What I Ate Wednesday #78: Larabar Review, Recipe, & Giveaway!

Lately I’ve been having some fun in the kitchen experimenting with different recipes I’ve found on Pinterest and trying to use up some random ingredients in the pantry. Well, for us it’s really the coat closet acting as a pantry but hey, when you have limited space, you make things work, right? [Right.] On top of that, I’ve been in touch with LÄRABAR and was offered the chance to sample a few bars to review and do a giveaway. How could I say no?

I chose the Coconut Cream Pie, Chocolate Chip Brownie, and Chocolate Coconut Chew to review and they also threw in a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip too! Do you see a trend here? Not surprisingly, they were all fantastic. One of my favorite things about LÄRABAR is you know what you’re getting. Have you seen the ingredient list for the Coconut Cream Pie bar?

Dates, Unsweetened Coconut, Almonds, Cashews, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

It doesn’t get much simpler than that. And so many recipes across the internet that resembled bite-sized versions of a Larabar, I knew I wanted to try my own version of them.

Blueberry Lemon Cookie Dough Bites

Makes 18-20 bites
Adapted from Lemon Cookie Dough Bites

Ingredients
– 1/3 cup rolled oats
– 1/2 cup dried blueberries
– 1/2 cup macadamia nuts; roasted
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
– 6″ slice lemon peel
– 2 tsp water [Optional]

Directions
In a food processor, add the oats and process until broken up. Add the remainder of the ingredients and process until everything is crumbly. You may need to add up to 2 tsp of water if the dough isn’t sticking together well enough. When it all comes together, measure out bites in 1/2 tbsp. You should get 18-20.. depending on how much you eat in the process [guilty!] 😉

Nutritional Information
Per 1/2 tbsp bite

45 Calories  /  3g Fat  /  5g Carbs  /  1g Fiber  /  3g Sugar  /  1g Protein

Breakfast
In true St. Patty’s Day spirit, I made myself a matcha green tea smoothie with banana, spinach, protein powder, and almond milk.

Lunch
And continuing on the green train, I made a nice big kale salad with roasted pork [from last week’s meal plan] and a side of avocado toast. Because I’m obsessed now.

Afternoon Snack
Crumbled 2 blueberry lemon bites over some plain greek yogurt with granola. Hit the sweet spot!

Dinner
I cheated on my meal plan. In all fairness, I was invited out for some shopping and dinner, so I finally tried the Public Market and got a TON of tandoori chicken over salad. Nathan was quite pleased to have the leftovers for lunch yesterday. And I did at least follow through for him and made the baked onion rings and roasted brussels.. both came out awesome and I was pleased to have those in my lunch yesterday!

Evening Snack
Apple and homemade chocolate pudding.

Giveaway Time!

Enter for your chance to win a box of 16 mixed LÄRABAR flavors!

Food for Thought

Which LÄRABAR flavor are you most excited to try?
Have you ever made your own bites at home?