My oldest is going into school this year. I really don’t feel old enough (or mature enough) to have a child in school. I want him to be successful. I want him to make friends and be confident. I want him to remember to say please and thank you, shut the toilet lid, share, and be respectful to his teacher (not necessarily in that order). I also want to be sure that he has the energy he needs and a healthy body to keep him going. When I grew up my favorite after school snack was a bowl of ice cream or a piece of toast with peanut butter and chocolate chips on top. I had those almost everyday and I loved it! There is definitely a time for junk food in my mind, but I also want to be sure to implement healthy snacks disguised and yummy treats. So, I came up with this concoction that I’m very happy with. You could substitute a few things to make it even more healthy, but I made it sweet enough that the boys wouldn’t know they were healthy. It worked! They love them. I cut and wrapped half of the batch as regular granola bars so they would be easy to pop in a backpack or my purse. The other half I cut into squares and had them easily accessible in a cookie jar. The cookie jar squares were completely gone in two days after sharing with some friends. Just know that this recipe is very forgiving, so feel free to alter it to meet your wants. Enjoy!
Back to School Power Bars
2 cups flour
1 cup oat bran
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups oats
1+ cup cooked quinoa
2 cups dried fruit ( I used a tropical fruit mix)
1 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp almond extract (I love the almond flavor, so use less if you want)
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium/large bowl stir together the flour, oat bran, brown sugar, oats, quinoa, and dried fruit. Make a little bowl within the flour mixture and put the remaining ingredients inside it. Stir it a little bit and then incorporate the wet into the dry. I make the flour bowl to save dishes, but you can mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl if you want and then just combine them. The dough will be the consistency of a sticky cookie dough. Spray 1-2 rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray and then scoop big blobs of the dough onto the baking sheets and spread out with the back of a large spoon or spatula. You want it to be about 1/2-3/4 inches thick. It doesn’t spread or rise much so don’t worry about it cooking strange if one of your baking sheets isn’t completely full of dough. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
