Amaranth Protien Bars

This was my first time making protein bars, this recipe turned out awesome, too awesome, since they are now almost gone, but making more is a snap


Here are the ingredients, I didn't measure anything so Just eyeball it, it's a very forgiving recipe so if you muff up don't worry, just add more of this or that to the correct consistency.

Ingredients
1 cup of Amaranth (toasted and popped)
3-4 tbsp. of ground flax
1 cup of millet
1/2 cup of chia seeds
1/2 cup of sesame seeds (raw or toasted)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of pumpkin seeds (or nuts of your choice) if you pick big nuts chop them first
1 cup of dried cranberries or dried raisins or dried fruit of your choice, chop if need be, chopped dates would be good in this too
a handful or two of very small chocolate chips
1- 1.5 cups of quick cooking oats

For the Sticky Sauce
8 tbsp. of honey
8 tbsp. of agave nectar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 stick of butter (you could also use a cup of coconut oil, or 1/2 cup of olive oil)

It's so Simple
In a pan, toast the amaranth a little bit at a time, around 1/4 cup as to heat evenly and pop them, it's like tiny popcorn, they turn white when popped, you wont be able to pop all of them but if you get most that is good, do not use any oil, just a dry pan, after it's popped put into a mixing bowl. Now do the same to the millet but just toast (millet does not pop). Your just trying to get a nice toasted flavor out of these grains. Transfer millet into same mixing bowl with amaranth. Mix into the same bowl, the ground flax, chia seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (or nuts), oats, dried fruit and chocolate (yum). In a saucepan (the same one used for popping/toasting grains) put in the ingredients for the sticky sauce, wait till it bubbles and become somewhat thick, pour sauce into mixing bowl with all the other ingredients and mix until it's thick, if it's still a bit wet add more dry ingredients. Scoop into a square pan and pat down until it's the thickness you desire and put in fridge to cool completely. These wont get really hard but hard enough to make into squares and eat without falling apart. If you would like them harder, I guess you could put in the oven for a bit around 350 for 10 min.

This is a really versatile recipe, play around with it and post comments of what has worked and what hasn't. Enjoy
The protein in these bars mostly comes from the amaranth, containing 26 gams of protein in 1 cup, the millet about 6 grams. The chia in this recipe is around 5 grams.
A little tidbit about Amaranth

Amaranth’s Health Benefits

Amaranth contains more than three times the average amount of calcium and is also high in iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.  It’s also the only grain documented to contain Vitamin C.  Very little research has been conducted on amaranth’s beneficial properties, but the studies that have focused on amaranth’s role in a healthy diet have revealed three very important reasons to add it to your diet.
It’s a protein powerhouse.  At about 13-14%, it easily trumps the protein content of most other grains.  You may hear the protein in amaranth referred to as “complete” because it contains lysine, an amino acid missing or negligible in many grains.  One of the first studies to showcase amaranth’s protein power took place in Peru in the late 1980s.  Children were fed toasted amaranth flour, popped amaranth grain, and amaranth flakes as the source of all dietary protein and fat, and as 50% of their daily energy requirements, then later fed a mix of amaranth and corn in various forms.  Because researchers focused on “end results” so to speak, we’ll gloss over the details and sum up their findings with this key quote:  “If amaranths were available at a reasonable cost, they could represent a major component of the diets of children in the developing world…”
Amaranth is also Gluten Free
It’s good for your heart.  Amaranth has shown potential as a cholesterol-lowing whole grain in several studies conducted over the past 14 years.
First, in 1996, researchers from the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Madison, WI conducted studies that showed the healthy oil in amaranth could significantly reduce total cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol in 6-week-old female chickens.  This was great news for chickens, but what about us humans?  Cut to 2003, when researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada found that amaranth can be a rich dietary source of phytosterols, which have cholesterol-lowering properties.  Just a few years later, in 2007, Russian researchers drew from the 1996 study to determine whether or not amaranth would also show benefits for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD).  Patients who presented with coronary heart disease and hypertension not only showed benefits from the inclusion of amaranth in their diets, researchers also saw a significant decrease in the amounts of total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol.

Link to millet info: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=53