Walnut Date Energy Bars

My first stab at homemade energy bars...four thumbs, and two paws, up (Geof gave them the seal of approval, and if Lucy had opposable thumbs she probably would, too :))

I casually glanced at the ingredient list of my beloved Fig Newtons last night and noticed it includes a lot of crap, including HFCS and AND corn syrup...because one just wasn't enough.  Blech, so now that I know that my favorite work snack is truly fake food I had to do something about it.  

Like, make my own :)

So I searched and searched the interwebs this morning and found a recipe I approved of.

Ba-blam!  I do have a photo, but I'm posting via phone for the first time ever (how 2013 of me!) and it's telling me I need to download some silly app to enable that feature.  Next!

So I adapted the recipe from HERE, I made some slight changes which is the recipe below.

They are just barely sweet, filling, and quite tasty.  These bars reminded Geof and I of apple crisp...minus the apples and vat of sugar.  I will be bringing these along for skiing this weekend!  So easy to make, so delish, and tons of potential for customization :)

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup bran hot cereal
• 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup walnut pieces
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped stemmed dried dates
• 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 large eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Place the oats, cereal, flour, walnuts, dates, dry milk, cinnamon and ginger in a food processor; coarsely chop.

Add the honey and eggs; pulse until well combined.

Transfer the mixture to the pan; spread evenly with your fingers. Bake until lightly browned around the edges, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then cut into bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or wrap individually and freeze for up to 3 months.

Enjoy!

Sweet & Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges

We had sweet potatoes, we had spices, I had time, and Google was a welcome assistant.  Born from this was a fantastic little side dish that made our taste buds sing.

No picture this time as we ate them too fast :)  I reheated some leftovers for lunch the next day and they tasted just as delicious.  We also dined on sautéed broccoli with mushrooms and parmesan cheese, and quinoa.  How vegetarian of us.

Warning: these are DELICIOUS!

Sweet & Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes (more red pepper = more spice!)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 pounds medium sweet potatoes (I used two larger potatoes)
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Coarsely grind coriander, fennel, oregano, and red pepper flakes in an electric coffee/spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.  We are without a these items at this time, so I got creative and used an old-fashioned ice cream scooper and crushed the spices in a small bowl.  It worked pretty well! Stir together spices and salt.

Cut potatoes lengthwise into 1-inch wedges. Toss wedges with oil and spices in a large  bowl before transferring to a large pan and roast in middle of oven 20 minutes. Turn wedges over with a spatula and roast until tender and slightly golden, about 15 to 20 minutes more.

Enjoy!