Home Made Cliff Bars

Life gets pretty crazy around here at times..

I am sure you can relate.. And sometimes, sad to say, food is the last thing on Mom's mind. When you're trying your best just to get everyone where they are supposed to be at the right time, and hurry home in time for naps and switch the loads of laundry! Who has the time to plan and cook nutritious meals and mix up tasty, healthy snacks..

After a while a mom gets appalled at the amount of fast food garbage that has accumulated in the vehicle. I am ashamed to admit that my van even had a distinct smell of fast food..

That icky smell is what motivated me to make these nutritious cliff bars for my family again.. These bars are the bars that you give the children when you are running out the door and THEN when the 'I AM HUNGRY' whine comes just as you are driving past McDonalds... (trust me, if your children are too young to do this yet, it'll start as soon as they are old enough to look out the window and recognize the golden arches) You can say, 'No you are not hungry', and you'll know that the cliff bar snack you fed them was way more nutritious than a 'small fry' snack.

 

Originally found this recipe on pinterest and then tweeked it to our liking..

 

Cliff Bars:

1.5 cups rice crispy cereal

1 cup uncooked, quick cooking oats

3 tablespoons ground flax seed (fresh ground is always best as the pre-ground flax has a distinct flavor that is caused by the oil in the flax becoming rancid, a small electric coffee grinder works perfect to grind flax seed)

1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit ( I use dried cranberries) And I chop them in the blender)

1/4 cup finely chopped nuts (I use walnuts)and use my blender again)

 

Mix this all together in a large bowl.

 

In a medium saucepan heat:

1/2 cup honey

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

heat until sugar is melted add:

1/2 cup nut butter (I use peanut butter)

continue to heat until mixture is smooth, remove from heat, add:

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

 

Pour peanut butter mixture over dry ingredients, stir well and press into 9X13 pan.

 

Enjoy!!!  And relax Mama, a weeks worth of fast food never hurt any child I am sure!! 

 

 

We are still stuck in the icy grasp of winter here in the upper Midwest.. trying hard to make the most out of it.....