Also in my defense, what's consumed most of my time lately is Germany. Yep, Hubs and I finally put a nail in the coffin of indecision and purchased tickets to Deutschland for this summer. Two whole weeks of travel and exploration. And we couldn't be more excited! It's going to be an adventure, that's for sure. As of late, we've been planning our itinerary, practicing cramming 2 weeks' worth of essentials into 1 backpack, and familiarizing ourselves with the German language. I still can't ask for directions to the nearest train station or order a meal, but if you care to know that "the man is reading a book" or "the table has 17 plates on it", then by golly, I'm your girl.
Anyway, Germany is just on the horizon, but I figure it's about time I got back to my faithful readers. So that brings me to today's post. And today's post brings me to a new segment that I'd like to call "Food Friday". And if I don't post this before midnight, we'll call it "Sweet and Savory Saturday". Either way, I'm going to attempt a new food or food/kitchen related post each week. Will that actually happen each week? Probably not. But I like to dream big remember?
Like most Pinterest users these days, my boards consist of everything from fitness tipsthat I have never once gone back to look at and DIY projects to funny quotes and hairstyling methods. But my biggest board by far is food and recipes. And if I'm not making recipes via Pinterest, I'm all over the interwebs looking for ideas to make my own creations. Hubs is well aware of my continuous efforts to make healthy, minimally processed, and relatively inexpensive meals for us, so this first recipe I'm going to share with you was inspired by him!
We both hate how granola/cereal bars are usually full of soy protein and 80 other ingredients or the ones that are actually decent cost an arm and a leg, so for the longest time I kept saying that I was going to make my own. And I finally did.
This recipe for homemade KIND bars (high protein and fiber bars full of simple and nutritious ingredients) that Hubs sent my way comes from Monica over at The Yummy Life. She has an excellent site full of recipes and tips, so you should hop on over and check her out sometime!
I made 3 (Almond Coconut, Fruit and Nut Delight, and Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate) of the 8 bars that the original post had recipes for, with some slight ingredient modification*. And they all turned out so yummy! (Disclaimer: My first batch didn't come out as planned. They tasted great, but they didn't come out in pretty bar form. All because I tried to half the recipe. Don't half the recipe.)
Each bar has a basic mixture of almonds, puffed millet or puffed rice, flaxseed meal, any variety of dried fruits and/or other nuts, honey, brown rice syrup, vanilla, and salt (and some bars that have dried fruit use apple juice concentrate as well). And that's it! I know what you're thinking, "Puffed millet, flaxseed meal, and brown rice syrup?!?!" Yes, but thankfully they were all easy to find and relatively inexpensive! Plus, I have lots of all 3 left over for next time.
I started working on my next bars while thesecond first batch cooled for about 20 minutes. Once they had cooled, I flipped them out of the pan onto a cutting board and sliced them up! You're supposed to get 20 bars out of each batch, but I only got 16. I managed to squeeze 18 out of the next batch. I guess if I wanted them small, I could get 20. But who wants them small? ;)
By the time I started on my 3rd batch, I felt like a pro! These really came together great once I got the hang of it. I stored them in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. They'll keep for a week like that, but the best part is that they can be refrigerated or frozen for longer. I'll definitely be making these again...because they're tasty and roughly 45 cents/bar! The only thing I had left to do was decide if I wanted to drizzle some of them with chocolate...
Anyway, Germany is just on the horizon, but I figure it's about time I got back to my faithful readers. So that brings me to today's post. And today's post brings me to a new segment that I'd like to call "Food Friday". And if I don't post this before midnight, we'll call it "Sweet and Savory Saturday". Either way, I'm going to attempt a new food or food/kitchen related post each week. Will that actually happen each week? Probably not. But I like to dream big remember?
Like most Pinterest users these days, my boards consist of everything from fitness tips
We both hate how granola/cereal bars are usually full of soy protein and 80 other ingredients or the ones that are actually decent cost an arm and a leg, so for the longest time I kept saying that I was going to make my own. And I finally did.
This recipe for homemade KIND bars (high protein and fiber bars full of simple and nutritious ingredients) that Hubs sent my way comes from Monica over at The Yummy Life. She has an excellent site full of recipes and tips, so you should hop on over and check her out sometime!
I made 3 (Almond Coconut, Fruit and Nut Delight, and Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate) of the 8 bars that the original post had recipes for, with some slight ingredient modification*. And they all turned out so yummy! (Disclaimer: My first batch didn't come out as planned. They tasted great, but they didn't come out in pretty bar form. All because I tried to half the recipe. Don't half the recipe.)
Ok, so maybe I can't cut evenly...but they still taste the same!
Each bar has a basic mixture of almonds, puffed millet or puffed rice, flaxseed meal, any variety of dried fruits and/or other nuts, honey, brown rice syrup, vanilla, and salt (and some bars that have dried fruit use apple juice concentrate as well). And that's it! I know what you're thinking, "Puffed millet, flaxseed meal, and brown rice syrup?!?!" Yes, but thankfully they were all easy to find and relatively inexpensive! Plus, I have lots of all 3 left over for next time.
Mmmm roasted nuts and toasted coconut!
Once the dry ingredients were mixed together, I was supposed to heat up the honey, rice syrup, vanilla, and salt on the stove until it reached 260 degrees F per my new candy thermometer...
...but apparently there must be something I don't know about candy thermometers, because my mixture never actually reached 260. It hovered around 248ish most of the time. Not wanting to overcook or burn the mixture (it's only supposed to take about 6-8 minutes), I poured it on the dry ingredients and gave it a good stir. And ya know what? My bars still turned out a-ok!
Definitely not 260...
...but golden and bubbly just like it was supposed to be!
After the sticky sweet goodness was completely mixed, I dumped it all out on a greased 9x13 pan and pressed it down with the greased end of a drinking glass. Greasing everything that comes in contact with these bars is the way to go, because they are a sticky mess! I greased the pan, the bowl, the spoon, the glass, my fingers (ok, maybe not my fingers), and I'm glad I did.
I started working on my next bars while the
This was the "disastrous" first batch. But they tasted yummy!
By the time I started on my 3rd batch, I felt like a pro! These really came together great once I got the hang of it. I stored them in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. They'll keep for a week like that, but the best part is that they can be refrigerated or frozen for longer. I'll definitely be making these again...because they're tasty and roughly 45 cents/bar! The only thing I had left to do was decide if I wanted to drizzle some of them with chocolate...
But who am I kidding? The answer to any question is always chocolate.
Happy cooking!
*My ingredient modifications were cashews instead of walnuts and a dried blueberry/cherry/raisin mixture instead of dates. I'm sure any number of mixtures can be made. Try some out and let me know what combinations you chose!
No comments:
Post a Comment