My hubby has been away for the past five days riding his 4-wheeler in the mountains of Kentucky. I have no doubt that there’s been an ungodly amount of farting, burping, grunting and other blatant displays of manhood going on down in those parts.
It’s a little scary what can happen when 8 grown men assemble in the hills where black bears and bobcats roam, trailers and quads in tow, and promptly become intoxicated by abnormally high quantities of testosterone and fresh mountain air. I’m sure the “apple pie” that the kind cabin owner distributed around the camp fire, from a clear mason jar, didn’t assist in keeping them grounded.
But burly happiness abounded and only non-life-threatening injuries occurred. Or so I hear.
This, my friends, is what my husband and his brothers have dubbed, “The Man Trip” and it occurs every year.
And every year the menu my hubby plans and pulls together is second-to-none.
This time around, he wanted something quick and healthy to grab on the trail.
Enter: the manly granola bar…the “MAN OLA” bar.
Chock a block full of protein & good-fer-ya nutrients, we baked some of these bad boys up the night before they left and, I’m glad to say, we’ve found a go-to recipe for bars.
They are fantastic, and super easy to tweak as far as content. They also happen to be über rich in fiber.
So go ahead, people.
Create. Bake. Eat. Fart. Repeat.
Man-tacular Man-ola Bars
{Healthy Granola Bars}
Ingredients:
* 2 cups of old fashioned oats
* 3/4 cup of coarsely chopped raw almonds
* 1/2 cup of unsweetened shredded or grated coconut
* 1/2 cup of raw wheat germ
* 3 tablespoons of coconut oil or unsalted butter
* 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
* 1/3 cup of honey
* 1/3 cup of natural peanut butter
* 2 teaspoons of vanilla
* 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon of salt
* 1 cup of dried blueberries
* 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
* 1/2 cup of chopped dried apricots
* 1/3 cup of coarsely chopped peanuts
* 3 tablespoons of seeds (chia, flax or sesame)
*You can substitute any dried fruit and nuts to suite your family’s taste buds. We simply dumped two bags of sweet and salty trail mix that we purchased from our local health food store that were loaded with peanuts, raisins, dried cranberries, mini white chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, roasted & salted pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), along with the chopped almonds and coconut – it was delish!
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350* and line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Toss oats, almonds, coconut and wheat germ together in a bowl. Pour onto the cookie sheet and spread evenly. Bake until fragrant and lightly toasted, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 300*.
Heat coconut oil, brown sugar, peanut butter and honey in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
Pour over the oat mixture, mixing to thoroughly combine. Stir in the dried fruit, additional nuts and chia seeds. Scoop and spread the mixture back onto the lined cookie sheet (use more parchment paper if your initial sheet is burned) and press firmly to evenly distribute.
**As a side note, we actually pressed the guy’s ‘bars’ into cupcake papers to make it easier for them to grab and go…but they stuck terribly to the liners and got hard quickly…so simple bars are the way to go.
Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.
Remove and cool completely in pan until firm, at least 2 hours. Cut into pieces. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
Recipe adapted from TasteFood.
Gobble up, yo.
