Bars, Bars and More Bars...

As the old saying goes "I was like a kid in the candy store", free food.  It was like being at Costco on the weekend to sample the wares.  In this case, there were aisles and aisles of free samples of food and products. There were breakfast bars, energy bars, snack bars, fruit bars, live food bars, all-in-one nutrition bars, and baked bars, to name few.  Is this a scene from Forest Gump except it wasn't Bubba Gump shrimp, but bars?


As a result, everywhere I went I found vendors promoting their bars.  To be safe, it was necessary to ask if the bars had soy.  The labels didn't identify soy in the ingredient list.  As I found many of the bars tasty, I'd rather know outright whether a food product has soy.

Below is a list of some of the bars I sampled:

• Raw Rev 100 (the tastiest)
• One Bar
• 18 Rabbits (my least favorite)
• Enjoy Life Smores
• Ella's Nibbly Fingers
• Vega One Bar

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed these bars, especially the Raw Rev Bars by Raw Revolution. Personally, I didn't like the 18 Rabbits bars.  It tasted a bit earthy, somewhat gritty.  The One Bar I liked, but I would have like a larger portion size.  The Vega One bar was another favorite.

Nonetheless, from an economic aspect and fear of eating an allergen, I found that it was easier for me to make my own.  In this way, I knew what was in the bar I was eating.  Some of  my creations were successful, others not so well.

My first recipe consisted of a mixture of :

• Rolled Oats from Trader Joe's
• Shredded Coconut from Trader Joe's
• Dried Cranberries from Trader Joe's
• Sunflower Seeds from Trader Joe's
• Nutiva Chia Seeds
• Nutiva Organic Coconut Manna
• Agave Syrup

The blender is your friend!

My first try!

One of the bars I made, my daughter told me it looked like raw meat.  My daughter is entitled to her own opinion.  Moreover, below is the photo. Let me know what you determined.  Besides a Ninja mixer, parchment paper is good to mold the bars onto whatever cookware you are using, preferably nonstick.  Some ingredients I learned to tame down others I learned needed more of a kick. Have fun, keep trying.  I will. 

The alleged raw meat bar!