Forums >Health and Nutrition>homemade energy bars
Apple leathers are easy - you could go to all the trouble of making your own apple sauce (recommended) but buying jars of it in the store works fine. I make my own during apple season but just use store bought once I run out. Try not to make/buy stuff that is too watery if you can. At a minimum, I'll usually dump a bunch of cinnamon into the jar and mix it in good with a knife before spreading it out on the platters; I've found that it doesn't really bake in very well when you just put it on the top and dehydrate. You can also mix the apple sauce with pureed strawberries or blueberries or other fruits if you want. Just spread it on the platters in the dehydrator, let it run for 8-12 hours at around 135°-140° (although it tasted fine when I made it at the same time as the jerky and cooked it at 155° this last time...) If you don't have a dehydrator, then you can use aluminum foil and just leave your oven door cracked, but it's probably cheaper to just buy a dehydrator if you are going to make this more than once. As for jerky, here's my general recipe: http://news.runtowin.com/2005/06/24/20060624_jerky.html I rarely actually measure anything; I just guestimate how much will taste good. Heheh.
Rachael Ray had Robin McGraw on her show and she made these energy bars......... I haven't tried them but they looked good! Robin McGraw's Family Snack Ingredients Non-stick cooking spray or melted butter, as needed for pan 3 cups large marshmallows 3/4 cup nut butter, such as cashew, almond, peanut or hazelnut 1 10 to 12-ounce box brown rice cereal 1/2 cup dried cranberries 2/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted 2/3 cup chopped cashews, toasted Preparation Lightly coat the bottom and sides of a medium baking sheet with the nonstick cooking spray or melted butter. In a microwave-safe bowl, zap the marshmallows and nut butter, stirring after 1 minute, until melted, about 2 minutes. Add the brown rice cereal, cranberries, pecans and cashews to the melted marshmallow mixture and stir gently to combine – be careful not to crush up the bits of cereal too much. Either wet your hands or spray them lightly with the nonstick cooking spray and turn the cereal marshmallow mixture out onto the greased baking sheet. Press it into the pan using your slick hands so that it's evenly distributed. Set the pan aside and let the bars set up, about 30 minutes. Once set, cut them into squares and serve.