I've been into chia lately, mainly because Dr. Oz talks about it all the time and I get a lot of questions about it at work. I finally got sick of giving the answer "I've never used it before, sorry", so I started experimenting with it a bit more (see my chia "pudding" post).
The other day I tried adding chia to granola bars. I found a great recipe on the Nativas Naturals website and did a little manipulating. The actual bars are bigger than this, I just cut them up into "Granola bar bites".
Chia, Goji, Oat and Nut Butter Chewy Granola Bars
(Makes 12 bars)
Ingredients
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 cup peanut butter (just peanuts)
1/4 cup almond butter (just almonds)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 banana, mashed
1/4 cup maple agave nectar
1/2 cup puffed cereal (I used Kashi)
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 Tbs chia seeds
1/4 cup dried goji berries
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add everything to a large bowl
3. Using clean hands, mix all ingredients together.
4. Spread the mix onto a baking sheet and press down so that it's even thickness (the mixture may not spread throughout the entire baking sheet, and that's ok. I made mine really thick so there was still some space leftover on my baking sheet)
5. Bake 15-20 minutes (depending on how thick you make them!)
Estimated Nutrition Facts
(Serving Size: 1/12 of the recipe)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add everything to a large bowl
3. Using clean hands, mix all ingredients together.
4. Spread the mix onto a baking sheet and press down so that it's even thickness (the mixture may not spread throughout the entire baking sheet, and that's ok. I made mine really thick so there was still some space leftover on my baking sheet)
5. Bake 15-20 minutes (depending on how thick you make them!)
Estimated Nutrition Facts
(Serving Size: 1/12 of the recipe)
I made these at work once and most people loved them, but others not so much (this is pretty typical for my demos, especially the ones that aren't loaded with sugar!). I thought they were really delicious, but even more delicious when crumbled on top of some vanilla Greek yogurt.
QUESTION: Do you like your granola bars to be chewy, or crunchy? I like both, but typically I prefer chewy (I do love Nature Valley bars though, which are very crunchy!)
Any fun plans for the weekend? I have a really fun plan for tomorrow after work...... KICK SOME BUTT IN THE FINAL FOUR! GO BUCKEYES!!!
