Category: Vegan

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

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Peanut Butter Granola Bars

  • Servings: 16 Servings
  • Difficulty: Easy
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A snack bar that is good, chewy, and healthy. A square was enough to fill that gap and felt like a sweet treat. (Vegan option below)

Ingredients

  • 2-1/2 cups of old fashioned oats
  • ¾ cup of peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup of honey or maple syrup. (both work well but the honey holds the bars together better)
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 45 grams of protein powder (I used chocolate)
  • 1 tbsp of mini chocolate chips
  • 1 tbsp of sliced almonds
  • 1 tbsp of chia seeds
  • 2 tbsp of pumpkin seeds

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. (if your peanut butter is solid at room temperature, heat it in microwave for 10-15 seconds before adding to the mix).
  3. Line a 9×9 inch baking dish or pan with parchment paper. (this makes it easier to remove your bars from the dish)
  4. Transfer the mixture to the prepared dish and press firmly the mixture into the pan in an even layer. (the firmer you press the better the bars will stick together)
  5. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the centre is baked through and the edges are just starting to brown. (start checking at 14 minutes as all ovens are a little different)
  6. Place on a cooling rack and let cool completely before cutting into 16 squares with a very sharp knife..

Nutrition Per Cookie

  • Calories 171
  • Fat 7.7 g
  • Sugar 7.4 g
  • Carbohydrates 20.5 g
  • Protein 7.6 g
  • Fibre 2.5 g

Here are a few notes to help make this for different dietary needs

• You can use peanut free seed butter. You can use any nut or seed butter as long as you make sure it is at a drizzly consistently.

• Instead of eggs you can replace them with flax eggs. To make enough flax egg to replace the 2 eggs, mix 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed with 5 tbsp of water and let set for 5-10 minutes before adding to the recipe.

• You can omit the protein powder but that will alter the protein nutritional content. You can use unflavoured protein powder or any flavour you wish. If you omit the protein powder, increase the rolled oats by ½ cup.

As you can see there are a lot of possible variations on this recipe. Change the seeds, add nuts, less seeds more chocolate chips, no chocolate chips but chopped peanuts instead. We could go on and on but I’d rather stop and let you have fun and make it your own.

Chia Pudding

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Chia Pudding

  • Servings: 1 Serving
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Healthy snacks that are good and leave you satiated are few and far between. Here is one I found.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp of chia seeds
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1/2 cup of milk of choice (I used almond milk)
  • Strawberries or other fruits for toppings

Directions

  1. Pour all ingredients into a 500 ml or 2 cup mason jar and mix well.
  2. Let settle for 2-3 minutes and then mix again very well until you see no clumping.
  3. Cover the jar and store in fridge overnight or for at least 2 hours.
  4. When you are ready to eat it, top with your favorite fruit and enjoy cold.

Nutritional facts per serving

  • Calories 155
  • Fat 9 g
  • Sugar 6 g
  • Carbohydrates 16 g
  • Protein 5 g
  • Fibre 9 g

This is a great snack that you can make up to a week in advance. So you make them on Sunday night and you have desserts or snacks for your lunches all week. It is very versatile. You feel for strawberries one day, the next you put in some cinnamon and vanilla and top it with apples, and so on. If you don’t like almond milk, you can substitute to any milk you like. Same with the sweetener. (Nutritional values are based on honey and almond milk) I would recommend a topping as it is very bland on it’s own.

Let you imagination soar, have fun and make it your own.

Rice Pudding Made Light

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Rice Pudding Made Light

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Easy
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I love rice pudding, but with anywhere between 250-300 calories per serving, my waist was not liking rice pudding. I used a recipe from a friend and modified it to make this lighter version of her famous rice pudding.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked white rice
  • 1-3/4 cups of water
  • 1-1/2 cups of unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 cup of white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of vanilla
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup of raisins

Directions

  1. In a small stock pot, put water and rice and salt, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for approximately 20 minutes, until the water is absorbed.
  2. Add 1-1/2 cups of the milk and sugar, and cook over medium low until thick and creamy. Some liquid must remain or it will be too thick. This should take about 20 minutes. Stir frequently.
  3. During that time, beat the egg and temper with the remaining 1/2 cup of warm almond milk. Add the raisins and vanilla to the mixture.
  4. Once rice is at desired consistency, add egg mixture and cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Put in 8 ramkin bowls or dessert dishes that can be reheated in micro.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 160
  • Fat 1.3 g
  • Sugar 13.5 g
  • Carbohydrates 38.2 g
  • Protein 3.9 g
  • Fiber 1.0 g

Hint: Tempering an egg is the process of beating an egg and adding a warm liquid a little at a time so the egg does not cook. If you were to drop the beaten egg right into the rice mixture you might have an omelet start to form.

Using unsweetened almond milk keeps the pudding creamy without the fat of whole milk. If you use skim milk it will be watery. Besides almond milk has less calories than skim milk. The calorie count listed is with raisins but if you don’t like raisins you can omit or sub for dried cranberries. Be careful which dried fruit you use as some are excessively high in sugar. This is best served warm.

My first attempt was way too thick so I added about a tablespoon or two of almond milk when I reheated them in the micro. For those who like something sweeter, you can serve with a 1/2 tablespoon of maple syrup but if you are counting calories remember that those are extra, put a little less raisins and you should be fine.

You can dress them up with fresh berries. You can even make this healthier by using brown rice. Have fun and make it your own.

If you want to make this into a vegetable sauce, because you have green peppers growing and need to find another use for them, you can add them, including celery, or any veggie you wish. Have fun and make it your own. If you have suggestions, let me know. I like trying new things too.