Peanut Butter Energy Bars

These are amazing, so I had to share the recipe! You HAVE to make these — they are super-easy, super-fast, and there's no baking involved. These are such great fuel before a morning workout & my hubby and kiddo loved them too!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dry roasted salted peanuts
• 1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds or other chopped nuts (I used almonds)
• 2 cups raisins or other chopped dried fruit (dried cranberries or blueberries would be amazing too; or for a bad version, mini chocolate chips) 
• 2 cups rolled or instant oats
• 2 cups toasted rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies (I used Rice Chex) 
• 1/4 toasted wheat germ (optional; I didn't use this)
• 1/2 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey or light corn syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Coat a 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray (I used a sqaure pyrex - 9x9" I believe)

2. Combine peanuts, sunflower seeds (or other nuts), raisins (or other dried fruit), oats, rice cereal, and wheat germ (if using) in a large bowl.

3. Combine peanut butter, brown sugar and honey (or corn syrup) in a large microwavable bowl; microwave on high until bubbling, about 1-2 minutes. Add vanilla and stir until blended. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until coated.

4. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Press down firmly (It helps to use a rubber spatula or coat your fingers with cooking spray.) Let stand for about 1 hour to harden. Cut into bars.

Like I said, I used the smaller, square pyrex instead of a 9x13" and it made 8 bars. Nutritionally, mine were about 233 calories each for the combo I used (peanuts/almonds/raisins/oats/rice chex/creamy pb/brown sugar/honey/vanilla). Also, after 1 hour of cooling, the bars still fell apart, so I put the pyrex in the fridge after it was cool and they hardened up better. They tasted so great out of the fridge that we just left them in there. But just FYI, the original recipe states that they will be good at room temperature for up to 1 week or you can wrap individually in wax paper and freeze for up to 1 month (just thaw them out at room temperature before eating, of course).

(Adapted from Eating Well magazine July/August 2008 issue)