Simple No-Bake Homemade vegetarian protein bars

Day 5 of the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge and I have to share this simple no-bake recipe for homemade protein bars. There's no cooking involved on the stove either!  I've had these on-hand for snacking and so far they've been the perfect to satisfy my need for a chewy cookie-type delectable niblet of love. I love the addition of some freeze-dried raspberries and peanut butter.   Here's the recipe my darlings! 

Chef Tess' Simple No-Bake

Homemade Vegetarian Protein Bars 
Ingredients:
1 cup soy protein isolate (or 4 scoops Chocolate shakeology)
 2 cups quick cook oatmeal or 4 grain rolled cereal
½ cup coconut, unsweetened
2T Baker's cocoa

1/2 cup Granular Erythritol (natural sugar-free calorie free sweetener)
½ cup freeze dried raspberries, crushed
1 cup unsweetened almond milk

 ½ cup natural, creamy almond butter or peanut butter ( I use Nutzo organic 7 nut and seed butter)
Directions
1. Combine first 5 ingredients in large mixing bowl. Mix well.
2. Add almond milk and nut butter to mixture. Mix well with clean hands.
3. Press mixture into 8x8-inch baking pan; cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
4. Cut into 18 bars. Store in the fridge, in an air-tight container until ready to eat.

Nutritional Information (per serving): Calories: 150, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 3mg
Sodium: 61mg, Carbohydrate: 14g, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 4g, Protein: 7g

There you go! Onward and upward my darlings! How are things going with your weight loss goals?


Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess 

Pin and Win with Lucky Leaf Springtime 500$ Contest!

 My darlings down at Lucky Leaf  always send me the best goodies in the mail! Seriously. What is the best thing you could send a baker, besides flours? {Tee hee}...

Pie filling! This time it was three free cans of their premium Pie Filling along with some cuter-than-heck recipe cards and a really adorable kitchen timer.  

 I seriously can't get over how simple these recipes were to make! Ya know what though? Their recipes are always easy to make! That's why I love them. Love. Love. Love.
Here are some of my favorites...

This ridiculously delicious

 Wise Woman Apple Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe 

Another absolute favorite was the Amaretto Peach Cobbler in the Awesome 

Cobbler Post!

The Amazing Dinner Menu 

that included the Sweet and Hot Slow Cooker Pork and Chocotinis! It was a very fun menu and really easy to make ahead of time for the party!

Perhaps my favorite post ever from Lucky Leaf has been the 

Chocolate Strawberry Cake with Rum Ganache

 These New Recipes for spring are so light and luscious, we might be having them all summer long!  The first recipe I made was the Lemony Blueberry Layered Pie. Ladies...if you want your husband to fall over with happiness...go ahead. Use this recipe. When I pulled this creation out of the fridge the words that escaped his mouth were, "You blessed woman!"  So ya know...he then sat down with the entire pan and ate it with a spoon.  I guess he thought it was just for him. I did manage to get a small little nibble...and it was ridiculously divine! The second batch I made, I changed the recipe a bit for my family's preferences. I've made the adjustments below.

Lemony Blueberry Cheesecake

 with Pistachio-Graham Crust

Adapted from Lemony Blueberry Layered Pie  from Lucky Leaf

Ingredients

1 10-inch graham cracker crust in a springform pan  (see recipe below for my homemade with pistachio)
3 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
8-ounces sour cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
2   3.4-ounce box instant lemon pudding mix
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
¼ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 21-ounce can LUCKY LEAF® Premium Blueberry Pie Filling

Instructions

Make your crust by combining:

2 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup fine ground pistachios, 1/2 cup melted butter and 1-2 T of water.  Press into a 10 inch springform pan.

 It helps to lightly mist your fingers with a little water so they don't stick.

 Bake at 350 degrees for 101-12 minutes.

Allow to cool while making the filling...

Filling directions: Combine cream cheese, sour cream and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, mix at medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until smooth. Add pudding mix, lemon zest and lemon juice; mix until well blended.

 I have boys. I will not tell you how much they laugh whenever they see this picture of me squeezing the lemon. If you don't understand...I'm not going to explain it to you either.

 Spoon lemon-filling mixture on top and spread evenly. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

Spoon  Lucky Leaf Premium Blueberry Pie Filling on top just before serving. Garnish with fresh lemon zest if desired.

The second recipe I did was the Cherry Coconut Squares. Um Wow! There are only 6 ingredients in these bars and so far, my boys have asked me to make them four times in the last four days. I have a teenage boy and one nipping at his heals. Tell me that they'll stop eating soon. It is starting to get scary. Speaking of scary. These coconut squares are the most delightful coconut shortbread imaginable topped with the super-fruit cherry filling from Lucky Leaf. I'm telling you...you can't lose!

That being said, these whip up in minutes, are delicious to make, and have made their way to the top of the list of "Best Things to Trade" at the lunch table.

  My son says he can get premium trade-items from other kids whenever he brings them in his lunch box...and he still won't trade them with his friends! 

There. That is the ultimate test right there! Punk my lunchbox. That's right. I'm super-bad!

 Cherry Coconut Squares from Lucky Leaf

Ingredients

• ⅓cup sugar
• ¼cup butter
• 1 ½cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• ¼teaspoon salt
• 18-ounce can flaked coconut
• 121-ounce can LUCKY LEAF^® Regular or Premium Cherry Pie Filling

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Cream sugar and butter. Sift flour and salt together and then add to creamed mixture. Mix in coconut.

 Pack 1/2 of this mixture into a greased 9-inch square pan. Spread LUCKY LEAF Cherry Pie Filling on top. Put remaining crumb mixture on top of pie filling. Pat down firmly

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. When cool, cut into 16-squares.

Guess what?!!! The fun hasn't stopped!  Lucky Leaf is opening up a great Contest to you my darlings!!

•  The Grand Prize is 500$, and two additional winners will receive 200$!  
•  To enter the contest, go to the Contest Entry Pin and pin away (Contest starts May 1st)! There isn't anything posted on the page-link until then so you might have to be patient...

There you go my darlings! Join me for this amazing contest and share these outstanding recipes!

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

An Evil Think Tank (ETT) with the Professor... Fresh Raspberry-Chocolate Crumble Bars

Last week I got to go see my family for my mother's birthday and family reunion. It was the first time we've all been together in 3 or 4 years and it was epic. Among the grand events of the weekend, I got to do an Evil Think Tank with my darling brother John the Professor. He got that name from being...a real professor. Plus he's a super-smartie-pants-sassy-dude and I don't know if he'll ever stop being an older brother who is great at teasing me. We've been friends for years though I have to admit that in my teen years he had to drive his snot-nosed little sister to school every day. I know for a fact that a lot of people thought I was his girlfriend...and not because he was kissin' on me (that would be gross). They thought I was his girlfriend because I was so freakishly adorable and certainly way out of his league. Geesh. Actually  Professor John is a genius.John has written two Books! Composite Materials: Fabrication Handbook #1 (Composite Garage Series) and Composite-Materials-Fabrication-Handbook- #2 If you're at all smartie-pants-design inclined you should visit  John's Amazing Blog.

As of today, John is now the master-genius Evil Think Tank Guy. Yes. We're having matching T-shirts made. Be afraid when we walk down the street my darlings. It is a scary sight to behold.

Hello. Yes we're cool.

So Professor John had his little kiddos with him and his stunning way-out-of-his-league wife Queen Charlotte. She's seriously the most beautiful chick I know. So it comes as no surprise that their daughter  is just breathtaking. Here she is overlooking the gardens that my dad grew.

Then she started skipping. Why don't I have daughters? Boys don't skip. They punch each other and talk about bodily functions. My niece skipped...and then sat down and asked my brother to sit cross legged like a princess.

 Sorry sista'. He's not going to ever sit cross legged and act like a princess. I tried for years to get him to sit like a princess and he would pass me on the street the very same way he is here...{ Yes, he's saying in his very boy-mind,"I can't see you girlie-girl-princess with your legs crossed."}.

So all the girls sat down and crossed our legs like a group of princess chicks. It was cool. Oh...my nephew was in on that action. I'm okay with that.

 Here lies the fundamental difference in a nut shell between boys and girls.

Boy nephew (I call him "The Extra Miles" because he's just so busy!)

Me: "Extra Miles...what are you doing?" 
Extra Miles: "I'm covering a hole."
Me: "Um...why?"
Extra Miles: "Because that's what you do."

After I stopped giggling to myself I realized that it was just the age old truth coming together.

Truth: There is no reasoning with a boy. They have their own set of rules and logic. However, I decided that it wouldn't stop me from having some Evil time with my brother creating in the kitchen. Queen Charlotte picked up some beautiful fresh raspberries at the farmer's market while the Professor looked at cars. Further proof that girls are cooler than boys. ( Just kidding John...or am I? )

After eating an inordinate number of fresh berries...we decided it was to our best interest to make some dessert. I will not mention any discussion that my boy-brother had about bodily functions and too many berries. I will mention that I punched him in the arm. I will also mention that he still thinks I'm freakishly adorable and totally out of his league.

Chef Tess Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Crumble Bars
2 cups pastry flour
3 cups 6 grain rolled cereal or oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla or rum extract (I opt for rum most often...no comments

filling:
1 cup fresh raspberries (or frozen)
1/2 cup sugar
2T cornstarch

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions: Combine the first 7 ingredients until crumbly and thick and press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. In a small saucepan combine the berries, sugar and cornstarch. Stir and cook over medium heat until berries release juice and cook into a thick jam-like mixture. Remove from heat. Allow to cool 5 minutes. Spread raspberry mixture over the crumble mixture in the pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips in your mouth over the raspberry mixture and then top with remaining half of the crumble mixture. Look at the Professor...

 There are many different layers of good and evil at play in the world. We just happened to capture all of them in one dish.

 Bake at 350 degrees 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven. Eat immediately with ice cream. Show a little restraint and take a nice picture for your blog. Eat a bar and cry because my stinky-genius smarty-pants brother is still so cool and freakishly, unquestionably... out of my league.

Our next exercise in pure evil was this double chocolate raspberry cobbler with fresh whip cream. Evil. Wrong...and total Perfection. I could share that recipe...but then I'd have to kill you and blame it on my brother.

Instead I'm just going to confess some age old truths:

• Boys will always be smarter and cuter when they bake with their snot-nosed little sister on any given day in July.

• Girls will always be perfect and totally out of their brother's league...especially when they sit cross legged like a princess.

•  Family will always be the most important thing in life.

•  My mom has the best kids in the universe.

Chocolate, like family, is forever.

There ya go.

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

Simple Cake Mix 6 Grain Jam Crumble Snack Bars

You know what I love about summer? Nothing in Arizona. Well... not the life-sucking death-heat of the Sonora desert or the way my albino  (remember the Albino on Princess Bride?) skin  that turns bright pink the second I walk out of my house. I can tell you that there are days when I think I will burst into flame the second I walk pass the portal of my front door. Yes...I'm violently sucked into a brilliant vortex of white light and space aliens. "Take me to your leader Albino-Scum!"... I'm pretty sure I've watched too much of the Twilight Zone...and X-Files.  I also randomly imagine hairy long-nailed monsters on the wings of my airplane when I travel. Just for the record. I don't like window seats. I do however love those tiny bags of peanuts. They're so cute.

There is a perk to living in the surface of the sun valley of the sun. Phoenix is perfect for summer solar cooking. I love it! See. I DO love something about the heat. I pop my bad-boy Solar Oven on it's cart and wheel it into the yard, pointed the direction of the sun. Here it works likes a crock-pot and I can basically forget about dinner until it is time for dinner. Huge perk for me working full time now. Today however, I decided at 4 AM that it was cool enough in the house to bake some snack bars for the boys. They are home on summer vacation and I wanted them to have little fun goodies to wake up to. Yes...I do wake up that early almost every day. Yes. I know I'm crazy. That is what works for me to be home with the kids and still use the test kitchen. Ironically...I used to do that before I had kids but at a bakery. Somehow it seems more fun when I can still be in my PJ's and bake. Go figure. I haven't yet had any of my fuzzy-neon-pink cupcake-jammie material end up in the cookies. Now...that's funny because today I made jam bars. Not to be confused with jammie bars. Those are fuzzy. These are delicious.

I use my homemade cake mix and the evil-delicious blueberry confection known affectionately by me as Spiced Blueberry Amaretto Jam. You don't have to make your own homemade cake mix or jam. I'm not checking your cupboards. You make what works for you. One box of regular cake mix will work. I also use all natural granular erythritol instead of sugar in most of my baking. It is zero calorie and no carb. It's great for diabetics and for those watching their sugar.

Chef Tess 6 Grain Jam Crumble Bars
4 c  homemade cake mix (or 1 box store bought)
1 c granulated sugar (or all natural granular erythritol )
2 c  6 grain rolled cereal
¼ c  whole flax seed
 ½ c brown sugar
1 egg
1 c melted butter (no substitutions on flavor)
2 c unsweetened jam (I used Spiced Blueberry Amaretto Jam)

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Yes. These can be baked in a solar oven. Pre-heat it to 350. That will take about 15 minutes.  In a large bowl combine all ingredients except the jam. The mixture will be thick. Reserve 1 ½ cup for the topping.     Using fingertips press the remaining mixture into the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch pan so it reaches all sides. 

  Spread the jam over the crust mixture in a thin layer.

  Pinch off pieces of the reserved mixture and scatter over the jam.

Bake until light brown and bubbling, 35-40 minutes. It will take 45-55 minutes in a solar oven. Allow to cool 30 minutes before cutting.

If you don't wait for them to cool before you cut them, they will just fall apart in mounds of hot buttery delicate grain-confection laced with jam. It's really hard to resist at that point but...ya know. Do what you want. I'm not checking your closets either. 

Yield 24 bars. Let's be honest. It makes 6 bars for a teenage boy.  There you go.

Always My Very Best,

 Your Friend Chef Tess

Whole Grain for the Holidays! Cookies and Bars on Fox 10

No Guilt Christmas Cookie Recipes: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

Today  on Fox 10 Arizona Morning show I shared some awesome whole grain alternatives to the cookies you might see on the buffet tables. I'm including some gluten free whole grain gingerbread,  7 grain jam crumble bars and cookie mixes to help make the giving and receiving even more merry and bright! I'm so excited to share these with you. Did you know I started a 90 day weight loss challenge this week? I started the week of Christmas?! I know. It sounds crazy. However...it's been a huge motivator in keeping things healthy for me.  Special thanks to my dear fitness coach Christina Wheeler! She has been a great cheerleader in this decision and I'm very thankful for her support.  What a cool coach to join me in this effort and not eat junk food this season herself!   All I know is that it's the gift I'm giving myself this year. I wanted to start in early so that, when the new year came along, I would already be kicked into high gear. So. Let me share the recipes from today's show. 

As a random note. I use a 9 grain flour in many of these recipes that contains hard red wheat, soft white wheat, barley, rye, oats, corn, millet, buckwheat and flax seeds. It's now available at all the Honeyville Farms Retail Locations in a 50 (yes 50 lbs) for around 16$. It is their 9 Grain Cracked Cereal in a flour form and amazing to use in place of 100% of all purpose flour in most recipes.  I used the cracked version in my 9-grain-ciabatta whole grain bread. 

Whole Grain for the Holidays!

 Chef Tess Gluten Free 
Brown Rice Orange Gingerbread Cookies

  3 cups Honeyville Farms Certified Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour ( 750ml)

1 tsp Xanthan Gum ( 5ml)

1 tsp Salt (5ml)

 1 tsp baking powder (5ml)

2 tsp Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East Spice Blend ( 10 ml)

 1/2 tsp ground ginger (½ tsp or 2.5ml)

 2 tsp fresh orange zest (2tsp 10ml)

1/2 cup (4 oz) Lucero Chocolate Infused Certified Extra Virgin Olive Oil (125 ml)

 1 1/2 cup Dark brown sugar OR 1 cup Xylitol natural sweetner ( 375 ml)

 2 T molasses (30ml)

 2 whole egg ( 125ml)

1 tsp  pure bourbon vanilla (1 tsp)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
 In a large bowl combine the brown rice flour, xanathan gum, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and orange zest. In a separate bowl whisk the olive oil, dark brown sugar, molasses, eggs and vanilla. Mix the brown rice flour mixture with the egg/sugar mixture. Stir well. Mixture will be thick. scoop cookies (36g each or 2T/30ml) and round with hands into balls. Roll the balls of dough in sugar. Transfer to a lightly oiled cookie sheet with 1 inch between cookies. Lightly flatten cookies to ½ inch thick with your hand. Bake 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Keep in an air tight container.
Yield 2 dozen cookies. 

Chef Tess 7 grain and  Jam Crumble Bar Mix 

4 cups Chef Tess Homemade whole grain  or 1 box organic White cake mix, 

1 cups sugar or Xylitol low calorie natural sweetener,

 1 cup 6 Grain Rolled Cereal ,

1/4 cup whole chia seed

 ½ cup brown sugar or dehydrated  honey, 

1 tsp Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East spice blend OR 3/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice. 

To prepare you will need:  1 egg, 1 cup Lucero Chocolate Infused Certified Extra Virgin Olive Oil
and 2 cups unsweetened jam (any flavor)

 1 9 by 13 inch baking pan

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place the crumble bar mix in a large bowl and combine with egg and olive oil just until combined (about a minute). The mixture will be thick. Reserve 11/2 cup for the topping. Using fingertips, press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan so it reaches all sides. Spread the jam over the the mixture in a layer with a spatula. Pinch off pieces of the reserved crust mixture and scatter over the jam. Bake until light brown and bubbling, 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool 30 minutes before cutting. Yield 24 bars.

Chef Tess Whole Grain Cake Mix

5 cups  whole grain cake flour (I use Honeyville Farms 9 grain flour)
2 1/2 cup sugar (or Xylitol natural sweetener)
2T baking powder
1T salt
1 cup organic shortening (or butter )
1T double strength vanilla
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt through a flour sifter at least once to remove extra lumps. Combine shortening (or butter) with dry ingredients and vanilla in a Kitchen Aid type mixer with paddle attachment. Mix until well combined. If you don't have a mixer, it also works to cut the shortening into the flour as you would for pie crust and then run the mix through a hand held flour sifter to make the mixture more smooth. The metal flour sifters are available to purchase at most grocery stores and baking sections of Wal-mart or Target. Yields 9 cups cake mix. If you use butter, please keep your mix in the fridge!

4 1/2 cups mix equal to one boxed cake mix:

Combine with 3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 1/3 cup water
200 strokes by hand or 3 minutes medium speed.
Bake time 350 degrees:
Pan size: 2 8 inch 33-35 minutes
2 9 inch 28-31 minutes
13 by 9 inch 32-35 minutes
bundt 38-43 minutes
24 cupcakes 18-21 minutes
High altitude: stir 1/4 cup all purpose flour into mix. Mix as directed.

*Soft White Wheat flour or Spelt flour will work. Wheat bread flour is not a good alternative for cake mix. The protein content is too high to produce a tender cake.

Chef Tess' Extra Moist Holiday Buttermilk Cookie Mix

9 cups Honeyville Farms 9 grain flour
1 1/2 buttermilk powder (instant milk is okay too)
1 1/2 cup Homemade Instant Pudding Mix
3T baking powder
1 T salt
2T vanilla
2 cups butter or shortening (I use Spectrum Organic)
3 cups sugar (you can use spenda spoon able instead)
Directions:
Softened butter in a very large bowl, electric mixers are amazing for making mixes, I highly recommend using one. Add the sugar and vanilla (I also love brandy, rum, nut flavors...)and cream well. In a separate large bowl combine the dry ingredients. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. If done correctly it will look like a course cornmeal. This mix will make 20 cups of cookie mix. I use 2 cups of mix per gourmet mix. Most often I will put 2 cup portions in storage size zip bags. This mix will make 10 bags of plain sugar cookie mix.

The baking directions for basic Buttermilk Sugar Cookies:
In a large bowl, combine the cookie mix, 2 egg and 1/4  Chocolate Infused Certified Extra Virgin Olive Oil
cup oil. Drop by rounded Tablespoon onto cookie sheet, 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake 375 degrees 10-12 minutes. You may sprinkle with sugar or funky cool nubby things. You know...have fun. Also, if you would prefer to do a roll out sugar cookie from the mix, use only 1 egg 1/4 cup oil or melted butter and chill the dough 30 minutes before rolling out 1/4 inch on lightly floured counter top. Bake 375 degrees 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.


There you go! Enjoy some healthier cookies this season!

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess