Hi there, long time no post 🙂 I don’t know about you, but for me, these autumn months are always so filled with things to do, I barely realized that September has come and gone! Between starting school, catching up on the work backlog for the summer, and the MANY social engagements of the fall, I rarely have any time (OK, fine.. willpower) to focus on anything else! To top it off, with the holiday season approaching, the next few weeks are going to be nuts, no pun intended!

Sadly, I have the unfortunate honor to be (in)famous at work for piling back-to-back meeting with minimal (no) breaks. This bad habit, usually means that as I allow my blood sugar to drop lower than a Finn’s mood in November,  no one dares to approach me come the afternoon. Trust me, not stopping for lunch after a full days’ work will give you a whole new level of understanding of the concept of Hungry In Helsinki.

“Have you forgotten to have lunch again?”

“Have you forgotten to have lunch again?” one of my team members dares to ask, meekly handing me a näkkileipä, or a handful of seeds while looking worryingly at my starved, blurry and coffee-overdosed eyes. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I have come to rely on this mid-day snack to carry me through the second (and let’s admit it: the hardest) part of any working parent schedule: i.e the afternoon pickup and drop off to piano/football/you name it after-school program of the day!

I have therefore come to a mind-blowing conclusion; ready? Here it comes: “To stay alive, plan ahead” . It may no be rocket science to most of you  I’m sure, but for the “no-routine, let’s go with the flow, planning what’s that” people such as myself; it feels like a massive Eureka moment!

 

This is why this afternoon has been dedicated to hunting cool and delicious ingredients to make my very own In case of emergency snack! It’s filled with the annoyingly tagged “super food” and smells of raw chocolate & coconut.  I may even share it with my colleagues as a thank you for putting up with my crazyness all day long!

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Raw & (naughty) Nutty Granola bar

Ingredients:

• 200 grams mixed unsalted dried fruits & nuts (e.g,  cashew, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pecans,…)
• 100 grams pitted date
• 50 grams dried apricots
• 20 grams goji berries
• 50 grams coconut flakes
• 1 table spoon chia seeds
• 1 table spoon honey
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil (optional)
• 4 tablespoon melted raw dark chocolate

Steps: 

• In a food processor, add all the ingredients and pulse until the nuts and fruits are roughly chopped and a sticky paste is formed. It should retain some texture so don’t overly process it.
• if it’s not sticky enough, add honey, peanut butter or coconut oil or any other sticky ingredient you may like!
• Line a freezer proof dish, with parchment paper and press the mix with your hands. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper and leave to the fridge overnight or in the freezer for 30 minutes.
• Once solid, cut in regular (or not) shape bars and wrap individually with parchment paper. Store in a container in the fridge for as long as you can resist!

Here you go! Perfectly healthy, vegan, raw (if you are into that) but more importantly, ready made delicious granola bars for the everyday madness.

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Tips for the lazy: I found this Gogreen Raw bar mix at Töölö Kmarket and couldn’t resist! I still wanted to test out my own recipe, but this looks like a perfect workaround for the everyday lazy feeling i’m bound to have soon!