Not Just Your Average Nut Bar

I love to come up with new recipes or add my own flair to someone else's recipe. I came up with this diverse recipe because I was sick of buying granola bars that are over processed and filled with crap!
The beauty of this recipe is that the combinations are endless! I am going to give you my basic recipe and some variations on what you can do with it.
First step you need to make a coarse nut flour, here is the first place you can use your imagination or what I do is use what I happen to have on hand. In this recipe I used sunflower seeds to make the flour. You can use almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, flax, peanuts and any combination of the above!
In a food processor coarsely chop 2 1/2 cups of sunflower seeds (or as I said any combination of what you have on hand) DO NOT OVER PROCESS OR YOU WILL MAKE NUT BUTTER!
Place the flour in a large bowl

Next add 2 cups of nuts, seeds & dried fruit.
I used tropical fruit & nut mix, sunflower seeds, flax, chia & hemp seeds.
Add 1tsp of Cinnamon
You could add 1/4tsp of salt but I didn't since the sunflower seeds were already salted.

Next step heat

1/2 cup of Honey 

1/4 cup Organic Coconut Oil

And a splash of Organic Maple Syrup 

When combined pour this mixture over the fruit & nuts and mix well.

Next you can press this into a 9" x 13" pan 

I however used this handy petites pan I purchases from my friend Rita. It is the absolute perfect pan for making these bars this recipe divides perfectly into. If you want to purchase one please comment or email me and I will get you in contact with her.

In your preheated 350 oven bake for 18-20 minutes

Let these cool completely before trying to remove them from the pan and cutting.

Remember I said the variations on this recipe are endless well here is the second kind I made last night. I started off with the same 2 1/2cups of sunflower seed flour but this time I added in a total of

2 cups of tropical fruit & nut mix and dark chocolate, milk chocolate & yogurt covered cranberries. 

For texture and binding coarsely chop the cranberry mix in a food processor. In this recipe I omitted the cinnamon and didn't add salt.

Next variation I heated 3/4 cup of peanut butter and a splash of Organic Maple Syrup. You could use almond butter, tahini, honey, Nutella whatever combination you like to create the flavour you love! And then combine with fruit & nuts and mix well. These bars are baked exactly the same as the others in a preheated 350 oven for 18-20 Minutes. Make sure to cool these completely and refrigerate them before trying to remove these from the pan or cutting them.

The pure joy of these recipes is that you control what's in them. They are a hardy snack of pure natural goodness with no fillers or chemicals. You can feel great eating them and feeding these to your family. 

Confessions of a Cheer Mum

It has only been just short of two years since my beautiful daughter Lexi decided competitive cheerleading was her passion. The only thing I new about competitive cheerleading was from what I had seem in the Bring It On movie. In high school I was a cheerleader and we stood proudly on the sidelines cheering on our football team. The only reason most of us were on the team was to miss school, hang out with cute boys and to attend the parties. I soon found out what my daughter had signed up for was the polar opposite of what my cheer experience was.

Lexi did her research and picked a club in Edmonton and prepared for tryouts. She made a junior level 2 team and started to train really hard. By Christmas she became a crossover on the senior 2 team which meant we would go to Disneyworld for a competition. Cheer for these girls and boys is a lifestyle and commitment, not just for them but for their entire family. I was nervous, I am a shy person whom suffers from anxiety, how was I going to adjust to this new lifestyle. I had seen those shows about pageant and cheer moms. Let's be honest they make the moms appear to be somewhere between the devil and complete mental cases! I am happy to report that those shows are totally WRONG! (Well for the most part)

With Lexi on two teams I started spending a lot of time at the gym. Before I knew it I was making a bunch of new and wonderful friends. Lexi was loving cheer and now I was too. Our trip to Disneyworld was wonderful my sister from Philadelphia came and Lexi and I made lifelong friends from the cheer club that week. The first season ended with her senior 2 team being undefeated in Canada.

As quick as the season ended tryouts for our current season came. Lexi wanted to make a senior 3 or senior 4.2 team this year. We figured that most of her previous senior team would end up back together again. When team lists were posted much to both of our surprise Lexi had made the senior level 4 team. I knew she had worked extremely hard and had progressed quite rapidly, this was a well deserved accomplishment. We were both excited and nervous it was a great opportunity for Lexi but since none of her friends made the same team it was bittersweet.


We arrived at cheer to start this season and as Lexi went off with her team I found myself  nervous and alone. I had been warned that this team's moms were a tight knit group and it was hard to get into it. After a few practices and exchanging some pleasant "hellos" I noticed that these ladies went for a walk during the practice so I mustard up my confidence and asked if I could join them. Guess what, they welcomed me with open arms and they were not like some snobby elite high school clique.  These ladies are some of the smartest, most generous, compassionate and funniest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet!

I have realized as Lexi was following her passion of cheer, it had forced me out of my shell. It brought me out of my house and it had breathed new life into me. As cheer taught my daughter teamwork, discipline, commitment and hard work; cheer had also helped me become the outgoing person I always knew was inside me but was to shy to share with others. I have to say I am one of those crazy, over excited Mums that goes totally wild when my daughters team steps on the mat to perform. There is something about the energy the team gives off as they have their 2:30 minutes on
the mat to impress and shine. I can honestly say I love cheer!  Cheer has become a huge part of our lives and sometimes the family has to make sacrifices because of it. (And not everyone is always happy about it.)  But I look forward to taking Lexi to practice it really is one of the most fun parts of my week. I love it because I get to go and spend time with these awesome ladies and it's nice just being myself.

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