My glorious two-week holiday “vacation” has come to an end, and it is time to get back to work – – – and back in the groove – of a structured work schedule – and a better eating and exercising habit too after a month or so of glutenous indulgence!

So yesterday, I made a batch of breakfast energy bars to have a go-to breakfast or protein and energy-packed snack.  I have made a similar version of these before and blogged about.  The beauty of this recipe is you can use whatever you have on hand (within reason) to create a unique bar each time.

I received several gorgeous sets of measuring utensils as Christmas gifts, so I was excited to get to use some of them for photographing below.  (Really don’t need to measure these things precisely…. but it made for a fun photo to share 🙂 ).  I gathered some creamy peanut butter, coconut oil, honey, oats, shredded coconut, a variety of seeds (pumpkin and sunflower), dried cranberries, and chopped some dates and some beautifully healthy English walnuts.

To begin, melt the peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey in a good size saucepan.

When melted, remove from heat and add your chosen dry ingredients.

Mix all ingredients until incorporated.

Then spread in a 13 x 9 pan and chill for several hours until firm.

Once completely chilled, cut into bars.

I packed them in pairs in Ziploc bags and placed in the freezer – ready to grab for a quick breakfast at home…

or on the go…

Here is the recipe you can use to tweak with the ingredients you like:

Breakfast Energy Bars

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil (solid form)
2 1/2 cups oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried dates
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds

Melt peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil in a saucepan.
Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
Spread in a 13 x 9 pan.
Refrigerate approximately 2 hours.
Cut into bars and wrap or bag individually.
Return to refrigerator or freeze.

Feel free to substitute other dried fruits (golden raisins, dried blueberries or cherries) or nuts (slivered or chopped almonds, cashews, pecans, peanuts) or even chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet, white, peanut butter, butterscotch).

I am going to share this recipe as my first at Fiesta Friday #49.  Fiesta Friday is an online ‘party’, where bloggers share posts in a link up.  Everyone ‘brings’ (shares) a recipe, photograph, craft, memorable story, etc. to the party  I have been hearing about it from several others and decided to join the party this year.  Gotta love a good party – right?  🙂

Groovy Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi