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Cereal Power Bars

24 Comments

A power bar without the price! These snack bars have a variety of power ingredients for protein and fiber!

Picky Eater Tip:  Let kids choose how much food to eat.

I get a lot of questions regarding how much children need to eat in a day.  The problem is there are so many answers to this question, and your child is the one that should be answering it.  Even the new food guide pyramid is more customized than in the past.  Here’s the thing; if kids are eating healthy, whole, natural food, they will be better able to sense fullness and hunger.  When kids are given high-calorie, low-nutrient food, they lose their sense of satiety.  Kids today consume large quantities of calories, without fiber and vitamins, so they don’t feel full.  Then, they are trained that whether they are hungry or not, it’s noon and time for lunch, or the clock says it’s dinner.  The disconnect continues until as they reach adulthood, they have lost all sense of listening to their bodies.

What is the solution?  The solution is to provide healthy food when they are hungry.  Not make them “clean their plate”, and ask them to evaluate how much they need to be full.  Two nights ago, my daughter had three helpings of chicken and rice! WOW, she must have been hungry. Last summer, my oldest was swimming an hour a day and he was eating tons of food.  However, some days I can hardly get them to eat a thing.  This is O.K.  When we had breakfast with my husbands family this morning I started to clear the plates from the children.  It was interesting that so many of them were able to leave one or two bites of their pancakes on their plate because they got full.  But adults hardly ever do that.  Every adult plate was licked clean.  I tend to eat everything on my plate, even when I get full halfway through.  Oh, if we could only become like the little children and get our sense of hunger and fullness back.

So the bottom line; you decide WHAT they eat, let them decide HOW MUCH they eat. Of course than if your kids are like mine, they’ll say, “I’m too full for more dinner, but I’m not too full for dessert?” Of course they’re not. lo

Snacks can be a bridge to fill nutrient gaps in kids day, as well as fill their small stomachs between meals.  We like to keep our snacks small, but filling. These bars are exactly what we like when we need something between meals. 

What I love about these:  The beans!!  The dates!! The coconut!! The cinnamon!!  The high fiber cereal!!  And that the kids loved them! Everyone agreed they were amazing!

For more snack bars, check out:

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4.2 from 13 votes

Cereal Power Bar

A power bar without the price! These snack bars have a variety of power ingredients for protein and fiber!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12 1 bar
Calories: 244kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 can white beans
  • 8 large dates, pitted
  • 1 2/3 cup bran cereal (Fiber One)
  • 1/2 cup coconut flakes
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour, whole wheat
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoon butter, salted
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoon oil, avocado
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup mini chips chocolate chips, semisweet

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil.
  • Drain and rinse the beans; mash, or puree using a food processor.
  • Chop dates and add to a large mixing bowl with cereal, coconut, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and beans.
  • In a separate bowl melt butter. Add honey, oil and vanilla. Mix well and then drizzle into bean mixture, sprinkle with salt and mix together. Add chocolate chips, blend well. Spread in prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges are browned.
  • Cool completely and cut into 12 bars.

Nutrition

Calories: 244kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 184mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 27g
Keyword : Cereal Power Bar

www.superhealthykids.com

Natalie Monson

I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.

Learn More about Natalie
4.16 from 13 votes (13 ratings without comment)

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24 Comments

Love this idea, though I’m never sure how the picky eaters in my house will take to a recipe until I try it. I just saw a recipe in my email for lemon bars and it called for 2 cups of sugar, plus more for the crust, and lots of butter. Know my kids would love it, but I would really like to find healthier alternatives. Thanks for the recipe!

Three things I really don’t care for – cereal (especially bran flakes), dates, and beans – LOL! But, I do wonder if the whole is more than the sum of parts for this recipe. I might have to give it a try…and I’m definitely passing this post along to my friend in search of a good breakfast cookie!

I have everything but the cereal…do you think oats would work or just a different kind of cereal, shredded wheat or something? They look so yummy!

What is the texture of these? Are they chewy or really hard? I’m wondering if my toddler could handle them.

Hey Miranda,
I remember these being chewy, as long as they are not over cooked. I usually undercook slightly to keep them soft, and then store them in an air tight container.

I am so happy to found this recipes from your site! I have been looking for good recipes for cereal bar , since we have about 10 boxes of Great grain cereal. We have 5kids, but 2 kids Are allegies to butter. So what can I put instead butter?

Hi, I made these today and they are delicious. Mina- I used coconut oil and it worked well.

I plugged them into a recipe calorie counter because I was suspicious that these were extremely high in sugar (I don’t count calories but I don’t like my kids to eat a lot of sugar)…unfortunately I was right:(

For anyone who is curious (I put 24 servings):
Per Serving-
181 Calories
7g fat
3G protein
19g sugar (!!)

I would definitely make these as a dessert/cookie type treat instead of a healthy snack. They DO taste delicious and have more vitamins/minerals/fiber then most desserts. Next time I might halve the sugar and honey because I think they would still be sweet enough.

Don’t be embarrassed, your site is amazing!! Thank you for all that you do!! I think this recipe will still taste really good with half the honey, brown sugar and maybe 1/2 cup cinnamon chips sprinkled over the top.