Healthy Strawberry Oat Squares

Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, I am writing this blog post from my first hour classroom at school! The class is Recent American History and we finished our notes early, so I figured I’d just go ahead and start my next blog post on my computer. Today is the first day of school after Christmas Break, and the mood at school is actually pretty good. People are glad to see each other, though nobody really wants to have to wake up early again. I guess I’m feeling the same way. Christmas Break was really nice, though very up-and-down emotionally. That’s kind of just how it feels to be me right now (#teenager!). But, break can’t last forever, so here I am!

Anyway, since I always bring a little mid-morning snack to school, I whipped up some snack bars to make going back to school a little easier. Don’t they look delicious?

These are healthy strawberry oat bars, and they are so yummy! I veganized an almost-vegan recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction (all it took was a flax egg instead of a chicken’s egg!), and they turned out perfectly. They are full of oats, almond butter, peanut butter, and strawberries, making them a wholesome snack that will keep you energized. I even had one of these as part of my dinner last night! And they are easy to make. Since I only made minor adjustments, I’m not going to write out the recipe for you (I think it’s important to respect those who actually come up with these recipes), but I’m linking the recipe below, and these were the adjustments I made:

1. I replaced the chicken’s egg with a flax egg.
2. Where almond butter is called for, I used half almond butter and half peanut butter. This makes them lightly peanut-buttery without being overwhelming.
3. I used frozen strawberries. No problems there.
4. I left out the 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar in the filling.
5. I used a mixture of quick and rolled oats.
6. I used applesauce instead of apple butter.
7. I left out the sliced almonds in the crumble topping.
8. I added just a pinch of salt to the filling.

Find the recipe at Sally’s Baking Addiction 🙂

Here’s to a great start to 2016. I’m determined to keep my resolutions, and I think these bars will help keep me revved up to do exactly that! 😉