Easy energy bars & 1 year anniversary of craziness

 Remember my post a year ago about changing my life?  Ya know, THIS one?  Well it's been a whole year since we have made the change from the typical american diet to a healthier more plant based one.  We have definitely not perfected it...but we can definitely feel a huge difference in the way we feel.  I can honestly say that we do not have any dairy or animal protein in our house...except for the ice cream in the freezer (see the fine print below)  It's so easy to be healthy at home. It's only hard when we are away!

Everyone asks where we get our protein.  It bugs.  Really?  It just proves to you that we Americans have been brainwashed to think that you can only get protein from meat. There are soooo many other sources to get protein people!

Benefits...Shawn says he can run faster and jump higher and kick the soccer ball harder. The best part is he is being serious. haha.  I love Shawn.  He is so freaking funny.   Now some of that is true and then the other part is all in his head. 

Some real life benefits...less headaches.  I used to get a headache every single day.  Now its more like once a week or when I'm really hungry.  One of the best benefits is we have less aches/pains.  I used to wake up in the middle of the night and have to take 4 ibuprofens in order to be able to fall back asleep from joint pains.  This never ever happens anymore.  I swear.  It's ridiculously awesome.  

In memory of our one year anniversary of a healthy lifestyle change I thought I would go grocery shopping and try to make our own energy  bars.  We have not been eating the healthiest lately and I needed to try something new to make me excited about the whole idea all over again.  They were so easy and taste so yummy!  I looked at a couple of recipes and then just kind of did my own thing. 

What you will need slash what I used.

•  wheat flour
• raw peanuts/cashews or pecans or any other raw nut you would like.
• flax seed
• oats
• pitted dates
• dried bananas and papayas or other dried fruit (next time I will try apples or peaches).
• orange flavored cranberries -optional
• agave nector (natural sweetener)-optional
• honey-optional
• peanut butter-optional
• cinnamon-optional
• vanilla-optional
• water

Pretty much you blend all of the nuts and then add the wheat flour & flax seed.  oh ya...serving sizes...I just did like a handful of everything (: You put that blended mixture into a bowl and then you blend the fruit and the sweeteners. It will blend into a sticky goopy mess, add it to the dry nut mixture and mix it all together. 

 After it is all mixed together work a small sized portion into a rectangle bar shape.  Wrap in plastic wrap and now you have a nice protein packed energy bar!

You really can put in whatever you want.  I just had fun experimenting.  One of the recipes that I saw only used dates, cinnamon, dried fruit and pecans.


One day I will bore you all with a huge long list of all the other amazing benefits of a plant based diet.  For now you will just have to trust me. I never. ever. ever. ever. thought I would stop eating meat...the same goes for Shawn. And when I say stopped eating meat I mean we are on our way to getting there.  I eat one serving of meat about once a month (except for this last Labor Day weekend while we were camping...my poor tummy hurts now).

The disclaimer/fine print:  I still eat ice cream.  Dairy-free ice cream does not do it for me.  Maybe one day (:  Oh and we still eat fish.