Energy Bars

I love these! They're such a treat, but you can sneak anything into them! These are jam packed with all kinds of good stuff! I got the idea for the recipe from the "Cool Cooking" cookbook series by Lisa Wagner, but I modified it a bit to make them even more healthy.

1 Cup Chocolate Chips
1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats
2 Cups Crisp Rice Cereal
1/2 Cup Flaked Coconut
1/4 Cup Sesame Seeds
1/2 Cup Flax Seeds
1/4 Cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 Cup Walnuts, Almonds or Peanuts
3/4 Cup Peanut Butter
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Honey
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup

1. Put the chocolate chips, oats, cereal, coconut, seeds and nuts in a large mixing bowl and mix them together.

2. Mix the peanut butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup in a saucepan over medium heat stirring until everything is blended and the brown sugar has dissolved.

3. Pour the hot mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until everything is completely blended.

4. Pour the mixture in to the prepared baking pan. Use your hands to pat the mixture into the pan.

Then you are supposed to refrigerate for 3 hours, but that is totally not going to happen at my house!

Corn & Black Bean Salsa

A coworker shared this recipe with me and I love it! Unfortunately, I ate it before I remembered to take a picture of it.

1-2 Tomatoes (medium to large)
3 Avocados
1 Can White Shoepeg Corn, drained
1 Can Kidney Beans, drained
1 Can Black Beans, drained
1/2 Bottle Italian Dressing
Lime or Lemon Juice

1. Dice the tomatoes and avocados, place in a bowl and sprinkle a little lime/lemon juice over the avocado to keep it from turning brown.
2. Add the corn and beans.
3. Pour italian dressing over the top and stir together!

Serve with chips. If you chill it in the fridge for about an hour before serving, the flavors blend together better.

Raisin Bran Banana Muffins

Everyone needs more recipes for using up over-ripe bananas. I tried this one the other day and we loved it. They're healthier than the average muffin with the fruit and fiber in them.

2 Cups Raisin Bran Cereal
1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Walnuts, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
1 Cup Buttermilk
1/4 Cup Cooking Oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cereal, flour, sugar, walnuts, baking soda and salt.
3. Break the egg into another bowl and beat it together with the buttermilk and oil.
4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
5. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full with mixture.
6. Bake about 20-25 minutes.