‘Each day is a gift, don’t send it back unopened’
I like to eat every two hours or so, little and often is my motto, so it’s important to have healthy easy snacks with me at work and when I travel. I like this recipe as it can be used as a snack or a homemade granola and is another recipe to add to my love affair with quinoa collection, as Mr. B calls it. It is relatively easy and can be adapted to whatever you have in the cupboard. This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe from the ambitious kitchen, a beautiful healthy food blog from an inspiring author who used healthy food and blogging to overcome her eating disorder.
A slight detour…
As I was writing the first sentence of this blog, ‘I like to eat every two hours’ I was struck with gratitude for being able to say that.
Some people don’t have the luxury of eating once a day, not only in developing countries due to poverty levels and famine but also in our own back yard.
Two organisations that are dedicated to this cause are Mary’s Meals, which supplies food at school in developing countries, to help lift children out of the cycle of poverty, www.marysmealsusa.org and the Woman’s Lunch Place in Boston, www.womenslunchplace.org, which aims to supply at least one good meal per day as well as helping to restore dignity and hope to vulnerable woman. I support these two charities and would urge you to read about they work they do. They certainly help me to be more mindful when I sit down for a meal.
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten free oats
- ½ cup uncooked Quinoa
- ½ cup pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup almond butter
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil
- 1 tbsp. chia seeds
- ¼ cup vegan dark chocolate (can use non-vegan chocolate if preferred)
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Add oats, Quinoa and pumpkin seeds to a large baking sheet, spreading evenly
- Toast for 10 minutes
- Once toasted pour into a glass bowl and add the chia seeds
- Whilst baking, melt the almond butter in a shallow pan on a low heat, add the coconut oil, salt, honey and vanilla
- Once melted, take off heat and allow to cool slightly
- Add to the mixture and combine
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and pour the mixture in, spreading out
- Melt the chocolate and drizzle over the top
- Place mixture into the freezer for 10-20 minutes or until hardened
- Remove from the freezer and cut into 8 bars, use any that has crumbled as granola
