So it's been quite awhile since my last post! 4 months and 6 days ago, I pushed out a 6 lbs, 15 oz beautiful baby boy. Since then, it's been many nights with no sleep, 100's of dirty diapers and very little free time! (no, he is definitely not sleeping through the night yet)
I have been attempting to eat healthy for the last few months and lose the rest of the baby weight (still have about 6 lbs to go). One way that has been helping is to have healthy snacks on hand that I can grab and go. I'm usually eating with one hand and have him in the other. I found this recipe for simple oat squares on the blog Oh She Glows and adapted it a bit.
I experimented with a few different baked oat squares/bars but this one was by far the best. I have been baking them every Sunday night and having them on hand as snacks for the week. I just cut them up and stick them in the fridge in tupperware containers. Nathan loves them at work to get him through the long days too.
Dry Ingredients:
1.5 cups Rolled oats
1 cup Oat flour (use rolled oats in food processor to create this flour)
3 tbsp Chia seeds
1/4 Almonds (or other nuts)
1/4 Pepitas (optional)
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
Wet Ingredients:
1.5 cups Almond milk
1/4 cup Honey (or maple syrup)
2 tbsp Natural (no sugar) peanut butter
1 tsp Vanilla
1 large Banana (chopped small)
Toppings: (Optional)
1/4 cup Dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup Chopped Macadamia nuts (or other chopped nut)
Directions:
1. Preheat over to 350F (180C) and line an 8 inch pan with parchment paper
2. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl
3. Whisk together the wet ingredients in another bowl until no clumps remain (might need to sit out about 10 mins to fully blend)
3. Add wet to dry and mix with wooden spoon until combined
4. Pour mixture into pan and smooth out
5. Add toppings (optional) Press down into mixture so they don't fall off after being baked
6. Bake for 30-40 min until golden brown
7. Cool on rack for at least 20 mins then place on cutting board and cut into squares
Original recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2012/01/20/on-the-glow-basic-oatmeal-squares/
