"Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Quinoa Granola Bars

I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but TOOT TOOT! These are amazing my friends, AMAZING!

Who doesn’t love a sweet chewy granola bar? I literally don’t know a single soul who doesn’t. Biting into a sweet, yet salty, chocolate chip granola bar that fills the soul with joy, there’s nothing better. Okay… maybe granola bars aren’t that great but they make life a whole lot easier when you’re someone who’s constantly on the go. Finding a granola bar that was jam packed with Quinoa was my quest and I totally succeeded when I stumbled upon a Quinoa granola bar recipe from Mouth Watering Eats . It’s simply divine.

                                       

To find my ingredients for these bars I decided I’d take a trip to Bulk Barn. When I got there I went completely buck wild and bought a ton of ingredients that would make a personalized granola bar that I, myself would love. So I hope that when you make these, you do the exact same. Add any ingredients you want. Personalize it and make it yours. Dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts and/or coconut – whatever you think would be perfect for you. Do it and don’t look back because it’s going to rock!

Make sure to pack the mixture tightly

Here are the Quinoa Granola Bars with, you guessed it, my suggestions/changes in the brackets. Enjoy!!

Quinoa Granola Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup quick oats 

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/4 cup oat flour (I used regular flour)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup nut butter of choice (I used peanut butter because peanut butter is simply the best)

1/2 tsp vanilla

*optional: add-ins like chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit (DO IT! DO IT NOW! I used pecans, dark chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut and dried cranberries)*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, mix together oats, quinoa, oat flour, and cinnamon.  Add honey, applesauce, nut butter, and vanilla.  Mix until a sticky mixture forms.  If you want to use any add-ins, throw in a handful now, and mix them in.  Press mixture into prepared pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Once cooled, cut into 8 bars.  Store in an airtight container.  For traveling, put bars in a blastic bag or wrap in aluminum foil.

Finished product tastes amazing

"More Buffalo, Less Chicken" Buffalo Chicken Quinoa

I make a buffalo chicken dip that my family literally goes crazy for. It’s probably the healthiest dip out there. It’s made with cream cheese, blue cheese dressing, chicken and lots of wing sauce. I'm hoping you can see that when I say it’s healthy, I’m being extremely sarcastic, but eating it with cut up celery makes everything better. I based my version of Buffalo Chicken Quinoa off of that recipe but a touch healthier.

You could probably find thousands of Buffalo Chicken Quinoa recipes on the web but the one I made was a bit different. I put my own little twist on it by using plain yogurt as the base of my wet ingredients and Frank’s Red Hot Wing Sauce. Looking back now, I wish I had used a lot more wing sauce to kick up the heat, but it all depends what your taste buds can handle. Usually I don’t like a lot of spice but the blue cheese helped my mouth cool off.  

I really enjoyed this for a meal and to prove how good it was, my boyfriend who would never consider trying Quinoa finally ate some (I think the Frank’s is what got him) and he said he “actually enjoyed it”….SUCCESS!!

Buffalo Chicken Ingredients 

                                               

Buffalo Chicken Quiona 

Ingredients:
2 Cups Quinoa (I was planning my lunches for the week so that’s why it’s a large portion)
2 Chicken Breasts
4 Cups Water 
1 container of plain yogurt (the photos show two containers but I only used one)
¾  Cup of Frank’s Red Hot Wing Sauce (Make sure it’s the wing sauce, Frank’s Red Hot Original would not give you the right flavour and add has little or as much sauce as you want depending on your spice tolerance)
¾ Cup crumbled blue cheese 
3 Green Onions 

Directions:
Add Quinoa to the four cups of boiling water. Let the Quinoa cook until water is completely gone and Quinoa has expanded twice in size and a fluffy consistency. While the Quinoa is cooking put the chicken in the oven at 350C for 30 minutes. Pour Quinoa into a large mixing bowl and add chopped green onions. Pour yogurt and Frank’s Red Hot Wing Sauce into the mixing bowl and mix until the Quinoa is covered. Once the chicken is cooked chop it up and toss it with the coated Quinoa. Plate and sprinkle with blue cheese. Add more hot sauce if desired.

  

Plated and Ready to Eat

The "Blonde Moment" Apple Quinoa Bake

While I was at school this week, one of my classmates approached me with a recipe for an Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bake. I was instantly intrigued and couldn't wait to make it, so of course I made it that weekend as a lovely breakfast for my roommates and myself.
The bake didn't take long to prepare but being a relatively new cook, and one who is far from bad but far from amazing, I (of course) did not read the instructions through carefully... What!? I was excited! Apparently I was supposed to cook the bake the night before I served it. Oopsie...I realized this about halfway through the preparation process so I made the conscious decision to only add about half the milk the recipe called for, otherwise I would've had a lake…not a bake (cue “joke” drums).
Luckily the bake came out the perfect consistency, and I saved breakfast. I really enjoyed this bake but I think with the lack of milk compared to that which was called for, the spices were very overpowering. 
I really want to make this recipe again, but make sure I make it the proper way. So I thank my classmate for handing over this recipe and I apologize for having a HUGE blonde moment.
So with that said, what did we learn this week folks? Always read the ENTIRE recipe beforehand. I don't think I can stress that enough, can I?
Here is the Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bake with a couple of my personal changes, as usual, in the brackets.

The Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bake 

Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bake

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked Quinoa

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 apples, peeled and diced

¼ cup raisins ( I didn’t use raisins because I didn’t have any but I’m sure they’d be great)

2 eggs

2 cups vanilla soy milk (since I didn’t make it the night before I only used one cup – the liquid from the apples, eggs and maple syrup would make up for the rest of the milk)

¼ cup maple syrup

1/3 cup almonds, chopped

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 7 by 11 inch baking dish (an 8 by 8 works too). In a small bowl, mix the uncooked Quinoa with the spices. Pour into a greased dish. Sprinkle the apple and raisins (if you use them) on top of the Quinoa. In the same small bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the soy milk and maple syrup. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the top of the fruit and Quinoa. Lightly stir to partially submerge the fruit. Sprinkle the chopped almonds on top. Bake for one hour or until the casserole is mostly set with only a small amount of liquid left. Allow to cool, then cover and refrigerate. In the morning, cut a square, microwave it on a plate, and enjoy alone or withhh a few dollops of Greek yogurt.