LilahBars!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’ve always loved a good food bar. Granola, protein, raw, disguised-as-healthy-but-more-like-a-treat — I love ‘em all.

Apparently, I am not alone.

Yesterday, was my cousin, Katie’s, little girl’s first birthday — Miss Lilah! — and I happened to hear through the grapevine that, while she loves herself a good LÄRABAR, the nuts tend to give her rashes.

So, I made her a very special LilahBar:

Using homemade dried bananas (a method I saw on Oh She Glows) and Mama Pea’s SarahBars recipe as a base, I came up with a healthy, nut free, gluten-free and vegan Crispy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Bar (aka The LilahBar) for the sweet girl and I have to say they turned out rather yummy. Here are the details …

LilahBars (gluten-free + vegan + nut-free : makes 6 bars)

(Print me!)

Ingredients

• 2 medium bananas sliced thin, dried (see below for instructions)
• 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 2/3 cup pitted dates
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup gluten-free + vegan chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup brown rice crisp cereal

NOTES: I used Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Gluten-Free Cereal (you can also try new Gluten-Free Rice Krispies) and Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips.

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Slice bananas thin and place on a greased baking sheet (or use a baking mat, like this). Bake for 2-1/2 to 3 hours, or until dry. (You can also use a food dehydrator, but I don’t have one.) Remove bananas from baking sheet with spatula and put to the side.

Using a food processor or high speed blender, add sunflower seeds, dates, vanilla, sea salt and dried bananas. Pulse ingredients to begin pulverizing, then mix consistently until all ingredients come together into a cohesive mixture. Turn machine off, add chocolate chips and brown rice crisp cereal, and pulse to mix together.

Placing a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter, scoop mixture out of food processor or blender and shape into a ball on one side of the plastic wrap. Fold other side of plastic wrap over the top of the ball. Using a rolling pin, begin to roll the dough out into a rectangle. You may have to lift the top of the plastic wrap, reshape the dough and roll it out again a few times in order to achieve a rectangular shape.

Once you have a flat rectangle, seal the plastic wrap around the mixture and place in refrigerator for 1 hour to solidify. Then, remove from refrigerator and take mixture out of the plastic wrap, placing it on a cutting board. Slice mixture horizontally, making 6 bars. Store in refrigerator in airtight container or plastic wrap to keep fresh.

I wrapped the LilahBars individually, so they looked extra cute, but you can easily store them in the refrigerator in a container. These might have been for Lilah, but I took bites of the sixth one (I had to make sure they were good!) and I will definitely be making them for yours truly in the near future.

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 I’ll admit, the LilahBars were not at the top of Lilah’s list on her big day. In fact, my cousin’s vegan and/or gluten-free cupcakes were the hit of the party!

Oh, to be young (and have absolutely no inhibitions) again! Lilah had a blast at her party and so did we. I have a feeling this gal will eat the LilahBars with no abandon!

In case you didn’t notice: Check out The G-Spot’s new header — whaddya think? You can also click around the Website for updates to various sections, including Why G-Spot? and Meet Caroline. Stay tuned for more throughout the next few days!

 

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