Quick & Easies: Vegan Protein Crunch Bars

If you like these:

But hate shelling out this:

For this:



Then may I suggest you try these:

At under 50 cents a bar they are a steal and require very little time and prep! 

Credit where it's due: This recipe is a variation from the inspiration of Camilla at Enlightened Cooking. You can view the original here. I discovered this recipe while shopping for inexpensive treats to keep Robert full and happy while on our upcoming vacation! The experimental batch turned out so well they were gone in one sitting of Jaws with two friends. No better way to enjoy shark week!

The Ingredients:
1 cu crisp rice cereal (to add a little health factor to this ingredient, you can use a brown rice variety available at Whole Foods by Erwhon)
1 cu quick cooking oats (Old Fashioned and Rolled oats will work in a pinch, but the resulting bar will be chewier)
2 T ground flax seed
1/4 cu raisins (or dried cherries, or dried cranberries, or... you get the idea!)
1/4 cu crushed almonds (I placed whole almonds in a zip bag and let 'em have it with a rolling pin. You could use any nut or seed here.)
1/4 cu chocolate hemp protein powder
1/2 t cinnamon
1/3 cu brown rice syrup (with all the things you can do with this stuff, it's worth the investment)
1/2 cu peanut butter (you could use almond or sunflower seed if you like)
1 t vanilla extract

Three easy steps:
1. In a medium microwave safe bowl, combine the 1/3 cu brown rice syrup and 1/4 cu peanut butter. Microwave until well blended, about 30 seconds or so. Stir in 1 t vanilla.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the 1 cu rice cereal, 1 cu oats, 2 T flax seed, 1/4 cu raisins, 1/4 cu almonds, 1/4 cu protein powder, and 1/2 t cinnamon. Mix until well integrated.

3. Mix the wet and dry together in the large bowl. Start with a spatula since the brown rice mixture will be hot, but you will have to use your hands to mix it well. Pour mixture into a parchment lined and nonstick sprayed 9 X 11 pan (this is sticky stuff, so I lined the pan with parchment paper AND sprayed the paper with nonstick spray). Top with another piece of sprayed parchment paper use another pan to press down the mixture. Put your back into it and really squish the stuff! Refrigerate for 30 minutes then cut into 12 bars.

The bottom line: Our goal was to save money without having to sacrifice time or ingredients. These take about 10 minutes to make (minus chilling time) and although the cost of the whole ingredients may be in investment (the brown rice syrup will set you back around $5, while the hemp protein powder costs $10.99 for 16 oz) the final cost per bar is under 50 cents! And you will certainly find other uses for these products, right here in this blog!

Happy protein crunching!