Fabulous homemade energy snack
For the past 5 weeks I have been on the Paleo Diet aka cave man (in this case woman) nutrition. Basically, it means that you eat like our ancestors meaning no processed food, no dairy, no starchy carbs but lean protein, healthy fat, veggies, fruit and nuts. The first week without starchy carbs was the hardest but the good thing about this diet is that you eat a lot of protein which keeps you full for a longer period of time and you don’t feel starved. Although, I miss my rye bread with cheese in the morning I have to admit that I feel fabulous and there is no doubt that my stomach feels much better, I’m losing weight and I feel more energetic! My plan is to continue the diet and make it my new lifestyle. But I’m too much a sucker for wine, food and delicacies and no way, I’m ever going to turn into a fanatic – so, my idea is to follow the diet through the week but in the weekends it is okay to go and have a fabulous dinner or…and a piece of chocolate.
Anyways, normally I don’t have cravings for sweets but without any starch my sweet cravings began. I also think it is a bit difficult if I’m away from home, or one day the lunch at work doesn’t fit into the diet. I know a lot of people have beef jerky, chicken pieces or a can of tuna with them when they go out but I’m not really that fond of meat, fish or poultry in my Louis. So, I began to search the internet for homemade energy bars but a lot of the recipes contained peanuts, whey protein and oatmeal and in my opinion way too much unnecessary and unhealthy fat. So, I tried out a few different recipes myself and the best recipe is a combo of several recipes.
Homemade energy bars:
1 cup of almond flour
1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup of almonds
½ cup of brazil nuts
½ cup of raw cashews
2 tbsp Raw cacao nibs
½ cup dried fruit (depending on which kind of fruit, chop them up)
½ cup Coconut oil
½ cup of coconut milk (if possible, leave some of the coconut water out)
2-3 tbsp honey
½ tsp vanilla extract
Do not use salted, roasted or any other kind of processed nuts and be aware that this recipe is not based on exact measures as the size of nuts and dried fruit may vary. So be careful with the wet ingredients – it can be either more or less!
Put all of the whole nuts and the shredded coconut into a baking pan and lightly roast the nut mix in the oven. When the shredded coconut is light brown it is done. When the nuts are roasted, pop them into the blender to make a chunky mixture. Melt the wet ingredients in the microwave and add the almond flour, raw cacao nibs, vanilla extract and dried fruit. (Almond flour is quite expensive and you can easily do it yourself. Put the whole almonds in the blender or a grinder and swoosh, you’ve got almond flour!)
The mixture should be sticky, heavy and in no way fluently! Put the mixture into a Tupperware or any other square container, just make sure that the lit is airtight. Press the mixture into the box so it is flattened out. Put in the fridge and leave for at least a couple of hours. Afterwards you cut the mixture into bite size, bar size or any other size and shape you’d like!! No matter what shape or size, they are fabulous!!
Eat them as they are after your workout, on the go or as a healthy snack or if you are having guest for dinner and you need sweets for the coffee and avec, you can dip it in melted chocolate and I bet your guest will think it is a little piece of heaven…unless they are allergic to nuts. In that case forget the two previous lines. Remember this is not a snack that you should eat every day or several times a day. It is a treat and should not be eaten regularly. The energy bars contains healthy fat, healthy carbs and even though they are good calories, they are still calories. So treat them as a treat when you deserve a little extra.
Happy energy and happy thoughts! 🙂
iheartfabulous.wordpress.com 