Nut-Seed "granola" Bars

There's nothing like the convenience of a granola bar. You grab it and you go. For a long time these have been considered "health food" by most and a staple for the american kids lunch box. But these are far from health food, Nature's Valley, for example has an ingredient list worth looking at:

Now, if you're unfamiliar with reading labels I will point out a few things to note here. The second highest ingredients are a high sugar corn syrup and sugar. A few ingredients down you'll see fructose, another sugar. Another notable ingredient: Partially Defatted Peanut flour. Why are we defatting peanuts, that's what makes them good! Besides that there are rancid oils, soy lecithin, nonfat milk and preservatives. These aren't looking like a health food to me.

My "granola" bars are grain free, dairy free and full of good quality fats in the form of peanut butter, coconut oil, coconut shavings and nuts/seeds. And they only take about 10-15 mins to make. I always soak my nuts overnight, this makes them way more digestible. In the morning I rinse them and bake them till crunchy. In this recipe I used Almonds and Sunflower seeds because it's what I had on hand, you can replace these with whatever nuts and seeds you like. The same goes for the peanut butter, use whatever nut butter you like!

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Recipe:

2 cups of soaked Almonds
1/4 Sunflower Seeds
1 cup Coconut Shavings
1 tbsp Maca Root Powder (optional)
Pinch Salt


1/2 Peanut Butter
1/2 Coconut Oil
1 tbsp Honey
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 Dark Chocolate Chips

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After soaking and baking the almonds use a food processor to break into smaller chunks. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. (for my first recipe I put the chocolate chips in with the dry ingredients, I think it would be better to melt them with the wet ingredients to help the bars hold together more) Combine all the wet ingredients in a saucepan and melt on low. Once well combined mix with the dry ingredients and make sure there is full coverage. Pour your mixture in a 9x13 dish and press with the back of the spoon until flat. Place in the refrigerator to harden. Cut into rectangles. 
(Store in refrigerator)

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