Earlier this summer I shared this delicious recipe on Meghan Telpner's wonderful website Making Love in the Kitchen. I first learned about Meghan in 2009 with her first tutorial, the Green Smoothie Cleanse! I made 3 green smoothies a day for 3 days with Meghan and learned more about real nutrition during that week than I had in my entire life. I blogged about my experience and I can honestly say it changed my life.
Over a year later my (and my husband's) eating habits have completely changed. Many of our meals are vegetarian, and we eat superfoods every single day. My husband still uses sugar in his southern style sweet tea and occasionally you just need a good chocolate chip cookie, or a piece of chocolate cake.. but other than that white sugar doesn't play a role in our diet anymore.
I still have green smoothies and/or protein smoothies several times a week, most often for breakfast.
Because of Meghan I have learned how to prepare and eat real, nourishing, whole, living, and healing foods.
The recipe I'm sharing today uses several delicious superfoods, is seriously easy to make, and is perfect for summer! These bars are lightly sweetened with fresh pineapple, dates, and raw honey. Chock full of healthy fiber and plant-based proteins, these Tropical Pineapple Date Bars the perfect afternoon snack.
Tropical Pineapple Date Bars
created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
Bar Ingredients:
1/2 cup ground almonds (or almond flour)
1 cup certified gluten free rolled oats
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons raw honey
1/4 cup hot water mixed with 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
Filling Ingredients:
1 cup crushed pineapple (I use fresh pineapple, which I pulverize in the magic bullet)
3 medjool dates, pitted, and finely chopped
Optional Toppings:
2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub coconut oil on the bottom of an 8x8" glass baking dish & set aside.
- In a large bowl mix together ground almonds, rolled oats, quinoa flakes, shredded coconut, and baking soda. Using your hands or a fork mix in coconut oil & honey into the rolled oat mixture. You will have a crumbly dough.
- Set aside 1/3 of the crumbly dough into a small bowl for the topping of the bars.
- With the remaining 2/3 of dough mix in the hot water & ground flax seed mixture.
- Press the dough into the greased 8x8" glass baking dish.
- In a small bowl mix the crushed pineapple with the chopped dates. Pour the pineapple mixture over the pressed dough.
- Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 of crumbly dough over the pineapple/date filling.
- Sprinkle raw pumpkin seeds over the top if you would like!
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until bars are golden brown and smell amazingly delicious!
- Cut into 9 large bars or 12 smaller bars. Let cool on the counter and then store in the fridge in an airtight container. These are BEST right out of the oven after being cooled, but they are also incredibly good from the fridge!
