Healthy, gluten-free, Homemade Quinoa Energy Bars

[penguin]

I modified the heck out of this food network recipe to make it both gluten-free and weight watchers friendly. They are YUMMY!!! I'm so glad I don't have the whole pan in front of me, or I would be eating all of them and blowing my diet I wish I had the fiber breakdown, but it's got to be high. They're really moist, a little chewy, and kind of taste like a pb&j sandwich in spite of there being no pb or j...

For WW followers, they're 2 points per serving.

By the way, I forgot the rice flour when I made it, and they turned out excellent anyway, so feel free to omit that.

QUINOA ENERGY BARS

Makes 20 bars

1 cup quinoa flakes, packed

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup ground flax seed meal

1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup dried apricot halves

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup golden seedless raisins

1/2 cup dried dates

1/2 cup non-fat instant dry powdered milk

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

2 large egg(s)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Place all ingredients except the syrup and eggs in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste.

Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake until just done, about 20 minutes. Cut into 20 squares.

[pattyanne]

Thank-you!!! These sound awesome and since I just started back on WW it is great that you calculated the points too. I bought some quinoa flakes, but I didn't like it as porridge. I was going to do some experimenting but now I don't have to.

[penguin]

Also, since I clearly have too much time on my hands, I did a nutrition analysis on it:

Per bar (1/20 of recipe)

Calories 155

Total Fat 6g

Saturated Fat 1g

Cholesterol 21mg

Sodium 21mg

Total Carb 23g

Fiber 3g

Sugars 11g

Protein 5g

Vitamin A 4%

Vitamin C 1%

Calcium 6%

Iron 10%

You can do this for your own recipes at nutritiondata.com

[queenofhearts]

Sounds yummy, thanks!

[Cheri A]

Mmm... sounds great!! I'll modify a bit more and maybe my dd can take this to school in her lunch!!

[penguin]

Mmm... sounds great!! I'll modify a bit more and maybe my dd can take this to school in her lunch!!

Good luck! I know she's allergic to a lot. The powdered milk is just there for extra protein, and the flax would probably make up for the eggs if you added some oil. I also saw reviews at food network where people added a banana to it and it worked.

[DingoGirl]

excellent......wanting to know if I can substitute choc. chips instead of raisins....what do you think....

[jerseyangel]

excellent......wanting to know if I can substitute choc. chips instead of raisins....what do you think....

Well, I think chocolate chips would be delicious in these.

But then, I would put a little chocolate in just about anything!

How you doing, Susan? Haven't talked to you in a while!

[Lexis]

Could I replace the quinoa flakes with rice flakes, b/c that is what I have in the house.

[penguin]

Well, I think you could replace just about anything in these with just about anything. I had to sub a lot and it turned out fine. For example, the original recipe called for oats, and I subbed quinoa flakes, even though they aren't as dense as oats. Still worked perfectly. I don't see why rice flakes or even rice bran wouldn't work

And yes, I think chocolate chips (especially mini ones if you could find them) mixed in by hand after the food processing, would be excellent in these. Well, I would think that if I liked chocolate

It'll work

I think if you keep the ratio of dry stuff to wet stuff the same, it'll work just fine

[Cheri A]

What brand of quinoa flakes do you use? I'm going to be going to the HFS this weekend and I REALLY want to try it.

What do you think would make a good sub for the nuts & sunflower seeds that she can't have?

[daffadilly]

Cheri, re sub for nuts & seeds, can she have coconut? you can get the coconut slivers at places like whole foods, or make some from fresh, or use regular coconut.

are all nuts out?

how about dried cherries, dried cranberries, dried apples, dried blueberries?

that is all I can think of at the moment

Geez, this sounds really good & chocolate chips, yum...

[Cheri A]

All nuts are out ~ but I just thought of a good salty option ~ her Glutino pretzels smashed up!

I'll definitely use raisins, but will have to check on the other dried fruits. I'm not sure I've ever seen any that weren't processed in a plant that might contain peanuts.