Chewy Protein Energy Bars

I loved this picture of my daughter throwing up the leaves yesterday. She was an angel. She came and raked up and bagged 10 bags of leaves and carted them away. We have wonderful children who bless our lives in so many ways. I have loved the times my children and grandchildren have enjoyed playing in our leaves. There are a lot more leaves to come. The trees still have a lot of leaves on them. :) The raking and bagging is not over.

It is easy to find a lot of energy bars in the store. They are often very expensive and a lot a times you need a dictionary to decipher what the ingredient its. The safest bet and healthiest is to make your own ahead of time. Then you know exactly what you are eating.  The key is to make up a batch of them ahead of time and then you will have them ready to go when you need them.

These are loaded with protein. They are low in sweetener and taste great. You can make them your own by being creative and adding your favorite dried fruit or you can leave it out. I left it out this time.  I loved the soft chewiness of these bars. They also had just the right amount of sweetness.  Have a great weekend.


Ingredients

1/2 C chia ground *
1 C Old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 C sunflower seeds
1/4 C whole grain flour (I used spelt)
1/2 C dried fruit of your choosing * optional
1/2 C raw almonds
1/2 C raisins
1/2 C soft dates
1 tsp cinnamon
2 T coconut oil
5 T honey
2 eggs


Directions  Heat oven to 350

1. In a blender or food processor, pulse and blend everything except oil.  honey and eggs. Blend until all broken down.
2. Pour in bowl add oil, honey and eggs. Blend until all combined. I used a wire whisk to get it all to blend together. It will be a thick paste.
3. Grease a 9x9 pan (I love the way stone ware cooks.) Grease pan or line with parchment paper.
4. Place in oven and bake about 15 min or until done.
5. Take out of oven and let cool about 15 min before cutting.
6. Store wrapped up in air tight container individually so they are ready to grab. You can store in the fridge for 3 days or freeze them up to 3 months.

* I ground up chia ahead of time in a small grinder.

Spinach Artichoke Sauce Pizza (Whole Grain Crust))

Today I walked by a can of artichoke hearts at the store, and got inspired to make something with them tonight. This is what I came up with. I had fun doing the edge of the crust a little different style. It kind of looks like a quiche in this picture. * This sauce would be wonderful on pasta, rice or other whole grains. I did one pizza without bacon bits and 2 without. I thought my children would enjoy it. I liked the one without the bacon flavor.


Here is a recipe for whole grain pizza crust(I had a mix of whole grains in the flour brown rice, quinoa, spelt and wheat)

Sauce: (I made 3 pizzas)
*Prep 8 hours ahead or over night would be even better. Put 1 C of cashews pieces in 2 C of water. The longer you soak the better. It will make it creamier. I rushed it tonight and only soaked it 30 min. It turned out well, I think it would be even better if it had soaked longer. *

Ingredients:
4 T butter or coconut oil
1 onion chopped up in pieces
1 14oz, artichoke hearts chopped up and drained and rinsed
2 garlic cloves minced
3 C cashew cream or 3 C half and half
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
2 to 3 tsp sea salt w/ iodine
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 C frozen spinach
1 T fresh basil
1 C of freshly grated Parmesan
*1 T whole grain flour for thickening if needed
Bacon bits 2 to 3 T per pizza

Directions:

1. (Cashew Cream) The process for making the cashew cream. Soak cashews as long as you can or overnight. In 2 C water. After soaking is complete drain out the water and then add 1 C water while you blend in a blender till creamy. Set aside.

2. In a frying pan on the stove heat to medium-low heat and put in butter or oil. Pour in the onions and heat for 3-5 min till soft. Put in minced garlic and stir and cook for another minute or two.

3. Turn up the heat to medium to medium high heat and add the chopped up artichoke hearts and stir until lightly browned. Turn down the heat to medium low. Pour in the cashew cream or half and half. Continue to stir.

4.Then add zest, juice, salt, pepper, basil, spinach and 1/2 C grated cheese. Continue to stir and add 1 T of flour if needed to thicken. You want it to be a thick mixture before you put it on the pizza.

5. Heat oven to 400 to 425. Have it preheated before you put the pizza in the oven. Roll out pizza to desired thickness. ( rolled it out thin.)

6. Pour the sauce on to the crust. Then put on some grated cheese. I used about 1/2 C. of cheese between 3 pizzas. You can put on the bacon bits if desired.

7. I cooked the pizza right on the hot stone. Cook until lightly browned and cheese is melted. Serve it nice and hot.

*Cooked Chicken would be good on it too.

Here is another recipe with spinach and artichokes.

Whole Grain Turkish Flatbread

This is what the dough looked like after it had rested in the bowl for 20 min.
This is the loaf prior to putting it into the oven.
This is the loaves after they came out of the oven.
This is a slice of the bread. It had a nice texture.

I was having a birthday party for my grandson that was turning 3. It is amazing how time flies by. It doesn't seem like it has been that long since he was born. I thought it would be fun to make a new kind of bread for the occasion. I opted to make it all whole grain, but you may choose to add some white flour. I also added a variation of adding some yogurt to give the whole grains a little lift. I was pleased how it turned out. The only change I would make is I sprinkled a coarse salt on top, and next time I would not do that. It's already salty enough. There a lot of fun kinds of breads to make. It got me excited to try some other kind of breads.

Ingredients:
7-8 C whole grain flour*( ground 3 C spelt, 3 C Kamut and 1 C brown rice I had about 1 C left)
1 T sea salt with iodine
2 T yeast
2 T plain yogurt (optional)
3 C warm water
4 T olive oil
Parmesan cheese, olive oil and dried basil to garnish or ?
water bottle filled with hot water

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix the flour and salt together.

2. In your bread mixer with the dough hook on, mix the yeast, water, together for 2 min. Wait 2 min and then mix again. Then add the oil and yogurt and mix again for 2 min.

3. Pour in half the flour so the dough is smooth, then add the rest of the flour, mix on medium speed, till the dough pulls away from the bowl. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky. Let the dough rest in the mixer 10 min.

4. Beat on low another 3 min to make the dough smoother and to to make it more elastic.

5. Put 1 T or 2 T in the bottom of a large bowl. With a rubber scraper. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and pour into oiled bowl. Then turn the dough over so there is oil on the top of the dough too. Cover with plastic. Let the dough rise 20 min. It should start to get puffy.

6. Then pour about 1 T olive oil on a hard surface pour out the dough on to it. Stretch the dough into a rectangle shape 3 times longer than the width. Fold the dough into thirds. Then turn the dough and do the same process again.

7. Put the dough back into the bowl, add more oil if necessary so the all the dough is covered with oil. Cover with plastic. Let the dough double about 30 min.

8. Then pour the dough on to an oiled surface again. Divide the dough in half. We each section, have the smooth side on top. Make the dough into a rounded mound by folding the dough into the center. Go all around the edge folding it in. Then cover with a towel 5 min. Let it rest.

9. Being careful not to deflate the dough, stretch the dough and pull into a rectangle. Put parchment paper on the cookie sheet or cooking spray. The loaf should be the length of your cooking sheet. Oil the top and cover with plastic. Heat the oven to 500 degrees. Let the dough rest 20 min until puffy.

10. Put the rack in the center of the oven and fill spray bottle with hot water.

11. With your finger tips make indentations in the dough 1 inch apart. Brush on olive oil and garnish of your choosing. Being careful not to deflate the loaf.

12. Put the pan in the oven, then quickly spray the oven walls with the water and shut the door quickly. (I cooked both loaves at the same time. It will depend on your oven if you are able to do that. )

13. Let cook 5 min open the oven again, spray the oven walls again. Shut the oven door quickly and turn down the heat to 400 degrees. Bake about 20 more minutes or less. Until a nice golden color. Inside temp should be about 200 degrees.

14. Take out of the oven and slide on to a cooling rack and let cool. Enjoy!

* You can use some white flour if you choose.