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Toasted Nuts & Seeds Granola Bars

Where on earth has this summer gone?! I know we are still in August but how did we even get here? It seems like just yesterday that I was frolicking about London being a massive tourist. That being said, I have been back to London pretty much nearly every week since I moved back homes! I really feel like we are done over a bit when it comes to the amount of time we get that we can actually call “summer”. It feels like winter lasts about 3/4 of the year then there is a bit of autumn and a teeny bit of summer. Why!?! Everything is better in the summer. Except for outdoor ice-skating. If you are into that, then summer probably isn’t for you.

I am trying to think of things I don’t like about the summer and the only thing I can complain about is bugz. Mainly mosquitos. No one likes them, yet they still keep coming back. Like that guy (could be male or female) who turns up to your party, who you purposefully didn’t invite. And they eat all the foods and drink all the drinks and take over the music. You hear that mosquito’s? You’re that guy. But yeah, other than that, I am struggling to think of other summery things I don’t like. I don’t know how I am going to adjust to wearing jeans and coats again. So much cumbersome material weighing me down.

I can’t even remember what my point was to begin with. Oh yes! The summer going quickly. I wasn’t expecting to do all that much this summer seeing as I am jobless and I am meant to be saving to go to Peru in November. Did I tell you about that? I will tell you about that in a sec. But yeah, turns out I have been doing quite a lot and I still have a few more fun things to come. Like Green Man Festival tomorrow! Have you heard of it before? It’s a relatively small (well compared to glastonbury) festival in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. I have not been before but my pals who have, have said it has a nice chilled out atmosphere about it. One of my pals is driving us up there so I wanted to make some delicious car snacks. Biscuits and cookies would have been an obvious option but also not that filling soooo I decided to go for granola bars.

Did I tell you about the granola bars I made to take to Glastonbury? I think I may have done. Anyways, they tasted delicious but didn’t really hold together so I made a few tweaks which resulted in these bad boys. The best bit about them is they don’t require baking. Oh and also they don’t have any sugar in, just honey. And they are gluten free! And they have peanut butter in them! I am selling them to myself all over again. You can definitely eat this with yoghurt for breakfast if you break it into pieces.

Maybe I could start selling these granola bars from my tent at festivals. KB’s Treats. Ohhh I might be on to something there…
Oh hai! I forgot to tell you about this delightful slate you see featured in my pictures with “KB.eats” written on it. The lovely folk at Getting Personal sent me it along with a chopping board (pictured below). Check out their website for more great personalised gifts! If you like what you see, look for the “Jamie Oliver Antipasti Board” and the “Slate Cheese Board”.

Recipe

This recipe is an adaption of this here recipe.

Serves: 12 (at least)
Prep time: 25 mins
Setting time: At least 3 hours
Skill level: No skills required

Equipment
oven tray (line with baking parchment)
medium saucepan
large mixing bowl 
20 x 20cm cake tin (lined with baking parchment)*

*this is just a rough guide. The smaller the tin, the thicker the bars will come out. 

Ingredients
200g rolled oats
135g mixed seeds (I used pumpkin, sunflower and pine nuts)
55g  almonds (roughly chopped)
160g honey
160g smooth peanut butter 
50g chia seeds 
50g poppy seeds
60g dried fruit (I went for a berries and cherries mix)

Method

  1. Pre-heat oven to 190c/ / 170c (fan)/ gas 3.
  2. Spread oats, mixed seeds and almonds on lined baking tray. Toast for 15-20mins until seeds and oats look golden.
  3. Meanwhile, in a medium sized saucepan melt together honey and peanut butter over a medium heat. Once peanut butter has melted, remove from heat and set aside.
  4. Combine toasted oats and seeds with chia seeds, quinoa (rinsed and drained) and dried fruit in large mixing bowl.
  5. Add honey and peanut butter and mix together thoroughly until all the dry ingredients are covered in honey and peanut butter.
  6. Transfer mix into lined tin, squashing it down a bit so it’s all nice and packed tight.
  7. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 3 hrs. Store in fridge.
YOU WILL SEED FOR YOURSELF, THESE GRANOLA BARS DO NUT MESS ABOUT

I will be telling you more about Green Man in my next post so I will save my musical highlights for then. In the meantime enjoy Ducktails. It is the solo project of the fella from Real Estate who I will tell you about next time!

KB x
p.s. I can confirm that the granola bars went down very well with the hobbits I was camping with. 

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