Natural Energy Bars - No More Of That Processed Stuff!

I am so picky when it comes to food. For instance, when I was a youngster I use to hate yogurt, beans, eggs (I believed they use to give me headaches), peanut butter, nuts, raisins (I still dislike them), cottage cheese, peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, radishes, oatmeal, and I'm sure there are many others but this is all I could remember right now. As I have grown older I have expanded my palate to many of the above listed foods. I think one reason for my ever expanding palate is due to my love of cooking. Also, being an athlete many of the foods I use to hate I need in my diet, and now I love them. Plus, I love all the colors. Making colorful dishes is my favorite! And I've gotta have variety.

The last couple months I have been trying to think of foods that I can consume while on the bike. Foods that are more natural and still give me everything I need without upsetting my stomach. Of course, it's not as convenient as getting some gus or other "energy" bars from the store. Here anymore, it actually really creeps me out to think of some of those "foods" of how processed they are and how long their expiration date is. I know this isn't the case for all energy bars/foods out there but I would prefer to have something that will spoil within a week or less. 

I would like to share one story of foods that don't seem to spoil. A few months back we had some hamburger buns and we ate most of them but there was still a couple left that needed to be consumed. Therefore, into the bread box they went for later consumption. We didn't make anything that required the use of a bun for weeks, and eventually we forgot about them. I think it was about a month and a half to two months until we took them out.(Long time, I know) We examined them and to our surprise they looked exactly the same as the day we bought them. So into the trash they went! Creepy huh? Now I make all of our breads from scratch, and let me tell ya, they taste SOOO much better than the store bought, never molding, creepy bread!

Now back to the energy bars. I found a natural energy bar recipe online and tweaked it a little, and so far I love them! They have either peanut or almond butter (I prefer the almond butter), a variety of different nuts and seeds- almonds, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, etc - banana, dried fruit and sometimes I add chocolate chips.
So far, I have only tried them on the bike once. This is mostly due to weather and that I haven't done any really long rides that would require me to take some nutrition with me. Plus, I prefer liquid over solids, but that's for another time. Right now I have mostly been eating them as a post workout food.
Here they are. Aren't they pretty? :)

Yum Yum!

If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I would be happy to send it your way!

I'm really itching to try my hand at making an energy bar with pumpkin. Considering my pumpkin craze through the holidays. I don't have any more pumpkin from scratch but I have plenty of canned pumpkin that needs using. I will be sure to write a post about it once I create them!