Homemade-so-you-know-what-you’re-eating Energy Bars (that happen to be vegan)

Ever wonder if your “energy bar” is really more like a candy bar with a good marketing firm? If not, you should. Make a batch of these and they’ll last you for weeks (and won’t clean out your wallet like those bars).

Super-Scrumptious Homemade-so-you-know-what-you’re-eating Energy Bars
(Thanks to New Jersey restaurant Wildflower for this recipe, published in a book we love, Virgin Vegan)

3 c quick oats
6 oz chocolate chips (dairy-free if possible)
½ c shredded coconut
½ c sunflower seeds
½ c chopped walnuts
½ c sliced almonds
½ c dried cranberries or raisins
1 c nut butter of your choice
½ c agave syrup
½ c brown rice syrup
½ T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and liquid ingredients in a small bowl. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry; mix well. Pour batter into an 8” x 8” (or similar) baking pan and press evenly with spatula until mixture is well distributed. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes until top is light brown. Remove from oven and cool.

What's in YOUR energy bar?
What’s in YOUR energy bar?

Can be cut into bars once cooled. Keeps at room temperature for weeks! (But can be frozen for extended time.)

Clear Your Clutter

I say it at the start of every year: Clear your clutter. It’s not healthy to live in a cluttered house or with a cluttered mind. You’ve got to make room. Out with the old, in with the new. Create some space. That’s the way to move forward.

Even if you don’t have new resolutions this year—even if you don’t believe in making resolutions, it’s a great time to make way for new opportunities. Be open to the idea and interesting things might just start to happen. You absolutely never know what’s going to happen when you wake up in the morning. You might have your routine, but what if the doorbell rings and a package is delivered that changes the course of your day? Your life? It could happen. But do you have room for that opportunity? You’ve got to clear your clutter.

Getting rid of the baby toys now that your kids are 7 and 10 years old is an obvious one. But what about the nagging voice in your head telling you you really should get a physical this year? What about the exhausting ongoing argument you’re having with your sister that keeps you from spending holidays together? That’s all clutter, too. You can continue to live with a closet full of baby toys and Christmases spent with your husband’s family, but is that how you want to start another year? This is the time. Clean your slate and make way for the new.