Chewy Berry Granola Bars

Every year the month of February rolls around and the first thing that comes to mind is Valentine's Day. Store fronts emit a reddish-pinkish hue and women all over the country anticipate what that special day might bring for her. This year I wanted to make a healthy treat for my fiance to show him my appreciation, so I came up with Berry Love Healthy Granola Bars. I've made many different kinds of granola bars in the past. For these bars, I wanted to use dried fruits that are red to stay with the theme, so I chose cherries, cranberries and strawberries. Then I went with yogurt covered raisins to throw in the color white. What I didn't anticipate was the sweet flavors of this combination to become a flavor explosion in your mouth. I give Berry Love Healthy Granola Bars an A+ and a golden star sticker seal of approval!

I thought about adding red food coloring to make them red in color. Would that have been strange? eh, maybe not.

How are you celebrating Valentine's Day this year?

Chewy Berry Granola Bars

makes 8 servings - prep time: 10 minutes - cook time: 30 min

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup dry oats
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1/4 cup each dried cranberries, dried strawberries, dried cherries and yogurt raisins
• 1/3 cup each of raw almonds, cashews and macadamia nuts (I used unsalted and crushed macadamia nuts)
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" baking pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts and dried fruit. Pour syrup in microwave safe bowl, heat for 15-20 seconds, then pour over dry ingredients. Mix well with a large spoon.
3. Pour batter in to baking pan. Press down firmly with wet paper towel or oiled hand.
4. Bake the bars for 25-30 minutes for a chewy bar. Bake for 35-40 minutes for a crunchy bar. When the bars come out of the oven, press them again using a wet paper towel. Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan before slicing. The bars will firm up as they cool. Remove the bars by pulling them out using the excess parchment paper. Place on cutting board and slice in to 8 bars. Store in air tight container or wrap them individually in saran wrap for a quick gran-n-go snack.

Chewy Healthy Granola Bars

Today we're getting hit by hurricane Sandy. I spent 26 of my 29 years of age in Florida living through some of the worst hurricanes to date. The ones that stand out off the top of my head are Andrew, Katrina and Rita. But I'm sure if I were to ask my parents, they'd remind me of dozens more growing up. When I moved to NY a little over 3 years ago I thought I had finally escaped hurricanes - wrong. Last year Hurricane Irene took a casualty - my car. It was flooded to death. Poor thing. And now, we're about to get hit by the mack daddy of all storms - Frankenstorm (aka Hurricane Sandy).

There's not much to do during a storm, but leading up to it you've got to prepare. Bring in lawn furniture, freeze ziploc baggies of water, tie down the Weber grill, bake and cook everything in your house. I decided I'd make a healthy snack packed with nutrients that needs no refrigeration and can be taken anywhere - Granola Bars! They are like the perfect go-to snack for any situation.

I'd almost refer to these bars as "everything but the kitchen sink" granola bars because you can throw in whatever you want. This recipe is packed with some of my favorite fruits and nuts.

How do you prepare for a storm? And what's your favorite thing to do to pass time when it's all going down?

Chewy Healthy Granola Bars

prep time: 10 minutes - bake time: 20 minutes - makes 9 bars

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup almond flour 1/4 cup flaxseed meal 2 scoops unflavored or vanilla protein powder (I used a protein blend of casein, whey and egg white protein) 1 1/2 cup chopped nuts of your choice (I used pepitas, sunflower seeds, cashews, walnuts and almonds) 3/4 cup dried fruit of your choice (I used strawberries, raisins, cranberries and cherries)

Wet Ingredients:

3/4 cup honey 2 tablespoons almond butter or peanut butter 1 whole egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8 x 11" cake pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients. Mix well with large spoon.

In a small bowl, lightly whisk egg. Then, in another bowl, combine honey and almond butter, microwave on high heat for 30-45 seconds until runny. Pour egg and honey/almond butter mixture in to dry ingredients. Stir until well combined. You may need to use your hands to make sure the mixture is well coated. The mixture should be quite sticky at this point.

Pour batter in to lined cake pan. Spread out with a spoon and press down with your hands until well packed. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until the top is lightly brown. Remove and let cool. Slice in to 9 bars and enjoy! You can store them in a air tight container for 2-3 weeks. Or wrap them individually in saran wrap for a quick grab-n-go snack!

Sweet and Spicy Granola Bars

OMG let me just start with one thing, these granola bars are off the hook. If you love homemade granola bars, which I know you do, you'll try these for sure.

Before I get in to the bars, I've been feeling stuck in a rut lately like there's not enough time in the day to get everything done I'd like to get done. Working all day then trekking through Long Island traffic to the gym is great and all, but getting home close to 8pm is not. Where's the "me" time?! You guessed it, there is none.

Solution = wake up at 6 am do 1 of 3 things every single morning: a) go for a run, b) do a workout on my back porch so I don't have to go after work, c) blog (like I'm doing now). If I do any one of these things before work that gives me time to do any one other item I choose including working on my freelance gigs, trying a new recipe, or lounging with Rich later in the evening.

Yesterday here's how it went. Wake up at 6 am. Put on my workout gear. Move all equipment I needed out to the back porch for a morning CrossFit WOD (I hate that acronym, I'd prefer to say workout). Then #getafterit is what I did. Though I was trying to be quiet as to not wake the neighbors from my box jumps or ball slams - I managed to make it work and I'm so glad I did. Rich even said he didn't hear a thing.

My plan is to get up early every day and get something done. Tomorrow I plan to get up for a run, Friday is either a morning workout or blog time, and saturday morning is another run since I won't be able to make it to CrossFit. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it! Now for the Granola bars...enjoy!

While at FNCE I stumbled upon the Magic Seasonings booth. They were sampling a handful of their salt-free/sugar-free seasonings and I fell in love with their "Sweet and Spicy" blend. Lucky for me they gave me a full bottle! So stoked! Last night it hit me, make granola bars with this stuff - so that's just what I did. With a little tip from thekitchn.com I tweaked my usual recipe and decided to try Brown Rice syrup as my binding/sweetening agent. It worked and these things are delish! Rich (my taste tester) says they taste like Pizza - I was like 'huh wth are you talking about,' then I tried them and said the same, lol. The chewy texture is my fav combined with the crunch of the nuts and sweet yet spiced flavor of the seasoning mix! Recipe for success! Ha! I won't be surprised if they are half gone when I get home tonight.

Question: Are you an early bird? What do you do before the sun rises?

Press firmly in to pan for a tighter bar.

Let cool completely before slicing in to 9 yummy bars.

Store in air tight container for at least 2 weeks.

Sweet and Spicy Granola Bars

prep time: 10 min. - cook time: 20-25 min. - makes 9 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats 1/2 cup total dried cranberries and raisins 1 1/2 cups total raw cashews, almonds and walnuts 1/2 cup brown rice syrup 2 teaspoons Magic Seasoning Sweet and Spicy blend

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 8 x 8" baking pan with parchment and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine oats, nuts and dried fruit. Pour syrup in microwave safe bowl, heat for 15-20 seconds. Mix seasoning blend in to syrup, then pour over dry ingredients. Mix well with a large spoon.

Pour batter in to baking pan. Press down firmly with wet paper towel or oiled hand.

Bake the bars for 20-25 minutes for a chewy bar. Bake for 30-35 minutes for a crunchy bar. When the bars come out of the oven, press them again using a wet paper towel. Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan before slicing. The bars will firm up as they cool. Remove the bars by pulling them out using the excess parchment paper. Place on cutting board and slice in to 9 bars. Store in air tight container or wrap them individually in saran wrap for a quick grab-n-go snack.

Nutrition Facts from Nutritiondata.com Calories 497, Calories from fat 294, Total fat 35g, Saturated fat 4g, Trans fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 34mg. Carbohydrate 41g, Dietary Fiber 6g, Sugar 16g, Protein 11g, Iron 2.8mg