Raw Food Bar

I spent several hours in town with my mom recently while we did errands and went grocery shopping.  She handed me a little snack called Raw Rev 100.  It was a very small "organic live food bar".  It was super yummy and gave me the energy to finish all the running around we had to do.

I'm not one for energy bars or meal replacement bars.  There is nothing real about them.  But this was different.  I looked at the ingredients and was surprised: cashews, dates, agave nectar, sprouted flax.  That was it!  But as you can imagine, that little 0.8 ounces of snack was a bit pricey.  I thought, "I could make these." I'm not really one for inventing my own recipes very often, but I scored on my first try with these.

Here's how I made mine:

4 dates
5 dried figs
10 dried apricots
3/4 cup almonds
1 cup cashews
1 1/2 Tblsp. sesame seeds

1.  Pour boiling water over figs and apricots until they are soft, about 10-15 minutes.

2.  Grind the nuts and sesame seeds.  I did this in my Blendtec blender.  I liked it a little chunky, so make sure you don't turn it into a nut butter.  Set aside.

3.  Blend together fruit.  It will be very sticky.  It doesn't have to be completely smooth.

4.  Stir or knead the nuts and fruit together.  It will be very sticky and thick.

5.  Place between two pieces of wax paper and roll out to desired thickness (1/4 to 1/2 inch thick).

6.  Cut into small pieces (about 1 1/2 inches by 2 or 2/12 inches).

7.  Optional: Coat lightly with unsweetened shredded dry coconut.  This makes them a little less sticky when eating.

8.  Wrap individually in small squares of plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Obviously these are not a low-calorie snack.  The idea is to have something healthy that is a whole food to give you an energy pick-up.  They are quite satisfying in small amounts.