By Rosie Eyre | www.by-rosie.com

These vegan friendly granola bars are made with no added refined sugar, the sweetness is a combination of dates and strawberries blitzed together to make a delicious sweet syrup folded into oats, roughly chopped assortment of mixed nuts and desiccated coconut and dollops of peanut butter. Finished off with finely chopped fresh strawberries stirred throughout. Popped in the oven for 30 minutes.

A perfect bar to make any night of the week, goes great packed into your lunch box for yourself or for the kids.

This is why this bar is nutritiously great for you too:

Strawberries are a lovely dose of vitamin C in their raw state, which is great for our immunity over winter and general cell health. They also act as antioxidants within our bodies, this means that they help control and destroy oxidising free radicals, which can cause many illnesses and diseases. Strawberries contain the mineral potassium which is essential for fluid and electrolyte balance in our body. Full of fibre which is great in aiding and helping our process of digestion.

Oats are brilliant slow release energy boosters, they are a great kick start your day. Containing a form of good soluble dietary fibre which can have beneficial effects on your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, satiety and your digestion.

Dates have a decent dose of potassium; this mineral is exceptionally good for fluid and electrolyte balance within cells throughout our bodies. These little jewels of goodness are a source of naturally formed sugar and a great alternative to sweetening almost anything. But they do have kilojoules, so keep an eye on how many you eat!

Nuts and seeds are some of the best forms of vitamin E, which acts as an antioxidant on the body, it helps protect our cell membranes and can improve our immunity. Nuts also contain a dose of magnesium which really helps our body relax, it aids repair of our muscles and can also help us sleep well. A good dose of potassium for fluid and electrolyte balance. Containing calcium for your bones, teeth formation, heart beat and muscle function. A handful of raw nuts can help fend off mid-morning or afternoon sugar cravings, opt for these instead of that choccie bar!

Makes: 18 Granola Bars
Total Time: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 300g Medjool Dates, soaked in boiling water
• 600g Strawberries (500g blitzed and 100g roughly chopped), washed and leaves sliced off
• 100g Desiccated Coconut
• 400g Oats (preferably steel cut oats)
• 100g Mixed Nuts, roughly chopped
• 2 Heaped Tablespoons of Natural Peanut Butter
• Pinch of Sea salt
• Fresh Strawberries to decorate

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180c. Cover the Medjool dates in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Then drain water.
2. Add dates and 500g of strawberries to a blender or nutri-blender and blitz until extremely smooth.
3. In a large bowl add oats, coconut and nuts. Slowly pour in the dates/strawberry syrup and peanut butter and stir well until all is coated.
4. Finally add your 100g of fresh strawberries which have been chopped, mix through.
5. Spoon large golf ball size balls of mixture into your hands, then shape them into bars.
6. Place each bar on lined baking tray and pop in the oven for 30 minutes.
7. Should be hard on the outside and soft in the middle.

Recipe created by Rosie Eyre. Click here to see her blog, here for Instagram or here for Facebook.