I love granola bars, breakfast bars, energy bars...just about anything and everything that comes in bar form. More or less, it is a weakness of mine. However, while I love them, most leave me still feeling hungry and or incredibly thirsty.
I found a recipe in my low sodium cookbook for energy bars. I made some the other day (very easy) and they are delicious. Of course, it helps that the recipe also calls for a little chocolate on top!
The recipe calls for pine nuts which are very expensive. I'm sure substituting walnuts or almonds would be just as effective. To roast the pine nuts, place nuts on a cookie sheet, and roast for 5 minutes or so at 350 degrees. Also, the only dates I could fine were packed, no COATED, in sugar. I rinsed the sugar off before using.
Try them for yourselves - it'll be hard to just have one, especially when they are guilt free!!!
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots
3/4 cup chopped dried dates
1/2 cup chopped dried figs
1/2 cup dried apples or pears
1/2 cup roasted unsalted pine nuts (pignolia)
1/2 cup unsalted oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 large egg
1/4 cup apple juice fortified with calcium
1 ounce semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Line jelly-roll pan with cooking parchment. In a food processor, combine the dried fruits until finely chopped. Stir in pine nuts, oats, flour and mix well. Stir in egg and apple juice. Turn the batter on to the pan and bake in the preheated over for 25-30 minutes. Let it cool in the pan. When cooked, set the rectangle on the cutting board and slice into bars (cut it lengthwise into 3 strips an each strip into 8 pieces). Melt the semisweet chocolate (use a double boiler if you have one) and brush the mixture on the bars. When cooled and the chocolate is set, serve. Store extras in the freezer in zipper-lock bags for future use.
Nutritional info (per serving):
Calories: 81
Sodium: 4.33 mg
Carbs: 14.9 g
Fiber: 2.1 g
Protein: 1.998 g
Cholesterol: 8.85 mg
Calcium: 16 g
Iron: .879 g
Potassium: 172.6 mg
Total Fat: 2.2 g
Recipe from: The No-Salt, Lowest Sodium Cookbook by Donald Gazzaniga
3 comments:
I'm sure there is more to your low sodium lifestyle than I am aware of. When I saw this post, it made me think of an episode I saw on food network so I thought I'd share. I think you might also be able to make some low sodium energy bars from Alton Brown's recipe. Supposedly there are 17.7mg of sodium but if you left the salt out all together and watched which natural pbutter you choose, you might have another option too!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/protein-bars-recipe/index.html
They have 4g of protein! :)
It's not very complicated. Just eating as much natural, non-processed foods as possible. Also, seasoning and flavor come from herbs and spices, rather than salt or pre-packaged mixes. That's pretty much it! :) Sound easy, huh! :)
=)Thanks for the recipe! I'll let you know how they turn out whenever I get around to it.
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