SuperFood Energy Bars -- Sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, and berries

So, these rock. I don't know what else to say about them really. Full of superfoods, full of flavour, a super-dense high energy snack. I pack a few in my son's lunch to keep him going. To be honest, he's a chocolate kinda boy, so the chocolate version to him is the best thing in the world. But I love these sweet tart squares.

ingredients:

1/2 cup raw sunflower  seeds

1 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup organic sesame seeds

1/4 cup flax meal

1/4 cup wheat grass

1 tbsp maca powder

1/4 cup hemp hearts

1 tbsp ground vanilla bean

1 tsp ceylon cinnamon (if you don't have ceylon, skip this part, because saigon or korintje won't work)

3/4 tsp sea salt

1 cup pitted honey dates

1/2 cup goji berries

1/2 cup golden berries

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut butter

directions:

1. in a food processor, combine the raw almonds, pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut, sesame seeds, flax meal, wheat grass, vanilla bean, ceylon cinnamon and sea salt

2. turn on and process until it resembles sand

3. add the dates, goji berries, and golden berries and pulse and then process until ground up

4. add the coconut oil, and pulse

5. add the coconut butter, and pulse

6. divide between 2 square silicone pans, score into pieces, and  chill

7. when fully chilled, break along the score lines, and store in airtight containers in the fridge.

Fruity Superfood Berry Energy Squares -- perfect for school

Raw, organic, vegan, sugar free, gluten free, superfood fruity energy squares. A good snack to grab on the go. Delicious, addictive, and fantastic. I put twice the quantity of goji and golden berries in this batch as I usually do. Additionally, the lemon and orange extract boost the fruity-ness of the equation. Since I can't do peanut butter for stuff I'm sending with my son to school, I'm going all berry-splosion on his ass. Kapow!!!!

ingredients:

1 cup raw sunflower  seeds

1 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup organic sesame seeds

1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp lemon extract

1/4 cup flax meal

1/4 cup wheat grass

1 tbsp maca powder

1/4 cup hemp hearts

1 tbsp ground vanilla bean

1 tsp ceylon cinnamon (if you don't have ceylon, skip this part, because saigon or korintje won't work)

3/4 tsp sea salt

1 cup pitted honey dates

1 cup goji berries

1 cup golden berries

1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut butter

directions:

1. in a food processor, combine the raw almonds, pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut, sesame seeds, flax meal, wheat grass, vanilla bean, ceylon cinnamon and sea salt

2. turn on and process until it resembles sand

3. add the dates, goji berries, and golden berries and pulse and then process until ground up

4. add the coconut oil, and pulse

5. add the coconut butter, and pulse

6. divide between 2 square silicone pans, score into pieces, and  chill

7. when fully chilled, break along the score lines, and store in airtight containers in the fridge.

Ginger Bread People -- a spicy, seasonal treat

Gentle readers, after a few versions, I've come up with a recipe that tastes very good, and has a pleasing crisp crunchiness to it. Some of the ingredients will be a little surprising, especially if you are newer to my blog. It will be possible to leave out some of the 'superfoods', however, I do believe that these are what have allowed me to achieve the multi-layered flavour of which I was in pursuit. Oh, and of course they are low in sugar, high in protein, and good for you. They are also, I believe, gluten free, but I'm not 100% sure about some of the more esoteric ingredients such as maca powder and mesquite.

My husband confided that he thought they were okay, but he wouldn't sit in a darkened room with a glass of milk and eat them by the dozen.

So, with that caveat and no further ado, I present to you Ginger Bread People version 3.0. (Yes, that means I have dozens of (not quite successful) version 1 and 2 left that I have to somehow get rid of ...)

ingredients:

1 organic egg (extra large)

4 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil (unrefined)

1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

4 tbsp clear agave

1 tbsp organic vanilla extract

1/4 tsp zest of organic orange, very finely chopped

1/2 cup organic coconut sugar (is there any other kind?)

2 tsp ground ceylon cinnamon (or just use regular cinnamon)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp ground ginger (variation: 2 tbsp ground ginger)

1 1/2 tsp ground allspice

1 1/2 tsp ground vanilla

a little black pepper

1 tbsp raw cacao powder

1 tbsp carob powder (variation: 2 tbsp carob powder)

1 tbsp mesquite powder

1 tbsp maca powder

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup flax meal

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 cups almond flour

directions:

1. lightly melt the coconut oil, and add the agave, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, coconut sugar, and egg, mixing well

2. add the spices and orange zest

3. add the cacao, carob, mesquite, and maca (if using. if not, maybe just a couple extra tbsp almond flour)

4. add the salt and flax meal, mixing well

5. mix in the baking soda

6. mix in the almond flour

7. chill the dough in the fridge wrapped in parchment and tucked in plastic bag (chilling is sort of optional, but it makes it easier to work with)

8. cut the dough in quarters, and roll out each quarter between 2 sheets of parchment. Cut with your favourite cutter, and put on a lined baking sheet.

9. bake at 300 for 20 minutes, followed by another 30 minutes with the oven heat turned OFF as the oven gradually cools down. This will give the crispy texture we want.

makes two trays of cookies. bake in the upper half of the oven, alternating positions halfway through ...

store in an airtight container.

share with friends!

decorate with raisins before baking!

dip in your tea!

:)

My Favourite Power Bar -- SsssssssssuperFoods SuperPower SuperBar

I feel like I'm eating big chunks of candy when I eat this. It's kind of spicy and fragrant, redolent of vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, with the taste of chocolate and berries tying it together. Not that it would float your boat if what you really want is some Callebaut or a corner store chocolate bar. But for me this is it. It satisfies, is a big chewy mouthful, and tastes great. This is chewier than the other power bars I've posted, and certainly will appeal to a different audience because of this.


ingredients:

2 cups pitted dates (or 1 cup unsulphured apricots and 1 cup dates or 1 cup apricots, 1/2 cup dates and 1/2 cup organic raisins ... etc. You get the picture. Any dried fruit you have (organic and unsulphured) that has dried out a bit too much to be enjoyable to eat can be salvaged in this recipe, too.)
1 cup raw almonds
4 tbsp coconut butter
1/4 cup flax meal

1 tbsp acai
2 tbsp pure green barley powder
2 tbsp maca powder
1 tbsp mesquite
2 tbsp hemp protein powder
2 tbsp raw cacao (or 4 tbsp raw cacao for true chocolate lovers)

1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger (or 1 tsp ginger for more zing)
1/2 tsp ground vanilla

1/2 cup raw pistachios
1/4 cup raw goji berries


directions:

1. in a food processor, pulse the almonds until they are finely milled
2. add the dates, and pulse until all is pureed together
3. add the coconut butter and pulse
4. add the flax, sea salt, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla, and pulse
5. add the acai, barley, maca, cacao, mesquite, and hemp, and pulse until thoroughly combined
6. add pistachios, and pulse until finely chopped
7. add the goji berries, and pulse until finely chopped
8. when the mixture is combined well and sticking together well, press it into a square glass pan, smooth the top with your hands, and put it into the refrigerator.
9. when it is thoroughly chilled and firm, cut into bars, squares, rectangles, triangles, circles, stars, rhomboids, trapezoids, hexagons, or octogons. Do not attempt a dodecahedron. Leave that to the professionals.
10. share with your friends, especially Zoe and Su. They really like them.

**note: if your mixture seems too crumbly, you can try adding a little extra coconut butter, or a tbsp or 2 of coconut oil. Or both ;)

update: Just for fun, I added a quarter cup of finely ground chia seeds and a quarter cup of extra virgin coconut oil


variation february 11: 1/4 cup hemp powder instead of 2 tbsp, 1/4 cup ground chia, 1/4 cup coconut oil, a little extra coconut butter, 1/2 cup goji berries instead of 1/4 cup, and 1/4 cup pistachios instead of 1/2 cup. :) (and 1/4 cup raw cacao instead of 2 tbsp, as usual)

Power Bars -- Power to the People

RAW SUPERFOOD 'POWER' BARS

I realized I had many ingredients on hand that seem to fall into the category of 'superfood' -- that would be food that packs a real nutritional punch. I thought it would be fun to throw a bunch of stuff into the food processor and see what came out the other side. We're on our third batch this week, so needless to say, they seem to be very popular in our house. They are a little high in sugar because of the raisins and dates, but they go down easy, are packed with protein (and fiber, both of which help regulate blood sugar levels), phytonutrients, and deliciousness, and are very quick and easy to make.

ingredients:

1/2 cup organic flame raisins (but any kind of seedless raisins would be pretty much equivalent)

1/2 cup pitted honey dates (that means the pit has already been removed, unlike seeded grapes which mean the grapes have seeds. go figure.)

2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

1/4 to 1/2 tsp sea salt (some salts are 'saltier' than others, some tongues like salt more than others)

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 cup pecan meal

1/2 cup blanched almond meal

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/4 cup flax seeds, finely ground (aka linseeds)

2 tbsp salba seeds, whole or ground (aka chia seeds)

2 tbsp maca root powder (they now sell this at bulk barn)

2 tbsp hemp protein powder

2 tbsp raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)

1 tbsp acai powder

1. using a food processor, puree the raisins and dates (check for random pits before throwing the dates in the food processor)

2. add nuts, seeds, salt, and cinamon, and whirl.

3. add maca, hemp powder, cacao or cocoa, and acai, and mix

4. add coconut oil

pulse until everything is finely and even chopped, and can easily be encouraged to clump together. Press the mixture into a square pan and chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

I cut it into 32 pieces and then put them into an airtight container in the fridge. They store well. Who am I kidding? They never last long enough to worry about it.

If you want to skip the maca, hemp, or acai, add the equivalent in extra cocoa, or almond meal.

If you want to use only raisins or only dates, substitute the one for the other. Apricots would probably work too, but stick to unsulphured ones. Hmm. Pistachio and apricot next time?

You can safely skip the salba without affecting the texture enough to worry.

Other nuts are fine to try, although some hard ones (eg whole almonds) can be tricky to work with.

Yummy. My 2 1/2 year old son seems to be in love with them. Then again, he's also been known to pick up the occasional cigarette butt in the park and put that in his mouth.