"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate."

- Linda Grayson

Imagine this: You're in high school and all your chums are snacking on bars like Special K or Nature Valley or Kasha. Then, there you are, sticking out like a sore thumb because you're snacking on a banana and an apple. Possibly the strangest things you can find in a high school. After much argument with your mother, you finally convinced her to purchase aforementioned snack bars because, as you retorted, they're quite "convenient." As if a banana is that much of a nuisance. After a few weeks of snacking on sugared, artificial and highly processed granola bars, you realised you're craving more whole foods. Get back in there, banana.

These days, there's a cycle in my snacking. Sometimes, I just snack on fresh fruits, bringing with me containers of strawberries, kiwis, pineapples, oranges, etc. Every day, my bag contains a banana. It's the best 10 am snack -- it fills you up, but not enough that you won't want to have lunch in a decent hour. At other times, I do like to reach for vegan snack bars, such as Larabars and Nakd bars. It's all about balance and giving your body what it wants, not about eating what others around you are consuming just because you don't want to feel left out.

In the past week, I bought quinoa puffs out of curiousity. I'm not much of a cereal person for breakfast. Not filling enough. So after much use of Google so search for recipes to inspire my own kitchen experimentation, I came up with my recipe for quinoa puff bars. It helped that I was also going through a chocolately phase. These are easy to make and quite convenient. It doesn't hurt that they're yummy, too!

P.S. I was inspired by Delicious Ella's concoction. 

Quinoa Snack Bars
Makes 8 bars

Ingredients:

• 1 and a half cup quinoa puffs (unflavoured)
• 5 tbsp coconut oil, unmelted
• 4.5 tbsp brown rice syrup *
• 1/4 cup carob powder *
• 2.5 tbsp tahini *
• 1 tsp cinnamon

In  small pot, melt together the coconut oil, brown rice syrup, carob powder, tahini and cinnamon. Make sure that once hot lower the heat so your mixture doesn't burn.  In medium bowl, place quinoa puffs. Once the liquid mixture has completely melted, pour into the quinoa puffs and stir until incorporated.

Line a 9 x 5 loaf pan with parchment paper. Pour the quinoa puff mixture into the loaf pan and freeze for 30 minutes. Slice into bars and enjoy!

*You can also use maple syrup, agave nectar, if you wish. As for the carob powder, you can susbtitute with cocoa powder, but since carob powder has a sweeter taste, use 1/3 cup of cocoa powder instead. If you wish to use any kind of nut butter, you may do so.

xx