Lentil Energy Bars

Lentils are totally underrated as a recovery food for working out, but they contain a fair amount of protein for repair as well as carbohydrates in order to restore glycogen stores within your muscles. And their high-fibre content make them a great slow-burning fuel so you can continue your day after the gym without crashing from a sugar high that can result from some poorly made protein powders. Read the labels, kids. It's shocking how much sugar can be found in some brands.

I was absolutely smitten with these these bars years ago when I started making them, especially because I could eat it right out of the gym, feel satiated, and have enough energy to get home and immediately take the dog out for a hike or run. What was resting? I do miss those days though.

Nowadays, these bars also make super B.A. nursing bars. They are calorie dense. (Keep that in mind before you eat three in a sitting!) I don't know about the rest of you who have nursed babes, but hunger hath no fury like that of nursing hunger. One of these is a great snack and I currently have a bunch stocked in my freezer for those near-starvation days with a cluster feeding babe.

I originally found this recipe on this blog here but have changed the main "glue" of it over the years to make them less sweet and have more of a dark chocolate taste. Other than that, I've remained pretty true to that author's recipe. She created a good thing.

Lentil Energy Bars

1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup raw cacao powder

2 cups cooked lentils (I use 3/4 of a cup of green, and 1/4 of a cup of red)
1/4 cup ground flax
1/4 cup hemp hearts
1/4 cup almond or coconut flour
2 tbsps. chia seeds
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3 tbsps. pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup rolled oats

Directions

1. In a small pot, mix the peanut butter, honey, and the cacao powder and heat over low heat until warmed through.
2. In the meantime, mix everything else in a large bowl. As an optional step, you can toast the coconut before you add it in. I love toasted coconut so I always do.
3. Once the peanut butter mixture is warm, add it to all the other ingredients and mix mix mix mix. This stuff can be sticky and tough, but keep going and it'll come together.
4. Dump it all into a 9x13 glass baking dish* and freeze for a few hours or overnight.
5. Remove from the pan, cut into pieces**, and store in an airtight in the freezer.

*Do yourself a huge favour and cover your dish in plastic wrap before putting everything into it or else I wish you all the luck getting it out in one piece.

**I usually cut mine into 20 bars of decent size. I wouldn't recommend making them much bigger than that. Again, these suckers are calorie dense.

Feel absolutely free to mix and match ingredients as you have them, just try to keep within the same proportions. Instead of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, this time we used toasted hazelnuts and dried cranberries, as per my daughter's request.

I hope the sun is shining where you are <3