Yesterday I ran out of snacks. Homemade ones, that is. I still had plenty of the original snack food - fruit, but really wasn't motivated by it all that much. I wanted something that seemed decadent and slightly guilt inducing to eat, whilst still being gluten and sugar free. I found the perfect solution in  Lola Berry's Raw Vegan Prune Powerballs. I found the recipe over at Healthy Blender Recipes, which has lots of yum things to try.

 

Mine didn't turn out to be raw, as my cocoa wasn't, and I'm not sure about my coconut either, but boy were they tasty and totally fulfilled my decadence needs. Have a look and decide for yourself.

 



After making these I got enthusiastic and decided to make granola bars to take out with me today. I need to learn that when I make these I need to work out a way to hide them from myself so I don't eat it all! The recipe for these is so versatile, you really can make it however you like as longas you keep the quantities the same.

This is what the dry ingredients look like before they go into the food processor.

 

 

And here is the finished slab of granola bar before it is fully cut up.

 

You can see the score lines in it, ready to be cut all the way through when it cools. You can find the original recipe at The Happy Tummy
It looks like I'm going to need to make some more snacks tomorrow, because all of the granola bars are gone and there aren't too many powerballs left either ( and no I haven't eaten the whole lot on my own  - at least not quite).

Now all I need to do is find a homemade muesli bar recipe that both my boys will eat. In this case it doesn't have to be gluten free because both of them a refine with gluten, I just want to make them something healthier than in the shops and they don't like these bars. Which is a shame, I know, it means I have to eat more of them :-)



Today's Experiment - Breakfast Bars

Well this afternoon I decided to make breakfast bars. In the original recipe they looked a bit like a muesli bar, not really something I'd eat for breakfast, but I've been trying to find healthier snacks, so I thought I'd give them a try.

I read through the recipe and came to the realisation that the only two ingredients on the list that I actually had were honey and peanut butter (homemade yesterday!). I didn't let that stop me though and the results were pretty darn good if I do say so myself (unfortunately I left them in the oven too long so one side is a little bit overdone - okay burnt-ish).

So for those of you interested, here's the recipe:

Breakfast Bars a la Fumble Fingers

1 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup rice bran flakes
1/4 cup quinoa flakes
1/4 cup rice flakes
1/2 cup combination of dried apricots, goji berries and raisins
1/4 cup LSA (linseed, sesame seed and almond) ground
1/4 cup coarsely chopped raw almonds
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped peanuts
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 170 C. Line a square cake tin with baking paper. In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients.

In a small saucepan, combine honey, peanut butter, oil and vanilla and heat over medium heat until melted together. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well. Tip mixture into cake tin and push down so mix covers the entire bottom of the tin and is smooth on the top. Bake until golden brown and slightly coming away from the sides of the tin (approximately 20-25 mins).

Allow to cool completely in the tin and then remove from the tin, using the baking paper to help with lifting out. Cut into pieces using a serrated knife.

Bars will store in an air tight container for up to a week

The original recipe was found here - http://www.wholeliving.com/132043/breakfast-bars?czone=eat-well/healthy-breakfasts/muffins-granola&center=155850&gallery=155722&slide=132969