Homemade nutrition bars are one of the greatest things known to man. If you buy ingredients in bulk, you can have an energizing bar anytime you want for somewhere in the neighborhood of $0.25. If you don’t want to take the time to make your own yummy snacks you could rely on the trusted professionals at Quest Naturals. However, don’t be intimidated by homemade bar recipes just because they’re DIY. We’ll teach you some principles that will have you making nutritional bars to beat the band in no time.
Start With Ingredients You Love
The nutritional bars we’re going to teach you to make are made from 100% organic, natural, nutritious ingredients. Sure, you could melt some chocolate and dunk your bars, or opt for some caramel as a binder, but we’re going to stick to the ingredients that are low in calories but high in nutritive punch.
For most bar concoctions, you’re going to need two kinds of ingredients: binders and fillers. The binder option is the simplest part. This ingredient must be sticky and delicious. It will bind together all of the rest of the ingredients in your bar. Most often, professional bar makers like Vega use dates. They have a gummy texture that keeps the bars together, all while providing some nice vitamins and micronutrients; just be warned they do have a higher sugar content. You can also experiment with apricots, figs, and various dehydrated fruits, but dates are the easiest to work with. Sticky, sugary ingredients like honey can also be used as binders, in very small quantities relative to the rest of the ingredients.
Now it comes time to choose your filler ingredients. Fruits, nuts, nutritional additives, and (if you’re feeling fancy) some herbs can work well here. We’re going to keep things simple by only working with nuts and fruit. These ingredients will give you a quick boost of energy, and some nutrition you need to get through your day, without burdening you with a high calories or grocery costs.
We love almonds, peanuts, cranberries, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and basically any other fruit or nut you can name. If a fruit is too wet to work in a dry nutritional bar, toss it into the dehydrator for a couple of days. It’ll play right along with the other dry ingredients. Of course, if you don’t want to worry with new kitchen appliances and moisture levels, Metagenics bars have you covered.
Forming Your Nutritional Bars
Now it’s time to make everything the right size for consumption. If you’re using large nuts like almonds, you’ll likely want to break these up on the counter or lightly in a food processor to make for easier nibbling. Individually size your ingredients and prepare them for combination.
If you want a slightly moist and pliable bar, go heavy on the dates. Put your dates in a food processor, and then mix these with the dry ingredients. In the end, you should be able to form a ball with all of the ingredients and have it hold its shape. But you want a bar, not a ball, so once you have your desired consistency, place your substance in a buttered tray. Cover with wax paper and press down until the result is flat and about an inch thick, just like a tray of brownies. Slice the bars and individually wrap them in wax paper.
Dryer, crispier bars can be made with less dates, and with an additional run of the dehydrator (or toaster oven) after the bars have been formed.
There is a lot of leeway in the methods, ingredients, and flavors you can work with when creating your own bars. By now, though, you’ll know the general principles with which amazing home nutritional bars can be made. We hope food like this serves your snacking needs for a long time to come.
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I’m passionate about healing. I use food as medicine, a proven approach for healing from chronic disease. When you are tired of taking prescription medication or are ready to take a different approach to your health, let me teach you which foods can help you live a healthy life!
