Chewy, No Bake, Almost Vegan Granola Bars

     Every so often most people will decide they need to lose weight. Some of those people actually MAKE the effort to do so by exercising and changing their eating habits. For me, I've decided to make these changes too. I've cut out most superfluous sugars, replaced regular and whole wheat flour with Red Fife, whole grain, spelt and chick pea flours, cut down on meat intake, upped legume, fruit and veggie intake and cut way down on my dairy intake. Boy does my tummy thank me for THAT last one ;)

On that note, I'm trying to replace most store bought 'treats' and 'snack foods' with natural and tasty alternatives where I can control the quantity of sugar that is added (if it's even needed!)

Last night I made some really chewy granola bars that are just simply delish! I didn't really measure anything so my quantities are guesstimated here but you can always play around with the ingredients and find out what you like. I used honey for this batch as money was a bit tight this week. You can replace it with Agave nectar or brown rice syrup, the latter having the least amount of calories as well as actually having the lowest amount of sugar per serving AND making these vegan... Unfortunately I just couldn't afford to buy both honey and rice syrup and I need the honey for other things.. Next time tho! I did get some dried fruit mix but I won't use it again as it has too much sugar. I ran out of $$ to buy for fresh fruit to dehydrate.. and I didn't actually add the dried blueberries since my roommate didn't like them...

 Makes About 10 bars

Ingredients

2 tsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp cashew butter

1/3 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter... 

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup honey

1 Tbsp molasses

1  cup TOTAL of:

Chopped dry roasted and unsalted almonds

Sesame seeds

Sunflower seeds

Dried apple ( I dehydrated my own in the oven to avoid added sugar)

Chopped high quality dark chocolate chopped

Dried blueberries (again I made my own)

Flax seeds

About 1 1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup Rice Crispies or organic rice or kamut puffs

Method

Mix the first set of 'liquid' ingredients in a plastic or glass mixing bowl to make a smooth paste where all of the coconut oil is incorporated.

Add the 1 cup of mixed ingredients. Pop the bowl into the microwave and nuke for about 20-30 seconds. This will melt the chocolate in with the nut butters and will also help with the addition of the dry ingredients.

Add the rice cereal and the oats. Again, since you heated the liquid mixture you will find it much easier to incorporate the oats and rice cereal. Once all the oats are coated with the 'liquid' mixture, line a loaf pan with a thin layer of coconut oil and press the mixture in nice and tight. Chill for at least 2 hours, then cut and enjoy!

For the 1 cup of add-ins feel free to omit, swap or add anything you like. Always use dry roasted unsalted nuts ( unless you don't worry about sodium intake.) You might want to try: 

Cashews

Golden or Thompson raisins

Carob chips

Banana chips

Poppy seeds

Other types of dried fruit         (just remember commercially prepared ones have added sugars and things you most likely can't pronounce)

Just go nutz and have fun!!