Broke, Single, and Hungry

Happy Sunday!!  Congratulations to all the ladies who ran the Cherry Blossom race today :)

My healthy cooking on a budget talk went incredibly well. I kept it sweet and simple to not bore senior girls stuck inside on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon listening to me talk about depressing things college graduation and not eating takeout for every meal.  I posted my presentation on Google documents if you care to read it.  I named my presentation Broke, Single, and Hungry because it's funny and kind of summarized my first year of post college graduate living.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I made a recipe to show the girls that cooking on the cheap can be cheap and healthy.  For choosing a recipe I needed a portable food that included healthy and inexpensive ingredients that could be used in multiple recipes.  I hate recipes that require me to buy "weird" products that are expensive and I'd only use once.  Simplicity is key.  I decided that breakfast is often one of the most skipped meals due to lack of time in the morning.  After searching blogs, recipe websites, and cookbooks, I decided to make baked oatmeal bars based on this recipe from Kath of Kath Eats Real Food.

Cherry Craisin Oatmeal Bars


Ingredients:

• 3 cups instant oats
• 1 cup chopped almonds (measured after chopping)
• 1.5 cups Cherry flavored Craisins
• 2 T unsweetened cocoa
• 2.5 cups milk (I used unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze)
• 2 eggs (I used Ener-g Egg Replacer)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt (optional)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix dry ingredients (oats, salt, cocoa, Craisins)

2. Mix wet ingredients (milk, eggs, vanilla)

3. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients then press into a 9x13 pan covered with parchment paper

4. Bake for 45 minutes. Cool for ten minutes then cut into desired number of servings.

I made 24 servings since I had twenty girls who'd want a sample.  For 24 servings 1 bar includes: 74 calories, 5.5g fat, 1.8g dietary fiber, and 1.6g protein.  For a more adequate breakfast (or snack) bar, I'd suggest halving the serving making 12 bars not 24 bars and eat with a large piece of fruit, yogurt, etc.  I chose these ingredients because all these ingredients can be used for other recipes. These bars can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in the freezer for a quick snack or breakfast. 

Taste verdict: DELICIOUS.  Not all the seniors attended (silly girls missed out) so the girls who did attend ate several and took some home.  I managed to snag one for my long drive from Baltimore to DC (ughhhhh Sunday traffic).  I'm giving myself an A+ on my cheap and healthy food presentation so now I'm eating some popcorn and watching Hoarding on TLC (these people have some crazy shopping issues).  Enjoy the rest of your weekend :)