Chocolate Seed Bars

A pretty constant obsession of mine is figuring out how to make eating massive amounts of chocolate a healthy endeavor. Whenever my husband sees me reaching for the bag of raw cacao, he whispers, "you know, just because you add a whole bunch of healthy stuff to chocolate, it doesn't mean it's healthy."

Well, I beg to differ. First off, by making it myself, I avoid adding in a ton of processed sugar (I usually sweeten with maple syrup and stevia) and there aren't any fillers or soy products thrown in to try and smooth out the chocolate. It's just simple, healthy ingredients and while it may not be considered health food per se, I'm never, ever, ever going to stop eating chocolate so this is my compromise.

These seed bars, are just that, pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds (I love adding these little guys to chocolate dishes - the protein in them helps slow the absorption of the carbs) and a few other choice ingredients - coconut shavings, coconut oil, maple syrup and of course, raw cacao.

I made a double batch to fill up the tart pan for the photos, but I usually only make one at a time. I just don't trust myself with a big batch of deliciousness laying around the house.

Chocolate Seed Bars

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup raw cacao powder

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup coconut shavings

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup hemp seeds

8 drops organic liquid stevia

Starting with the pumpkin seeds, place the first five ingredients in a food processor (through maple syrup) and process until combined, scraping down the bowl as necessary. The mixture can be a little chunky, but you want everything to be fully combined. Add in the hemp seeds and stevia and pulse once or twice just to mix them through.

Dump the mixture out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and press it together into a square about a half-inch thick. You can also press the mixture evenly into a square pan. Chill for 30 minutes, then cut into desired serving size. I recommend 1-inch by 4-inch bars about the size of a small granola bar or square bites to keep in the fridge when you need a quick chocolate boost.

Thai Kale Chips

The current motto around the Stanbrook kitchen seems to be, "add more fish sauce." We've doused our pizza with it, mixed it into homemade mayo to accompany steak and now we're even putting it on our kale. It may have something to do with our recent trip to Portland, Oregon and specifically our visit to Smallwares - by far our favorite restaurant in a weekend that was filled with some of the best eats the city has to offer. 

Chef Johanna Ware is known for "inauthentic" asian dishes and we could not be more grateful for her inauthenticity. It is what led to our current over-use of fish sauce and the creation of this new take on kale chips. 

While I'm not always proud of it, my ethos in the kitchen seems to center around two main principles - most dishes can be improved with either 1) more salt or 2) more chocolate. While chocolate covered kale chips may never come into being (although come to think of it...), I'm certainly glad I followed my hunch and rubbed a little fish sauce into our last batch. The added punch of salty, briny flavor took the chips from a good, healthy replacement for potato chips, to addictive, make me more, I can't live without a constant supply of these snacks status.

If you're not familiar with nutritional yeast, feel free to leave it out. It adds a cheesy flavor without dairy, but it's by no means necessary.

Thai Kale Chips

1 bunch kale (I used curly purple - works equally well with lacinato or other varieties)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp fish sauce 

2 tsp to 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

Preheat oven to 300

Wash and dry your kale thoroughly. I rinse mine off, remove the thick purple stalks and tear the leaves into smaller pieces before placing them in my salad spinner to remove excess water. Transfer the kale to a bowl, drizzle in the olive oil and massage the oil into the leaves to make sure everything is covered. Repeat with the fish sauce. Sprinkle the nutritional yeast over the leaves and toss gently.

Transfer the kale to two parchment paper-lined baking sheets. You want the kale to lay in a single layer so use as many trays as you need. Two half-sheet pans is usually sufficient. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes (23 seems to be the magic number for our oven). If your oven cooks unevenly, rotate the trays halfway through. Remove the trays from the oven and allow the chips to cool on the baking sheets. 

If you're not going to eat them right away, transfer the cooled kale chips to an airtight container and keep at room temperature. I imagine these would last four or five days at least, but we've never been able to test this theory as they always get eaten in the first two days.

Spirulina Protein Bites

Spiru-what? You know! Spirulina – that free-floating filamentous cyanobacteria characterized by cylindrical, multicellular trichomes in an open left-hand helix!*

Obviously.

No doubt, an odd ingredient, but I have been adding it to everything lately. It is a complete protein and full of other good stuff like thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, potassium, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, selenium and zinc.

But let’s get real. I add it to recipes because it turns my food green and that must be good for me.

These bites have over 8 grams of protein in each serving. They are great to have on hand for an afternoon snack or even pre-workout for an added boost of energy.

If you want more protein per serving, try adding a scoop of your favorite protein powder. You may need to increase the amount of oil to get the mixture to come together. Add it slowly (no more than one teaspoon at a time) until the mixture resembles sand and holds together when pressed. If you don’t have MCT oil, use coconut oil as a substitute.

*Wikipedia

Spirulina Protein Bites

Makes 5 servings (two bites in each serving)

3/4 cup almond meal

1/4 cup hemp seeds

5 dates, pitted

2 tbs coconut butter

2 tbs maple syrup

1 tbs spirulina

2 tsp MCT oil

Pinch of kosher salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until fully combined. Roll the mixture into 10 balls and refrigerate until set.

Store in the refrigerator and try not to eat all of them in one sitting.