HEART HEALTHY DARK CHOCOLATE QUINOA BITES
Heart Healthy Dark Chocolate Quinoa Bites Ingredients:
¼ cup uncooked tricolor quinoa {or color of choice}
1½ cups dark chocolate chunks {vegan if needed}
½ tbsp coconut oil
6 tbsp goji berry trail mix
¼ cup walnuts chopped
2 tbsp cacao nibs
Instructions:
- Cover a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.
- Thoroughly rinse the quinoa to remove the saponin (bitter taste) by adding uncooked quinoa to bowl, fill with clean water and soak for a few minutes. Use a wire whisk to move the quinoa around in the water, then strain the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse with fresh water.
- Add wet quinoa to sauté pan and cook on stove top over medium low heat, using a whisk or spatula to stir in pan.
- Once the quinoa is hot, the water will absorb and the quinoa will begin to pop. The quinoa will begin to brown and have a nutty flavor when it’s ready. This took about 5-6 minutes for me, stir continuously to ensure it does not burn.
- Once quinoa is toasted, remove from heat and set aside.
- While toasted quinoa cools, melt chocolate chips and coconut oil in double boiler if you have one, or melt in a small pot on low stirring continuously and watching to make sure chocolate does not burn.
- Once chocolate has fully melted, remove from heat and stir in toasted quinoa until well mixed.
- Pour chocolate mixture onto prepared wax covered pan and spread into thin layer.
- Add goji berry trail mix {goji berries, dried cranberries, almonds, cashews and sunflower seeds}, chopped walnuts and cacao nibs, press down lightly to mix toppings into chocolate, then put in freezer for 15-20 minutes or until chocolate has hardened.
- Take heart shape cookie cutters and press down firmly to make little heart-shaped bites. I used three different sizes {1 – 2 1/2″} and got 30-32 heart pieces.
- Store in refrigerator.
HEALTH BENEFITS:
- Walnuts contain the amino acid l-arginine, which offers multiple vascular benefits to people with heart disease, or those who have increased risk for heart disease
- Goji berries are an excellent source of antioxidants and contain all 8 essential amino acids. They also have the highest concentration of protein of any fruit and are loaded with vitamin C while containing more carotenoids than any other food
- Quinoa is gluten-free, high in protein and one of the few plant foods that contain all nine essential amino acids. It is also high in fiber, magnesium, B-vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and various beneficial antioxidants
- Dark chocolate contains flavonoids called polyphenols, which can help blood pressure, clotting, and inflammation
- Almonds contain good-for-your-heart fiber. They also contain vitamin E, which helps lower bad cholesterol
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