I’m back! I cannot believe it’s been over a month since my last post! In the last six-seven weeks, we have been to Vermont for our Baby Moon, to Indiana and Michigan to visit family and celebrate my Grandma’s 90th birthday and her and my Grandpa’s 70th {yes, 70TH!!} wedding anniversary,received two surprise baby showers while there {one with each side of the family}, then to Virginia to see Josh’s side of the family where his mom and sister threw us a lovely baby shower, and THEN came back home and had a baby shower here with all our family and friends, thrown by my incredible sister! Talk about a crazy, but wonderful, few weeks! What an incredible blessing so many people have been in our lives, helping us prepare for our sweet little one!
And in the midst of all of that, we’ve been working hard on finishing up home projects and the nursery in prep for Brighton’s arrival. So with our continuous travels and projects, along with full time jobs, I had to make a choice and let something go for the time being. While the blog is not something I wanted to put aside, it was the choice I had to make. I’m not sure what the upcoming months will hold as we are 33 weeks along and he will be here before we know it, but I’m hoping to soon dive back into creating recipes in the kitchen and posting on a more regular basis again.
I’m also hoping to expand and share some additional things in the future here on Lemons and Basil. I’m not exactly sure what that will look like, but once Brighton arrives, I will be leaving my full-time job of working in high-residential Interior Design to be a stay-at-home Mama. This will be a big change for Josh and I, and it will certainly require some sacrifices to make it work, but we are both so excited, and feel so blessed, to give it a go with me being home. Once we figure out a schedule with Brighton and get adjusted to our new lives, I am hoping to eventually incorporate other clean living things into the blog; such as homemade cleaners, possibly a garden in the future, homemade baby food, and maybe even some of our DIY house projects. Again, I don’t know exactly how this will look, and my main focus will still be healthy recipes, but I’d love for Lemons and Basil to become a resource for other things as well.
Okay, enough chattering, let’s get to these delightful Healthier Seven Layer Bars! They are loaded with toasted rice cereal, peanut butter, and dates, then topped with butterscotch, dark chocolate, and pecans. The texture is crunchy and chewy all at the same time, and they work perfectly as a tasty snack or a healthy dessert that you can easily whip up for your family and friends! I hope you’ll give them a try.
Happy Saturday!
Healthier Seven Layer Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed medjool dates pitted
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2-3 tablespoons almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 ripe banana mashed
- 5 cup toasted rice cereal gluten-free
- 1/2 cup butterscotch chips + 1 tbsp almond milk
- 1/2 cup semi sweet chips
- 1-2 tbsp coconut palm sugar optional
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Add pitted medjool dates with sea salt to bowl of food processor, process for 10-15 seconds or until a thick paste is formed.
- Then add the peanut butter and almond milk to processed dates and process until creamy.
- Remove the creamy mixture from food processor bowl, add to microwave safe bowl and microwave for 20 seconds, stir, and microwave again another 20-30 seconds or until mixture is a warm, thin consistency.
- Add the vanilla and mashed banana and stir well. Then slowly add the toasted rice cereal to the warm smooth mixture and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray, then add the toasted rice cereal mixture to dish, smooth into even flat layer, using spatula to press mixture down firmly.
- Add butterscotch and almond milk to small sauce pan and heat on low, stir consistently until smooth and creamy. Poor over bars and spread into even thin layer.
- Rinse sauce pan, then add semi sweet chocolate chips and repeat same process as butterscotch, add milk again if needed, once chocolate has melted, drizzle over butterscotch layer.
- Sprinkle bars with coconut palm sugar and chopped pecans and place them in the fridge for 1 1/2 -2 hours or until firm. You may also put them in the freezer for 30 minutes, if you need them to be ready sooner.
- Remove the bars 10 minutes before serving and cut into 24 servings. Store in refrigerator.
Nutrition
Adapted from Half Baked Harvest’s Super Healthy Peanut Butter Date Special K Bars.
