Peanut Butter Banana Granola Bars

Well I'm back from my camping and backpacking adventure all in one piece, albeit a little sore.  We ended up hiking a total of 16 miles over Saturday and Sunday.  It's nice to be able to get away and enjoy nature, especially when there aren't city noises and people all around marring it's beauty. 

I made some granola bars to snack on during my trip and as promised in the last post, I will share the recipe.  It's pretty much infinitely customizable according to what you have in your pantry, but I'll share what I used below and you can go from there.  As I made them, the bars are gluten free, vegan, and refined sugar free.  And, because I took a little too many pictures on my hike, I'll share some of those, too :)

Peanut Butter Banana Granola Bars
recipe adapted from here
**as I mentioned above, these are infinitely customizable: you can substitute any type of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and nut butter

2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup all natural peanut butter
1/2 cup roughly chopped cashews
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
2 tbsp flax seeds
1/4 cup chopped dried dates
1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1 cup whole rolled oats
1/4 cup quinoa flakes
1/4 cup carob chips or dark chocolate chips (opt.)

Preheat your oven to 350F and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas until they are a puree consistency.  Next, stir in the peanut butter until everything is well combined.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and toss to evenly distribute everything.  Spread the mixture into your lined pan, pressing on it lightly to make sure it is even.  Bake the granola bars for 20 to 25 minutes until the edges begin to turn golden and the top of the bars gives a little when pressed.  Allow the bars to cool completely before slicing.  Store the bars tightly wrapped in an airtight container.  Enjoy!

**makes 6 to 8 bars, depending on how large you cut them

lovely colored leaves and our little camp site

new buds and signs of spring

hiker's crossing!