Day 9 - Farmer's Market and Lara Bars

Today we decided to hit one of the local Farmer's Markets in our own neighborhood.  It was fun to browse, but a lot of the items for sale are things that we are actually growing in our own garden.  We did go inside Naturally Your's and I purchased:  sugar free dried banana chips, dried cherries (see Lara bar recipe), 2 avocado's, and one package of corn tortillas (we accidentally found out that if you leave these sitting on the counter overnight they make yummy corn chips to dip in salsa!!).  The total was $8.07.  This morning I also made a run to our local Meijer because they had a lot of fresh produce and fruit on sale 10 for $10.  I purchased plain yogurt, 3 nectarines, unsalted butter sticks, 3 packages of strawberries, 3 peppers (orange, red, and yellow), 3 bags of organic baby carrots, 2 containers of cherry tomatoes,  2 containers of Eggland's organic brown eggs, and a cucumber for $27.82.  The eggs alone were a steal, but when you add in everything else it was quite a haul for the morning!!!!!

No this is not poop wrapped in plastic!!!  While it looks disgusting, it is delish!!  This is from the Lara bar recipe that I found on Pinterest.  I apologize that I cannot give props to the creator of this recipe, but please note that it does come from a pin that I have on Pinterest.  This was SO easy!!!  I am going to include this recipe below, but if you are interested in the variations please let me know and I will post those substitutions as well.  Seriously there are 8 other ways you can make this!!  It DOES taste just like the store bought version and was incredibly easy to make-like I did it in less than 10 minutes!!!!!

Very Cherry Bars (just like a Lara bar)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of dates (see note below)

1/4 cup of dried cherries or dried cranberries (I used cherries)

1/3 cup whole pecans, almonds, or walnuts

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Set out 2 pieces of plastic wrap for shaping and wrapping the bars-make sure you do this because your hand are really sticky when you are done mixing the stuff together!!!!

1.  Place the dates and cherries in a food processor and pulse until you make a paste.  Transfer this mixture to a small mixing bowl.  Do not clean the food processor.

2.  Add the nuts to the food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

3.  Add nuts and cinnamon to the cherry/date mixture and knead together like a dough. 

4.  Transfer one half of the mixture to one piece of plastic.  Wrap the bar and then start to squish it into a bar shape form.

5.  Store in fridge

THIS ONLY MAKES 2 BARS!!!!!

**Note about using pre-chopped dates-If you use the pre-chopped dates like I did (I got them at wal-mart) you will see that the dates are coated in an oat like texture.  Place the dates in a bowl and cover with warm water for 3-5 minutes or until they are soft.  Drain and pat dry.  This will soften the dates and get that coating off.

**For my recipe I used the dried cherries (which were expensive so I need to find some place cheaper to purchase these!!) and left over pecans that I had for a different recipe.  It was really easy to do and tastes yummy!!!!

**************************************************************************

Our meals for today have been simple but good.  It is hot here and we spent the day at the pool.

Breakfast - Daddio's french toast and fruit

Lunch at the pool - apples, cheese sticks, air popped popcorn, grapes, lara bars (peanut butter cookie), water, peanuts

Mom is tired Dinner - Whole wheat noodles with butter, lettuce salad, fruit

I decided to make a quick and easy red sauce that was adapted from a 100days recipe.  It was SUPER easy and SUPER good!!:

2 cans stewed tomatoes

1 clove of garlic (would actually use 2 next time)

celery stalk

onion powder (dash)

fresh sweet basil from the garden

3 tbsp olive oil

Combine all  except for oil in a blender or food processor and pulse until blended.  Pour into sauce pan and heat.  Add oil and wisk in.  Let sauce simmer for 15-30 minutes.  Add salt to taste.

I am working on my meals for next week.  My goal is to have every single item that I need purchased so I do NOT have to return again!!  This has been something that I am not used to-return trips to the store every few days!!!  I feel like I am forgetting things and it is costly!!!  I have a few oldies that our family loves which with some tweaking will be good.  I am also considering trying to make mayo because my kids had a dill dip that they LOVED!!!!  We will see!!  This is definitely an adventure!!!!!