I get so tired of New Year’s resolutions. Especially the ones we hear time and time again: eat better, hit the gym, or less screen time. Let’s all just agree right now by approximately 8:39 p.m. next Thursday we’ll all have given up. I say instead of resolutions, let’s aim for small goals—things we can achieve in one single experience. And Jessica Silver, student development officer Orientation & Transition and this week’s contributor, has provided us the perfect opportunity to try something different in our normal (and perhaps not-so-good for us) routines with her raw protein bars recipe.
Silver, an admittedly “big foodie enthusiast”, shares that it was hard to choose just one recipe. (Be sure to check out her new blog menubored.wordpress.com). In fact she turned to her student employees for help!
“I love food, but even more so, I love not being hungry. I made these snacks as a “treat”, one part sweet (there’s a lot of chocolate) and one part healthy (I mean really, who makes a snack with maca). I always have a snack in the morning as I drink my coffee, go through my emails, and make my plans for my day here at UTM. This way I am not starving by the time lunch rolls around. It take a lot of energy and brain power to run all the orientation and transition programs I have under my portfolio, including programs like utmFYE, so I need all the help I can get,” she says.
Silver admits that while some of the ingredients are obscure, they’re delicious and healthy. I think adventurous yet simple recipes like Silver’s are the perfect excuse to learn new cooking techniques and try out some cool ingredients. From Facebook posts to magazine articles, I’ve certainly read a lot about hemp seeds, gogi berries, and cacao nibs, but I’ve never had a recipe I like that uses them all. I hadn’t even heard of maca, a Peruvian herb—Wikipedia helped me out there. So here’s to throwing resolutions out the window and instead making “small goals”. (I admit it needs a better name. Let me get back to you on that one.)
Raw Protein Bars—Crunchy Chocolate Bars
INGREDIENTS
- ¼ cup (60 ml) hemp seeds
- ½ cup (125 ml) cacao powder
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) protein powder
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) coconut oil
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) honey or agave
- ¼ cup (60 ml) gogi berries
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) cacao nibs
- ½ tsp (2 ml) maca
- ¼ cup (60 ml) unsweetened shredded coconut
- pinch of sea salt
METHOD
- Mix all the ingredients together except the coconut and roll into balls.
- Roll balls in coconut.
- Freeze for 15 minutes.
- Enjoy!☺
