Homemade Protein Bars

This recipe is super easy, versatile and very tasty!

Basic Recipe:

2 cups Almonds

3/4 cups Peanut Butter

3/4 cups Dried Fruit- I normally use raisins and dates

Honey to taste (This depends on how sweet your PB is)

1/4 cup Coconut Oil (or olive oil)

Nutritional Add-ins:

Flax Seed

Wheat Germ

Dried Unsweetened Coconut

Sunflower or Pumpkin Seeds

Pulse all your ingredients in a food processor until they are the right consistency to form a bar. If they are too dry and crumbly add a bit more honey and oil. If they are too sticky, add oatmeal or more nuts. Then press into an 8" square pan. Cool in fridge until they are hard. Slice and serve.

For a Treat:

Top with melted semisweet chocolate Chips. Let cool in fridge until they are hard before serving.

I never actually measure anything for these bars. I just throw some nuts, dried fruit, nut butter, some honey and then just whatever else I feel like adding. They end up tasting good no matter what.

Enjoy!

Summer Salsa

I recently began participating in a local produce co-op, which is a nice way to get high quality fruits and veggies for a lower price. While the deal is a good one, I still found myself with a big bag of produce that contained a few things that I don't normally buy. In this case, cucumbers and corn. Enter a fancy new recipe! I found a recipe here and modified it to come up with this super delicious summer salsa:

2 medium cucumbers, peeled and diced
1 mango, diced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (I really like cilantro:))

1 small green bell pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced

1/2 cup frozen corn

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon rapadura (or sugar)

1 teaspoon salt

Mix together and serve chilled with tortilla chips. If you give the flavors a little time to meld, say two or three hours, it tastes even better.

I think I'll start using cucumbers more often!