Eewie, Gooey, Chewy Bars

I am a power bar fanatic. I have a little bit of a fear of hunger - I blame my mother - and power bars are an awesome way to keep hunger and my fear in check. I always have at least one on me and a few around the house, but man, are they expensive! I was perusing the ingredients list on the label of one of my go-to bars trying to figure out what all the weird unpronounceable, no-no-food words were, when it occurred to me that I could make myself a power bar at home. I could save myself from ingesting some weird-o ingredients and save my wallet from thinning. So, I got in the kitchen and started concocting. What I ended up with was like a Larabar, but cheaper and yummier due to it being filled with homemade goodness. 

Plus, these babies are raw, vegan, gluten free and paleo!

How about that!? 

These days, it seems like everyone has special diet requirements (me included), and these delicious, energy filled bars can be made to satisfy just about any dietary regimen that someone may follow. Woopie. Here's to eating good food for not too much money no matter what our needs are!

I literally eat them all the time. 

Ingredients:

1 pound of dates pitted

1 Tbsp nut butter (I used almond)
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp coco nibs
1 Tbsp hydrated chia seeds
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts this time)

Throw all the ingredients in a food processor and process until it holds together.

Then, dump the mix onto parchment paper, and use your fingers or a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula (though your mix may stick to the tools) to press the mix into a rectangular shape (you could use a casserole dish as a mold, but it's not necessary.

Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. After they set a little, you can cut them up however you like: lots of mini sized bars, a few big-daddy sized bars, or maybe some mama-bear sized bars.

Store in the fridge. 

Eat and enjoy as desired!

You could easily alter this any way you like. You can add in more nuts or seeds (or take them out), dried fruit, coconut flakes ... The sky is the limit! Also, not hydrating the chia seeds would make them a little firmer.