Quinoa Protein Bars
Sorry guys I just remember I said I would post this
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup quinoa, pre rinsed
- 2/3 cup water
- 16 whole pitted dates, no sugar added
- 1/2 cup raw almonds with skin
- 1/3 cup natural crunchy peanut butter (almond butter is an option)
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate
- honey
Add quinoa and water to a small saucepan, cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook approx 15 minutes or until all water has been absorbed. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate a min of 2 hours.
Using a food processor, add dates and pulse until they form a ball. Remove dates and place in a medium mixing bowl. Add almonds to the food processor and pulse until finely minced. Be careful not to turn the almonds into mill. Add dates, almonds, peanut butter and cold quinoa to the food processor and pulse until ingredients are well combined. (I add a little honey to make it slightly sweeter and to make the bars sick together better.)
Return ingredients to the mixing bowl, shape into 6-2” x 1 bars, about 1” thickness.
In a small saucepan, add dark chocolate and melt over low heat, or in a double boiler. (I actually melt the chocolate in the microwave. If you put it in a microwave bowl and do it in 30 secs batches, stir and repeat until melted.)
Evenly spread chocolate over the top of each protein bar, return to the refrigerator and allow chocolate to harden. Bars can be stored in an airtight container for several days. (I like to make a piping bag out of baking paper and pipe the chocolate over the bars instead of spreading a layer.)
Hope you all enjoy it! It’s one of my favourite snacks :-) You can also experiment a little, I’ve added flax seed, and sunflower seeds before!
xAx
Almond Joy-inspired Protein Bar! (88 cals, 1g fat, 6g Carbs, 13g protein!)
There is an EXTENSIVE LIST as to why these protein bars are awesome. Here are just a few reasons: 1) They are low-cal 2) They are high in protein 3) They have few carbs and fat 4) There’s no added sugar 5) They are sweet enough to eat alone (these taste like Almond Joy Candy bars!), but bland enough to add on tasty toppings (and you have so many calories to spare! 6) They are SUPER CHEAP compared to other protein bars 7) They are SUPER EASY to make!
I could go on forever. But I won’t. At least not now. I’ll let you have the awesome, easy recipe first!
(4 Servings)
INGREDIENTS
-1 cup special K … 130 cals, 14g protein
- ½ cup fat free cottage cheese…. 90 cals, 14g protein
-1/4 cup egg whites… 30 cals, 6g protein
-1 scoop chocolate protein powder… 100 cals, 18 g protein
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp coconut extract
-1 tsp almond extract
-Zero Calorie Sweetener (optional, to taste. I used 1 pack truvia)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spread mixture into a small baking pan/cake pan. (I used a small cake pan, so my “bars” actually came out rounded—picture below—and I cut them into rectangles later.) Bake for 20-24 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Allow to cool 10-15 minutes before cutting.
Nutrition per bar: Calories: 88 Fat: 1g Carbs: 6g Protein: 13g
Compared to the average protein bar (say, a Balance bar:)
ONE Balance Bar: Cals: 190 Fat: 7g Carbs: 22 [Sugars: 16g] Protein: 14g
TWO Homemade Bars: Cals: 176 Fat: 2g Carbs: 12 g Protein: 26g
That’s right. This means you can have TWO BARS and then TOP THEM with whatever you want (yogurt, melted chocolate, preserves, melted chocolate, peanut butter, coconut, whatever!) and STILL come up on top nutritionally!
Plus, these will SAVE YOU MONEY. All the ingredients needed can be used for tons of other things. Store bought protein bars are about $1.50-2.50 each. These homemade bars? Let’s do the math, using the main ingredients (because you probably have the other ones already lying around in your pantry)
special K—$3.12, 13 servings …. 3.12/13 = $0.24 for recipe.
cottage cheese—$4, 4 servings… 4/4= $1 for recipe
egg whites— $4, 20 servings… 4/20= $0.20 for recipe
Protein powder— $11, 18 servings… 11/18= $0.60 for recipe
That’s 2.04 for the whole recipe. i.e. just 51 cents a bar. Plus, you can use all those foods in a zillion other recipes. That’s what I can saving money!
Did I mention these bars are pretty sizeable? They are a 1/4 of this whole cake pan big!
