Who doesn't love sprinkles? Don't they just level up the fun factor in a recipe? While I've usually associated sprinkles with more indulgent recipes like a birthday cake or an ice cream sundae, these little rays of color work beautifully in this no bake, grain free, protein bite recipe.  While these are a great little snack to keep in the fridge for a healthier pick me up throughout the week, you just might find that they don't last that long because they sure didn't last long in this house.  Our kids gobbled them up. Maybe the COVID-19 quarantine is to blame as I made these the week that all started setting in, but I don't think they would last long whether or not in the middle of a global pandemic.

Here's what you'll need to make these:

Ingredients
-1 cup almond butter
-12 pitted dates
-2 scoops vanilla protein powder ( I used Bob's Red Mill)
-2 TBS maple syrup
-2 TBS water
-funfetti sprinkles for decoration

Directions
Place the almond butter, dates and protein powder in a food processor and pulse/process until it starts to come together.  With the food processor running on low, drizzle in the maple syrup and water.  The mixture will come together as a sticky "dough."  Stop the food processor and using damp hands, roll the mixture into small balls and then roll each ball into a bowl of sprinkles.  Allow to set in the fridge for 1-2 hours.  Store in an air tight container in the fridge and enjoy!

I originally created this recipe idea with school in mind as my kids go to a "nut free" school due to allergies.  Obviously, we're out of school for at least the next few weeks over here in the U.S. but these granola bars have still come in handy for an afternoon pick me up snack when that home schooling energy is starting to drop each day.

These are easy to make, require no baking and you could easily substitute your favorite nut butter if that's your preference.  Don't have cranberries? No problem...throw in some raisins or other dried fruit.  Swap in a different type of chocolate chip! I'm all about the adaptable recipes these days as we all seem to be experiencing grocery stores that are doing their best to restock but are hit or miss with certain ingredients.

Here's what you'll need for these granola bars:

Ingredients
-3 cups rolled oats
-1 cups unsweetened coconut flakes (you can use sweetened if that's what you have)
-1/2 cup sun butter
-1/2 cup honey
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1-2 tsp cinnamon
-3/4 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit
-3/4 cup dark chocolate chips + 3-4 TBS more for drizzling

Directions

Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together the rolled oats, coconut flakes and cinnamon.  Place a small/medium sized pot on stove top and add the honey and sun butter.  Melt together on medium heat.  Once smoothly melted together, pour into the bowl of oats and allow to sit and cool together for 2-3 minutes.  Then add the dried cranberries and dark chocolate chips and mix together.  Work the mixture to get the sticky sun butter/honey  "glue" to incorporate with all of the dry ingredients.  

Pour the entire bowl of ingredients into the baking pan and use a rubber spatula or spoon to spread and flatten the granola bar mixture throughout the pan.  Place in the fridge to chill for 2-3 hours.

Remove from the fridge, lift the parchment paper up and out of the pan and slice into bars.  For storage, place the bars in an air tight tupperware or fridge safe container and keep in the fridge.  The bars will begin to fall apart if they are stored at room temperature.

Enjoy! I hope that this finds you all well in the midst of these crazy times.

I couldn't help myself with this one....strange pregnancy cravings collided with the St. Patrick's Day time frame and this resulted in a box of lucky charms in our house.  My kids were thrilled that I bought a "fun" cereal.  During both this pregnancy and my third pregnancy, I have had cereal cravings and these two pregnancies are both boys.  Weird, right?  I vividly remember a day in my last pregnancy when I was non-stop thinking about Frosted Flakes.  I hadn't had Frosted Flakes since I was a kid and I don't typically buy the "fun" cereal, as my kids refer to it.

So. we're at it again thinking about cereal and I made an insanely easy St. Patrick's Day treat for the kids (and I had some too of course) by subbing in Lucky Charms for Rice Krispies in this recipe here.  No other modifications necessary folks! No baking...just a little melting of butter and marshmallows, stir, chill in the fridge and done.

Now, if you have a moment, could you please humor me and tell me some of the crazy pregnancy cravings you've had?