No Bake Homemade Granola Bars

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a huge fan of bars – protein bars, granola bars, cereal bars, I love em all! I always keep one in my purse in case hunger strikes while I’m out, and love to eat them pre-workout as a snack.

When I saw the other day that the phrase ‘granola bars with Kashi’ was searched for a bunch of times on my blog, I thought, What a brilliant idea!

Kashi GOLEAN Crunch! is one of my favorite cereals. I love how 1 cup has 9 grams of protein. I frequently eat it with blueberries + almond milk or top my yogurt with it, but why not incorporate it into a granola bar recipe?

I peered into my pantry to find what I thought were granola bar worthy ingredients. I wanted them to be wholesome, sweet, and under 200 calories a serving. The recipe I threw together is easy, and they turned out so good! I love that they can be eaten as dessert, like when I ate one last night, or as part of a meal, like when I had one at lunch today with a yogurt and fruit.

Homemade Granola Bars

Makes 9 bars

What you Need:

• Food Processor
• 8 x 11 pan (or a smaller one if you prefer your bars to be thicker)
• Wax paper

Ingredients:

• 1 c Kashi GOLEAN Crunch! cereal
• 1 c old fashioned oats
• 1/4 c sliced almonds
• 2 TBSP wheat germ
• 1.5 oz pitted dates, roughly chopped (I used 6 Sunsweet California dates)
• 2 TBSP ground flaxseed meal
• 3/4 c honey
• 1/4 c chocolate chips

Put cereal, oats, flaxseed, and wheat germ in the food processor and pulse about 10 times.

Add almonds and dates and pulse a few more times to get everything mixed up and chopped a bit more.

Warm up honey in microwave or stovetop.

Pour cereal mixture into a large bowl. Stir chocolate chips in. Add honey to the mixture, and stir everything with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Line your pan with wax paper, then spread the whole mixture into it. Press everything into the pan well with a wooden spoon or cup.

Stick in the fridge for at least a few hours before cutting into bars. Then try not to eat half of them in one sitting!

Nutrition facts per bar: 190 calories, 5 g fat, 4 g protein, 35 g carbs

I just got back from hiking with Harley. Here’s a shot of the view from the top:

About 75 minutes into the hike, Harley decided she’d had enough and plopped down for a breather…and then refused to get up for a couple of minutes. At least I tired her out!

Hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start!