Thursday, June 17, 2021

Maca, Cacao and Date Muesli Bites [Plus, New Travel Plans!]

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We're off to Queensland! After my post from a few days again moaning about the South Australian borders, I got to thinking how darn cold it's going to be in the back of the Landrover and how my body needs warmth in the form of tropical weather, so we thought, yolo, let's spend some cash and go to Port Douglas, the jumping off place for the Great Barrier Reef! I'm so darn excited I could cry. Neither of us have been before, because in June we usually go to SE Asia, but this feels like a once in a life time opportunity. We booked a gorgeous Air B'n'B, which is about 20 minutes outside the touristy area and has it's own river pool to swim in. More on that to come, of course!

What's that got to do with these cacao and maca muesli bites?

Well, I know that it's hard sometimes to find good snack food when you're travelling, unless it's nuts and seeds and fruit, and I don't want to blow our budget on breakfasts and arvo snacks, so I'm packing these healthy, protein packed goodies! They're actually an adapted recipe from a recipe I've shared before, which is adapted from a recipe originally shared on My New Roots and called 'Life Changing Loaf'. My husband's life was changed by this loaf, so he thinks it's a good name. Suffering stomach issues related to FODMAP and reluctant to eat too much bread, this recipe seems to really help his stomach, probably because of the psyllium. It's also packed with plant based protein, the kind of nourishment that gets you through the afternoon slump or can keep you going all morning.

Even better than that, it's a super forgiving recipe, and easy to prepare and make. I've adapted it as follows, which makes three small loaves (think a half filled loaf tin). I usually slice one loaf and freeze the other two. This time, however, I mixed things up a bit. But first of all, let's start with the basic ingredients if you haven't read one of my previous posts waxing lyrical about this recipe!

Ingredients

3 cups of oats

1 cup each of pepitas, sunflower seeds, almonds (or pecans or walnuts)

10 tbsps psyllium

6 tbsps chia (white or black)

1 cup of hemp seed flour

15 tbsps of melted coconut oil

5 tbsps maple syrup or honey or rice syrup (or forego altogether)

A tsp of salt

Around 3 cups of water

Now, the fun thing about this recipe is as long as you've got the basic proportions right, you can play around with it. For instance, 2 cups of oats and 1 cup of coconut might be a good alternative, or throw in a few tablespoons of hempseeds, sesame seeds or even dried fruit. The psyllium and chia (and linseeds, if you choose to add them) hold it all together, so don't skimp on those!

Method

This is one of the great bits, especially if you loathe baking! You simply melt the coconut oil and add it with water and the sweetener to the dry ingredients and mix. Then, transfer to loaf tins - either two large or divide amongst three or four, depending on how liberal you've been with your ingredients. Add extra water if it seems too dry, but don't forget it'll set because of the psyllium and chia. Once set, cook at about 220C for 35 - 45 minutes and then cool. Slice and eat on it's own or with butter or a spread of your choice. It's also fine to toast, and to freeze.

Maca, Cacao and Date Bites

After putting around two thirds of the mix in my loaf tins, I added 4 tbsps of cacao, 2 tbsps of maca, and a handful of finally chopped dates, mixed, and pressed into a silicon mould. I suppose you could also try forming them into balls or bars. They were cooked for about 25 minutes.

Because I didn't measure that well, only guesstimated, I had some left over, so I just pressed it on top of the other two loaves for a kinda layered effect.

Now once you have the basic recipe down, the sky is the limit. I think coffee and date would be amazing, as would something like cranberry and cacao nibs with a little extra date syrup.

I'll put these in a zip lock back and take them with us on our trip for snacks between (hopefully) snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef! Yum.