Lettuce Go On a Date

June 7th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Good Reads

You know how you get a new car, and then suddenly it seems like everyone everywhere is driving the same car, when in the past you’d barely even noticed said car?

Well that seems to be the case for making snacks with dates too.

Date siting #1

It all started innocently enough with Elizabeth’s post on date bars. They looked amazing and on my next trip to the grocery store I bought a pound of medjool dates.

Date siting #2

Then came Mary’s post two days later on making her own Larabars, and the wheels in my head continued to turn.

Date siting #3

I’m a big fan of Larabars but cannot seem to find the much coveted Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars in any of the stores around here! I love being able to chuck a Larabar into my bag when I’m running out the door. Easily portable and still real food with lots of staying power. I’ve been looking for this PB Cookie flavor to no avail.

So if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad…

I bring you: Almond Crusted Coconut Peanut Butter Date Bars

OK, the name still need a little work. But on with the show.

10 pitted medjool dates, chopped
1/4 c creamy natural peanut butter
3 Tbsp shredded coconut
1/4 c sliced almonds, pulverized

Place chopped dates into into the food processor to form a paste.

chopped_dates

Transfer date paste to a bowl and with a fork, stir in peanut butter and shredded coconut.

date_bars_1

A little sample proved that this tasted great, and I loved the slight crunch the coconut gave the bar, but was still too wet and sticky for my liking.

Enter: the “Almond Crusted” part of the recipe.

Place sliced almonds in food processor to turn them into almond dust.

Shape the date mixture into squares (or whatever shape your little heart desires) and then flip them around in the almond dust.

date_bars_2

date_bars_3

Done!

date_bars_4

Store in an air tight container and leave in the fridge. These are vegan, raw, and gluten free!

The big question though? Zak loved them, so did I! Ava ate about half of one before she decided she wasn’t fond of it. Maxine took the teeniest, tiniest nibble and declared, per usual, that she didn’t like it.

In other news, it was raining over the berry patch this afternoon.

raining

Then it was pouring!

pouring

No one was snoring, but we were delighted to see one of Ava’s favorite books in the berry patch!

red_ripe_strawberry

We have three strawberry plants, and they’ll probably produce about 12 strawberries between the lot of them. I figure they’ll last me one breakfast.

After the “rain” let up, we planted our vegetable plants in the garden that we bought on Friday. And speaking of Friday, I decided to take my bike out for a quick spin to test drive the tire I had repaired earlier in the day (which had been punctured by an industrial sized staple, still stuck in the tire).

A quick 4 mile loop around the neighborhood and I was home, rear tire still inflated. Phew.

For dinner was sundried tomato hummus wraps, I topped mine with red leaf lettuce, sliced tomato, shredded cukes and a bit of shredded cheese. Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make hummus when I had the food processor out for the date bars! 😉

hummus_wrap

Feeling like I still needed a little more protein + something sweet, I had a 1/2 container of leftover Fage with some PB granola and chocolate chips!

fage

Now I’m checking out the forecast and plotting my workout for the AM. Chance of showers at 6am? 10%. Chance of run at 6:30? 95%. I suppose I have to leave some room for error.


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4 Responses

  • Robin says:

    Those bars look good. I may try that this week sometime. I never even tried dates until I started reading blogs and now I love to eat them with almond butter and have made so many recipes with them.

  • Elisa says:

    How many bars did this make? Thanks! I may try the same idea with figs!

  • Alison says:

    Elisa, this made about a dozen bars.

    Robin, I didn’t get on the date band wagon until I started seeing them on the blogs too! I’m excited to start using them in more recipes like this.

  • mponz says:

    I’m glad that I could inspire you! The bars look amazing! I’ll have to try that recipe! I love reading your blog…you make it so interesting to read!