the KIND of day that…
June 22, 2010 …makes you realize homemade is always better than store bought!!
I finally got to try out Mama Pea’s homemade version of KIND bars. My mom absolutely loves KIND bars and we squeezed in the time to make them, literally in the last hour before heading to the airport.
This recipe used 6 ingredients. How much easier could it get?
The hardest part was knowing when they were ready to cut. Like MP says, you can’t wait until they fully cool or you will have to chisel them out. However, if you cut too soon they will not hold together.
I have a few future ideas for how to overcome this problem:
- Line the pan with parchment paper. When they’re done baking, let them cool about 15min. Then, pop out the parchment paper + bars and let cool for another 30min-1hr. Use a LARGE chefs knife to chop them into bar-size pieces. I haven’t tried this but am pretty sure it will work! ;)
- Possibly use a thickening agent, such as tapioca starch or agar [a natural gelatin] to help hold the bars together. Not sure if this is necessary or not. I’ll have to experiment more.
I cut them too soon, but then left them in the pan to harden, hoping they would be easier to pop out. They were honestly 100% delicious. I LOVE the combo of almonds + apricots and the coconut just topped everything off. They were not too sweet and definitely a healthy filling snack.
…makes you realize just how lucky you are to have such amazing friends + family!
I arrived back in Denver at about 8:30pm. By the time I got my luggage and got to my car it was already 9:45. The Denver airport is HUGE and I had to walk realllly far through the airport with all of my bags to get to the shuttle. Not a big deal, but just makes for a long day. Then I headed over to Pat + Natalie’s to pick up the puppers. We were so lucky they could watch them for us! Then I drove the dogs back to Denver and stopped at Ann + Kurtz’s house. Kurtz is currently in Ecuador with my huz, so we are both on our own for the week!
She was way too kind and bought me this little mini chocolate cheesecake from Whole Foods. The best cheesecake I’ve ever had! The graham crust was perfect and the consistency/texture of the cheesecake was perfect. Surprisingly it wasn’t too sweet, the chocolate flavor was spot on and you could still taste the creamy cream cheese. I am savoring this by eating it one bite at a time throughout the next day or two :)
She also bought me my favorite flowers and a bottle of wine that we’re going to share on Wednesday!
The dogs were pooooooped!
Depressed? Tired? Or both? I’m not sure!
I got home around 11pm. I’m glad to have the dogs around in the empty house. It was weird coming home at night with no one home!
This morning I didn’t feel like hot oats or making a smoothie. I checked the freezer and remembered that I just bought Nature’s Path waffles, which I love.
…makes me remember I can turn something very plain into something very creative!
But how to jazz them up?
I whipped up some cherry banana soft serve and topped the waffles with that along with ~1T peanut butter and Love Grown Foods granola. THIS was deeeelicious!
…makes me remember just how much I’m missin’ the huz!
When I got home last night I walked in to a cute arrangement of anniversary gifts and a card. I was so so excited but the best part was the card. It was fun to read something from Chris while being apart! He picked out the perfect little foodie gifts for me :)
In the card he wrote…”I even got you the fancy wine that comes in a box!!!” Funny thing though, that boxed wine from Target, is really pretty good!!
Got a few other cards from Pat + Nat and Melissa + Matt + Jake!
I enjoyed another bite after breakfast…mmmm
I also had THREE packages waiting for me when I arrived home. One was from Lundberg. I love this company. Their products are top notch and they guarantee their products to be Monsanto free. Their rice products have all exceeded my expectations and I love their brown rice syrup. I use it constantly!
The offered to send me their new couscous products to try out and then offer a giveaway to you all!! I can’t wait to dig in and let you know my thoughts. The giveaway will be coming up soon! Thanks Lundberg!
I had another package full of goodies I picked out from the iherb.com giveaway I won a few weeks ago!! I stocked up on some pricey ingredients that I love. I have never tried Maca powder before but have heard good things. I LOVE hemp + chia seeds, so it was nice to restock these items. The Borage lotion is the.best.lotion. I’ve ever used. I had to find something pretty intensive to help get my hands through the rough CO winter and this did the trick. THANKS iherb!!!
My last package was a new barefoot running book!!! The author, Jason Robillard, emailed recently to see if I would be interested in reviewing his book. I am more than excited read + review this for the blog!
It probably won’t be for a few weeks, since I am currently reading two other books. You can find this book on amazon if you’re interested in checking it out before I review it!
…makes me remember I am craving a good workout!! It’s been far too long. Back on the bike today!!! :)
Wedding recap part II will be ready for you in the AM!
~Ashley
Family + Friends, Travel, banana
Reader Comments (25)
cute pups! looks like your version of mama pea's recipe turned out fabulous.
I'm going to have to try those KIND bars out. I want to make some sort of bar for my hiking trip to New Hampshire.
Whole Foods has the best desserts. That cake looks incredible!
welcome home! I love that you came home to lots of goodies!
Wow at the cake and the KIND bars - both look and sound fabulous!!
I love all the stuff you got through the post - it's awesome coming home to packages :D
Oh man, that cheesecake looks good!
I have been wanting to bake today but not dessert, this may the winner! :)
Wow that cheesecake does look amazing! Jessica is right, WF has the BEST desserts!!! And those bars...oh yum!
What a super sweet hubbie you have!
I've totally been looking for a recipe similar to this 'KIND' Bar recipe!!!! I love the banana/coconut ones!!!
woops!! ***almond/coconut***
I think the Target boxed wine is pretty good too! We just finished off a box of the same stuff you've got. How sweet of Chris to leave you with goodies :)
Awesome that Lundberg is Monsanto free!! I just saw Food, Inc. this weekend and I was wondering if there would be anyway to avoid supporting such a broad sweeping company/ingredient in the future!
I was running this afternoon and heard someone coming up from behind me.. I looked down and they had Vibrams on! I got so excited that I knew what they were haha
Welcome home!!! And what wonderful looking waffles - love the addition of the soft serve!
aren't those bars AMAZING?!?!?! i have made them like 4 times, all with different fruit combos, and all of them have been heaven in my mouth!
also, you should know that i've never been so excited about running since the blogger meet-up and your barefoot clinic review! fingers are crossed that tomorrow's the day i get to do it again!
I'm new to your blog & I'm loving it!
Your eats look incredible & I'm SERIOUSLY jealous of your photography skills!
Those bars and your pancakes look delicious. I'm definitely going to have to make those bars sometime!
Getting goodies in the mail is so exciting!
I saw these spreads and thought they looked great.. then I thought you'd probably be more likely to make them before me. Let me know how they are : ) lol
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2010/06/raw-almond-spreaddip-three-ways-spicy.html
The cheesecake = yum!! I was just at whole foods and I must have missed that somehow!? Disappointing.
The KIND bars look good too! I'm not really big on them, but I might give them a try (:
Ah, those bars are so good. Try crumbling one on top of Greek - amazing combo right there!
I'm very excited about tmrw being Waffle Wednesday. I just bought 3 boxes of different Van's waffles, hehe.
Yum, yum, yum- I LOVE Kind bars, so these look fantastic to me!
That cheesecake is making me drool...
And what an amazing hubby you have, getting you all those foodie gifts!!
xo
Kris
What a great welcome home gift the cheese cake, the flowers (my fav kind gerbera) and box wine from Tarjay! Makes me excited for my upcoming anniversary. I am also excited to check out a store 45 mins away between my wedding ceremony and reception Saturday to see if they have any Vibrams. So far no luck!
How sweet of Chris to leave you a sweet card and foodie gifts...you have a great one! Oh, and I really need to make some KIND bars...I forgot about the bookmarked recipe.
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