Blueberry Banana Oat Bars Recipe

These Blueberry Banana Oat Bars are easy to make in one bowl and make a nutritious snack! 
Creating nutritious, wholesome, and satisfying baked snacks is right in my wheelhouse and I’m so excited about these Blueberry Banana Oat Bars.

They are chewy, subtly sweet, teeming with a lovely banana flavor, and studded with juicy blueberries. When blueberry season comes around to your area, this is the perfect way to use the gems you gather from your blueberry-picking adventures. These Blueberry Banana Oat Bars are a cross between banana bread (my favorite!) and a chewy granola bar, and they are amazing as a nutrient-dense snack for you and your whole fam.We enjoyed them as a snack and breakfast. I love homemade baked goods that do double duty. They taste wonderful warm, but are also good served cold if you’re in a rush and don’t have time to reheat.

This snack/breakfast bar is vegan and can be gluten-free, depending on what flour you use. (See note in the recipe) It’s packed with nutritious, organic ingredients. Santa Cruz Organic Cinnamon Apple Sauce was used to add natural sweetness and it replaces the need for  eggs or oil. It also adds extra fruit to the snack–always a good thing!

I’m pretty stoked to be working with Santa Cruz Organic to develop this recipe because they are committed to making environmentally sound choices. Their commitment to sustainability means that they focus on sound choices at every level–from the farms and suppliers to the energy used to produce the brand’s certified organic products. They stand for everything I believe in and it’s an honor to work with such a company.

Besides choosing to support companies like Santa Cruz Organic, there are many things you can do to make sustainable choices in your everyday life. Don’t think that small actions don’t matter–they do! Here are my simple tips for striving to live sustainably:

1. Use Less Disposables. Take a look at where you are using disposable items and see if you can replace them with something reusable. We transitioned to a paperless kitchen over two years ago and it wasn’t as hard as you might think! I don’t even miss paper towels.
2. Use Your Car Less. How this looks for you will depend on your living situation. I often dream of living in a walkable city, but for me that just isn’t a reality. Instead, I focus on carpooling whenever possible, and instead of driving from one side of a strip mall to another when I have multiple stores to frequent, I walk. Do whatever you can for your life.
3. Drink Tap Water Instead of Bottled Water. As much as possible, use a reusable water bottle and refill it with tap water instead of relying on store-bought bottled water.

Not only will these small individual actions make a difference, you’re likely to inspire other people to follow in your footsteps when they see you making sustainable lifestyle choices. You never know how many people you can influence with your choices, so don’t think for a second your actions can’t make a large impact.

Now I think it’s time to get to this recipe! I hope you love it as much as our family did.

Print

Blueberry Banana Oat Bars Recipe

These Blueberry Banana Oat Bars are easy to make in one bowl and make a nutritious snack! This is a vegan recipe and can be gluten-free.

• Author: Happy Healthy Mama
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
• Total Time: 49 minute
• Yield: 9 bars
• Method: baking

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flour*
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup mashed bananas (from 3 medium, very ripe bananas)
• 3/4 cup Santa Cruz Organic Cinnamon Apple Sauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup**
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with parchment paper so their is some overhang. Set aside.
2. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Transfer to the baking dish and use the back of a spoon to even out the batter.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until cooked through, the edges should be just barely starting to brown, between 20-25 minutes.
4. Enjoy!

Notes

*Whole wheat pastry flour, oat flour, or all-purpose flour all work. Use certified gluten-free oats and oat flour for a gluten-free bar. You may blend rolled oats it the blender to make oat flour.

**You may substitute honey.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 bar
• Calories: 171
• Sugar: 14
• Fat: 1.5
• Carbohydrates: 37
• Fiber: 4
• Protein: 4

 

As a pioneer organic brand, Santa Cruz Organic® was the first to have a wide range of organic, 100 percent juices and blends and the first juice processor to use all organic fruit sourced from growers certified by an independent, third-party certification organization.  With a history of developing innovative products, Santa Cruz Organic currently offers more than 60 organic items ranging from organic fruit juices and lemonades to organic fruit sauces, chocolate syrups, peanut butters and fruit spreads. Visit www.santacruzorganic.com for more information

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Santa Cruz Organic. The opinions and text are all mine.

If you make this recipe, or any Happy Healthy Mama recipe, I would LOVE to see it! Please take a pic and share it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @happyhealthymama

If you’d like to save this recipe for later, here’s an image to save to your Pinterest recipe board!

 

 

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Loaded Vegan Queso Dip

Let me introduce you to the BEST creamy Loaded Vegan Queso Dip that’s made with vegetables! I think “queso” is the first word I learned in Spanish. My parents made the best queso dip ever and I have great memories eating that dip. The bad news is that the base of that wonderful, creamy queso dip was Velveeta cheese. Womp. Womp.

I’m not going to lie, I grew up on Velveeta and man did I love that stuff. From mac and cheese to queso dip to straight sliced from the block, I could eat it all day (and I did).

Today, if I’m going to eat cheese, I prefer to eat the real stuff and not a “processed cheese product” filled with tons of preservatives. If it’s your thing, that’s cool, but as much as I love the taste (and texture) of that melty almost-but-not-quite-real cheese, I tend to stay away from it these days.

All of this is kind of beside the point, though, because today’s recipe is actually for a Vegan Queso Dip. No cheese or dairy at all.

Creamy texture? Yes.

Dairy? Nope.

So what’s it made from? Recently I made this simple, 10-minute vegan nacho sauce with dairy-free yogurt, but I went a different route with this Loaded Vegan Queso dip.

There’s a little bit more involved, but guys, it has VEGGIES. The base is cashews, carrots, and sweet potatoes and it’s pretty dreamy. They blend into a creamy, perfectly and naturally orange, rich dip that is spiced with my homemade taco seasoning. YUM.

This is a fake cheese I can get behind.

Add some onions, tomatoes, corn, and jalapeño peppers and you have a party-worthy dip that everyone will love.

Print

Loaded Vegan Queso Dip

This is a healthier version of traditional queso dip! Made with cashews, sweet potatoes, and carrots, this spicy dip is sure to be a hit!

• Author: Happy Healthy Mama
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw cashews, soaked at least 4 hours or overnight
• 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 medium red garnet sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1-2 jalapeño peppers
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 cup sweet corn kernels (frozen is fine)
• 1 cup quartered grape tomatoes, plus extra for garnish, if desired
• 1/4-1 cup water

Instructions

1. Drain the cashews and rinse them.
2. Steam the sweet potatoes and carrots until soft, about 15 minutes. Reserve the water, as you will use some of it to thin your dip to your desired consistency.
3. Using a powerful blender, blend your soaked cashews, steamed vegetables, and taco seasoning. Add the reserved steaming water, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dip reaches your desired consistency. I prefer about 3/4 cup water, but you can add more if you’d like it thinner or less for a thicker dip.
4. In a medium skillet, cast iron if you have it, heat the oil over medium heat.
5. Add the onion and sauté until just softened, about 3 minutes.
6. Add the jalapeño (1 for regular, 2 for extra spicy) and sauté another 2 minutes.
7. Add the minced garlic and sauté about 30 seconds.
8. Add the corn and tomato and cook another 2 minutes.
9. Next, add the cashew vegetable mixture to the pan and stir to mix well.  Cook until it is hot throughout, a few minutes more. Serve hot with tortilla chips.

Notes

*To make this Paleo-friendly, omit the corn.

Nutrition

• Calories: 162
• Sugar: 3
• Fat: 10
• Carbohydrates: 15
• Fiber: 2
• Protein: 5

 

If you make this, or any Happy Healthy Mama recipe, I would love to see it! Snap a pic, share it on Instagram or Facebook, and tag me @happyhealthymama

If you’d like to save this recipe for later (helllllooo Cinco de Mayo!), here’s an image to save to your Pinterest recipe board. Holla. 

 

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Spring Break 2017: Club Med Cancun Yucatan

We spent last week on the beach in Cancun, Mexico. Want to see? I’d love to share our family vacation with you. Lots of pictures. More pictures than words.  And I feel like I have to say this: there’s a mix of crappy iPhone pictures with nicer shots with my big camera. Note to self: lug out the big camera more. Better pictures are worth the hassle.

Traveling with Kids

Tim and I have made it a priority to travel together, just the two of us. We find it so important to have that time to reconnect and focus on just us, away from the kids, who in our everyday lives can consume us.

That means we haven’t traveled with the kids as often. We take road trips to see our families every summer, and we’ve gone to Disney with Tim’s parents (twice), but this was our first “family vacation” with just us. 

This trip made me realize that while I love traveling with just Tim, I really love traveling with the kids, too. Life goal: travel more. Less stuff, more experiences. 

Club Med Cancun Yucatan

Here we are checking in to our resort, Club Med Cancun Yucatan.

If you are looking for a super family-friendly resort, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better fit than Club Med Cancun Yucatan. My kids just loved this place!

There’s so much for families to do at this resort. 

Because of its unique location, there is one beach where the waves are big and fun to play in, and on the other side of the resort there is a beach with calm waters where you can kayak, sail, paddle board, or wind surf. Meghan and I kayaked, but we didn’t get any pictures. 

On the other side of the resort, there’s a lagoon where you can go water skiing. I was tempted, but slightly afraid the lagoon may have crocodiles, so decided to not ski. All of the water sports are included at no extra charge. 

There was a toucan and lizard the kids could get pictures with, but only one of my kids was interested in that.

There is also a Kid’s Club that, if you want, you can drop your kids off to hang out and do activities with their staff. We didn’t do this simply because this was our vacation with the kids, but it’s a nice feature for couples who aren’t ever able to have their own vacation.

The one day Meghan did take part in the Kid’s Club was the day they had a performance. She wouldn’t miss that! She spent time rehearsing with the group of kids and then got to get up on stage and perform in the evening show. She loved it!

Every night there was a kid-friendly show to watch, but it started at 8:30. Luke was usually ready for bed, so I’d bring him to bed and Meghan and Tim would stay up for the show. Meghan and Tim are the night owls of the family and Luke and I are the early birds. 

There was also tennis, basketball, a playground, and mini golf. There’s no way you could ever be bored at Club Med!

The last activity I have to tell you about is the trapeze. When we were searching for resorts online, it was the trapeze that had Meghan transfixed. She knew Club Med Cancun Yucatan was the place she wanted to be when she saw she could go on a real trapeze. She did it with NO FEAR.

Tim and I also tried the trapeze (Luke wouldn’t do it), and let me tell you, that thing was SCARY. I have a fear of heights and I almost didn’t make it up the ladder. After I finished, I knew I never wanted to do it again. Meghan did it twice and I’m still amazed at how brave she is.

The Ocean

Of all the different activities, my kids seemed to love swimming in the ocean the best. The first day, I think they spend about 6 hours in the ocean with barely a break. At that point I was worried about my stamina for the rest of the vacation.

The ocean definitely wore Luke out. He napped every day. Sometimes right on the beach, other times he demanded we take him back to the room. “I’m going to sleep for 90 minutes in my bed!” He’s a unique 5 year old, for sure. Loves his sleep, just like his mama.

Food

We’ve been to all-inclusive resorts where the food was terrible, so we are always weary when we stay at an all-inclusive. I love food and having bad food on a vacation is a bummer. This time, we got really lucky because the food was fabulous. 

You’ll have to take my word for it, because this is the closest I have to a food picture. I shared a few on my Instagram stories but didn’t save them. 

I will say this: we indulged a lot on this vacation. I ate all the delicious Mexican foods and loved them so much. We had dessert everyday and wow, it was good. That’s what vacations are for, no? Enjoying good food without worry. And it’s always a nice reminder how indulging that much isn’t a sustainable lifestyle. It feels great to be back to my regular eating routine today.

Most meals we ate at the main buffet. There were a lot of options for both us and the kids and different stations of fresh foods being prepared, something different every day. The last night we ate at one of the two other restaurants that required a reservation, and it was good also.

As I’m sharing these pictures, I’m noticing that we don’t have one photograph of all four of us together. Funny.

Weather

It rained one full day while we were there, and two more half days. Although it really stinks to have rain on a beach vacation, we tried to stay positive and make the best of it. We ended up swimming in the pool straight through the rain on one of the days.

“We’re not going to let this rain spoil our fun” as Luke said.

We did a little painting during some of the rainy weather, too. Such concentration.

Even with the rain, this was such a fantastic family vacation.

We miss you already, Mexico. xoxo

 

 

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