Homemade Walnut Date Oatmeal Raisin Energy Bars

I've been looking for a homemade granola bar recipe for ages, but they always call for ingredients I don't keep on hand so I never got around to making them.

However last weekend, Sara fed me an energy bar that was pretty yummy and only had 5 ingredients, which is such a rare and beautiful thing. I decided I must buy dates and make my own.

I found a set of recipes that seemed too easy to screw up and boy was I right. The only problem was I couldn't figure out how to work my brand new food processor... Seriously, appliances confuse me. I tried everything to no avail and ended up using my magic bullet which worked mostly fine.

The dates and walnuts blended together tastes strangely (and deliciously) like cookie dough. I ate so much of the batter out of the bowl that I feared I wouldn't be able to make a full batch of granola bars, so I decided to add the raisins and oatmeal in to beef it up. This recipe was 100% off the cuff and still so delicious. Pretty sure you could put any kind of add ins in here and it would be tasty. Without further ado, here ya go:

Homemade Walnut Date Oatmeal Raisin Energy Bars (Original recipe here)

1 cup dates
2 cups warm water
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Put dates and raisins in a bowl and pour warm water over top. Let sit for 10 minutes until plump and then strain.
3. While the fruit is plumping, pulse the walnuts in a food processor, or magic bullet (if you don't have or don't know how to work your food processor like me) until they are finely chopped. If you want bigger chunks of nuts, add some extras in towards the end.
4. Then add the dates adn raisins to the nut mixture in the food processor and pulse until everythign starts to come together. Then mix in cinnamon and oatmeal.
5. Plop into the loaf pan and spread out with a spoon.
6. Refrigerate for 30 min, then cut them into 6 bars and individually wrap for snacks.

Shellington's Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

Monday through Friday I am totally Bill Murray from Groundhog Day. I wake up, eat oatmeal for breakfast, go to work, go to the gym, eat the same thing for dinner, have a bath, watch some eps of Breaking Bad and go to bed. Wake up and repeat. I hope you didn't read that in a whiny voice, because I actually enjoy having a strict routine during the week. I never have to worry or wonder about what's for breakfast or lunch or dinner. I am food-motivated, so those things are important to me. That being said, sometimes by Thursday I am getting slightly less enthused by my pre-devised meals, and often on Friday I am stoked that they are coming to an end. This week, however, I suffered no such thing. Why? Let me tell you.

Spoon Fork Bacon. Huh? It's a blog I stumbled upon. I honestly can't remember what I was looking for when I found it, although it was probably something bacon related. What made me stop and fall in love was a recipe for "Persimmon and Cranberry Baked Oatmeal". It could have said poop and beans baked oatmeal and I still would have loved it. The idea of baking oatmeal for breakfast stole my heart. Why I haven't done this before is a huge mystery. Perhaps I was not ready for baked oatmeal. I sure am now! 6 days in a row of baked oatmeal for breakfast and I wish I had another six days to go.

I made some changes to her recipe, as I apparently am unwilling and able to follow a recipe as directed. It made 6 portions, which I left in the fridge all week. I heated in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes and served with skim milk, although Greek yogurt would be good too. My next batch will likely contain a sprinkling of chocolate chips and maybe some applesauce for extra fibre and moisture. Here she is:

Shellington's Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:
2 cups steel cut porridge oats (contains oats, flax, oat bran and some other goodies. it's a step up from regular oats)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup ground flax
2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus some extra for the chef.
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 can low-fat coconut milk
1/3 cup skim milk
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (it's the cheapest to buy at Costco, obviously)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 banana, mashed with a fork, or chopped. (I think mashed will be more banana bread-like.)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Generously grease an 8”x 8” baking dish and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together.
4. In another mixing bowl whisk together both milks, the egg, vanilla and melted coconut oil.
5. Pour the milk mixture over the oat mixture and stir together.
6. Fold in the blueberries and banana until just combined.
6. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish and smooth surface with a spatula.
7. Bake for 40 to 45 minute or until golden brown.

healthtastic.

Let's talk about health, baby. let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things. Health, baby. Let's talk about health!

I hope that song gets stuck in your head! Ok, so I've decided to do a spiel on health by sharing some of the things that I do as part of my normal routine that I believe keep me healthy. I actively pursue new ideas and trends to see what others are doing to keep themselves healthy and fit. Some I try out and nix within a week or so and some things I keep and mix into my own routine. Hopefully one or more of these things will make your life a little bit better! Ready? OK!

#1. I take vitamins, daily. What kind, you ask? Depends on what's on sale when I go shopping for vitamins. Currently I take a multi vitamin, a cranberry pill, and biotin (helps to metabolize carbs, protein and fat - rumoured to make your hair grow faster). Occasionally, I take Omega 3 pills, probiotics, vitamin C and echinacea.

7. I squeeze a lemon in my first bottle of water in the morning. Lemon water helps balance your pH, has tons of vitamin C, aids in digestion and helps the purging of toxins. The rest of the day, I drink plain boring old water, but lots of it so that I don't dry up like a prune.

#4. Oatmeal for breakfast, every day.... sounds boring, but I've been eating it for years and never get sick of it. I make mine with skim milk and add in banana, ground flax and vanilla protein powder. Sometimes I get wild and will throw in blueberries, chocolate chips or even nuts. It's a hearty, well-rounded breakfast that keeps me full until snack time.

5) I work out 6 days a week, doing both cardio and weights. One of those workouts if spent with my personal trainer who gives me the extra push I want and the accountability I need. I spend a lot of time on the treadmill with my ipod, and find it helps me get my thoughts in order. I also love running really fast. I especially love running in front of the mirror because I feel like I'm racing myself.

6. I eat 3 meals a day and a couple of snacks. Eating often keeps my metabolism up and stops me from ever being hungry. I try to eat lean proteins, lots of vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy. That being said, I rarely choose salad over fries at restaurants and I will take a steak over chicken almost any day of the week.

2. I have warm baths with Epsom salts a few times a week. Some of the countless health benefits include relaxing the nervous system, curing skin problems, soothing back pain and aching limbs, easing muscle strain, healing cuts, treating cold and congestion, and drawing toxins from the body.

8. I don't watch a lot of TV, especially since I JUST finished all 5 seasons of Sons of Anarchy and have nothing else I want to watch... I spend a lot of my free time reading. I read somewhere that reading burns more calories than watching TV because your brain has to work harder. Reading also keeps my vocabulary up to snuff. Speaking of vocabulary, you'd think with all the reading I do that I could come up with a better word than 'snuff'!

3) I get an embarassing amount of sleep. On weeknights I'm usually in bed by 9:30 and up at 6:30, which is 9 hours each night. I like to think I bank some of those extra hours for the weekends where I'm up until 4AM.

The end. That's it? Yep! I know, I know, nothing earth shattering. I am not a health nut by any means. There is an equally long list of things I do that are super unhealthy (see: binge drinking, McDonalds, aspartame and all-night partying) but I can definitely tell you that everything on my list is shelly tested and approved! Are you on pinterest? Go check out my healthtastic board here.

Now, go be healthy!

Backwards Day

Every once in a while, I like to throw myself a curve ball. Now, I don't play baseball so I really don't know how to throw a curve ball in real life, nor do I know if it's even possible to throw yourself one. I imagine not. Luckily it's just a saying and I need not throw any balls at all. So, this proverbial curve ball I'm speaking of today is......wait for it...... Backwards Day!

I woke up feeling a little strange (stranger than usual) and decided that was a sign that today was a good day for some self-made entertainment. I'm not 12 so I'm not wearing my clothes backwards or walking backwards all day, I'm much more sophisticated than that *blows bubbles in her milk*.

My enjoyment for shaking these things up stems back from high school when my basketball coach challenged us to do things with our left hand instead of our right. Have you ever tried opening the fridge with your left hand? It's mind boggling and easily results in injury. All the same, it's a really great challenge and I learned how to open the fridge with my left hand. It made me realize how many things we do subconsciously with little or no active thinking involved.

So I started Backward Day'ing with breakfast. Oatmeal is my daily fare, I don't even consider any other breakfast foods Monday-Friday. This morning, I added all the ingredients in the opposite order I normally do. Banana FIRST, followed by milk, cinnamon, Splenda, walnuts and oats. I was really nervous this was going to ruin breakfast, but lo and behold- same deliciousness as per usual. In the shower I shaved my legs AND THEN washed my hair. I did my makeup BEFORE brushing my teeth. No holds barred! When I got to work (I drove here in reverse of course) I made a pot of coffee without putting any coffee in the filter. Zing! How backwards is that?! OK OK... I'm just an idiot and forgot to put the coffee in. Sometimes I need a cup of coffee to get my brain working enough to figure out how to make a cup of coffee. Today was one of those days.

It's early yet, but I can tell you that I am going to do some crazy backwards things today and here's an idea - you should too! Perhaps throw some left handed tasks out there !sdrawkcab epyt ebyaM. Going grocery shopping? Do the store in the opposite order you normally do- meat aisle first, produce last! Have breakfast food for dinner, but make sure you have desert first. Check your email Top to Bottom. Get crazy, people! Happy Backwards Wednesday.

Oh and I flipped this picture horizontally so this is Backwards Shelly. A sight to behold.

how to be rich before you're thirty.

also known as: how not to be a poor ass loser in middle age.

i borrowed this clever little book from a friend who, after confirming i was well under thirty, leant it to me. he's more of a book on tape guy anyhow. i'm not sure if he has given up on the whole rich thing or if he is already well on his way and needs the book no longer. either way, i am always grateful to those who share their books with me. i have a book buying phobia. i get paralysis in libraries and book stores. too many choices.

you may not know this, but i am terrible at budgeting. shut up lisa, i know i'm cheap, but that doesn't mean i can budgert worth a damn. i spend carelessly in many areas and am frugal in others. i will hunt for the best deal on toilet paper and then spend 100dollars on dinner and drinks.

nikita [my super underpaid, but very appreciated financial advisor] and i worked up a budget/payment plan last year when i bought my car. i had nightmares for a week at least about not being able to meet my payments. and now i somehow own a condo. it's puketastic.

anyhow i will share here what i have learned in the book so far...

1. get a bank account and stop hiding money under the mattress.
2. be frugal [verbatim- this book loves the word frugal, more than i love the word verbatim)
3. you have to pay yourself becuase nobody else will. this is alluding to setting aside money from every paycheque into your savings or investments.
4. the book hints that i should get a roommate. unfortunately they give no pointers on the roommate hunt or how the hell i'm supposed to go about living my life with a stranger lurking in my second bedroom.
5. that being a millionaire by the time i'm thirty won't be good enough because inflation will cause my hard earned money to be meagre in the distant future. [wow bitter]
6. that no matter how rich or poor you are cookies solve everything. see here for the whole wheat oatmeal chocolate and peanut butter chip cookies recipe i just made. long title, great cookie. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=258352

i am only half done the book. i just felt i should share what i've ALREADY learned just in case anyone else needs some help with their financial future.

just never know what you're going to get here at TheBlog.