Make Your Own Energy Bars!

Coulda made 'em thicker? Hmmmm

Well, you can't have too much food in the middle of the wilderness right? I mean, as long as it's not near your camp. If a bear gets all the goodies I made this week, I'll be seriously bummed. I figured I needed some kind of pick me up/I'm tired/bored snack, possible stand in for breakfast (and I'm already sick of granola because I munched on it all week). I'm used to weighing everything for camping trips. Not having to carry any of this on my back will be awesome! So, maybe I've been getting a little too excited about that. So, maybe I've packed too many avocados, apples and oranges. Nah, I'll just gobble them up on day 1!

Never really got into nutri-grain, heavily grained or sweetened granola bars. But I do remember eating those nature's valley's granola bars as a kid (the peanut butter one!) annnnd I ate peanut butter Clif bars everyday in college. Wow, I was addicted. It was the only flavor I liked. The only flavor without that weird soy aftertaste. And without the crisp this and that. They were in my car, my backpack, sticky wrappers stuck in my books..

While I was traveling I got more into energy chunks (found in your local HFS bulk bins), Kind nut bars and Larabars ( of course, peanut butter cookie was on my list of favorites). They packed nicely into my suitcase/ pocket and I could eat them quickly. Oh yeah, and they were healthy and energizing. If I had two minutes to scarf down some calories, they were my lifesaver!

Small portion of my LARGE mess..

Fast forward to living in Alaska. Yes, we have access to those energy bars, luna, clif bars etc. However we don't buy them because A) even being on the more 'natural' side, they are still a processed food containing more ingredients than neccessary (some of which I can't pronounce or have to look up)... B) we've slowly stepped away from soy the last couple of years (even though we still enjoy tofu and homemade tempeh occasionally) C) they are pricey D) making our own is fun, healthy and it's satisfying every time we wean off a corporate teat. I probably have many more reasons. I'll stop there!

Just look at the back of the label of your favorite bar. Clif for example is pretty darn high in sugar. Yes, I have brown rice syrup in my cabinet, but how much would I myself put into a recipe? And, it's still sugar. And not the only one. Clif also contains barley malt extract AND Cane juice.. 3 types of sugar? At least the sugar in a Larabar for example is naturally occurring/unprocessed (dates, dried fruit). "Natural Flavors" (I'm sorry, WHAT? I hate seeing that on a label.. if it's 'natural' it doesn't need to be 'flavored.' Citric Acid, Absorbic acid, Synthetic fiber (inulin), all things I want to avoid. And I'd love to get into my new war on soy protein isolate.. that will be a whole other post. Protein is a hard subject with athletes. It's been a huge issue for me. I like Rebecca Wood 's(amazing womyn by the way!) take "All protein powders—whether they’re from rice, soy, hemp, egg or whey—are highly processed, shelf-stable ingredients.  Read “shelf-stable” as dead or lifeless. Furthermore, whey protein and whey protein isolate contain toxic MSG!"  It's a difficult thing to give up. There is a lot of information out there. A lot of research to be done. My jury is still out. Your take?

Ok, look at this:
Snickers Candy Bar has 266-280 calories (it depends according to google sources) and 28-30g of sugar.
Coca Cola 150 calories, 39 grams of sugar
Krispy Kreme Doughnut (I couldn't think of anything else!) 10g of sugar!!
Clif Bar (depending on variety) 260 calories, 20+ g of sugar
Is a Clif bar the healthier choice? Yes. I'd say so. Not to rag on Clif bars in particular, just for comparison's sake.

If you eat any of these energy bar products, I'm totally not ragging on you. This is just my personal reasoning for making my own at home!

Today I made a few different 'bars.' The first one is my hubs favorite. I used to make these: the darker ones, they were raisin/cocao and coffee.

Fun tidbit: Raw cacao is at the top of the ORAC list! Read here. Awesome post with all the amazing info on Cocao. Especially awesome for the ladies!!

Can't wait to eat all of these!

Huzbeast PB Energizer
1 C soaked/pitted dates
2 Tbs Cocao (
1/2 C Sprouted Oat Groats (or whole rolled oats)
1 tsp Maca powder (super energizing!)
4 Tbs Peanut Butter (fresh ground or natural.. remember that sugar thing?)
1 Tbs Chia gel (chia already soaked)
1 1/2 Tbs Flax meal paste (ground flax stirred with water)
1/2 tsp wheat germ
1 Tbs Cocao nibs or chocolate chips etc. (optional)

Ok, process it aaaallll together. Taste and adjust as needed. You may need a tad more peanut butter or flax or dates. You should be able to pinch a ball together and it doesn't crumble. Moist, but not sticky or dry.

Pour contents onto wax paper, (or pan) form a ball, then press firmly into a large square and stick in the freezer for 5 minutes or so. This cools the PB back down (it warms up in the processor, even if you don't notice) and helps firm things up. Now cut with a pizza cutter, wrap individually if you like.
EDIT: After a few people made these, they noticed how sticky they are. Mine were oily, but not sticky, so try one of these tips: squeeze your dates of water,  increase oats, try adding more flax meal (or dry meal instead of paste, and thanks to Cyndi on Dailymile.com for this tip: roll the end product in oats, then individually wrap. The oil softens the oats and then the bars are easier to handle! Thanks for al lof your feedback!

They are like peanut butter brownies. Energizing, healthy, protein rich brownies. Oh yeah, and you made 'em yourself! Too cool for school, right?

Just dates, cherries and pecans...

Next up.. 

Supa food for Supa Stars!

Superfood Snickerdoodles
Ok, there is nothing snickerdoodly about this, I was at a loss for fun labels.
I took my favorite basic 'larabar' recipe:

5  Dates (NOT soaked if you are trying to make 'larabars')
1/4 C Dried Cherries
1/4 C Pecans (all soaked unless otherwise noted)
and added:
1/4 C Dried Blueberries
1/2 C Pumpkin seeds
1/2 C Almonds
1 Tbs Chia Gel
1 tsp Flax meal paste (ground flax stirred with water)
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp Bee Pollen
1 tsp Maca powder

I just can't keep things simple. Sometimes, I do. The rest of the time I throw in all the good stuff I can find! Anyway, these are delicious.  Pulse in food processor (or spend two hours chopping by hand). The idea is to have a sticky dough, then dehydrate for 1-2 hours and as the water dehydrates, the flax cements the ingredients together and it's like a cookie. If you do not want to dehydrate, omit the flax and chia gel (dry would be okay) and do not soak the dates. You may need another date. Again, this is approximate, as I add in here and there as needed.

I'd love to hear your own recipes and ideas for energy bars and your take on healthy/natural protein sources. What do you use?

Ch- Ch- Ch- Chia!!

Chia Gel

Ok, not the most original title. I can't help it. It's been burned into my brain since the 80s chia pet craze. Chia is part of my daily diet. I learned about it in 2006. I was traveling by air weekly for a couple years and one thing everyone knows about airplanes is the struggle to stay hydrated! Thanks to Google, I found the tiny little insect looking seed and never went back! There are so many benefits to chia, but I'll let your fingers do the work this time ;) I'm just poppin' in to share a recipe.  When I'm about to go on a run, I take 1 Tbsp of Chia, mix it with about 1/8 - 1/4 cup (I just pour it in) filtered water and let it sit while I get dressed. Then I suck it down with some additional water. This is akin to using an Energy Gel, but totally unprocessed/ natural. You can put this in a little pouch and bring it with you on a long run. I heard from my father in law, that the Aztecs used Chia's to run long distances. Just chewing on them or something. I direct you back to Google.

Anyway, in the morning, I always have juice and water first thing. I'm practically still asleep at this point, which explains why sometimes the juicer is missing a part when I try to use it. About mid morning (depending on when I run) I make a smoothie. I just throw whatever greens/fruit I happen to have in the house and always a combo of maca, spirulina, hemp seed, flax, pumpkin seed, chia, gojis etc. etc. I just throw whatever I feel like that morning. Sometimes, I throw it ALL in. It may be purply, poo brown and the hubs won't touch it, but that's OK! On a side note, hemp seed doesn't go too well with fruity stuff. It's better in salads, but unfortunately I have a lot to use up before it expires. Usually this is 30 minutes to 1 hour prior to my run. Occasionally I have another gel post run if I'm whooped.

For those of you not yet blessed with the ch-ch- chia... here is an easy recipe:

Booch n' Berry Lime Chia Power Awesomeness (haha)

1/2 cup Kombucha (you can sub with water or juice)
1/4 cup fresh apple juice (sub with whatever)
3 Tbs Chia
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (or as much as you can get from one lime)
1 date to sweeten (optional-it is a tart drink)
1 cup berries (I used Alaskan Nagoons here) Red berries go well with lime.

Combine liquid with chia. Let sit 10 minutes or so, until thick and jelly like.  Then, place all ingredients (please pit that date first!) in the blender and blend away!! Chug a lug and Enjoy!

Another delicious way to benefit from Chia is making your own power/energy bars or balls.
Just experiment. Here is a basic one:

Apples, Chia, Kombucha

Chia Choco Balls
2 Tbs Chia soaked in just enough water to get jelly coating
2-3 Tsp Cocao
3-4 pited Medjool dates

Process until you are able to form balls out of the mixture. Roll in coconut shreds or more cocao. Yummy!
To turn this into a bar recipe, add any of the following or something similar:
Sprouted buckwheat
Rolled oats
Pumkpin Seeds
Almonds etc.
Dried fruit
Coconut oil

Process all together, spread into dehydrator tray (if a moist mixture) and dehydrate until nice and firm.
 OR spread into pan, press well, score and freeze or refrigerate.
You can definitely add Chia to baked goods, as an addition or as a replacement for fat (or like a flax egg) I'm not sure if heat will destroy it's senstive omega's .. seems like it would.. but go for it!

Happy Lil' Carb Loader bars

Nummy

Mmmm.. oats craving. Still. So I made up these baked oat bars. I've messed with getting them right on and off for maybe a year.. And I found the secret! I think. It's grinding half the oats to a flour. Got the idea from the blueberry oats recipe!

Happy Lil' Carb Loader Bars

3 cups Old Fashioned Oats

1/2 cup melted Coconut oil

1/8 cup Honey

1/2 cup Apple juice

3-4 Dates

1/4 cup Pumpkin Seeds

1/4 cup Cranberries dried

1/8 cup Almonds

1/8 cup Raisins

2 tbs Ground flaxseed

1/8 cup chocolate chips (optional)

and a pinch of salt

Put da Lime in Da Coconut...

You can play around with the sugar for personal taste, i.e. yacon syrup, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, stevia, brown sugar, maple syrup etc. or just add more honey. I use fresh apple juice from a juicer, but I'm guessing but bottled will work. Or you could try apple sauce/pulp. You can also sub in almond butter/ peanut butter for the fruit and nuts. It's easy to play with. The only thing I've found is no matter what I sub in for the oil, it never works. So, *sigh* stuck with the oil.  But, if I have to have some fat, coconut oil is at the top of the list (personally). Besides, it's not much for 3 cups of oats!

How to:

Combine apple juice and flax, set aside. Take 1 1/2 cups of the oats, process until still coarse, but almost fine, not quite flour. In a food processor, combine all ingredients except oats, honey and oil. Pulse until uniform in size. In small pan, heat coconut oil and honey to melt into pouring consistency. In large mixing bowl, combine all 3 cups of oats, nut/fruit mixture and flax/juice mixture, stir. Then pour oil over the top and stir well. You should be able to press it together with your hands and it sticks like dry cookie dough. Press into lightly greased baking sheet (with rim). Press well. I used an 11 inch long pan and it doesn't quite fill it. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes until golden. It takes about 12 for me. Score lightly with pizza cutter once removed from the oven. Once cooled completely, cut the rest of the way through. Store airtight. Yummy!

Raw Chocolate

I've been experimenting with making my own chocolate candy. Here is my recent love:
1/4 cup Cocao powder
1/4 cup Melted Coconut oil (or coconut butter)
2-4 Tbs Agave, Yacon or Maple Syrup
1/8 cup almonds/ dried cherries
salt (optional)

Process all ingredients except nuts/ fruit. Scraping bowl when needed. Pulse in fruit/nuts. Spread onto was paper, parchment paper or greased pan. Sprinkle with salt (I love this, but I know it's weird). Freeze for about 5 minutes, then score with pizza cutter (if you want squares) and freeze until firm. SO good. I make mine thin so I can eat it sooner.  Delicious and versatile. Also nutritious!