HEALTH NUT

Recipe: Apricot Power Bars

Time Taken: An hour

Ingredients: 2 bananas, 100g butter, 80g oats, half a mug of Brazil nuts, half a mug of dried apricots, half a mug of seeds (e.g. sunflower and pumpkin)

Hi readers,

Today is December 14^th. This time in ten days we’ll be celebrating Christmas Eve! Such an exciting thought. But today is still on the 14^th. There’s somewhat of a way to go until Christmas. Boo! But that makes for lots of time for fitting in festive fun in the meanwhile. :)

And I’ve been having looooads of fun! Yesterday, me and the mum bagged ourselves some Christmas edition Starbucks and hit Cineworld to see the new Paddington Bear film… and we loved it! It’s such a wintry, British family film. Yes, a large proportion of the audience were under-10. But there were adults there, too! And, maybe some weren’t accompanying kiddies, like me and my mum… haha, oh well, we’re all young at heart.

Paddington Bear! All the way from Darkest Peru :)

 

And TODAY it’s a big family meal! I get to see cousins, and aunts and uncles, my grandparents, and we’re all drinking and wearing paper hats, I hope. Feasting it up for a big Christmas pub gathering! There’s much excitement over this meal. I can’t wait to catch up on everyone’s lives and hear about their Christmas plans. And eeeeat!

Alas, I’m not actually cooking again today. But yesterday’s blog had me thinking about two things. Firstly, all of the luxury foods in the cupboards at home, and which order I should possibly try to eat them all in. Second, the quote that reads “Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle”. This is really striking a chord with me at the moment! I think perhaps at Christmas, with all the feasts and dinners that come with the occasion, people get a little out of touch with their bodies. Maybe we don’t love ourselves enough at this time of year.

So, today I got up in time to catch a beautiful sunrise in Sheffield. It’s a harsh time of year at the moment, but the weather can make for some spectacular views. And I’m more rural at home than at uni, so there’s real countryside to frame sunrises and sunsets with.

Woodhouse this morning

 

In the spirit of snaffling all and any luxury foods, I decided to chop Brazil nuts on my muesli. Is there any higher indulgence at 9am?? I think not.

My bowlful of billion dollar nuts

 

Then, guilted by breakfast, I signed up for the morning dog walk with my mummy bear and her little spawn of the devil. I was repenting for my nut greed.

Exercising alongside my mum and the Evil Knievel

 

And I was thinking about all the nuts in and trying to be good, and it reminded me of a really good recipe I made last time we had exams at uni! This was a recipe I found for special energy bars, to help my flatmates through revision and the hard times. They were all natural, chock full of things like nuts and seeds and dried fruit, and they went really well! Literally, I didn’t even have exams and I was munching them up. They were very tasty.

Here’s how they look in the recipe photo!

 

So, hopefully over December I’m going to have a go at them again at home, and I’ll be ready with the recipe for when exams come around again in January. Fighting the flab and fighting exams! And guys this recipe is the bomb. You literally need a knife, a fork, a bowl, a pan, a spoon and a baking tray. Minimal equipment required. No decoration on the bars. This recipe’s a no-faff, no-stress affair. Just don’t mention that part to your flatmates. :D

Here’s how to throw together your very own Apricot Power Bars, in ten easy steps…

1.       Heat your oven to 200ᵒC.

2.       Peel your bananas into a pan and mash them up using a fork.

3.       Add your butter to the pan and place on a hob over a medium heat.

4.       Stir gently until the two combine and set this mix aside to cool.

5.       Chop up your nuts and apricots, and chuck them in a bowl.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Don’t chop these too small so that they disappear into the mix! I think it’s nice to chop them a little bigger, so that there are good fruit and nut chunks within the Power Bars.

6.       Add your seeds and oats.

7.       Pour your banana-butter mix over the top of your dry ingredients, and stir this all up into one great modge.

8.       Press the batter on to a baking tray covered with baking paper.

9.       Bake in the oven for half an hour, until golden brown on top.

10.   Safely take your tray out of the oven and leave to cool, before you cut your bars from the slab. And there you have it! Some food for the mind and the soul.

Here’s how mine went…

 

Now, I love dried apricots and they’re full of iron so they’re really good for you, and good to snack on if you’re vegetarian, but if you’re not a fan I guess you could mix the apricot portion in this recipe with raisins perhaps, or swap them entirely for an alternative like dried cranberries? And any vegans out there, you can veganise this recipe by just switching the butter for almond butter! So there are no excuses. This recipe is for everyone.

So give it a try! What do you think to Apricot Power Bars? Tempting to try? Delicious to eat? Those are my personal opinions. Although, I am a lover of literally every ingredients in this recipe. So I’m slightly biased. But still! Please, give this one a go. It’s a really healthy, really fun recipe to try. And I don’t think December calls for anything more, really. Get loving yourselves, readers!

And power on safely,

Hayley