Fruit and nut bars

I'm going to try to stop myself from going on a rant here about why you should never buy anything that comes already packaged ;) 

Long story short, any sort of bar you can buy is no good for you. Even an "all natural" or "organic" bar is processed, probably contains artificial sugar, maybe some other nasty ingredients and almost always has more sugar than a candy bar. Because of this, though they may be quick and convenient and great to have in your bag, they should be avoided.

So what do you do if you want something easy to have on hand that's quick, delicious, filling but also healthy?

You make one of these delicious bars! 

Hubby is now in his second week of field training with one more to go. He hasn't always gotten his meal break, and he doesn't think he'll get any more when he's back at the academy because of the studying they'll need to do before he graduates. He doesn't do so well when he's hungry (but isn't that true for all of us?) so I wanted a small snack that he could hide in a pocket and grab a quick bite of here and there. I also wanted something calorie dense so though it won't fill his stomach by volume, it will definitely fuel him in terms of calories.

Please keep in mind that these do contain a bit of sugar between the dates and honey so you shouldn't have them in huge quantities, but because they're from a natural source (you must get "raw, unfiltered honey") they're much easier on the body than something with other forms of sugar.

Chia Bar

- 1 1/2 cups pitted dates

- 1/2 cup walnuts

- 1/2 cup almonds

- 1tbsp ground flax

- 1tbsp chia seeds

Peanut butter bars

- 2 cup oats

- 1 cup peanut butter 

- 1/2 cup almonds

- 1/4c honey

Other bars I'm not clever enough to give a name to

- 1 cup pitted dates

- 1/4c honey

- 1 1/2 cup oats

- 1/2 cup almonds

- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

For each of the bars, blend the individual ingredients together in a food processor until they form a chunky paste.

Squish into a foil lined 8x8 pan and transfer to the fridge for about an hour.

Remove from fridge, cut into about 6-10 pieces and wrap individually. 

I found each of these break apart pretty easily, so you can certainly try adding about 1-3tbsp of coconut oil and keeping them cool to see if they stick better. I just told hubby to squeeze them super tight in the foil I wrapped them in before he at them. 

And please, experiment with the ingredients! You can try different nuts, add different spices, maybe add in some chocolate chips-it's pretty hard to go wrong here. 

These should keep about a week. 

Enjoy!