Peanut Butter Bars

Today was a rest day, and although I pretty much rested Sunday as well, I took advantage of not having any training to do by spending some time in the kitchen making peanut butter bars. Now I have a good snack that should last me a while! This recipe came from my mom, and the bars are delicious!

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (mini are best) or 1/2 cup mini M&Ms (which don't melt)
  

1. Mix honey and peanut butter well, melting over low heat if necessary. Add vanilla and stir well.
   
2. Add oats, seeds, and salt to peanut butter mixture.
3. Spread 3/4 of the mixture in a greased or foil-lined 9×9" pan.
4. Allow the remainder of the mixture to cool, then mix in chocolate chips. Spread on top of the rest of the mixture in the pan.
5. Eat and enjoy!

I modified this slightly: I doubled the entire recipe and used a 9×13" pan instead. I didn't have sunflower seeds, so I just eliminated that. I also eliminated the salt, since peanut butter is salty enough. Then I mixed everything together (I hadn't heated the peanut butter and didn't have to worry about the chocolate melting) and spread it all out in the pan at the same time.

They turned out well and I cut them into 45 approximately 1-inch squares. They will stay in the refrigerator and should be a good grab-and-go sort-of-healthy snack for a couple weeks. You can also roll them into balls instead of pressing them into a pan and then they're even easier to grab and go!