Hi there! I hope you are enjoying your weekend.
Many of you have been asking me how you can subscribe via email and I finally figured it out (Feedburner)!
It only took me 2 years, but better late than never right?
You can click each widget and it will bring you to that page. Pretty snazzy, I know.
I am also working hard on my new Frequently Asked Questions page, found at the top of my website called ‘FAQ’. You can check it out here. I am not finished yet, but like to think of it as a work in progress!
And finally, I have a delicious breakfast bar recipe to share with you. I made these last week and they they make a perfect snack bar when you are running out the door and need a boost, but not a sugar crash.
[print_this]
Tropical Lemon Cranberry Coconut Chia Bars
Packed with chia seeds, dried cranberries, pistachios, and lemon, these bars are chewy, light, and tropical. I like to think of them as a tropical macaroon bar. They also make a perfect breakfast when you are running out the door!
Inspired by Navitas Naturals.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons chia seeds
- 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (approx 1.5 lemons)
- 1.5 cups regular oats, ground into a flour in food processor
- 1/2 cup regular oats (not ground)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1.5 cups unsweetened shredded coconut + additional for sprinkling
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 cup Agave nectar
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup pistachios
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the chia seeds and lemon juice. Set aside to gel up while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Take your 1.5 cup of oats and process them in food processor until a flour forms.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the oat flour (regular oats processed into a flour), baking powder, 1/2 cup regular oats, kosher salt, lemon zest, dried cranberries, pistachios, and shredded coconut.
4. In another small bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, applesauce, and agave nectar. Mix in the gelled up chia seed mixture until combined.
5. Add wet to dry and stir well until blended. It will take a while to mix it thoroughly. Scoop the mixture into the prepared pan and spread out smoothly with a spatula. Sprinkle additional coconut on top before baking.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350F until golden around the outer edge. It will very lightly spring up when pressed.
7. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. Cut into 16 squares. Approx 200 calories per square.
[/print_this]
The first thing you do is mix one big chia egg with fresh lemon juice!
I love this recipe because there are 3 full tablespoons of chia seeds. You could also sprinkle more chia seeds on top before baking if you wanted too.
Mix together the dry ingredients.
And the wet ingredients in another bowl:
Add wet to dry and mix well.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 350F, cool, and slice!
The flavour is outstanding. I am not much of a ‘lemon flavour’ person, but I just love the flavour of these bars. They are like a tropical macaroon bar with a wonderful chewy texture and pistachio crunch!
I rarely bake with Agave nectar, but I used it in this recipe because I find that the flavour of Agave goes well with lemon. I’m sure you could substitute the agave for another liquid sweetener if you wanted though.
Something tells me I could use these for my 7 miler long-run fuel today…I better get cracking!
This looks amazing! I’ll surely be making this today- I have to thank you for introducing me to chia ;-D
These look so tempting.
Yum! The widgets look really good too.
These bars look 100% like Spring! I can’t wait to whip this recipe out next time I see the sun :)
You had me at lemon and coconut!! Some of my 2 favorite things..I too was feeling tropical yesterday and made a yummy fruit salad with pineapple, oranges, and watermelon! Love the widgets..they look great!
mmm fruit salad :)
Those pictures are quite beautiful. And those look really good, what an array of interesting flavors!
I bet these taste amazing, will have to try them as soon as I can find pistachios. Thanks.
we have plenty pistachios over here but they’re SO expensive. I mean, two EURO per 100 grams (3.5 ounce) is not normal is it?
I am loving on pistachios lately, so this is perfect!
Oh wow Ange! I’m not really a coconut person but I don’t think it’s possible NOT to like these!! The photos are gorgeous. And great job on the blog renovations! :D I hope you’re having a great weekend!
Look great! Oh, and I like the new buttons! :D
haha YES, I had actually been wondering that myself, how to subscribe via email to osg. there’s also WP plugins for it by the way!
I love your buttons, I also made new buttons yesterday, pink and lady-like ;)
love the bars, but what a long name ;)
Like the new widgets!
Coconut & Pistachios? Yes please! I already made the frozen chocolate coconut bananas today, your almond butter bites yesterday (with Maranatha DCAB!), and was thinking about making your maple baked beans as well. I wonder if these hold up to freezing? Not that it wouldn’t keep me from gnawing on them all anyway…
I have a HUGE sweet tooth and am trying to cut WAY back because all the baked goods make me feel pretty crappy. I made your carrot cake cookies the other day, ate them all within 24 hours (sometimes 4/5 at once), yet I didn’t have that gross feeling afterwards. I’m not sure if it’s the change in sweetener used or even the lack of butter (although I don’t think I have a dairy problem), but I was really happy to not have that sick feeling when I overdo it. Not that I should eat all the cookies at once…
oh this looks yummy! this is on my list of baking for the week, thank you! let’s hope i can manage to share them…
Looks yummy! Do you have a ton of leftovers in your fridge with all of this baking??
I store things in the freezer and Eric often takes baked goods to work to share with co workers. Adding this to my FAQ! lol
What a great way to lighten up a dreary winter day! Love it! :)
i love lemon and cant wait to try these!
i do have a question for you – i have always gotten (and loved) the “light” agave nectar and sort of by accident i just bought the “dark” kind instead – to me it tastes WAY different and i really dont like it very much . . . which kind did you use in this recipe?? just wondering if i should chalk it up to a costly mistake, throw it away, and go back for my beloved “light” kind – or if the flavor is more masked in recipes like these?? any thoughts? thanks!!
I used Dark blue in this recipe and I loved the taste!
I am totally going to make these! I have everything I need. Great for pre and post workout fuel. :)
I love the new tweeks to your site, well done and they “Glow!”
Those bars look fantastic. Can’t wait to try them out.
These look delicious! I love lemon, cranberry and coconut, so the combo will taste AMAZING!
And I noticed your widgets this morning, and wondered how long they’d been there! Thought I had just been unobservant! :P
A bar like that for breakfast!? Twist my arm :)
Chia seeds freak me out a little though…the whole expanding thing – it’s one of my weird phobias? ;)…and I keep thinking they’ll grow in my stomach or something! …I know, I know…
A bar like that for breakfast!? Twist my arm :)
Chia seeds freak me out a little though…the whole expanding thing – it’s one of my weird phobias? ;)…and I keep thinking they’ll grow in my stomach or something! …I know, I know…
I love the new buttons! I should get some cute ones, I love icons, especially since they make everything so much easier! Lately I’ve been loving chia seeds too, they’re just so expensive! Do you have a place where you get them in bulk?
p.s. These bars look diVINE, I really ought to switch up my breakfast routine:)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – you make the prettiest food! :) These look fantastic – I’m going to make these to fuel my crazy workout week.
LOVE the widgets! How did you make them? They have a great, “clean” look to them.
those are so close to what I seen at starbucks yesterday! weird.
Hi Angela!
New additions to the site are looking wonderful! I was just wondering.. can you buy chia seeds from a regular grocery store, or do you usually get them from a health food store?
Great widgets. I love your blog layout, it’s really easy to scroll through, look at your great photos, admire your adorable kitty and find delicious recipes. Thanks for all the work on the site!!!!
I hope this isn’t a stupid question, but what are chia seeds? I can’t seem to find them in the UK :-(
These bars look so good! I really need an easy breakfast for when I’m late (hum… always). Need to make them!
These look amazing!!! YUM!!!! The colors are just gorgeous!
These look really yummy! I like the idea of a macaroon flavored bar :)
I love the colour of pistachios. They give such a nice punch of green to these bars!
Hope you have a great run! You can do it!
OH I love lemon. It’s soooooo good in baked goods. Yum Yum Yum.
These look delicious! I’ve been iffy about baking with chia seeds though because I heard somewhere that chia seeds loose nutritional value with cooking. Do you have any idea if there is any truth to this?
As always, your recipe is making my mouth water.
This is the kind of recipe that I can just tell by looking that it’s DELICIOUS!!
These look so chewy and delicious!
I hope you have better long-run weather than I do! I have piles and piles of snow– guess I’ll be spending some quality time with the dreadmill. ho hum
Is it possible that you have outdone yourself? These appear to be the most amazing combination of flavors and textures! I just wish I had the energy right now to go into my kitchen and make them, but, alas, I was up until 2 am last night and I must take a nap now! Perhaps tomorrow . . . thank you Angela!
these look full of awesome flavor and health!
With every recipe, I love you a little bit more.
I absolutely love anything that is tropical flavored! I also think these would make a great, light dessert, maybe served with some fresh fruit!
Wow.wow.wow. these look amazing!!
these look so yummy! I have been wanting to incorporate chia seeds into my diet; this sounds great!
I love the fun colors of your widgets!
If these bars and widgets don’t scream Spring, I don’t know what does :)
& Spring can’t come soon enough!
Yet another great recipe, Angela!
I’m loving the extra oat-i-ness of this recipe. This has pre-workout fuel written all over it.
Oh woww Angela! You’re so good with computers! (even though Eric is your standby techy) How do you do all that? I’m honestly sooooo behind at least a century in technology that the mere fact that I just started and somehow ‘prettied’ up my baby blog (to the best of my abilities) is a MIRACLE. It sure motivates me to learn more! Mmmmm those look delish. Bring on any bar out there and I’ll gobble it up. <3
Your bars look awesome! YUM!
And way to go doing all that blog work and those updates! Wow!
The brighly colored link/buttons POP!
And the FAQ page you said not being done but a work in progress…yes, that’s they way blogs are. They are never done. Just about the time you think you’re “done” a huge brainchild of an idea comes to you, and you sink another 40 hours of behind the scenes work into it. Dont ask me how i know this :)
Enjoy your Sunday, Angela!
Umm….
I really, really want to make these now.
like, REALLY want to lol.
Must go get ingredients!