Recipe of the Month: Protein Bars

I'm going to start a recipe of the month feature here, since I do put quite a bit of thought into my nutrition. I have a few key philosophies:
#1 Eat real food - I really try to avoid buying prepackaged/mixed stuff. It's generally cheaper to make stuff yourself, and that way you know exactly what you're eating.
#2 Plant based - I know the vegan thing isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I try to be as plant-based as possible, but a variety of reasons (my own health and the health of our environment being two of the big ones).

So here's the first in a series of recipes I'll be sharing. I always make sure I get some protein into my body after a workout. I alternate between a protein shake (I use the Vega Protein & Greens powder from Costco) and this protein bar. This bar isn't really based on any particular recipe, and has undergone many iterations over the years as I've adjusted and refined it. In general, I've pared down the ingredients to make it as simple as possible, while making it more tasty (though making a delicious bar was never the priority) by upping the content of simple carbs, which is probably just as well in the interests of replenishing my glycogen stores after a workout (at least that's what I tell myself). This is the version of the recipe I've settled on. Each bar contains about 20g of protein, which is the most your body can absorb at a time, and contains all 9 essential amino acids.

Ingredients

1 cup dry mung beans

3 cups hemp hearts

2 cups chocolate chips

3/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp coconut sugar

3 tbsp ground flax disolved in 1 cup water

Directions

Boil mung beans for 10 min

Drain water, refill pot and return to boil

Reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes

Mix flax and water and let rest for 10 minutes

Mix with other ingredients (except beans) in bowl

Add mung beans and immersion blend all ingredients

Spread in greased pan and bake @ 350 for 35 minutes

Chill and cut into 12 pieces

The flax is a source of Omegas, but is mainly used here for its effect as a binder. Mixing ground flax and water is known as a "flax egg" and works as a vegan substitute for eggs in most recipes.

The main source of protein in this recipe is the Hemp Hearts. Hemp is one of the few plant-based sources of protein to contain all 9 essential amino acids, making it a "complete protein".

 

After the beans are cooking I leave them pretty "soupy" - one of the things I've learned over making various versions of this recipe is you do want a good amount of liquid in there to help everything bake together into one solid block. I use Mung beans because they're easy to digest (i.e. they won't give you gas like other beans) and they're high in potassium and magnesium.


Once everything is mixed together I use the immersion blender to get it consistent. Not totally necessary, but I find it help to get an even texture and keep everything held together well.


Remember to grease the pan!


After it comes out of the oven and has cool, cut it into 12 even pieces.


And then individually wrap them and put them in the freezer.