June 19, 2012

Whitewater Granola Bars

Yesterday morning I woke up and made a delicious green monster for breakfast.  Coconut milk, kefir, greek yogurt, frozen raspberries, half a banana and 2 cups of spinach.


Blended up until smooth!  Unfortunately red and green don't make the prettiest colour, but I assure you that this was absolutely delish! Tart, with a hint of sweetness.


bran buds on the side!  Gotta get in my daily fibre :)


Enjoyed on my parents sun deck in the beautiful morning sun.

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This morning I had planned on going for a run bright and early - before breakfast - but I couldn't seem to wake up, which is quite unusual for me - being an early bird and all.  So, I decided to give myself some time to wake up and have some breakfast first, hoping it would perk me up a bit.  I made myself a bowl of greek yogurt with local strawberries, banana and bran buds.



 It was oh so good.  After breakfast and a couple hours of digesting...I headed out for my run.  My mom biked along side me, which was awesome! I love when people come along with me :) It's so much fun!  I covered 9 km, which included some fartleks and it was great!  It took me awhile to warm up, again, because I just felt really tired this morning, but after awhile it felt great!  Stopped to snack on salmon berries along the way!

Later on in the afternoon, my mom and I made some absolutely delicious granola bars, a recipe she found in her Whitewater Cooks cookbook.  She has made them once before, but she changed up this recipe a little bit and it was for the better I think.  Not to say that the others weren't good - they were UNREAL - but I preferred this recipe because it included almonds and I really LOVE almonds :) Texture, flavour, just everything.  These bars are definitely easily adapted to your dietary needs and could be "healthed" up a bit for sure, but why mess with a good thing, right? Unless you have to of course!  Now, I know some of the things in the ingredient list may seen like a lot, such as the butter and corn syrup, but remember, this recipe makes 2 HUGE lasagna pans of bars.  That is probably about 30 granola bars, so it really isn't as much as you'd think.

Whitewater Granola Bars

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (or if using almond extract, omit this and
add 1 tsp of almond extract)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
6 cups oats
1 cup toasted coconut
1 cup toasted sliced almonds
1 cup toasted sesame seeds
2 cups chocolate chips (or 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup raisins 
I prefer it this way - I love the chew of raisins)

Instructions


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a skillet, toast the almonds, sesame seeds and coconut.  



Take out of pan, put aside to cool.



In a separate bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and peanut butter...


until nice and smooth.


Add corn syrup and mix well.


Add in vanilla extract or almond extract.


Add in remaining ingredients.


Mix well.


Pour mixture into 2 well greased 9 by 13 lasagna pans.


Once mixture is in the pan, press down mixture until firm.


Helpful hint: Wet a large metal spoon and use the back of it to press down the sticky mixture.  This keeps it from sticking to the spoon.

Cook for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool before cutting.

I swear these are the best granola bars I have ever had, hands down.  That's saying a lot considering I do love my Luna Bars, Cliff Bars, Lara Bars...well....you get the picture.  These bars have so many different textures and flavours with a hint of sweetness and chew.  Absolutely perfect in my books.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post - I will be giving you an amazing recipe called Scentilentil Journey -talk about a cute name right? -  from the Looneyspoons Collection cookbook.  Trust me, you don't wanna miss it! 

Goodnight

xo



4 comments:

  1. This is crazy!! The Author used to own Whitewater Ski Resort which is in Nelson - my home town!! We always go skiing there every winter (best place ever!), and the food there is still phenomenal!! Granola bars look and sounds delicious!

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  2. awe, such a small world! I would love to visit that resort one day! And yes, the bars are fab! You'll have to make them at some point :)

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