Banana Pumpkin Hemp Energy Bars

With all these posts about vegan fried eggs and Daiya-covered pizzas lately, you might be wondering if I'm actually sticking with my post-Thrive Forward cleanse goals. Remember when I pledged to eat daily salads, post-run smoothies, alkaline foods, and homemade energy bars?

I think I'm actually doing a pretty decent job of balancing the uber-healthy (Vega smoothies, lots of kale, and plenty of raw food from Balewa's Vegan Gourmet) with the little indulgences (I had raw falafel tonight, followed by a sugary slice of vegan king cake).

I've definitely continued making my own wholesome energy bars using a formula from the Thrive Forward website. It's a chart that tells how much fruit, nuts, seeds, grains, etc. should go in your bar recipe, but you can pick and choose what ingredients go in. As I dream up new bars, I'll share the recipes here.

My first creation are these Banana Pumpkin Hemp Energy Bars:

These have a lovely toasty flavor from the popped amaranth, lots of protein from the hemp powder, a superb crunchiness from the pumpkin seeds, and plenty of natural sweetness from dates and bananas. Perfect as a snack before a run or weight training session.

Banana Pumpkin Hemp Energy Bars
Yields 8 bars

1/4 cup amaranth
1/2 cup sliced banana
1 cup sliced, pitted dates
1/2 cup hemp protein powder
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
Pinch of sea salt

Place the amaranth grains into an air popcorn popper. Turn it on and pop the amaranth like you would pop popcorn. Some grains will pop into tiny white fluffy kernels and others will simply brown and take on a toasty flavor. Both are totally okay! When the unpopped grains are nice and toasty-looking, turn off the popper and set aside.

Add the banana, dates, hemp protein, pumpkin seeds, salt, and popped amaranth to the base of a food processor. Process until the mixture forms into a ball. Remove the ball and roll out into desired shape onto a piece of waxed paper or a cutting board. Cut the bars into 8 equal sized pieces. Store in the fridge.