Fruit and Nut Breakfast Bars

Being on a quest to eat healthy isn’t always easy and sometimes it can be not very tasty either.  One of the biggest problems I find is eating healthy while having a busy no-time life style.  One way to combat this is to make things in big batches you can eat for the week.  These breakfast bars are the perfect fix for a busy morning.  You can make a batch at the beginning of the week and then wrap them up so they are ready to go in the morning.  They are also filled with protein and are easily customizable so you can make them how you want! This is how I made mine and they tasted great but you can make them with what you have available!

Ingredients:

• oat meal, quick cook
• some form of cereal, I used honey bunches of oats
• cranberries
• almonds
• pecans
• shredded coconut
• honey
• peanut butter
• dates
• banana

*using cereal is a great way to use up cereal that may be a bit too stale to eat with milk, but you can just use oatmeal and neglect that*

How to:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a bowl lightly heat up 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, you don’t want it liquified, just softer to better incorporate the oats and other good stuff.
3. Then mix in 2 cups of oats and 1/2 a cereal.  You want to lightly crush up the cereal, just so they are not in big pieces.
4. It is best if you have a ripe banana but if not, thats okay, you’ll get a good arm workout. Put in 1 big banana or 2 smaller ones.  You have to spend a good amount of time mashing this up so all of the oats get coated and wet.
5. Add in 1/4 cup of chopped almonds, pecans, cranberries, and dates.
6. Then about 1/2 cup shredded coconut
7. Lastly add 2 teaspoons of honey.
8. Mix everything well so it is evenly incorporated.
9. Then VERY lightly grease a glass baking pan.  Pour in the mix and pat it down so it is very well packed in.  If it is loose then it will be crumbly.  You want it to be about 1/2 an inch thick, it can be thicker, just has to bake longer.
10. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until it is firm and lightly golden on top and around the edges.
11. Let them cool and then you can individually wrap them and store in the fridge for about 4 days!