A classic example of one such architecture is the smoothie. Great tasting fruits, superfoods, and sometimes even a few sneaky veggies get blended together into delicious drinks that even kids give a thumbs up to. However, as the seasons take a turn for the colder, the idea of a frosty one can be a little hard to swallow. Luckily, there’s an excellent runner-up out there: the energy bar.

Of course, most stores are already absolutely overflowing with pre-made energy bars. But just because we buy them in little wrapped packages, doesn’t mean they have to come that way. Homemade energy bars are remarkably easy to create, and also allow full control over the ingredients (many “nutrition bars” contain unhealthy filler ingredients, refined sugars, and difficult-to-digest protein isolates). Additionally, the DIY route also produces a bar that is less expensive, cuts down on excess packaging, and (in my opinion) is much more delicious! If you can make a smoothie, you can make an energy bar: they’re that easy.

Needless to say, I often will make these guys to subdue my snack-monster tendencies. I look at energy bars with an opportunistic attitude: how much goodness can I pack into a great tasting treat? Make that energy bar live up to its name! To make a truly natural bar, I start out with a no-fail base of dried fruit and nuts, then blend in various superfoods to douse my snack with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and long-lasting energy. I even made a new version the other day using, of all things, a freeze-dried wheatgrass powder — which has become a instant hit as it’s so surprisingly good. The wheatgrass powder has almost no taste at all, so the bars contain all the benefits of highly-condensed vegetable nutrition, without the undesired influence of veg-flavor. Though energy bars in general are a phenomenally flexible recipe; here’s my simple wheatgrass-infused base recipe to get you started. In addition to the mega-vitamins from the wheatgrass, hemp seeds provide protein and healthy omega fats, cashews add an even further protein boost, dates bring minerals and natural sugars, and (optional) goji berries provide broad-spectrum nutrition and antioxidants. Here’s to snacking…

Green Energy Bars

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup cashews
1 cup medjool dates, pits removed (about eight)
2 tsp freeze-dried wheatgrass powder
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup goji berries (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Mix the cashews, dates and wheatgrass powder together in a food processor just until a rough dough has formed (allowing some cashews to remain coarsely chopped). Add the hemp seeds and pulse several times until combined.

Place a sheet of saran wrap on a cutting board and spill the dough out on top. Use your hands to press and form into a 1 inch thick rectangle, then cut into 8 pieces.

Wrap and keep in the freezer for long term storage. Makes 8 bars (double or triple the recipe if desired).
©2010 JulieMorris.net

Making good, healthy desserts doesn’t have to steal away an afternoon of baking (or 12 hours waiting on a dehydrator). One of my favorite desserts – beautiful, fresh fruit energy tarts – take just 10 minutes start-to-finish. Thanks to using simple healthy substitutions and time-saving tricks, these tarts emanate big flavor, well-rounded nutrition, and are healthy enough to be consumed at any time of the day. We healthy dessert people are pretty sneaky, no?

Here are my secrets to making a fast and healthy fresh fruit energy tart:

1. Leave the oven off: With just a few exceptions, the less whole foods are cooked, the more vitamins, enzymes and phytonutrients they contain. Additionally, tarts are usually served at room temperature anyway, so rather than heat a recipe up just to cool it down again, simply keep it at room temperature and make it perfect to begin with.
2. Make a base of energy: Instead of using a nutritional black hole (aka a conventional pie crust), use whole food energy bars as the base of the tart. Just pick your favorite bar and treat it as a firm dough, pressing it into a tart mold to take the desired shape. Shazaam – crust finished. I especially like Vega’s Vibrancy Bars as well as Larabars because they taste delicious, are made entirely from nutritionally dense foods, and have a perfect moistness that makes them ideal for pressing into a crust form. Using energy bars not only packs in a ton of nutrition, it’s also like the world’s greatest time saver. (NOTE – not every type of bar in the world works for this application – use bars with a softer texture like the ones I’ve mentioned).
3. Use the inherent sweetness of fruit: Nature has a sweet tooth too – it’s called fruit. Dressed up with a just little bit of spice, and combined with other fruits or a smidgen of natural sweetener like yacon syrup, fruit fleshes out these desserts dramatically. Using fresh fruit bulks up the size, lowers the caloric impact, boosts nutrition, and adds that sweet goodness without all the sugar or fat. Great fruits for tartlets include apples, pears, peaches, mangoes, bananas and figs.

Of course, these guidelines are really only flirting with your creativity in making the super tart combo of your wildest dreams. Not dreaming yet? Here’s my basic tried and true recipe for Apple-Pear Energy Tartlets.