New rule: all Mondays need to start with cookies.

Particularly, Mondays when you go from an awesome weekend with new friends, tons of fun exercise, great food and more swag than you know what to do with to being stuck in an over air-conditioned work conference in the middle of a corporate park while in one of the most beautiful cities in the country in a short 47 minute drive.

I tried to mentally prepare.

It didn’t work.

I made these protein cookies last week in preparation for this trip knowing that if I rely on conference food I’ll be served sugar laden pastries with suspect jelly in the middle for breakfast, tollhouse ice cream cookie sandwiches for a snack and some cream doused pasta dish for lunch.

I can usually find better breakfast and lunch options with some success, but finding a decent snack that tastes good and has something besides sugar as the main ingredient is no easy feat in a convention center.

To give you some idea of my priorities when traveling…

Things I forgot to pack for this past weekend? Sunscreen, sunglasses, an outfit for the plane ride home, enough socks and business cards.

Things I didn’t forget to pack for this past weekend? These almond cherry protein cookies.

They’ve got 10g of protein each and they’re filled with goodies like almond butter, cherries and walnuts.

They’re sweet enough to feel like a treat around 2pm when everyone is flocking to the ice cream sandwich social break and healthy and hearty enough to double as breakfast in a pinch.

I almost made a batch of these triple chocolate protein cake bars or this high protein cinnamon cake recipe but in the end decided on creating something new with these almond cherry protein cookies.

I’m not mad about it.

If only they could replace the booth, the heels and the business talk with a cabin, sneakers and a hike.