Cherries are in season! They are colorful, delicious and offer great health benefits. Cherries are rich in the antioxidant anthrocyanins and studies have shown that they may help regulate genes involved in fat and glucose metabolism, which reduces risk factors such as high cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes. Tart cherries provide cardiovascular benefits and improve quality of sleep! This granola bar recipe is great to take on the go and enjoy during your outdoor summer activities.
Cherry Granola Bar adapted from www. Skinnyminniemoves.com
ingredients:
-1 cup of whole grain gluten-free old fashioned oats
-1 Tablespoon of ground flax meal
-1/4 cup of dried currants
-1/4 cup of dried cranberries
-1/4 cup of dried cherries-chopped
-1 packet of stevia in the raw (optional)
-1/2 cup of vanilla almond milk
-1 fairly ripe banana, chopped as small as you can
-2 Tablespoons of natural peanut butter
-2 Tablespoons of natural honey
-1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
-1 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
- Start by heating up the almond milk in a pan for a minute or two, then add the banana and vanilla.
- Once it starts cooking some, try to mash the bananas down further. This is going to be easier with a fairly ripe banana.
- After things start mixing, add the cinnamon, peanut butter, and honey. Stir it up.
- Natural peanut butter is a little thicker than regular, so while this cooks down some, prepare your dry ingredients: oats, dried cranberries, currants, and cherries, and stevia in the raw, flax seeds.
- Once it’s all mixed together then mix with a rubber spatula a little to get the chunks of banana down to a minimum.
- Overall this will take about 15 minutes to cook down.
- Now you are going to add this to your oat mix.
- Mix everything together and line a baking dish with parchment paper and slide the mixture in the dish.
- Flatten the mix out evenly and press down with a spoon or your hands.
- Pop this in the fridge overnight to set, in the morning cut up and enjoy.
“Today is the day you change yourself for the better.” – Author unknown
Be Well ~Meg @REJOOVwithMeg
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