Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Chocolate-chocolate chip granola bars, as promised! Also try the cinnamon-raisin granola bars. Again, these are designed to keep you going. Good fats, good protein and healthy carbs.

They are gluten, dairy, egg and soy free.

GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE-CHOCOLATE CHIP GRANOLA BARS

This is a two-day project, but the actual time invested is minimal.

INGREDIENTS

List 1

3 cups rolled oats (I like Bob's Red Mill Organic Extra Thick)
1 1/2 cups blanched almonds or walnuts
1 1/2 cups sunflower seeds

List 2

3/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons of cacao powder (I like TerrAmazon Organic Cacao Powder)
1/2 tsp vanilla

List 3

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1/2 cup dried blueberries or cherries (optional)

Evening of day one - 

Take the ingredients on List 1, place in a large bowl and cover with water. Let sit on the counter overnight.

Day two -

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Drain and rinse the pre-soaked ingredients. Squeeze out the excess water. Place in a food processor. Add the ingredients from List 2 and give it a good whirl. If you like your granola bars more like cake, let the blender go longer. If you want some texture and crunch, leave the batter lumpy.
3. Add List 3 and mix by hand.
4. Spread in a thin layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 1 hour.
5. Remove from oven and cut into bars. Place back into oven and bake for another 30 minutes.
6. Cool on a wire rack.

The Perfect Quick Snack

Homemade granola bars... my new favorite take-along food. These are easy, even if you don't cook (yes, you need to do a bit of cooking here). These are great as a pre/post-workout, grab-on-the-go or "Help, I'm about to eat chocolate cake" snack. If you have kids, they'll be a hit with them, too.

These granola bars are gluten, dairy, egg and soy free. In other words, nothing in them will slow you down.

This is a two-day project, but the actual time invested is minimal.

GLUTEN-FREE CINNAMON-RAISIN GRANOLA BARS

INGREDIENTS

List 1

3 cups rolled oats (I like Bob's Red Mill Organic Extra Thick)
1/2 cup quinoa (steamed)
1 1/2 cups blanched almonds
1 1/2 cups sunflower seeds or sprouts
1 cup sesame seeds

List 2

3/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

List 3

1/2 cup rasins
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Evening of day one - 

Take the ingredients on List 1, place in a large bowl and cover with water. Let sit on the counter overnight.

Day two -

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Drain and rinse the pre-soaked ingredients. Squeeze out the excess water.
3. Place the ingredients from List 2 into a food processor and give it a good whirl. Add the ingredients from List 1 to the mixture. If you like your granola bars more like cake, let the blender go longer. If you want some texture and crunch, leave the batter lumpy.
3. Add List 3 and mix by hand.
4. Spread in a thin layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 1 hour.
5. Remove from oven and cut into bars. Place back into oven and bake for another 30 minutes.
6. Cool on a wire rack.

Don't eat all at once!

Tomorrow: Chocolate-chocolate chip granola bars!

Did I ever tell you about my friend Elly? She's at the Union Square Market each day it is open. Her farm, Patches of Star Dairy, produces some of the best goat products I have ever tasted. She has several varieties of goat cheese—raw aged havarti and edam, and ricotta—as well as yogurts and amazing ice cream. I love her cranberry-almond chevre on my morning bagel or the plain salted chevre in my salad for lunch. The kids love their Friday night pizza topped with the aged havarti.

Why goat cheese? One major reason is that goat's milk is much more digestible than cow's milk. Actually, and this may come as no surprise to you, we are neither baby goats nor cows, and were not designed to digest milk from other mammals. Enzymes in our digestive tract that break down the protein in the milk disappear by the time we are adults—that's why some of us have lactose intolerance. The protein in goat's milk is similar to the protein in human milk and our bodies are able to understand and digest it better. It also is less likely to trigger our immune system and cause allergies. In the end, the nutrients are easier to assimilate and use by our bodies. Stephanie Clark, a dairy researcher at Washington State University says, “Goat cheese is very nutritious, and adds a nice variety to the dairy products that are out there.”