Tried out a new recipe this week and I have a few in the works for next week too! For a long time I have been on the lookout for a really good granola bar recipe, that was easy with minimal ingredients. I have finally found a pretty good one and it is pretty basic.
HomeMade Runner's Granola Bars
Basic Bar Recipe (it's only 3 ingredients!):
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup honey or brown rice syrup
3/4 cup peanut butter
To this you can add any combination of goodies that you like! For my version, I wanted high protein and some carbs for pre-run energy. So I added in 1/2 cups unsalted peanuts for protein, 1/2 cup chocolate chips for carbs (and well, because they're yummy) and 4 Tablespoons of Chia seeds for some Omega 3's...as mid-westerners with diets extremely high in Omega-6 fatty acids, we can never have enough Omega-3's to help keep the 3-6 balance aligned!
If you are unfamiliar with the importance of balancing Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, click here for some great info!
Grease a 9" x 13" pan and press granola batter into the pan. Use the back of a spatula to press down the batter very well. The tighter it is packed, the less crumbly your granola bars will be. And trust me, you do not want these crumbling apart before they get to your mouth...you will want to eat every bite! Bake for 25 minutes. I cut them while they are warm, then let them cool in the pan, before removing them! Then enjoy.
Some other great add-ins:Raisins
Flaxseed or meal (I would have added this too, but I didn't realize I was out!)
Other nuts (almonds would be delish)
Other dried fruits (I'm thinking cranberries or dried cherries)
M&M's (these would have made great v-day treats with red M&Ms)
Rocky Road (chocolate chips and mini marshmallows...ok, so now we are talking more dessert than energy bar...but it sounds really good!)
Really, pretty much anything you can think of! Just keep your add-ins under 1 cup total, or you will have to begin to add more peanut butter or more honey to compensate for the extra dry ingredients!
These are honestly, the best granola bars I have ever had. Even the hubby fell in love with them. The flavors unite, but somehow you can taste the peanut butter and honey seperately. And I highly recommend the chia seeds, they add a "pop" to the texture of the bars that make them so unique and phenomenal! I hope you all enjoy them as much as we do! I'm pretty sure I'll be making these often during my marathon training!
Saturday Motivation:
"A mile is a mile,
no matter how fast you run it!"
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