Homemade Lara bars

I didn't realize how much bread and wheat items I fed the family until I started trying to cut some of it out. I usually sent the kids to school with some sort of home made baked good or granola bars (they were organic but still packed full of lots of sugar). After school snacks were often something fresh out of the oven, (breads, muffins) or yogurt and homemade granola. Aidan doesn't really care for fruit or veggies (yep, I'm kicking myself for all those cookies and milkshakes I ate when I was pregnant, but it was the doctor's orders!). Hence the baked good were usually full of an assortment of fruits and veggies processed into the batter. I found a recipe on a blog that I check out sometimes (thenourishinggourmet.com). The kids and I tweaked it some until everybody loved it. I haven't used specific measurements since the first time and we add additional ingredients that we might have and think would be good but the base goes something like this:


18 pitted dates
squirt of lemon juice from a lemon
handful of almonds
handful of coconut
half a handful of sesame seeds
about 1/8 c coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
couple large spoonfuls of cocoa powder

Process everything in the food processor until it's all blended, (I always taste it a bit and adjust anything that's out of whack) then form into little balls. Chilling for a bit helps them to firm up and allow the flavors to meld.