I made that!

Things are a bit hectic around here these days. Moving is HAPPENING! We finally signed a lease on the cutest little house in Seattle, so now it’s packing, goodbye party planning, psychotic cooking of everything in the fridge so we don’t have to take it with us while trying to eat our way through a long list of restaurants and debating whether we can actually afford to replace all the furniture that we never liked anyways. And on top of all that, I’m sick with a cold. So what do we need for all of this? ENERGY! Homemade power bars have been on my list for a while. I actually made them for a hike that never happened, so they came in quite handy all week! Oh yeah, and they’re super easy. I used Heidi Swanson’s recipe from “Super Natural Cooking”, but then adapted it to the ingredients I had on hand. And I added in some maple syrup and upped the salt, because that’s how I roll.

First you throw a bunch of stuff in a bowl: oats,  walnuts, flour, cereal, currants, ginger and coconut. Toss them around to coat everything in the flour.

Then I put the rest of the ingredients (rice syrup, maple syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt) in a saucepan and simmered them until they thickened.

I poured the hot syrup on top of the oat mixture and stirred it all around to coat.

I pressed it into a sheet pan and let it cool down for a few hours.

Then I cut them into cute little bars! I have to say, at first bite we were like, “Meh, tastes like popcorn”. But then we just kept eating them and by the end we were convinced they were good. Not really sure what that means. Definitely worth making but I suspect I’ll be changing them up a bit next time.

Power Bars Recipe (adapted by Heidi Swanson):

1 TBSP mild oil

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

1 1/4 cups chopped toasted walnuts

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups unsweetened brown rice cereal

1 cup dried currants

2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

3/4 cup brown rice syrup

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

– Grease a pan with the oil. If you like thick power bars, opt for an 8 by 8-inch pan; for thinner bars, use a 9 by 13-inch pan.

– Mix the oats, walnuts, flour, cereal, currants, ginger and coconut together in a large bowl and set aside.

– Combine the rice syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly as it comes to a boil and thickens just a bit, about 4 minutes. Pour over the oat mixture and stir until the syrup is evenly incorporated.

– Spread into the prepared pan and cool to room temperature before cutting into whatever size bars you desire.