Quinoa And Oat No-Bake Breakfast Power Bars

Name: Quinoa And Oat No-Bake Breakfast Power Bars
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 1/2 cup cooked tri-color quinoa; 2 cups uncooked oats; 10 Medjool dates, pitted; 2 tablespoons coconut oil; 1/2 cup unsweetened almond butter; 2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder; 2 tablespoons raw shredded coconut; 1 tablespoon chia seeds; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Andrea Potischman | Nov 25, 2017

It’s a terrible habit, but there are many days I don’t eat breakfast. In fairness, I’m not super hungry first thing in the morning. In a perfect world, I would probably eat breakfast at 10 am; but life is busy and that’s not going to happen. For my boys, who always get up super early, I like to make a hot breakfast: nothing crazy, but something balanced with some type of protein to start them off right, especially on a school day.

My husband is super easy and will eat just about anything. So that leaves me, and what to eat. In thinking about what I should or could eat, something small and quick is often where I come out. With that in mind, I came up with this recipe for quinoa and oat breakfast energy bars and they go great with my coffee.

dates

I started with oats and tricolor quinoa as my base. I incorporated sweet delicious Medjool dates which I love. They are a so-called “energy-dense fruit” and I think they are a great way to add sweetness to almost anything. They also help bind, which is important because I wanted these power bars to be no-bake. To the dates, I also added fresh unsweetened almond butter (another favorite and a great source of protein), as well as a bit of coconut oil, local raw honey, and just a touch of vanilla.

To make the texture more interesting, I threw in a bit of raw coconut and chai seeds. And because they are power bars that substitute for breakfast, I needed a bit more “power;” so I added some protein powder (I prefer chocolate flavored) just as I do when I make my favorite breakfast protein shake.

With just a bit of chilling time required, these power bars are just what I need for my early mornings. I will also add that my older son discovered these and may have liked them a bit more than I wanted. This recipe makes about 8-10 bars depending on how you slice them, and you can double the batch if you have a family that likes to snack.