Nutty Chocolate Bars

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There have been a lot of takes on the peanut butter bar with chocolate.  I am all about ease and therefore, “peanut butter” cups seems a little too much work…although if I’m honest, probably no more work than these little bars of goodness.  There is just something nice about pouring it all into a pan and pulling it out on parchment paper!  These bars are rich.  The texture is slightly dense, crunchy, fudgy.  They melt in your mouth, and this is one recipe that is addicting but not in the “I could eat 100” kinda way because of the richness. My palate tends to be sensitive to how sugary something is, so if you are like me, you could easily decrease the amount of sugar in this recipe and get the same satisfaction! This is also one that can stand a TON of interpretation without issue.  Use the nuts, nut butters, and chocolate you have on hand.

Nutty Chocolate Bars

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick grassfed butter
  • 1/2 cup pecans
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
  • 3/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup nut butter (I used my own homemade almond/sunbutter)
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 Tbsp of butter

Directions:

Start melting the butter over low heat in a sauce pan.  While that is melting, put the nuts and the coconut sugar in a food processor and pulse until grainy.  Once the butter is melted, pour the nuts and sugar mixture into the butter, and add the salt, vanilla, and nut butter.  Stir until thoroughly incorporated. Place parchment paper in an 8×8 dish and pour the mixture into the pan.  Let it sit in the freezer for an hour or so until solidly set.  Once set, melt the chocolate chips and add a TBSP of butter.  Pour the chocolate over the set nutty bars and tilt the pan until the chocolate is all across the top.  Put in the fridge to set for 15 minutes or so.  Cut into squares and serve!

What does your trash say about YOU?

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I just got back from walking my dogs, and I started thinking to myself as we were on our way to the park. We walked past house after house of recycling bins. My first thought is how great it is that people are taking the initiative to recycle, but then I start to notice the product containers INSIDE the bins! Yikes! Many were full of pop cans, pizza boxes, cracker boxes, alcohol containers, and plastic condiment containers. I have no idea what the health status is of those individuals, but I can imagine many are probably battling weight issues, heart problems, digestive complaints, and glucose tolerance issues. So, I was thinking about a hypothetical scenario (I do this all the time by the way!): let’s say you were to leave your children with a family for the next year and all you could use to make the selection was a sneak peek at their trash. Would you choose to leave your kids at the house that had tons of pop cans, cookie boxes, and alcohol containers or the house that had jars from almond butter, cans from coconut milk, and plastic egg containers? I do not know what the answer would be, but I do know that I would personally leave mine with those that I perceived to be healthy! I would choose the trash with things that would assure me that my children were growing up healthy and active. Does your trash reflect the home that you would choose for your children? Just a thought…..

I’d like to take a side note and say that many of the healthiest options don’t have packaging at all! Therefore, many of the healthiest homes would have the least amount of trash, too. Positive for health and the Earth!