked my butt. (See sweaty instagram posts). They’re also giving me some great ideas on developing some more workouts… so stay tuned for that.

Is this summer just flying by or what? I mean seriously… how are we in the middle of JULY already?! Please slow down summer, please. But on that note, the middle of July typically means my much anticipated summer vacation is near… EVERY year, of my ENTIRE life, I have gone up to the Georgian Bay in Canada and gone camping with my family. I have not missed one year in my 26 years of life. There is actually quite a bit of history at this place for my mother’s side of the family, which kind of makes it even more special. I like to call myself part-Canadian because of it 😉 (I can actually sing the Canadian national anthem because I spent two summers there at an all girls camp when I was younger.)

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I would make it up to the campground this summer. With all of the wedding craziness happening back a couple months ago… taking more time off from work was gonna be tough. BUT, I think we’re going to manage to pull it off. I am so fortunate to have a boss who understands the importance of family and living life outside of work. I am so so excited and so thankful, because I seriously cannot imagine NOT going up there. I’m sure it sounds crazy, and I hear all the time, “Missing one year isn’t going to kill you”. But seriously, I don’t know if I can do it! Over the many years we have developed friendships with some great people there. So much so they have become family. One of my dear friends played guitar for us at our wedding ceremony, and another was one of my bridesmaids. They all mean the world to me, and I don’t get to see them enough.

I figure, if we can bear the 11 hour drive (yikkesss), and we have the opportunity to go, why not take advantage? Life’s too short, and this place is like my second home. I NEED it in my life, kind of like I NEED chocolate. 😉             So after chatting with the husband and figuring out some logistics, it looks like this year is a GO. <3 And you know what that means? These muffins are totally coming along for the ride.

These babies have got it going ON. One of the main reasons I tweaked the Aloha recipe was because I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand. I was running out of almond flour, and I knew I wanted to add some protein in there too. But I DID have oats, which I knew I could grind into oat flour and the results would come out fairly similar. I was super pumped about the macros after all of my ingredient switching. Macro-love right here in these muffins. <3 (Like I mentioned a little bit in my Banana Protein Bars post, I like to have a balanced set of macros in my snacks.)

These muffins are made with wholesome ingredients, like almond flour and ground gluten-free rolled oats, plus a touch of cacao powder. And obviously zucchini, lots of shredded zucchini!

These are a super great pre-workout snack, or a lovely addition to your on-the-go breakfast. I’ve been having them in the afternoon before I head to the gym, and they contain just the right amount of chocolate in them for my daily chocolate fix! (Yes, I have chocolate pretty much every day… #sorrynotsorry)

I will note that these muffins are SUPER moist, and don’t have the texture of your typical flour and oil muffins. But they are GREAT. I enjoy mine from the fridge. 🙂

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How about you all??

Do you have a family summer vacation you look forward to every year?

Any campers out there? Leave a comment below!

P.S. Because I’ll be in Canada most of next week, I will be unplugging for a bit! No service=good times. No technology=LIVING. 😉 I’ll be back the following week with another recipe to share with you all after we get back and settled!