No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars

We all have those afternoon cravings where whatever  you had for lunch has now fully digested and your stomach is saying "feed me, feed me" and you know you cannot make it until dinner. So if you anything like me you end up usually grabbing either an apple (which we all know does not make you feel full for more than a mere few minutes) or a small bag of chips, or popcorn. Well drop that bag of chips and dare I say drop that apple because these No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars will satisfy your sweet tooth and keep you feeling full until dinner (I hope) and will give you that boost of energy you need to stay alert until you get home.

A few months ago I found this recipe on Pinterest for no bake peanut butter and honey bars so of course I made them and they turned out to be really good so I started thinking how I can make them even better, so today I deiced since it is freezing out why not experiment with them and see what happens. And let me tell you they turned out really good. Now I call these granola bars because that's what they seem like to me but you can call them whatever you want.

The first thing you will need to do is gather your ingredients, you will need; Rolled Oats, peanut butter (I recommend creamy), honey, craisins, cinnamon and mini chocolate chips (optional).

Oats, honey, peanut butter, craisins, cinnamon, 

Measure out 1/4 cup  honey and pour into a sauce pan 

Measure out 1/2 cup peanut butter and place in to the same sauce pan as the honey

Honey and Peanut Butter!

When measuring out they honey and peanut butter I recommend spraying what ever you are using to measure it out with some non-stick cooking spray because honey and peanut butter are very sticky and this will make the experience much much easier. 

Cook over medium to medium low heat.  

Until smooth, this only takes about a minute and make sure to stir the whole time. 

Next with the heat off or on very low heat add in 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
and mix it in. 

Next turn off the heat add in your  1 1/2 cup rolled oats. 

And mix to until combined

No you could leave it just like this and skip down a few pictures to see what to do next but I wanted to change them up a bit so here we go!

Next add in a heaping spoon full of dried craisins (optional) add as much as you want.
And mix to combined. 

You may find that it is really hard to mix so you can turn your burner back to very low heat and mix as well. 

Grab your parchment paper or tin foil and a small baking sheet mine is a 7.5 X 7.5
and non-stick spray (not pictured)

Place parchment in the pan so it goes up the sides 

You will want to spray the pan with the non stick spray and then take a piece of parchment paper that is the same width as the pan you are using and place it in side the pan. Make sure the parchment goes up the sides of the pan so you can pull out the bars after they cooled. You will do this on the other side as well. I also recommend spraying the first piece of parchment you put down, just on the top down at the bottom just one spritz will do just so the next piece has something to cling to. 

With tin foil you don't need cooking spray. 

repeat a second time to get something like this. 

Take your bar mixture (does not have to be cooled) and pour it into the baking dish

Press mixture into your pan (using your hands makes it easier)

Top with whatever you like, I did craisins, and mini chocolate chips

Then you are going to put this loveliness into the fridge for about 45 minutes to an hour or until it is cooled and the bars have hardened a bit. 

One hour later.......

Pull out the bars from the pan after they have cooled and hardened. 

Cut them to be however big you want them. 

Perfect snack size 

Baby bars! 

Wrap'um up!

I like to wrap mine up individually because then its easier to grab one on the way to school, work, or just when your leaving in a hurry and want something to eat now or later because they wont spoil if not cooled they just hold their shape better cold. 

All you need to do is cut some plastic wrap to size and wrap them up. 

The finished product! YUM!!!!!

All wrapped up and ready for the week!!

So as you can see these are very easy to make and really only take about 15 to 20 minutes to make and then 1 hour or so to cool and, 15 minutes to cut and wrap! And they make the best quick snack that is good for you because you know everything that went into them and how much.

You can totally change it up and add what ever you want, maybe some dried apples or bananas. Maybe some cashews, nuts, sunflower seeds, you can add what ever you want to make them your perfect granola bar. 

The possibilities are endless! 

Recipe 

1 1/2 cup Rolled Oats

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup Honey (or maple syrup, agave)

Optional

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 heaping spoon full craisins 

1/2 spoon full mini chocolate chips

In a sauce pan add in the honey and peanut butter. Turn on the heat to medium or medium low and heat until smooth stir the whole time. 

Add in cinnamon and mix until combined. Remove mixture and pan from the heat and mix in your oats until combined. Next add in your craisins or what ever you like. 

Take a sprayed and lined baking sheet and pour the mixture in to the baking sheet. Press it evenly into the pan. 

Place in fridge for about 1 hour and refrigerate until cooled and hardened some. 

After they have cooled, take them out of the fridge and take them out of the pan.  Cut them in to whatever size pieces you would like. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place in fridge until you want to eat one! 

Lasts for about a week.

Makes 14 to 15. 

Before I go I wanted to say this recipe is very easy to double and will turn out great if you double it as well. 

Happy Cooking!

Fun Friday: Favorite Workout Online

ITS FRIDAY!!!!

And since it is Friday I thought it would be the perfect time to post my first somewhat "real" post, not just a welcome post. I was thinking after I posted the welcome post that I wanted to do something on Friday because I knew I would be able to get it up. First I thought why not do fitness Friday but then I thought This is not a fitness blog but it is a healthy food blog. So I have come up with Fun Friday where (hopefully) every Friday I will blog about something that I love and it may not be food related at all. Just something that is different and breaks up all the soon to be recipes (don't worry they are coming soon I promise).

Before I get into the first Fun Friday post I want to let you know when you can expect posts on here. I hope to post a recipe hopefully each week which when I think about should be able to happen but we all know life gets in the way of everything sometimes. You also can expect a post every Friday like I said, and who knows I may have more than two posts a week.

Okay so lets get into the first Fun Friday post; my current favorite online workouts.

We all know that one of the parts in being healthy eventually means we will have to workout, and if you are anything like me you have come up with a million reasons why you cannot workout. For me the big thing was I don't want to do a 30 minute workout every day or I did not want spend the money on gym membership when I go to the gym and it just doesn't feel right. In the past I did do the whole gym membership and it helped for about a month but then I started saying oh I will go tomorrow or I don't feel like driving to the other end of town. So when I started this whole healthy journey and when I felt like I had the whole healthy food thing under some control I decided to add in working out and let me tell you I am loving it so far.

When I started looking for workout things I decided I was going to do workouts that I could find on YouTube because sometimes if just feels more comfortable to workout at home alone than in a gym full of people.  When I started looking I found the big YouTube people (Tone It Up was the main one) but when I went a little deeper I found some that I liked and I will post the links a tad later.

But it was not until I was out to dinner with my family when my aunt told me about Jessica Smith and her workouts. Now I have only done about six of her workouts, now I know if I started working out in the middle of January wouldn't you do more than six but if I like a workout I tend to stick with it for a while. So really I have really done about three of her workouts.

Why I like her workouts the most:

I like her workouts because they are workouts you can do at home and usually all you need is yourself. They usually don't take a lot of space and don't use equipment that you don't already have. I also love them because if she does a workout with equipment she also shows you a way to do the same move without equipment. Also she personally comes off as a fun person in her videos and that to me makes working out better is when the trainer is having fun and is motivating through the whole workout. I also love them because she has many different kinds from 10 minute quick workouts to hour long dance workouts. Now I have only done the 10 ab workout, 12 minute power walk, and the first to of her Fit in 15 workouts which are 15 minute workouts, and I loved them. To me if you can workout for at least 15 minutes a day its better than nothing. And her puppy playing in the background just makes it that much more fun.

Link her to website: http://www.jessicasmithtv.com/
Link to her YouTube channel is below.

*disclaimer I am not a fitness expert working out 15 minutes a day is just my opinion.

Her workouts make me want to get up off the couch and workout because they are not hard to do and at the end you don't feel like you just ran a marathon.

Now I have found a few other workouts online that I liked doing and will put their links below:

Chris Powell Level 1 workout (15 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hV_4qKFV6E

Jessica Smith workouts (range in time): https://www.youtube.com/user/jessicasmithtv

Tone it up Love your arms workout (10 minutes per set): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfdCNGLDikM

So to sum all this up and stop this post before it gets way to long, I want to say I love Jessica Smith TV workouts for at home and in general prefer to workout at home than at a gym because it is more comfortable and that is a big deal because if you are not comfortable with where you are working out then you will not want to do it.

Have a amazing weekend!

Welcome

Welcome to Holly's Food Paradise a blog about of course food but not just any plan old food but healthy good for you food that is easy to make and easy to find in stores. I have found so many recipes online that are good for you but are so hard to find ingredients for, I mean come on when you have to go to specialty stores to get one thing its not worth it. Well that's when I started to make things up on my own and don't get me wrong I have found a ton of recipes online that use things you more than likely already have. So because of this I decided to start this blog. 

A little about me:

I started this healthier eating journey at the start of the year no it was not my new years resolution because it was something that I kind of started in December of 2014 but kicked to to full gear when the holidays where over. I did not make a resolution because I knew if I did I would not stick to it. Instead it was just something I was doing. 

Since January 1st 2015 I have been eating what I would say is good for you food, yes I still have not so good for you things once in a while but I make sure it is something I really really want. And let me tell you since I started all of this I feel amazing. So I figured why not share it with everyone else plus this way most of the recipes I use will be in one spot. 

So enjoy and stay tuned for the first recipe!

Happy cooking!