When it comes to cooking, I'm really enthusiastic about the whole concept of simple is better. And when the idea of "simple is better" gets married with a tasty result - that is a win all around in my book.
Back in my working days and my "working out" at the gym days, finding a healthy snack was and is a far better choice than eating half a bag of potato chips. On my commute back home in the early afternoons, more often than not, I'd be hankering for a snack, seeing as I would have had "my lunch" often at 8:30am. It's weird - I know. Thinking that half a bag of potato chips was likely not the healthiest option, these "bars" worked out pretty darn well.
Because these are intended to be a healthy snack, they actually aren't supposed to be too sweet. I've found that using the most overly ripe bananas helps to bring more natural sweetness to the bars. But, I get the whole sweet thing and taste often goes hand in hand and unless it's sweet tasting it's .....well .........yucky.
What I think happens is, that we're usually looking for a "sugary sweetness - like refined sugar" and not necessarily a "natural sweetness." But, what the hell do I know.
Moving on......
INGREDIENTS
Olive oil or butter
2 large, very ripe bananas(see note below regarding your banana size preference)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup pitted, chopped dried dates(I've used dried cranberries at times)
1/4 cup chopped nuts, such as walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, or almonds
Grated cinnamon(use as much or as little as you like). If you're not big on cinnamon you could try nutmeg or leave this part out altogether.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and fire up the beast to 350°F. Lightly coat a 9-x9-inch square baking dish with olive oil or butter. Lightly - We're not applying a wet drywall coat here!
- Peel the bananas and mash the fu@k out of them in a medium bowl. They should be fairly liquid, but if a few small chunks remain - consider it a victory.
- Stir in the vanilla.
- Add the oats and stir them in.
- Stir in the dates(or dried cranberries), and whatever nuts you decide on.
A point here - the recipe calls for two large bananas. What is large? What if I use three small to medium bananas? Or one large and two small bananas? All good points - kind of. If after mixing your two cups of rolled oats in it looks far too wet - add so more oats..... we're not making a four-tier wedding cake here.
After you've mixed the crap out of everything, plop it into the baking dish and pat it into an even layer. If you're doing the cinnamon thing - sprinkle it on now.
Shove the whole deal in the oven and bake until the edges just begin to crisp up about 30 minutes. Or less or longer - depends on your oven.
When the mess looks done - place the baking pan on a rack to cool.
When the pan is cool(so like when you're fingers don't scream out in pain when you touch the pan) cut into 9 squares or any shape that tickles your fancy.
There you go - simple - right?
If you want to move away slightly from the healthy part, you could add some chocolate chips or something like that. Again, add to your own taste.
Give it a whirl and let me know.
--as always with love-
--- get outdoors; find inspiration; discover yourself ---
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