Healthy Valentine’s Snacks: Tahini and Goji Berry Bites
This post is written in partnership with New Chapter, Vermont-based maker of whole-food vitamins and supplements, however, all opinions are my own. I only work with and recommend companies whose products I love, and I’m so excited to share these with you!
Not just for Valentine’s Day, this delicious Tahini and Goji Berry Bites with New Chapter’s Complete Plant-Based Protein+ and Fermented Maca Booster Powder re packed full of good fat, plant-based protein, and gut health-boosting fibre, combined with the energy and vitality-boosting benefits of my favorite adaptogen, Maca!
They are so easy to make with no cooking required, and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, and the freezer for up to a month, although they get eaten within days (sometimes hours) in my house! This clean eating, paleo, primal, keto and low carb recipe is super flexible too and you can add chopped nuts, coconut butter and even cacao nibs depending on what you have in the pantry at home. It’s one of the most popular healthy snacks from my Lean and Clean Program!
I love to use tahini as a great alternative to regular nut butter – in my opinion, it is such an unsung superfood hero! It’s packed full of Omega 6 fatty acids, a group of essential fats that you can only get from dietary sources, that help ensure a healthy inflammatory response and keep your cell walls permeable for energy transfer and cellular communication. It is also an amazing source of some of the much-needed minerals that our western day diets are woefully lacking in, including zinc, magnesium, copper, phosphorus, manganese and iron.
New Chapter’s Complete Organic Plant Protein plus and the hemp seeds provide plant-based protein and help to balance the higher fat content of this nutrient-dense snack. Hemp seeds are a great source of Gamma Linoleic Acid or GLA, one of the active forms of Omega 6 fatty acids that are rarely found in other food sources. GLA is used by the body to produce prostaglandins that help regulate immune function, manage inflammation, and it can help to alleviate PMS and menopause symptoms.
Ground flaxseed gives this superfood snack some crunch and texture, whilst helping boost digestion and detoxification thanks in part to its high concentration of lignans, compounds that act like a sponge whilst moving through the GI tract.
Antioxidant and phytochemical-rich goji berries add a pop of colour and sweetness whilst still keeping this recipe low in fructose and carbohydrates, and coconut oil adds satiating, energy-rich medium-chain triglycerides (mct) that help ensure a heathy cellular membrane.
Rounding off this superstar line up of health-boosting whole foods is New Chapter’s Fermented Maca Booster Powder, which I keep on my countertop at all times to add to lattes, smoothies and healthy snacks such as this one.
New Chapter’s patented fermentation process uses clinically studied probiotics that ensures my body can use and assimilate all of the energy, endurance and vitality-boosting benefits of maca powder at a cellular level, whilst making this booster powder easily digestible and absorbable (remember, you are not what you eat, but what you absorb). *
And as Maca was traditionally used as an aphrodisiac, it’s the perfect addition to any Valentine’s Day recipe!
Tahini and Goji Berry Bites
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup tahini
- ¼ cup hemp seeds
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt
- ¼ cup goji berries
- 1 serving New Chapter Complete Organic Plant Protein+
- 1 serving New Chapter Fermented Maca Booster Powder
Boil 1 cup of water, and soak goji berries whilst preparing the rest of the ingredients.
Melt together the coconut oil and tahini in a pan on the stovetop, and stir until fully combined. Stir in the hemp seeds, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, Himalayan salt, protein, and maca powder, then drain the goji berries and stir these into the mixture too.
Line a freezer-safe dish (I used an 8.1 x 5.9 x 11.9 inches) with parchment paper, or use an ice cube tray (like the cute heart-shaped one I used in honor of Valentine’s Day), then pour in the mixture. Freeze for a minimum of 4 hours (if you can wait that long), then remove from the freezer and slice if needed.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12472620
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16201847
