And another month comes to a close…
February is over and wow what a month it’s been! A pretty delicious month as I look over recent recipe posts. I am very ready for the change of seasons. We’ve had a few warm-weather teaser days and I cannot get enough. I don’t know how people in other parts of the country do it. The temperature dips into the 40′s for a day or two and I start complaining about the cold weather..
Ha. I’m a beach bum at heart. Bring on Spring! And tomato and strawberry season. I am counting down the days.
What do you have planned for March?
Hope you all have a wonderful, warm weekend! I leave you with my top 5 favorite recipe post from February.
I have a hard time keeping a straight face when someone tells me they enjoy granola bars as a ‘healthy’ snack.
Healthy, eh?
Let’s look at the ingredient list of Chocolate Chip Chewy Bars
GRANOLA (WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, BROWNSUGAR, CRISP RICE [RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT, MALTED BARLEY EXTRACT],WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED WHEAT, SOYBEAN OIL, DRIED COCONUT, WHOLE WHEATFLOUR, SODIUM BICARBONATE, SOY LECITHIN, CARAMEL COLOR, NONFAT DRYMILK), SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, COCOABUTTER, SOY LECITHIN, VANILLA EXTRACT), CORN SYRUP, BROWN RICE CRISP(WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE, SUGAR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, SALT), INVERTSUGAR, SUGAR, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, GLYCERIN, SOYBEAN OIL. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF SORBITOL,CALCIUM CARBONATE, SALT, WATER, SOY LECITHIN, MOLASSES, NATURAL ANDARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, BHT (PRESERVATIVE), CITRIC ACID.
Sugar sources have been highlighted for your pleasure. A common trick of food companies, they add multiple sources of sugar so you don’t see that sugar, by weight, really is the biggest ingredient. A single bar contains 3.5tsp of sugar.
Other questionable ingredients include Artificial Flavorings,
BHT &
Caramel Color.
Are we still calling this a healthy snack?
Ditch your packaged bars and make these instead. Not only do you have control over the ingredients, they taste much better than traditional granola bars.
And you save money. And wasteful packaging.
Hopefully you don’t need any more convincing.
Yes, these still contain chocolate chips (I still had to get BL to choose these over regular bars), and they contain a little sugar. Not nearly as much as the packaged kind though. Your choice of liquid sweetener; I used agave but you could experiment with honey or maple syrup.
Mmm. Chewy, chocolate peanut butter granola bars. And around 100 calories per serving as well.
Wham! Bam! These are kicking those quaker bars butts.
These will keep for two weeks in the fridge. Make a pan, slice them and eat as needed. They make a pretty good on-the-go breakfast as well.
DK’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chewy Peanut Bar
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown rice crispy cereal
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener, see above)
2 tbsp. brown sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
⅓ cup chocolate chips
1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine rolled oats, flour, baking soda, brown sugar, salt and brown rice crispy cereal in a large bowl. Combine peanut butter and agave nectar in another bowl. Add the peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir together, add the chocolate chips, and pour into a lightly-greased 8X8. Place a piece of parchment paper over the bars. Use a can or heavy object like glass measuring cup and gently beat down the mixture until it is compact and fills the pan.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
Cut into 12 bars.
