Gluten Free Coconut Fig Granola Bars

Gluten Free Fig Stuffed Granola Bars
A Tasty little snack, for dessert or breakfast! I choose breakfast, but I like desserts for breakfast.















1st start by soaking the dried figs to re-hydrate. Makes them easier to mix into the ozzy filling :)

 Use your food processor to finely chop toasted nuts

Mix nuts with and dates to blend into a "dough" Press the dough into a 9x9 pan lined with parchment paper. 

Mix the soaked figs with coconut oil and maple syrup into a paste and fill the pan.

Toast up the coconut. Toasted is always better. At least to me.

Press cooled coconut on the top of the fig mix. Pop in the fridge.

Look at these layers of gooey fig jam between nuts and coconut. It is soo good. Slice, eat and enjoy.

Nut layer:
1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup coconut oil

Toast all of the nuts. Let cool. Process with the salt, dates and coconut oil to form a cookie crust layer. Press into the lined pan.


Fig Filling:
2 cups figs with stems removed
1 cup hot water to soak
3 TBSP Maple Syrup
1TBSP melted Coconut Oil

Soak figs in hot water. Drain water. **save the water. it's so good.
Mix with maple syrup and coconut oil into a jam filling


Topping:
1/2 cup toasted coconut.

That's it. Press onto the fig layer and eat :)

Gone Vegan

Important announcement.

Last year I was diagnosed with some serious health concerns.I got put on the AIP (auto-immune protocol) diet to really eliminate food allergens and help discover the route of my problems. It was a LOT of meat. Like by a lot, I mean like every meal was meat and you were encouraged to eat organ meats and drink bone broth. I made it about 3 weeks. It was too much to handle. My stomach does not digest meat in that high of quantities and honestly it got me thinking about route causes being food. How is that really possible?? We have been eating food forever, our bodies thrive on food. What could make us need to eliminate everything? It's hard to chew (literally! pun intended)

So long story short, instead of AIP, I flipped it the other way.
I've been really a flex-itatrian since then.
Mostly Vegan 5-6 days a week and maybe a light meat meal on the weekends with the family. But what was holding me back from fully committing? Easy of buying prepared food? Being able to eat out simpler? Making my family commit with me. My husband cooks a lot of the dinners during the week. He gets home earlier than me. By the time I stroll in the door with my son from daycare, it's literally dinner time. It was just easier to have the hubby cook something and his default is pizza to be honest or really easy prepared and just reheat meals.  Not ideal.

I also work with a lot of girls and get to listen to their health issues on a daily basis; stomach issues, diabetes, overweight, underweight. You name the concern, we probably have it at my job. As a leader, I wanted to help them. Leader doesn't just mean in the office, I wanted to help with their personal concerns. Is it my place to do that?? Probably not but that's just who I am.
We started bringing in group lunches and sharing, having meal prep weekends.. In my effort to better their health, I started watching food documentaries to pick up some cool 1 liner quotes to randomly drop.
Flash forward like 6 months, I'm seeing benefits on their side and it's encouraging so I'm taking it to the next level. Vegan but vegan in the right way. Not the prepared, carb loaded, mass produced "food" that is vegan approved. I'm talking about down to the ground, growing your own food, making food type vegan.
I also have another concern... I don't eat gluten. Celiacs. Also I try to avoid soy. It really messes up my hormones and I've already had a lot of thyroid problems I don't want to flare up.
So a Gluten free- soy free vegan it is!!

From now on, you won't see any recipes involving animal products.
Peace to everyone!