Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Refined Sugar-Free Granola Bars

   Hello there!

   We're back from our weekend away for Thanksgiving (in Canada), and are all feeling a little exhausted, but happy from our trip. We saw a lot of family, ate a lot of great food, went to The Rockton World's Fair, and stayed up waaaaaaaaaaaay too late!!! But it's all good, and it's all part of getting the most of the time we have while visiting family!

   Anyway,  I wanted to share a healthy, pretty simple to make granola bar recipe with you! I shared a gluten-free granola bar recipe a while back, and although it is super-tasty, it's not that healthy. Thumbs down.

   I've been feeling more convicted about feeding my kids better foods, and so I knew I needed to try to make a cleaner version of their take-to-school granola bar. It also needed to be nut free, as the school had to go nut free this year with some new students coming in with allergies (we've been spoiled the last few years with no allergies and being able to send whatever we wanted!). So, I got to work, knowing I wanted to eliminate refined sugar from the bars, still have them be soft (not hard and crunchy), and most importantly to have good food ingredients in them. I choose sunflower butter because I feel strongly about not using soy butter (read a great article here from The Wellness Mama about why NOT to use soy butter) or any soy products at all. But, if you do the soy-butter thing, you can use that in these bars too. If your school isn't a nut-free zone, you could also just use any nut-butter you wanted to!    

Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Refined Sugar-Free Granola Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup packed pitted dates*
• 1 Cup Dried apricots**
• 1/4 Cup honey or maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil 0r ghee
• 1/4 Cup sunflower butter
• 1 1/2 Cups quick oats
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• Optional 1/2 Cup: chocolate chips, raisins, large chopped dried fruit, nuts, or seeds

* ** You can also just use all dates or all dried apricots instead of a mix. And also be sure to check the ingredients label for the dried fruit you use as some companies add oils, salt and sometimes sugar
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Method:

1. Prepare a 8x8 baking pan by greasing very lightly and lining with parchment paper with overhang "handles", set aside
2. In a food processor, blend the dates and dried apricots into small bits, if they seem too dry just add a tablespoon of water (and up to 3 tablespoons total) and continue blending. You want a nice, thick, but soft paste, you can get rid of all the lumps if you wish, but it's not necessary 
3. In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm the honey (or maple syrup), coconut oil (or ghee) and sunflower butter. Add the processed dates & apricot mixture, and blend well
4. Place the oats, cinnamon and any extras you may have chosen in a large bowl, and mix it up
5. Now pour the warmed mixture from the stove over the oat mixture, and mix up well 
6. Press this mixture down into your prepared baking dish and allow to cool completely, either in the fridge for an hour or more, or the freezer for 15-20 minutes (covered in plastic wrap)
7. Once cooled and set, use your parchment "handles" to pull the big ol' granola bar out of the pan, then use a sharp knife to cut into equal sized bars (I cut them to fit into a specific container my kids take to school)
8. Store granola bars in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. You could also keep them in the fridge, or on the counter/in your pantry, but they won't stay fresh as long obviously! : )    

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   I generally make a double batch of these, and will freeze the whole lot, pulling out the bars as I need them to pack into snacks or road trips. If I leave the dates & apricots too big, Caleb (who hates raisins) won't eat them because he's sure the bits he's seeing are raisins! So, if you've got a raisin hater, be sure to blend the dates & apricots up very well! When I've done a more thorough job of blending, Caleb eats these bars happily. Score one point for the sneaky Mom! : )

   I hope everyone is having a good week so far! It feels like it should be Monday for me because we only got back last night, the kids have gone back to school, Adam is off to work, so it's got a Monday vibe. But, vibes aside, it's fully Wednesday, so I wish a grand Wednesday to all!

​Peace out. Yup.