Tag: pumpkin seed | Nourished Roots

In my never ending quest for new snack options for my boys, I have tried some strange combinations. It can be so hard to find something they like that is not loaded with sugar or additives. Making my own snacks can be a good option but I don’t always have the time for complicated recipes. I was so happy when I saw this recipe for Quinoa Bars from My Whole Foods Life . It was easy and had very few but yummy ingredients. I love quinoa- every cup has 8 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber and is a good source of manganese, magnesium, folate, phosphorous and B vitamins. It is a gluten free seed with some serious nutrition! I had never tried quinoa flakes before so was curious to see what they were like. I bought Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes. They were so nutty and yummy that I used them again this am in some chia seed pudding. I could see a lot of uses for them!

I wanted to make a few tweaks to the recipe but pretty much left it as it was designed. I decided to add some chocolate chips to these bars to entice my boys to eat them. I really like Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips because they taste like regular chocolate chips but are gluten, soy and dairy free- so yummy! Finally, I had a weird assortment of nut butters that I cobbled together because I didn’t have much of any particular type. I used Mara Natha All Natural Roasted Almond Butter, Maranatha Cashew Butter and a tiny bit of a local pumpkin seed butter.

The recipe from My Whole Foods Life was for raw bars but I wanted to try to bake them to see if I could get them to hold together better. (I often find my raw bars tend to be crumbly.) I wasn’t sure if it would help but decided to give it a shot.

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Snack Bars

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups quinoa flakes
1 heaping cup almond butter (I used a combination of almond, cashew and pumpkin)
1/3 cup maple syrup (you could substitute honey)
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of chocolate chips
1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place quinoa flakes in bowl with cinnamon, and salt.
Heat nut butters, syrup, coconut oil and vanilla over low fire until well combined.
Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
Add chocolate chips. They will melt if you don't allow the dough to cool. I like them melted so didn't cool the dough.
Spread dough in 8X8 parchment lined pan.
Press down firmly to compress the dough.
Place in oven for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.
Allow to cool and then enjoy.

http://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/chocolate-chip-quinoa-snack-bars/

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Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Butter Spring Flowers.

All this talk about the benefits of dark chocolate from Tuesday’s post got me thinking about a way to add a little more chocolate to my daily routine. Lately, I have been snacking on pumpkin seed butter spread on dark chocolate scraps leftover from my debacle of trying to make almond butter flowers. (Read about it here.) I have been obsessed with this tasty treat. I also recently found a really cute flower ice cube tray mold at Ikea and was excited to put it to use. I had seen many recipes for homemade peanut butter cups on the internet but I thought if I incorporated pumpkin and flax seeds into my chocolate, it could add a boost of omega 3’s.

Cute mold filled with chocolate.

I had a little extra chocolate so I also used a mini muffin tin to make some traditionally shaped pumpkin seed butter cups. This works great and obviously tastes just as yummy if you don’t have a fancy mold.

Muffin tin with chocolate.

After I filled the mold, I put it in the freezer to allow the chocolate to set up. Once the chocolate was hard, I added my pumpkin seed butter to the mold and then poured another layer of chocolate over the nut butter. Be sure to cover all of the pumpkin seed butter.

Hardened chocolate with pumpkin butter.

My pumpkin butter did not hold together too well but I figured it would be okay because the melted chocolate would be able to hold it in place. I thought about adding more coconut oil or blending it longer but felt it would work fine once the extra chocolate layer was added. And look, I was right!!

finished pumpkin butter dark chocolate flowers.

Traditional butter cups.

OH! THESE ARE SO YUMMY!

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Butter Spring Flowers

Ingredients

2 dark chocolate bars
1/8 cup of ground flax seed
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 1/2 tbs of coconut oil (more as needed)
2 tbs of honey

Instructions

Place chocolate in a double broiler on the stove.
Add one tbs of coconut oil and allow to melt.
Stir frequently.
While melting, grind pumpkin seeds,flax meal, honey and remaining coconut oil in food processor.
When chocolate melted, put thin layer in bottom of mold.
Place in freezer for about 10 minutes or until hard.
Take out of freezer and place small amount of pumpkin seed butter in the mold.
Pour another layer of chocolate around the pumpkin seed butter. It should completely cover the butter.
Put back in the freezer until hard. (This could take over an hour.)
Pop the flowers out of the mold.
Enjoy!!

http://www.nourishedrootspdx.com/blog/dark-chocolate-pumpkin-seed-butter-spring-flowers/

More finished flowers.

These dark chocolate nut butter cups could be made with any nut butter you desire. In my opinion any nut combined with dark chocolate is a yummy combination!

What is your favorite nut butter- dark chocolate pairing?

This post was shared with Food Renegade, Gluten Free Cat, Homespun Oasis, The Idea Room, Rock My Vegan Socks, Today’s Creative Blog, Urban Naturale, Live, Laugh Rowe and A Glimpse Inside.

Tag Archives: pumpkin seed

Chocolate Chip Quinoa Snack Bars

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Butter Spring Flowers