Nut and Seed Protein Bars

Last night in Fortuna Fitness' Primal Cooking Class I revealed the recipe for the long awaited Nut and Seed Protein Bar! Everybody wants a good bar once and awhile and it's a difficult thing to find one in the stores. Why? Because processed, packaged foods almost always contain one or more of what I call 'The 4 Hidden Ingredients'. Refined sugar, refined oil, refined flour and refined salt. Refined foods are lacking in the nutrients they once contained, are usually acidic, difficult to digest and overall damaging to the body. More on those to come! For now, enjoy these protein bars that are made from nuts and seeds, natural sugars and a boost of protein from the only protein powder I recommend: Tera's Whey! They are an excellent choice for breakfast when you're on the go, an afternoon pick me up or a nice, healthy dessert.

The Recipe
1C flaxseeds
1C walnuts
3/4C sunflower seeds
3/4C pumpkin seeds
1/2C hemp seeds
4 scoops Tera’s Whey Protein powder (vanilla flavored)
1/2C coconut oil
1/2C maple syrup
1T vanilla extract

1. Grind the flaxseeds either in a coffee grinder or a high speed blender. They need to be ground finely. Then add to a mixing bowl.
2. Grind walnuts finely, then sunflower seeds, then pumpkin seeds and add to flaxseeds in the bowl.
3. Add hemp seeds (no need to grind these) and 4 scoops of the protein powder and mix thoroughly.
4. Heat coconut oil until softens, mix with maple syrup and vanilla extract.
5. Fold into the nut mix slowly and mix in thoroughly, you may need to add water until you get the consistency of bread dough. Start with a few spoonfuls of water and increase to 1/4C as needed.
6. Line an 8x8 glassware baking dish with parchment paper and press the ‘nut dough’ using a spatula or your hands. If you don't have parchment paper lining the pan with coconut oil will work just fine.
7. Bake at 300° for 30 minutes. If you desire them to be more crisp then leave them for another 10 minutes, watching so they don’t burn.

There are so many variations to making these bars. Use different flavored Tera's Whey, like chocolate or vanilla. You can use honey in place of maple syrup, choosing local and raw honey so you get the most benefits. You can add cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. Replace walnuts with almonds and then add almond extract! The possibilities are endless! Add raisins or goji berries, maybe even some dark chocolate chips to make these bars a special treat!

These bars are so delicious they'll probably disappear in  no time but if you don't think you'll finish them up in 2-3 days then be sure to freeze half the batch for later as they don't keep long. Thanks Fortuna Fitness and everyone who came out to our cooking class last night! Stay tuned for out next Primal Cooking Class at the end of the month!