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Healthy Granola Bars (Made with Chickpeas!)

Time to confess: I’ve worked in a professional kitchen. (I promise, I’ll get to the tie-in to these bars!).

Granted it was a mere five weeks, but it felt like a perpetuity.

I was eighteen, a first year student at college. Given that my brother and sister were also in college, and that my family is not landed gentry, I was on scholarship and, hence, granted work-study as part of my financial aid package. My duty? Report to the cafeteria, post-haste.

It sounded like a reasonable gig. I loved to cook, and was used to helping in the kitchen at home. So with a smile and a hairnet, I set to mopping floors, serving lasagna, and stocking and cleaning the salad bar like nobody’s business. I found the institutional smell of the place—an unforgettable combination of industrial cleaner, fetid cooking oil, and warmed-over food—revolting, but I made myself buck up and get the job done. I was a good worker; or so I thought.

Frances had a different opinion. Frances was my manager, and it didn’t take long for me to learn that the college cafeteria was a minor fiefdom under her exclusive rule. M’lady didn’t have much use for any of her workers, and I was no exception.

Frances could have been anywhere from fifty to eighty. She was thin and petite, with a long neck, rounded shoulders, and a pronounced stoop. She had a penchant for unflattering polyester blouses with bows at the neck, accompanied by matching suits in bold colors. She had a pained, sardonic countenance, deeply sunken cheeks, and a puff of frizzy, drab hair bifurcated by one of a collection of brightly colored plastic headbands. All of this gave her an air of ridiculous tragedy, belying the tyrant truth.

As we chopped, sliced, served, and cleaned, before, during and after each meal service, Frances roamed the kitchen, gripping her ubiquitous cup of black coffee (I never saw her eat), sneaking up on her workers with the silent assistance of thick-soled orthopedic shoes.

“Hell are you doin’?!” was her preferred greeting for one and all. Almost as frequent were “hey lazybones,” “you’d better start respecting this,” and the ever-cheering “are you this pitiful at everything?” It was as bad as you can imagine. Possibly worse

I now understand, after reading books such as Kitchen Confidential , Heat, and Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen, that terror and intimidation are de rigeur in professional kitchens. But I was neither ready, nor willing, for such abuse. Beginning college and moving 3000+ miles from home were upsetting enough. So with the blessings of my parents, I gave Frances due notice and subsequently found both solace, and good pay, in babysitting.

Ironically, leaving the professional kitchen led to more time in home kitchens, namely the kitchens where I babysat. It didn’t take more than a hesitant request to one set of parents. After a short time, my babysitting families were delighted to let me use their kitchens, especially if it included making healthy treats for their wee ones. I can still remember the first batch of cookies I made there—granola bars, sweetened with dates. It had been almost three months since I’d cooked or baked anything more than instant cream of wheat in my dorm room, and more than a month since I’d escaped Frances’s regime. The rising scent of toasted oats and vanilla was like a warming embrace.

My five weeks in the cafeteria had trained me in one area: I always scrubbed the kitchen to a sparkle when I was finished. Looking back, I’m sure doing so facilitated my continued babysitting employment and use of the kitchens. Perhaps Frances, and my brief spell as a kitchen professional, deserve greater reference and gratitude after all.

These healthy granola bars are reminiscent of the ones I made years back, with an added twist: I use chickpeas in the base to add protein and extra nutrition! You will not taste them at all. Yum 🙂

Healthy Chickpea Granola Bars

Healthy Chickpea Granola Bars

Yield: 10 bars
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Healthy granola bars, sweetened with fruit, high in fiber and with 5.5 grams of protein per serving. The secret ingredient is chickpeas!

Ingredients

  • 1-2/3 cups rolled oats (certified GF , as needed)
  • 1/2 cup nuts or seeds (I used pepitas and almonds)
  • 1/2 cup dried fruit, chopped
  • 1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1-1/2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
  • 1/2 cup nondairy milk
  • 1/2 cup packed pitted dates
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch pan with parchment paper; spray or grease the exposed sides.
  2. In a food processor, pulse the oats and seeds/nuts, until coarsely chopped Transfer to a large bowl, along with the dried fruit.
  3. In the same food processor, puree the chickpeas, flax, milk, dates, vanilla and cinnamon until smooth; add to bowl with oat mixture and stir until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan, smoothing the top.
  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the top appears somewhat dry. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
  5. Using the liner, lift bars from pan onto cutting board. Cut into 10 bars.

Notes

Storage: Store the cooled bars in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, the refrigerator for 1 week or the freezer for up to 6 months.

Nutrition Information
Serving Size 1 bar
Amount Per Serving Calories 157Total Fat 4.9gSaturated Fat 0.5gCholesterol 0mgSodium 182mgCarbohydrates 25gFiber 4.1gSugar 10.5gProtein 5.5g

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CamillaCooks

Tuesday 1st of April 2008

Hi Catherine,

Glad to provide a dose of laughter! :)

Catherine Wilkinson

Monday 31st of March 2008

C,I'm HOWLING at the description of the "tyrant"...what a character! Really wonderful post...your humor is shining thru!

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