Peanut Butter Granola Bars & Bites

It was an organizing day around here.  Well, that and making sure my 1-year-old was still alive at the end of the day.  He's a busy boy!

My 5-year-old said she wanted to make to-do lists just like me. 
Here's what her's included:
1. Watch Sleeping Beauty
2. Read some books
3. Get dressed (obviously we've been taking it easy around here)
4. Eat a snack
5. Do some homework (she loves workbooks)


And here's what mine said: 
1. Spend time with said 5-year-old
2. Read some scriptures (loved Ephesians 3:19 today)
3. Work on my church calling responsibilities (lds.org)
4. Make granola bars
5. Work out
6. Post granola bars recipe
7. Do an organizing project (today was the kid's crafting section of the closet)

I got to almost all of them, so I feel rather productive.  Especially since I was up at 3am! with our 1-year-old who has a pretty stuffy cold.  And I'm still going strong.


We had our go-to meal tonight of veggie burgers, cooked green beans, and salad.  I think we have this every week now and I can't see it getting old anytime soon.  Cooked green beans have always been my favorite and my to-do list was too long for any new food experiments today.


Seriously though, these granola bars are so good!  And they are very versatile.  Choose your favorite add-ins and try to make the batch last longer than 2 days.  

This recipe is one I've put together from my own experimenting, so hopefully you'll like it as much as I do.


Peanut Butter Granola Bars & Bites

2 cups oats (I've used both quick and regular and they both work well)
1 cup crispy cereal (rice crispies work or crushed chex)
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup dates (if you don't have these on hand, you can just sub more peanut butter and honey to help them stick together sufficiently)

Add-ins:
1/4 cup almonds (or other nuts of choice)
2 Tbsp flax seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup cocoa (if you want chocolate flavored)
1/4 cup carob or chocolate chips

Prep a 9x9 casserole pan by lining it with piece of parchment paper, set aside.  

In a large bowl, measure out your oats, cereal, and salt.  Add in your peanut butter, honey, and vanilla.  

In a food processor, pulse the dates a couple times until they are beginning to be chopped up.  If you are adding almonds (or other nuts of choice) then put them in your food processor with the dates.  Pulse dates and nuts together until the dates are sticky and chopped well.  You could add 1 tsp of water at a time to the mixture to help it get wet and stickier if needed.  Add dates and nuts to bowl.  

If you want any of the other add-ins, put them in as well.  You can use a large spoon to begin the mixing, but I use my hands to make sure everything is well blended.  Test how well the mixture sticks together and if it's not doing a good job, add a little more peanut butter.  I've even gone back and added more dates.  

Once blended, dump mixture into your pan and press hard together.  Lift parchment paper out, cut into bars or squares.  If you want cute little bites, press together into balls (rolling won't work) and serve in little cupcake wrappers.

2 comments:

  1. oooh! can't wait to try! And I HAVE to send you the recipe I used tonite for veggie burritos (squoosh up two cans of black beans, or that amt cooked), w/ onion, garlic, bell pepper, beans, some spices. It was amazing. I added avacado, tomatoes, and quinoa on wheat tortillas and wrapped in those burrito babies. They were the BOMB.com. For real. Even Lukas liked it. Anyways. I think we're on the same food planet, so let's keep in touch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes PLEASE! Send me the recipe. I really need to clear the food calendar and focus on all different recipes for veggie/beany burgers/burritos. I'm hungry. I want one right now.

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