TGIF (tomorrow)!  My day was packed with a to-do list as long as my leg (hey now, no short jokes) and it’s almost 10 o’clock and this is the first time I sat down all day.  Anyone who says stay-at-home Mom’s do nothing all day can eat it!  I have been on the go non-stop.

I have been really sporadic with my posts lately, I apologize for that.  My laptop is giving me some trouble and Mairead and her friends have been keeping me really busy.  I do have a few projects in the works that I can’t wait to share when they are complete, so stay tuned.

We’re heading to Calgary for the weekend to visit with some family, at least that’s the plan as long as Aaron’s work doesn’t decide otherwise.  You just never know with those guys.  Since I’ve got out of the habit of eating shitty gas station snacks on long road trips I have been putting some food together to bring on the road with us, one being these amazing chocolate quinoa sea salt bites.

These delicious little bites were way better than what I expected.  I like dates, so I knew I would like these but Aaron hates dates and he really likes these.  They are almost like a gooey brownie texture.  And the toasted quinoa, what a nice touch!  Seriously, so good!!  These are for sure going to be gone in the first 100 miles.

Factoring in the time to toast the quinoa, these treats didn’t take too long to whip up.  I recently bought a new blender that has a food processor component which made these really simple to make but you could definitely still do it by hand.  I would suggest dicing the dates and using ground pecans if you do go that route, just to save yourself some time and effort.  Don’t deprive yourself of these wonderful little energy bites, it’s still very doable!  This is the second batch of this treat that I have made and definitely won’t be the last!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Quinoa Sea Salt Bites

Ingredients

1/4 cup quinoa, uncooked
1 1/2 cup pitted dates
1 cup pecans
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 bar of good quality dark chocolate
sea salt to garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

On a baking sheet, spread quinoa to an even layer and toast in the oven for 25 minutes, stirring every 8 minutes or so to keep from burning.  Once toasted, remove from oven and set aside.

While the quinoa is toasting, in a food processor add the dates and dice until broken apart into small pieces and sticky.

Add pecans and process until ground and well mixed.

Add cocoa, almond butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon and mix until well combined.  The mixture should be easy to shape with your fingers.

Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Fold in the toasted quinoa.

Using your hands, roll the mixture into bite-size balls and place on a sheet of parchment paper.

In a double boiler (I just add 2 inches of water to a pot and place a metal bowl on top, set to simmer once boiling) melt the dark chocolate.

Dip half of the balls into the chocolate, place back onto the parchment paper and sprinkle sea salt over the chocolate while still wet.

Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Simply Quinoa