Homemade Fruit & Nut Bars

Bars can be a simple way to fuel either before, during, or after a workout. Bars are quick and easy snacks that are simple to pack and just throw in your lunch pail. Often times people find themselves out running errands for an extended period of time and find themselves getting hungry with no food on hand. Most often when this happens people turn to fast food and other unhealthy options to satisfy their cravings. One way to combat this is to carry food on hand and one simple form of easily carried food is a prepackaged bar. There are some good choices of "over-the-counter" bars which can be found in grocery stores and other convenience stores. Some things I personally look for in my bars include, low to no preservatives, fewest number of ingredients, preferably gluten free, fruit or nut base, natural ingredients, no added refined sweeteners. Some good options for bar companies that meet these strict requirements include Kind, Lara Bar, Odwalla (some contain gluten), and Clif Mojo.

The big downfall with all of these options is the cost. They general are not cheap, but on the other hand, you get what you pay for. You know you will be getting a healthy high quality bar when you are paying $1.50+ for one bar. One way to avoid this is to make your own bars. I used to make a homemade granola bar that consisted of rolled oats, dried fruit, and nuts, which was held together with a liquid consisting of melted peanut butter and corn syrup (pure sugar). Generally speaking they are still better for you then the mass produced bar containing preservatives, artificial ingredients, and generally higher amounts of sugar. But these bars were still relatively high in sugar and from a not so healthy source. I recently found a new recipe for a homemade bar from an email newsletter I subscribe to. This bar contained only 2 ingredients - Figs and Walnuts, that's it - no corn syrup, no other syrups, sugars, peanut butter, nothing. So i figured I'd give it a shot. It was basically a homemade version of a Lara Bar. Below is the recipe, but instead of the dried figs the original recipe called for I used whole pitted dates to save a little bit of money, since they are considerably cheaper than figs.

Fruit and Nut Bars

1 cup Whole Pitted Dates
1 cup Walnuts
Directions:
1. Chop walnuts into small pieces using a chopper or pulsing a food processor a couple times. They should not be ground, but simply chopped into small pieces.
2. Using a food processor, blend dates into a thick paste.
3. Transfer dates and nuts into a bowl and knead together using your hands.
4. Once both ingredients have completely blended into a thick dough, place into a greased pan and flatten mixture into pan.
5. Place into refrigerator for at least 2 hours to harden and cut into desired sizes.
6. Wrap cut bars in Saran Wrap to preserve and store in refrigerator.