Before dinner tonight I did some baking.
Those would be Jamie Eason’s pumpkin protein bars! I stumbled upon the recipe for the bars when I was browsing around the BodyBuilding.com, scoping out the LiveFit workouts.
The recipe called for ingredients I already had on hand, with the exception of the oat flour. I could’ve tossed some oats in the food processor and made my own, but I was feeling lazy and also wanted to try baking with quinoa flour.
The quinoa flour was sent to me from the kind people at Feed Adam.
I was immediately roped into the company’s story when they contacted me and was impressed by the company’s dedication to donating $1 of every Feed Adam product sold and 50 percent of the profits from bulk sales to “help eat away at poverty.”
All of the quinoa sold by Feed Adam comes from Randimpak, an Ecuadorian women’s non-profit foundation that aims to empower indigenous women of Ecuador. These women help each other plant and harvest crops organically, and Feed Adam further processes the quinoa they produce and markets it internationally.
I used the quinoa flour in the pumpkin protein bars, hoping that it would make a great substitute for oat flour.
In the end, the texture of the bars was fantastic, but the quinoa flour left a bit of a funky taste. After eating one bar, I had another and enjoyed the second one more.
Maybe the key is to just keep eating? 
After browsing the recipes on the Feed Adam website, I noticed that they commonly used half quinoa flour and half regular flour in recipes. Perhaps that’s the trick? All I can say is that I can’t wait to make their quinoa peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Mmm!
Dinner
Tonight’s dinner wasn’t as exciting as the pre-dinner baked goods, but it was tasty!
An old favorite around here: Broiled salmon, broccoli and sweet potato wedges.
Lovin’ all the color!
Now I’m off to read in bed and hopefully fall asleep early. I have a special visitor coming tomorrow and a busy day on the books, so I’m hoping a restful sleep is in my future.
Goodnight!
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
Those pumpkin protein bars look delicious! I’m thinking coconut flour might go well with the pumpkin? maybe I’ll give that a try 😉
oooh now THAT sounds great!
yes it does sound good indeed! BUT! remember that if you use coconut flour, you need LOTS of binding ingredients like eggs! 😀
Everything looks amazing! I hope you have a great day tomorrow! 🙂
I had delicious salmon tonight too! I used to not like it at all, but I’m learning to love it when I use a tasty sauce and make it right!
Didn’t even know there was such a thing as quinoa flour- is the protein high?
Make her chocolate protein bars, but substitute chocolate protein powder for vanilla, and peanut flour for the oat flour.
Just trust me on that.
I tried to cook salmon for the first time the other day and it was basically a disaster. But hey, you know what they say. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again! 🙂
Those look YUMMY! I like any excuse to bust out my cans of pumpkin after fall has past.
Quinoa flour does taste like quinoa rather just a “grainy flour” so depending on what you’re making it might need a little extra sweetness. I like the texture though.
ive made those bars before using oat flour and they werent that good.. her cinnamon swirl protein bars are much better!
and watch out, if you used stevia or xylitol like it calls for, dont eat too many or you will have bad gas:)
Totally random comment but today I was at the park and saw a Vizsla named Peanut Butter and immediately thought of you! Vizsla + Peanutbutter = Peanut Butter Finger’s 🙂 Have a great one!
salmon is the best 🙂 we had it for dinner on Sunday, and I’ve made delicious salads with the leftovers for lunch the past two days! love it.
“A” for effort for using that quinoa flour! I’ve never even heard of quinoa flour! I obviously need to branch out more. 😉
I make those protein bars fairly often and I love them! The oat flour is very mild so it works really well. I live in Ocala too and opened a new health food store a few months ago. We are called Vitalize Nutrition Company and are located at the Market Street at Heath Brook (next to Panera is the Dillard’s, Dick’s, Old Navy, DSW shopping plaza). I would love for you to stop in and say hi! I love your blog btw. Glad you are in Ocala 🙂
Have you ever tried the salmon rub made by Rub With Love? Started using it years ago with salmon and use it literally every time since!
I’ve never heard of quinoa flour before but I’m going to have to try and find some at Whole Foods next time I’m there. My boyfriend has celiac disease and that would be a great substitute for regular flour in baked goods such as your pumpkin bars!
put a little peanut butter on it to cover any funky taste! 😉
Ooooh can’t wait to see who the visitor is! I’ve never baked with quinoa flour, but I can see how it could be a tad funky. Nothing no nut butter or ice cream atop it couldn’t fix, I am sure 😉
I’ve never used quinoa flour, I should try it! And that company sounds awesome! I love companies that are about more than just profit.
That sounds like a fantastic company to donate all that money!
I made triple chocolate protein cake bars today loosely based off one of Jamie’s protein bar recipes too. It’s hard to believe they’re good for you when they taste so delicious. The pumpkin ones are on my list to try!
Jamie Eason’s lemon protein bars and chocolate protein bars are my favorites!
Quinoa flour..interesting!
The founder of Feed Adam is from my hometown! So fun to see their quinoa flour on here!
Oh man, on my walk with the puppy today I was thinking of ways to use quinoa flour! I want to do some experimenting 🙂
Ohhh I’m interested to hear how the quinoa peanut butter cookies are!
I tried that recipe with a mix of half of the oat flour and the other half coconut flour. Such a good combo together!! Pumpkin and coconut goes so well together! You do have to add a bit more liquid though. I’ve tried quinoa flour too, and don’t like it that much its very powdery or something? Not sure how to describe it!
I love quinoa but wasn’t a fan of the flour…will try half and half next time!
I only recently started baking with quinoa…I like using quinoa cooked and also quinoa flakes. Mixing it with other flours makes for some fantastic yummy baked goodies with a protein kick! 🙂
Hi! I’m new to your blog. I’m diggin’ it! 🙂
I love Jamie Eason’s pumkin protein bars. I’d like to try them out using almond meal/flour – thanks for the idea of experimenting wtih different ingredients.
I’m also off to read in bed. I’m currently obsessed with 50 Shades of Grey, like the rest of the women in this country. I’m on book 2. I’d really like to sleep at least 6 hours tonight but that’s not likely.
I used Buckwheat Flour to make these last time and I thought it had a weird taste as well. But I’ve also made them with oat flour and they were wonderful. I guess the Oat Flour is the way to go.
I’ve never used quinoa flour before but I’ve always wanted to. Those pumpkin protein bars look yummy 🙂
Those bars look great. I heard that quinoa flour does leave a weird after taste which has always made me shy away from using it. Maybe I will give it a go though. That recipe looks like a keeper!
Those pumpkin protein bars look great! I love baking. And I’m officially craving some sweet potato fries thanks to your yummy looking dinner!
I love these protein bars! I have tried making them with whole wheat and spelt flour as well, but still prefer the oat flour. If you haven’t tried her lemon protein bars yet, they are fabulous! I also double up the protein!
feed adam is such a cool company!
Did you use the xylitol or stevia that the recipe calls for, or just regular sugar? I’m thinking about making these tonight but don’t really want to buy special sweetener just to make them
I have never baked with quinoa flour – I would imagine it would have a really odd taste since quinoa itself has a really unique flavor. I guess try doing halfsies and let us know, I’m interested…
Although maybe this is odd but I also imagine that it is a “drier” flour if that even makes sense?
Have you ever used spelt flour? I just bought some and am planning to do cupcakes this weekend. I wonder if I should do the halfsy thing with that as well…
I definitely want to try making those pumpkin protein bars! Yum!
Quinoa flour is meant to be used as a mix incorporated with other flours and even then only up to 20% of the total used. It is not meant to be used straight up, especially for dessert baking, because it does have a strong nutty flavor that is more suitable for savory things.
A little bit of research beforehand would go a long way into improving a recipe improvisation.
i love quinoa anything! i must try baking with the flour for some gf protein punch!
Hi Julie! I’ve been reading your blog for a while now–got hooked on 3 main blogs and now although I should be reading the NYTimes or something, I wake up to your blog everyday and I love it! Just thought I’d say hello because I thought it was super interesting they get they’re Quinoa from Ecuador. I’ve been living in Ecuador for 2.5 years now although I’m from Missouri. I love that a local indigenous food here is super popular in the U.S. What’s funny is that Ecuadorians don’t eat it much here–only in Quinoa soup! I’m all over it however 🙂 Anyways, love your blog!
I tried quinoa flour in muffins before and had the same results. I ate them but the flavor was a little off. I bet blending some different flours would help.
http://www.cakeandcommerce.com/cake_and_commerce/2010/12/baking-with-quinoa-flour-or-how-to-make-one-of-the-worst-gluten-free-pantry-ingredients-into-a-bakin.html
hi julie you may find this helpful with quinoa funny taste.