Heard of hemp protein? It comes from the same plant species as marijuana, but hemp is entirely legal and non-psychoactive. Sorry. My childer have it in their smoothies and these lunchbox proat bars. Proats (protein & oats) are simple to make, cheap, highly nutritious and crazygorgeoustasty.
Hemp protein powder contains all 8 essential amino acids to give it bragging rights in the plant kingdom, as well as a nice dose of omega-3 and iron. Omega-3 fats are important for gym bunnies as they help quench inflammatory markers and heal bruised tissue. More importantly, omega-3 fats feed your brain and not your waistline. We like.
Hemp’s rich store of iron is responsible for helping oxygen to Access All Areas and make you feel like a backing dancer for Beyoncé. Spinach pales in comparison – tough luck Popeye.
And finally, a word on flax seed. They help your pipes. A lot. And offer another round of omega-3 artillery.
Use whatever protein powder you have – I won’t mind. Much.
To make 8 bars:
80g oats
2 tablespoons (hemp) protein powder (or more oats)
3 tablespoons milled chia
3-4 tablespoons maple or rice syrup
5 tablespoons runny tahini
Generous flurry of flaky salt
1 In a food processor or blender, blitz the oats and protein powder (if using) into a fine flour.
2 Tumble into a large bowl with the remaining ingredients and mash together with a fork and muscle. If your oats soak up all the liquid straight away, it’s worth adding another splash of tahini or syrup. Both the oats and ground chia need liquid to make them more digestible. And if your tahini is super thick, you might benefit from adding another drop.
3 Line a loaf tin with parchment, and squash the mixture down. Freeze for 30 minutes, before cutting into bars and storing in the fridge. We love drizzling chocolate over ours, or extra sea salt. Serve them to moody teens or sporting nuts, and watch them prostrate your genius.
6 Comments
What does WFH mean?
Hi Laurie. WFH means Working From Home. Handy to have snacks at the ready!
Hi Susan,
I made these bars exactly as written, using 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and found them to be too crumby and ‘dusty’, causing me a cough. So, I won’t to be able to give them to my five year old because I know he will have a temper tantrum if I give him one.
Hi Laurie. The recipe states 4 tablespoons of syrup (or you can use 3 tablespoons of syrup if your tahini is particularly runny). You mention you only used 2 tablespoons? That’s not enough for the recipe to work I’m afraid. It wouldn’t be soft enough to absorb the oats. You can still use the mixture, but just add the correct amount of maple syrup? No need to throw away what you’ve made! And at this stage, if the mixture has dried out, add an extra tablespoon of syrup or tahini to soften it up. You can also roll them into bonbons and coat in dark chocolate. Enjoy! SJ
Also, in direction “1” you wrote “(is using)”. I assume your mean “if using”. Hence, please clarify and edit, if needed. Thanks!
Yep!