Snack Bars

i feel like i eat some kind of packaged bar everyday. on a good day its a larabar. i love larabars! the good news is that they contain all natural ingredients. seriously, i can pronounce every ingredient on the list and most flavors only contain 3-5 ingredients. on a not as good day i have a chocolate chip cookie balance bar or a kashi granola bar. not that these are all that bad for you but they have lots of ingredients and i can't pronounce all of them. they aren't clean.

so, i am currently working on a homemade bar i can eat on the go. my first experiment with the peanut butter oatmeal bars turned out pretty well but it's not quite there yet. plus man/woman cannot live on peanut butter bars alone!

so, today i tried a different variation on my peanut butter oatmeal bars. and ta-da! we have almond chocolate chip bars. the recipe is similar to the PB bars but i changed a couple things and added unsweetened shredded coconut and ground flaxseed. i am very happy with the outcome. they have a decent amount of protein in them too because of the almonds and almond butter. so easy too! i encourage you to try them soon! oh, and i highly recommend them with a glass of ice cold milk (i am a farmers daughter after all:)

check back for more variations of my on-the-go bars! hopefully more successes than failures.

Almond Chocolate Chip Bars
(makes 12 bars - 200 calories per bar)

1 1/2 c quick oats
1/2 c ground almond meal (or pulse raw almonds in food processor till finely ground)
1/2 c almond butter
1/2 c agave nectar
1/4 c shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 c grain sweetened chocolate chips
2 tbs ground flaxseed
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt

preheat oven to 350. mix all ingredients together in bowl until combined. spread into greased 8" square baking dish. bake at 350 for 15 minutes until edges start to brown.
cool completely before cutting into 12 bars.