Vegan Protein Energy Bars

Its no secret that I love reading food blogs! And lately I've been seeing a lot of recipes using oats. I decided it was time I made something oat related rather then drool over others creations.
Mine may not look very drool worthy, but I promise it's delicious! Let me explain why my bar looks slightly green. The secret ingredient, HEMP protein!  Hemp protein is the only protein powder I use and here are the reasons why.

• Contains all 20 amino acids.

• Contains all 8 essential fatty acids. (Who said vegans had to eat fish to get those fatty acids!?)

• 80 percent of the fat from hemp seeds is unsaturated, which is the good type of fat.

• The protein from hemp helps balance the pH level of our bodies.

• Certified organic hemp protein is vegan, gluten free, kosher, and non-genetically modified. 

• Hemp is usually very safe for those unable to tolerate nuts, gluten, lactose, and sugar. In fact, there are no known allergies to hemp foods. From personal experience, hemp protein is very easy on the digestion.

My favorite way to eat hemp is in seed form. But unfortunately, I'm all out. But the protein powder did just fine! 

 

I adjusted the recipe from here

1 ripe mashed banana

1.5 cup Oats

1/2 cup Goji Berries (soaked and drained)

1/2 cup Raisins

1/3 cup Cacao Nibs (finally used them Lils!) :)

1/3 cup Maple Syrup

1/2 cup Unsweetened Peanut Butter (will use less next time)

2 scoops Hemp Protein

2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseeds

1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Tbsp Coconut Oil

Threw everything into a bowl. Mixed. Transferred to my Tupperwares (it made quite a lot) and left in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

The mixture turned out a little wet, most likely from the soaked goji berries, but the end result was fabulous!

 It harden up in freezer enough so I can cut them into little bars and wrapped them up individually.

This one didn't stay wrapped up for long! OOOO peanut butter, raisins, oats - YUM! The cacao nibs added just the right amount of crunch factor and goji berries added some juiciness :) Peanut butter! Delicious and oh so dangerous to keep in the house.

 

 These are really nice healthy treat and dare I say, MUCH better then store bought energy bars.

Now if only these bars stayed hard at room temperature, it would be a wonderful traveling snack. 

Today was a wonderfully unusual day. I went to Motozo's office to have lunch with him and a few of his colleagues. The last time we had lunch together on a work day was back in our dating days ha.   Ah, sweet memories.     

Check out the view from his office from the 24th floor. Hibiya Park in all its autumn glory.

Motozo asked me which tree was my favorite and I, of course, pointed to the reddest tree. He took a photo the best he could from his crack berry and said he'll keep an eye on it. Checking it daily to see how it changes color :)  Cheesy and sweet. It doesn't take much for that man to make me smile. 

Lunch was an assortment of veggies and purple rice. I wasn't so sure if the dressing on the green salad was safe for me so I choose to not eat it. The rest of the food was good though. I particularly enjoyed the sweet potato strips. 

After spending almost an hour at Biccamera looking at phones and cameras, it was finally time to say good bye. I took a nice walk in Hibiya Park and discovered there is a huge beautiful rose garden in there! 

 

 

It was so lovely to walk around in the sun admiring nature! 

 

Early tomorrow morning were going to Osaka to meet some of Moto's relatives and then to Kyoto. I hope the leaves haven't fallen yet. I'm so excited! This will be my first time to go there. I'm going to be a tourist in my own country.  woohoo! Happy Friday everyone.