Trail Mix Bars

Do you spend a lot of time in the car or traveling?  Do you find yourself eating too many doritos and donettes from gas stations?  I have found that every time I go on a road trip or will be on a plane for a long time, I pack protein bars.   I like the easy to pack convenience of them, and the good protein and nutrients packed inside, but I just get a little nervous that I can’t read most of the ingredients list.  So when I knew I would be taking a U-haul 8 hours north last weekend, I thought of healthy snacks I could bring to munch on.  I found this recipe on Wise Bread.com and thought it would be perfect to test out.   I love this recipe because you can really make it your own and add exactly what you like.  I don’t believe this is an “uber healthy”  bar, but it is homemade and packed with good stuff, so you know exactly what you are putting in your body.  I found my ingredients at Trader Joes.

All you have to do is measure out 12 cups of ANY ingredients you want.  I did eight cups of the puffed wheat cereal, 3 cups of chopped up Trek Mix, and 1 cup of chocolate chips.

I threw them into a brown paper bag (or you could use a heat proof bowl).  Then I went to the stove and cooked up my honey/vanilla/sugar/salt mixture.  Then I poured it over my mix and shook the bag like crazy!  The one thing I did not think about before was the chocolate chips melting, but it turned out okay because then everything was covered in chocolate!  I think next time I will add more cereal and then sprinkle the chocolate chips on top at the end.  Once the mixture wass combined, I poured it into my prepared pan and flatted them with greased wax paper.

Then I let them cool and cut them into bars.  So delish we couldn’t stop eating them!

The trip went well and we iced my sister! Sucker!!

Trail Mix Bars

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Ingredients

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• 1 cup honey (or corn syrup)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• A total of 12 cups mix, using 3 or more of the following ingredients:
• 4 cups of puffed rice/wheat
• 4 cups cereal (like Chex)
• raisins
• dried cranberries
• other dried berries
• other dried fruit
• sunflower seeds
• peanuts
• almonds
• M&M’s
• any packaged trail mix

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Instructions

1. Line an 11″ x 17″ pan with aluminum foil. Spray the foil surfaces with spray-oil, or coat with butter.
2. In a large heat-proof bowl, combine your desired 12 cups of mis ins.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the honey (or corn syrup) and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to boil. Using a candy thermometer and making certain it isn’t touching the bottom of the pan. If using corn syrup, cook without stirring until the thermometer reaches 238 degrees F. If using honey, cook without stirring until thermometer reaches 250 degrees F.
4. Quickly remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, and pour the hot mixture over the cereal mixture. With a wooden spoon, mix and stir until the syrup mixture coats the cereal mixture. Immediately turn out onto the prepared, lined pan. Grease a piece of wax paper and press the mixture firmly down until it fills the pan.
5. Set the pan aside to cool (approximately 15 to 45 minutes, depending on weather). Wthe bars are mostly-cool, and somewhat firm, using an oiled knife or pizza cutter, cut into bars.
6. Store bars in snack sized, ziplock bags.