Fast Food Salad & Homemade LaraBars

 Sooo, I had this for breakfast again. I TOLD you I would! This new nut butter is going to be a problem. 

A wonderful, creamy, crunchy, blissful problem.

Yesterday and today's overnight oats included: 

1 container Chobani vanilla

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup old-fashioned oats

sprinkle of cinnamon

Refrigerated overnight and then topped with CRACK Wild Squirrel Chocolate Sunflower Seed Almond Butter.

 Lunch today was surprisingly wonderful, as well! A few of my coworkers and I decided to go to Culver's, and although they are known for their "ButterBurgers", I opted for the Cranberry Bacon Bleu Salad with Grilled Chicken.

For a fast food salad, this was LEGIT. I topped it with their Raspberry Vinaigrette and proceeded to lick.my.bowl.clean. So rare. I will be back for this salad very soon!

 More salad for dinner tonight. Just a repeat of last night. No big.

 I must say, this Goat Cheese Mac is still rockin'. I made way too much though. 

It's freshness is becoming questionable... :(

 Let's backtrack a bit. Before dinner, I decided to make a batch of homemade Larabars!

 Today, a friend of mine mentioned that she saw a recipe for them on Pinterest. Before I knew it, I was buying a bag of dates at the store and beating it home to make these babies!

These are my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Larabars, and boy are they good!

I'm just going to say it. I like these much better than real Larabars. Sorry, Lara.

I wrapped them up individually and stuck them in the freezer. These will probably do just fine in the fridge or at room temp, but I was lazy and the freezer seemed like the most logical spot at the time.

Excited to nibble on one tomorrow morning during my dark drive to PUMP!

I hope you had an incredible Wednesday! Now make these bars (Well, no. It's late. Make them tomorrow) and LOVE YOUR LIFE!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip LaraBars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole dates, pitted
• 1 1/2 cups peanuts
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Place dates in a food processor and process until the dates are pureed (it will become one large, pureed date "loaf").
2. Place the pureed date "loaf" in a large bowl.
3. Place the peanuts and chocolate chips in the food processor and process until it becomes coarse crumbles.
4. Add crumbled peanuts/chocolate chips, peanut butter, salt, and cinnamon to the pureed dates.
5. With your hands, massage the mixture together until it is completely combined.
6. Let mixture rest in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
7. Remove from freezer and mold into bars.

*To store, wrap individually with plastic wrap and place in freezer or refrigerator.

ENJOY!