Guess What?
I’ve found it! I think it’s the one… after all these months of searching…I found a favorite recipe for grain-free granola bars!
This recipe was originally found and posted on The Seasonal Family blog and then introduced to me on Facebook through Just Eat Real Food (love so many of their recipes). And now, I must share it with YOU!
Each time I walk down that aisle in the grocery store (you know, the one with all those glorified cookies that your kids think they need), my head spins.
I don’t want to feed my children processed foods. And if I do give in to their pleas, I feel kind of ridiculous paying $1.69 for the one organic, non-GMO bar they’ve got on the shelves. It’s ludicrous!
The Solution:
Make your own! With a few healthy ingredients, you will be amazed how easy these granola bars are to make and they taste absolutely amazing!
Your Child’s School Lunch
My son will be starting school in the Fall and I know he’ll be asking for similar items as his friend’s for lunch.
I know how commonplace granola bars have become in student’s lunches, too. I spent 4 years teaching preschoolers and it wasn’t uncommon for 75% of them to have a granola bar of some sort in their Dora the Explorer lunch box.
As a result of my wanting to make preparations for the upcoming school year, a search for recipes that not only tasted good to my kids but were healthful and relatively easy began a few months ago. “What will I pack in his lunchbox?” and “How will I avoid buying pre-packaged foods?” I’ve asked myself countless times.
And here it is folks, a recipe for every parent’s kitchen! A granola bar you can feel good about sending your kid to school with!
Wondering why I LOVE this particular recipe so much? I’ll tell ya!
-
It’s delicious! (my kids
scarfeat them) -
It’s quick! (Seriously, 10 minutes of actual ‘work’)
-
It yields a lot.
-
It’s flexible. (you decide which nuts, seeds, nut butter and dried fruit to add.)
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No baking. (that’s ideal for us desert dwellers, especially – too hot to bake!)
Grain-Free Granola Bars – A Favorite for School Lunches
Prep Time: 15 minutes- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 20 square bars 1x
- Category: snacks
- Method: food processor
- Cuisine: american
Prep Time:
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Pin RecipeDescription
Grain Free Granola Bars – A favorite For School Lunches
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups mixed nuts and seeds (add about 1/2 cup of each variety of nut/seed)
- 1/2–1 cup dried fruits
- 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 2 tablespoons cacao nibs or mini chocolate chips (optional)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/3 cup almond butter (or other nut butter)
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch nutmeg
Instructions
- Begin by pouring the nut/seed ingredients into a food processor. If using large pieces of dried fruit you can also add them to the processor at this time or chop them by hand.
- Pulse ingredients for a short time. You aren’t trying to get them super tiny – larger chunks are okay.
- Add the coconut, chopped dried fruit, coconut and chocolate chips to the mixture.
- In a saucepan, warm and mix together the remaining ingredients.
- Turn off the heat and pour the nut mixture into the saucepan to combine all ingredients together.
- Pour the mixture into an 8×8 silicone pan or similar size container lined with parchment paper.
- Press firmly and evenly to make a square.
- Place in the freezer for two hours.
- Store in refrigerator or freezer.
Notes
Recipe slightly adapted from Seasonal Family
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
So please share with us; which homemade snack do you pack in your child’s lunch?
About Jenna Reich
Jenna Reich is a photographer based in Tucson, AZ. Her favorite subjects include maternity, birth, newborns and families. She loves photographing families in comfortable surroundings; or exploring new places in a candid and unaltered way. With a background in elementary education, Jenna has found a way to marry her passion for watching children grow and capturing their beauty with her photography business. When she isn’t photographing clients, she enjoys making healthy, organic snacks and meals, hosting play dates, making home-made cleaners and bath products, and going on adventures with her two young children. Her loving and thoughtful husband keeps her life full of laughter and balance. You can view her portfolio and keep up with her latest adventures on her blogsite.
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We made these last night. I had been planning on it for a few days – but had to soak and dehydrate my nuts and boy those brazil nuts take for ever! I don’t think they completely dehydrated but fortunately the bars are refrigerated and hopefully they won’t be around for long anyway:). They were really sweet to me and my kids loved them until I told them there were nuts in them (I processed mine as fine as I could get them so it was not easy to tell) – then they were skeptical. I think that I won’t use sweet chocolate chips next time! I didn’t use any dried fruit and I subbed with MORE chocolate chips – so ya, they were sweet. Husband and baby and I loved them. 8 year old and 5 year old were iffy…but to bad for them!!!!!MORE FOR US!!!!! THANKS FOR SUCH A GREAT RECIPE!!!
I finally made these a couple of day ago; what a great recipe! Our two year old is tragically picky (to my dismay), and it’s hard to get good fats and protein into his diet, but he loves these bars! We also added some ground flax, they turned out wonderful. Thanks!
The almond butter seems to be what will help this stick together but I need something nut free. Any ideas?
JessaJ I think the honey helps too, but what about sunflower seed butter?
Hi Jenna, Looks like a great one for me let alone school lunch boxes! 😉
Okay just made them. They are in the freezer. Look yummy!!
You will love them Kathleen!!
Thanks Halle I made them for my toddler and he loves them!
Can anyone please advise how long these should keep well in the fridge? Thanks.
They will last awhile in the fridge. There really is nothing that will spoil so I’d say they’d last at least a month but they won’t last that long because everyone will love them. 🙂
I just made a variation of these bars – had some extra pumpkin puree from another recipe so I used about 1/2 cup of that instead of almond butter, and I only used about 2 tablespoons of honey. They were plenty moist enough and seem to hold together well despite lacking the almond butter. Threw in some pumpkin pie spice. Yummy! Thank you!
I am looking for healthy bars to send in lunches and for before and after sports snacks. If these need to be stored in the fridge, would they be a sticky mess by afternoon if kept at locker or sports bag temperature? 🙂
RHome410, I keep mine in the freezer until the morning I send them to school. My son eats them for a snack near the end of his school day and they seem to hold together pretty well at room temp.