My take on energy bars

So it's finally hit me,  I really have to watch what I eat!  Not that I have ever been a huge junk food person. But a snacker, for sure.   Now all of a sudden my body wants to rebel against milk products...That means Cheese!! Oh Cheese has always been my weakness.  I've come to realize that some cultures must be immune to lactose intolerant...like Italians!!  We went to one of our favorite restaurants the other night and thank goodness my self control was in full force that day because all I could see on the menu was savory words like "melted with mozzarella" and "our creamy white sauce"

Umm..Yea I saw this the other day, and this was the only thing running through my mind at our lovely little candle lit dinner.  I burst forward and blurted " I will have the salad with grilled Tuna"  Ugh Not my idea of an Italian dinner.  It was good nonetheless and we had a great time.

But back to my strange intestinal issues.  I feel so much better lately once I cut out all dairy.  I can see and feel a huge difference in my stomach bloating.  I am easing my way into a juice fast, so for now only "living foods" for the most part.  I am cutting back on gluten and wheat products but I wanted to try to create an after workout bar, modeled after my favorite snack bar.....

The cashew cookie is my favorite.  I am not a huge fan of the highly textured bars, I love these because they are smooth but still have enough texture left to them so not to mushy.

So here is my take on creating a similar bar

Bake at 350,  I used a 9 x 9 pan lined on the bottom with wax paper

1 cup of presoaked almonds

2 cups of cashews

1/2 cup Peanut butter

1/3 Cup of Rice milk (Or other non dairy milk)

1/4 cup ground flax

1/4 Wheat germ

1/2 Cup of raisins/craisins ( I used golden raisins and pomegranate cranberries)

3 Tbsp. Honey, stevia, or agave

In food processor blend almonds, cashews, flax and wheat germ till desired texture.

Move to bowl and mix in Peanut butter and rice milk, and honey or sweetener.

Add raisins and mix together well.

I lined my 9x9 pan with wax paper and just smoothed the mixture into the pan.

Baked for 20 min.

Let them cool 5 min. before cutting in bars.  Then let them cool another 10 or so until you remove them from the pan.

SO for a few tips with my recipe,  I soaked my almonds in boiled hot water for about 30 min.  Drained then repeated the same step.  After another hour I removed the outer shell from the almonds then let them sit in room temperature water for another 30.   

Also if you want to do them gluten free you can always leave out the wheat germ, though it contains the most nutrients from wheat.