A New Kind of Special K Bar

I must admit that I do love me a good Special K bar! People bring them to all kinds of gatherings around here. I am not sure if it is just a Minnesota thing or not but I know I never had them in good old Spokane. However, I don't have to tell you that they aren't healthy right? Does anyone really make them with Special K anyhow? That might actually up the nutrition just a wee bit. Well, you will be so happy to know that I recently discovered a superior alternative! I finally made them this morning and have been so excited to share them with you all day!

This recipe came from Samantha at Color Wheel Meals. She has the most fun ideas on her blog. Just now when I went there to copy the link she had rainbow fruit leather! That would be one stellar idea for St. Patrick's Day don't you think? When she posted this a week or so ago I instantly thought they would be a healthy alternative to Special K Bars and I got so excited. So here is what you need.

Banana chips, sunflower seeds, and oatmeal. You will grind all 3 of these up to make your base. I accidentally bought honey roasted sunflower seeds so regular is just fine.

Then you need some sea salt, pure maple syrup, and some Sunbutter or almond butter. You also need some vanilla and I forgot to get that in the picture. I actually used half Sunbutter and half almond butter today just so I didn't drain either contain too much.

I suppose brown rice syrup would also work in place of maple syrup.

This is the ground up banana chips, sunflower seeds, and oatmeal. Get this as fine as you can in your food processor.

Then you will add the other ingredients to the processor until you get this nice crumbly mix that holds together. I pressed mine in this circular pampered chef stone ware but Samantha recommended an 8 x 8 pan. Hers turned out deliciously thick like the bars you are used to seeing but I was trying to stretch mine a little further so I could give some to someone for their birthday and still have plenty for us.

Press the mixture firmly down with the back of the spoon to get it even and smooth.

Then melt 1 cup of dark chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals. Samantha used dairy free chocolate chips because they have allergies but if you aren't vegan or don't have allergies then you must use dark chocolate so you get the actual health benefit that chocolate can have. Spread the melted chocolate on top and place it in the freezer for about 10 minutes to set up.

Then slice into heaven and enjoy! I promise I made the rest look prettier when I cut into them. I just couldn't wait to taste it!

How many can I eat before it is considered gluttony? I shared with a friend who stopped by so that cancels out at least 3 of them right?

So we bloggers don't like you to steal our recipes and not give credit to the creator of the recipe. So please go and visit the link by clicking here on Chocolate Banana Sunbutter Bars. Color Wheel Meals has made my life better today with this absolutely awesome portion of goodness. My only changes to her recipe was to use a combination of both almond butter and Sunbutter and to use dark chocolate chips instead of a dairy free chocolate chip.

Recipe: From Samantha at Color Wheel Meals

3 cups banana chips ground into flour

1/2 cup oats ground into flour

1/3 cup sunflower seeds ground into flour

1/2 cup Sunbutter or almond butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 tbsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Grind first 3 ingredients one at a time in a food processor. Place them all back in to the processor and add next 4 ingredients. Process until it begins to stick together. Press into a pan with the back of a spoon. (Use an 8 x 8 pan or use bigger pan for thinner bars) Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second increments until completely melted. Spread over mixture and place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Slice and enjoy.

Breakfast for Dinner

Breakfast for dinner is always my back up plan when I have nothing else in mind. I LOVE breakfast for dinner don't you? Sometimes I make homemade pancakes from scratch so I can make them with whole wheat flour but tonight I whipped up a batch of Kodiak Cakes.

So the story with Kodiak Cakes is that they are made from 100% whole grain wheat flour and 100% whole grain oat flour but you only have to mix them with water. Hooray for convenience! I gave up on pancake mixes a very long time ago because there just wasn't a healthy version so I am thrilled about this mix!

There is a great little story on the back of the box about how flapjacks were the hearty mainstay for frontiersman. They didn't eat them the way most Americans are used to eating them now with bleached flour, white sugar, vegetable shortening, and artificial additives. They ate them with whole grain wheat and oat flour and water. It supplied them with lots of healthy carbs, protein, and fiber but had very little fat. Combined with how hard they all had to work, it is no wonder they never had weight problems back then!

So making these flapjacks was an easy decision tonight. Not so easy was deciding just what I wanted to put on them.

Notice that syrup was not even a choice for me!

Who wants syrup when you can have all of these yummy choices. I knew I would pick the Sunbutter because I am still looking for excuses to eat that but I ate 4 small pancakes tonight. I put the peanut butter away first because that is too plain. Then I also eliminated the honey because 9 out of 10 times I will pick agave over honey. As much as I like Nutella I also eliminated that one away because of its sugar content. I left them all on the table for my family to choose from however.

I picked the Sunbutter of course, the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter, and the Agave with some Earth Balance buttery spread put on it first. They were all delicious but the agave was my favorite so I had a 4th small flapjack with more of that. I have no earthly idea what Miles picked because I was loving mine too much to care I guess.

Normally I like to have a little cut up banana or blueberries on my pancakes but I did serve fruit on the side with some turkey bacon so that is why I chose all the yummy toppings tonight. I usually don't eat a lot of syrup. I do not have a gall bladder and syrup can be a little hard for my body to digest. Plus pure maple syrup is so darn expensive. I give the kids a sugar free version and that is what they chose tonight. They are crazy.

I think Evan realized too late that he should have had the dark chocolate peanut butter. It was because the kid was neck deep in turkey bacon, "Can I just eat one piece, (while waiting on me to sit down) How many can I have? Did you save the turkey bacon, Mom?" The kid has a thing for bacon. He doesn't even mind that I serve turkey bacon. It is such a rarity around here that it wouldn't really matter if I bought the good old fashioned pork bacon but I would rather eat more pancakes then bacon so I like the less fatty turkey. Plus I am hoping to have some kind of BLT tomorrow (thus eating it two days in a row) with the new cracked pepper olive oil mayo my friend Amanda suggested I try!

It really bothered me tonight that there wasn't anything green on my plate. You know what I say about colors on your plate. Maybe some kiwi would have helped. I kept thinking I should have a salad but it just doesn't go with this dinner. I fed the kids some light V8 Splash to sneak in a veggie serving but I drank a light blueberry pomegranate juice. So I am going to drink some regular V8 when I am finished with this post. I did eat plenty of veggies at lunch but it still bothers me. I did want you all to know that we do still eat a meal like this occasionally though so you know that we are human!

If you want to give the Kodiak Cakes a try I found them in the health food section at Cash Wise but I bet you can order them online and if all else fails I will give you my homemade whole wheat pancake recipe!

Faith's comment tonight, "This was a good idea, Mom!" She was not the last one done tonight. In fact she was first. She did not eat bacon however. If she didn't love chicken nuggets so much I would swear the girl could be a vegetarian!