Clean Eating - Granola Bars

I am loving this clean eating thing!

Seriously...
Who needs processed foods anyway?!?!

Yesterday I was CRAVING granola bars.

I LOVE LOVE granola and granola bars.

When I was a kid, my dad would buy these amazing granola bars at Costco. They were covered in chocolate which made them more like a candy bar than a granola bar and made by some no-name company that probably isn't even around any more.
Does anyone else remember these? They were in a black or dark brown wrapper?

Anywhoo... 

yesterday for some unknown reason, I was thinking about those granola bars.

So I jumped online and started looking for Clean Granola Bar recipes.

I couldn't find anything that sounded really good.

So I decided to make my own. I took a little of several recipes I found online.

They didn't turn out too bad... quite tasty in fact.

Here are my:

Extra Nutty Coconut and Cran-Strawberry Granola Bars

Mix together in a large bowl:

1 cup Chopped Walnuts

1/2 cup Chopped Almonds

1/2 cup Peanuts

1 cup Coconut

1 cup Dried Cran-Strawberrys 

(I found these at Win-co in the bulk section, but regular dried cranberries will work too.)

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Then Boil (stirring occassionally) in a small saucepan:

1 cup Organic Brown Rice Syrup

1/4 cup Honey

1 teaspoon Vanilla

This stuff is fairly expensive. We only have one store in all of Spokane that carries it. It doesn't taste great on it's own, but once mixed with the honey and vanilla it is de-lish!

Once liquid has boiled, pour over dry ingredients.

Stir together until well mixed,

Pour into a 9x13 greased pan. (I used a light coating of coconut oil.)

Press firmly using waxed or parchment paper. It'll still be quite warm.

Let cool in fridge or freezer for a couple hours.

Cut into bars. You can choose the size. The bigger I cut them the more flimsy they became when room temperature. So I kept mine small.

They turned out really sticky, so storing them in the fridge would be a good idea.

 

With mine, because I was really wanting chocolate. I melted some dark chocolate chips and dipped the ends in it and let cool again. Then individually wrapped in wax paper for storage. 

YUM!
They turned out SO good!