Lemon Coconut Breakfast Bars

Not too sweet, these one-layer moist lemon bars are an excellent grab-and-go energy snack at any time of the day.

Ingredients:
1½ Tbsp chia seeds
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup oat flour
½ tsp baking powder
pinch sea salt
¾ cup + 2 Tbsp shredded dried coconut, divided
2 Tbsp lemon zest
2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp applesauce
¼ cup maple syrup or agave nectar
½ cup packed soft medjool or honey dates, pitted (about 8-9)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 8×8” baking pan.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and chia seeds. Set aside for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl mix together the oat flour, baking powder, salt, and ¾ cup coconut flakes. Sprinkle in the lemon zest and mix again until distributed.

In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil, apple sauce, and agave nectar. Mix in the soaked chia seeds. Chop the pitted medjool dates finely, and mix in with the other wet ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir until blended. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking pan, and use a spatula to flatten out the surface. Sprinkle remaining 2 Tbsp coconut on top, patting them down lightly into the mixture.
Bake for 25-28 minutes, until edges begin to turn golden brown. Cut while warm into squares. Makes 16 2”x2” squares.

My dear winter squash, it’s so good to have you back. Summer squash was really just a fling – it has nothing on your simple, grounding flesh that leaves me feeling all warm inside. Whenever I hear someone using you in a recipe, I’m instantly attracted. You’re that good.

There are so many types of winter squash, and I love them all. One kind that’s especially versatile in the kitchen is spaghetti squash. What’s so exciting about spaghetti squash in particular is the way it functions perfectly as the starchy element we crave out of a pasta dish, yet at the same time offers all the whole food nutrition of a root vegetable. And of course, it’s profoundly easy to prepare.

Below is a basic method to making spaghetti squash. Feeling adventurous? Try it with my 3-Step Gourmet Herbed Marinara. Yes, you should!

Basic spaghetti squash preparation:

Cut the squash in half, lengthwise. Place face down in a baking pan, and fill pan with a half inch of water. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

When the squash is finished baking, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes. Flip the squash over, and scrape the flesh with a fork to extract the angel-hair like strands from the shell. Done.

Making good, healthy desserts doesn’t have to steal away an afternoon of baking (or 12 hours waiting on a dehydrator). One of my favorite desserts – beautiful, fresh fruit energy tarts – take just 10 minutes start-to-finish. Thanks to using simple healthy substitutions and time-saving tricks, these tarts emanate big flavor, well-rounded nutrition, and are healthy enough to be consumed at any time of the day. We healthy dessert people are pretty sneaky, no?

Here are my secrets to making a fast and healthy fresh fruit energy tart:

1. Leave the oven off: With just a few exceptions, the less whole foods are cooked, the more vitamins, enzymes and phytonutrients they contain. Additionally, tarts are usually served at room temperature anyway, so rather than heat a recipe up just to cool it down again, simply keep it at room temperature and make it perfect to begin with.
2. Make a base of energy: Instead of using a nutritional black hole (aka a conventional pie crust), use whole food energy bars as the base of the tart. Just pick your favorite bar and treat it as a firm dough, pressing it into a tart mold to take the desired shape. Shazaam – crust finished. I especially like Vega’s Vibrancy Bars as well as Larabars because they taste delicious, are made entirely from nutritionally dense foods, and have a perfect moistness that makes them ideal for pressing into a crust form. Using energy bars not only packs in a ton of nutrition, it’s also like the world’s greatest time saver. (NOTE – not every type of bar in the world works for this application – use bars with a softer texture like the ones I’ve mentioned).
3. Use the inherent sweetness of fruit: Nature has a sweet tooth too – it’s called fruit. Dressed up with a just little bit of spice, and combined with other fruits or a smidgen of natural sweetener like yacon syrup, fruit fleshes out these desserts dramatically. Using fresh fruit bulks up the size, lowers the caloric impact, boosts nutrition, and adds that sweet goodness without all the sugar or fat. Great fruits for tartlets include apples, pears, peaches, mangoes, bananas and figs.

Of course, these guidelines are really only flirting with your creativity in making the super tart combo of your wildest dreams. Not dreaming yet? Here’s my basic tried and true recipe for Apple-Pear Energy Tartlets.