Tag: almond butter

“we’re starving!” snack bars

Published on by jan greco3 Comments

I don’t know about your kids but when mine come home from school they usually ask for a snack. Snacks before dinner are tricky; too much and they don’t eat dinner, too little and they complain that they’re STARVING until dinners ready. I always try to offer them something healthy (which they usually accept without complaint) but sometimes even I know that baby carrots just won’t cut it. Sometimes a snack needs to be healthy, but seem like a treat. Hello homemade snack bars.

I’ve been on a mission to make a granola/snack bar for sometime, but something always went wrong. Too crumbly. Too sticky. Too blech… But being the tenacious type and all, I kept on trying. The recipe I finally achieved success with is super easy; it really only requires melting and mixing; is pretty healthy; almond butter, puffed brown rice, dried cranberries (yeah there’s mini chocolate chips, but just a few) and most importantly my kids love them.

Here’s hoping that yours do as well and that these tasty snack bars buy you a few pre-dinner hours free from starving people underfoot.

Crispy Almond Snack Bars
These bars can easily be adapted to fit your kids’ likes; soy nut butter instead of almond, raisins instead of cranberries and mini m&m’s instead of chips. Go crazy, you have my permission!

new bars2

2 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup chunky almond butter
1/3 cup honey
2 cups puffed brown rice cereal
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

  1. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment or wax paper and set aside. In a small sauté pan toast the almonds. Allow to cool slightly and roughly chop.
  2. Place the cereal, almonds and dried cranberries in a large bowl, being sure that cranberries are not all clumped together. Set aside.
  3. In the pan you used to toast the almonds melt together the butter and almond butter, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, add the honey and stir until fully incorporated. Pour the mixture over the cereal and stir to evenly coat.
  4. Press the cereal mixture into the parchment lined pan. Scatter the top with chocolate chips and lightly press them into the sticky cereal mixture. Place the pan in the freezer for 20 minutes to set.
  5. Remove from the freezer, use the parchment paper to lift the contents out and slice into individual bars. Store in the refrigerator in an air tight container between sheets of waxed paper.
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lean, mean + super green

Published on by jan grecoLeave a comment

I believe in eating real, delicious and satisfying food. If you’re going to eat chocolate; eat the best you can find. If you’re going to buy bread; buy something that will do more than keep your sandwich ingredients out of your lap. And if you’re going to try to lose a few pounds; do it with healthy for you food. Not frozen, processed, microwaved, artificial everything substitutes. Blech!

In the quickly approaching year since my last birthday I’ve noticed that my pants are not as loose as they once were, and that my energy levels are not exactly olympic. I honestly don’t care about growing older (gracefully, not kicking and screaming is my plan) but I do care about feeling older. Right about the same time as I was deciding how exactly to handle this tight pants predicament of mine, my college friend and fellow blogger Lynda Layng Tama (www.healthyhobokengirl.com) posted a recipe for a Banana Almond Smoothie. Smoothies— I had a light bulb moment— smoothies could be the answer!

Her recipe was both easy and delicious. But, you know how I love to tinker with perfectly good recipes… I googled, researched and talked about smoothies with my health conscience friends. I tried multiple recipes, swapping and tweaking ingredients as I went until I found a combination that had enough protein in it to keep me from feeling hungry and enough good fruits and veggies to keep me feeling healthy. During my recipe research I discovered something called Spirulina powder. Spirulina is a simple blue-green algae that is apparently the ultimate superfood! It is reported to be: “a complete protein source; to contain 26 times more calcium than milk, to increase your immunity and metabolism; it is a natural antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, is loaded with vitamins and minerals; rich in essential fatty acids and claims to aid in the healing of allergies, ADD, hypoglycemia, diabetes, high cholesterol, fatigue, anemia and digestive disorders.” Even the ancient Aztecs used Spirulina and called it the ‘sacred power plant’. They believed it contained the energy of the sun and had amazing rejuvenating and vitalizing properties. Wow, that’s quite a resume! And who am I after all to question the Aztecs!?! So even if only half of it’s reported benefits are true, it seemed like a worthwhile addition to my smoothie.

Since I can’t start my day without some serious coffee, I decided to have my smoothie in place of lunch. (Lunch for me is usually a hurried affair anyhow so why not drink my smoothie while continuing to get stuff done?!?) Yes the spinach and Spirulina make this a frightening shade of green, even a green lover like me will admit that, but it’s really pretty tasty. Don’t get me wrong, my children have agreed to taste it but will never request a glass of their own, my husband calls it toxic waste and can barely stand to watch me drink it and it will never take the place of a lovely Niçoise salad, but it’s not so terrible either.

It’s still too soon for me to claim I’m down a pants size or that I’m able to run marathons because of my “Super Green Smoothie”. However I do feel both mentally and physically better prepared to handle whatever gets thrown my way, and for that I’m delighted.

Super Green Smoothie
You could use any type of berry in this or even some fresh mango, whatever fruit you like most. What I wouldn’t do is omit the banana (even if you’re not a banana lover) because it really helps to give it a little “non-green” flavor.

smoothieALT

1/2 cup plain almond-coconut milk
1/4 cup plain whole grain rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced strawberries (about 4 large)
1/2 ripe banana, frozen
1/2 cup non fat Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp. Spirulina powder*
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 ice cubes
1 tbsp. almond butter
2-3 tsp. honey
1 handful fresh kale, spinach or dandelion greens

  1. Throw all the ingredients in the blender and give it a whirl.
  2. Sip, enjoy and feel like an Aztec warrior!

*You can purchase Spirulina powder at any health food store but before you do, I encourage you to do a little research of your own and discover what a superfood it claims to be.