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Yesterday was a busy day! I found out that I get to travel to NYC as a winner of a contest. I am super excited, as I have always wanted to go to NYC. It is during the week, in just a couple weeks time. So yesterday was spent trying to organize child care for my 8 year old. I work from home, so I am always able to get him to and from school each day. Luckily, I had a great friend who is willing to help out for the 3 days I am gone. Then I am gone the next week for a conference, and my son doesn’t have school. We found cheap flights, and my mom is going to fly here to help out. So nice to be surrounded by such wonderful people!
Needless to say, with all the scrambling yesterday there wasn’t much thought put into snacks or even lunch. Days like that I am happy to have quick and healthy snacks around that I can just grab and not think too much about. I know I am getting something that will fill me up, that isn’t just junk. I have done quite a few homemade granola and energy bars here on the blog before. This one is even more packed full of good for you ingredients; oats, quinoa, pistachios, agave, almond butter and more.
These energy bars are pretty quick to make. You bake the oats and quinoa for a few minutes, and then just mix everything together and bake again. In about 30 minutes, you can have snacks on hand for the whole week. Plus you can change up the combinations so you don’t get bored. Use peanut butter, peanuts and raisins one time. Or try almonds instead of pistachios.
Pistachio Cranberry Energy Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped
- 1/2 cup pistachios, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons flaxseed meal
- 1 oz mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 6 Tablespoons agave nectar, (honey would work too)
- 1 Tablespoon coconut oil, (or a vegetable oil)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8 inch baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a baking sheet, spread oats and quinoa in a single layer. Bake for 8 minutes or until just starting to turn brown. Remove from oven and cool.
- In a large bowl mix together oat mixture, cranberries, pistachios, flaxseed meal, and chocolate.
- In a small saucepan combine almond butter, agave, coconut oil, and salt. Heat over medium. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Pour over oat mixture, stirring until everything is well coated.
- Press firmly into prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 13 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
You won a trip to NYC! OMG! That is beyond cool! Congratulations!!! I am quite envious. I don’t normally get envious, but travel situations to elicit those envy feelings. Its spring so being ‘green with envy’ doesn’t stick out as much and actually is right in step. Lol. This is probably THE best energy bar recipe I have seen. Wow, excellent.
What a fun trip to win! Congrats! These would definitely help keep me going through a busy day!
I was going to make these for my bf, he’s a health nut or tries to be at least. Ha! Your bars look great and congrats on winning a trip to NY, my hometown 🙂 I’m sure you’ll love it here.
What does “dropped” mean next to the cranberries? Is it suppose to be chopped?
Fixed! Sorry about that.
Congratulations on your winning contest!! That is such fun news to receive! And these bars could definitely keep my family powering throug the day! Yum!
congrats on your trip – these bars sound very good – I assume I could add some protein powder to these also
You could easily add some of your favorite protein powder!
What could I use in place of almond butter? I’m allergic to almonds.
You could try Sunbutter or if peanuts are safe you could use peanut butter.
I love using pistachios in energy bars! These sound so good!