Nutritious and Delicious: Home-made Energy Bars

So, I told myself my first post wouldn't be about food.  But we just made these over the weekend and OH My Gosh you guys. 

One thing to mention...I'm currently (29 weeks) pregnant.  Forgot to mention that in Post 1 explicitly, although I did reference the watermelon on my bladder.

Since about half-way through my 2nd trimester, my normal morning/afternoon snacks that I brought to work just weren't cutting it.  I think I have a tapeworm, plus a baby with a tapeworm, because I am hungry all the time.  I do not remember being this ravenous with Zoe.  Anyway - a typical (non-pregnant) morning snack is a piece of fruit, and then veggies + hummus or more fruit + PB in the afternoon.  As the pregnancy progressed, I've needed to add a protein/fat element to the morning snack, too.  Also I've increased the portion size of both snacks just a tad.  Like, my lunch box now has more food in it than my 6'5" male husband.

I've been using (organic) energy bars as the addition to my daytime meals.  But one day I was looking at the label and realized the ingredients list is so long!  And even as a chemical engineer, I was unfamiliar with several of the ingredients.  Plus the sugar was "high maltose corn syrup" which just sounds like a sneaky way around including high fructose corn syrup. 

I started to look up recipes for home-made energy bars and came across this one which was quoted as tasting just like a Snickers bar.  Um, yes please.  You can read all about them by following the link, but I will summarize for you: Put dates, almonds, chocolate chips, and a little peanut butter in the food processor until it looks like chunky poop.  Before your toddler tries to eat all of the chunky poop pieces, press the mixture into a wax-paper lined pan and refrigerate.  Cut into squares.

Mike and I did some rough calculations, and if you cut the bars into 24 squares, each one has about 170 calories.  That is comparable to (or less than) any off-the-shelf energy bar you will buy.  I ate one as my morning snack this morning, and I was full until past noon!  Normally, I watch the clock until 11:30 and then waddle my pregnant butt down to the kitchen to make lunch.

Some notes: 

1. I got a 4-lb carton of dates from The Best Store On Earth Costco, and made an amateur mistake.  I got dates with pits in them!  So my amazing husband helped to squeeze all the pits out of the dates.  (It actually wasn't that bad, they come out pretty easily... but I will definitely make sure to get pitted dates next time.)

2. I've made several "hippie"-type recipes which use dates as an alternative to refined sugar, but I hadn't really looked into the nutritional value of dates before.  So I did.  And let me tell you.. dates are basically the best food ever. Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

• They contain a plethora of vitamins & minerals: vitamins A, B6, and K, niacin, folate, riboflavin, thiamin, the minerals potassium, copper, manganese & magnesium, and iron.
• They contain antioxidants: beta-carotene, lutein, and zea-xanthin.
• They contain a type of dietary fiber that slows down the digestion of sugars ... so even though dates are mostly the simple sugars, you won't have a spike in energy and then feel tired/hungry shortly after.

3. Our 2-cup, 10-year-old food processor is terrible.  I had to work in super small batches to get a homogenous mixture.  But...it was worth it!

Next time, to be consistent with my own rules, I think I need to use better-quality chocolate.  And (I can't believe I'm saying this) they could probably stand to use less chocolate... the dates are plenty sweet.  I also think toasted coconut could be delicious in there.  I think you could pretty much throw whatever you want in and they would be delicious!

What sounds good to you guys?

xoxo Phae