The summer time clock is ticking and back to school is inching closer by the second! My goal this week is to ease myself into the transition by waking up a little earlier each day. So far so good, we’ll see how well I stick to that plan once we get to my grandparents house on Friday. They are early risers so hopefully I’ll do the same, but there is something about their guest bedroom that makes me revert back to high school and want to sleep in as late as I can.

As I mentioned in my last post, my mother and sister are here visiting for a few days until we head to my grandparents. They got in late last night and I can’t wait to spend some quality girl time. If the weather cooperates we plan to get some time in at the beach. It’s been extremely rainy over the last week so if that trend continues we’ll just have to do a little shopping instead. Needless to say, I’m A-OK with both of these options.

Robert informed me last night that he has chosen my birthday present and that I shouldn’t make any plans for the weekend after next. I’m not sure what exactly this gift could be, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t a trip to Thailand or a puppy sister for Renly (My top two gift requests always). It’s probably not the workout tops I picked out either as those wouldn’t cause me to block out any time on my schedule. I’m thinking it may be a weekend getaway, but to where? I have no idea! I love to travel any and everywhere so I can’t wait to find out what he has up his sleeve. Sweet sneaky husband.

 

Since my summer days are dwindling, I have been making a few other back to work preparations besides waking up earlier. I spent yesterday making two batches of my new favorite granola bars and wrapping them individually to freeze for back to work lunches. I used to buy granola bars until I realized how much sugar is in most of them. If I’m going to eat that kind of sugar, it’s going to be in a delicious bowl of ice cream, not in a snack bar. Not to mention that making your own granola bars is SO simple and you can customize them to fit your tastes perfectly.

 

In the past, I have used peanut butter or almond butter in this recipe, but I bought my first jar of tahini about a month ago and have been trying to think of new ways to use it. If you’ve never had tahini, it has a nutty taste and the consistency of natural peanut butter (think the ones with oil separation in the jar). I bought it to drizzle on roasted sweet potato wedges (which was delicious), but I was itching to swap it out for peanut butter in a recipe and this one seemed like the perfect fit. Lo and behold, it was delicious, even better than the peanut butter version! It balances perfectly with the salty pistachios and crunchy almonds. I’m pretty sure Robert doesn’t even know what tahini is but he is a big fan of these bars, he’s been sneaking extras into his lunchbox all week! Hopefully my new freezer stash will last at least the first few weeks of school

 

Hope everyone enjoys this last week of summer (not technically but you know what I mean) as much as I plan to!  Make these granola bars and go hang by the pool! Stay tuned for my recap of our engagement in Las Vegas as the anniversary is coming up! Have a great week!

 

Chewy No-Bake Tahini Nut Granola Bars

Ingredients:

2 Cups Old Fashioned Oats

1/4 Cup shredded Coconut

1/4 Cup raw Almonds, chopped

1/4 Cup shelled Pistachios, chopped

1/2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/4 Tsp. Salt

1/3 Cup Honey

1/3 Cup Tahini

1/4 Cup Dates, pitted and chopped

 

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the oats, coconut, almonds, pistachios, vanilla and salt. Mix well.

2. Heat a small saucepan over medium heat and combine the honey, tahini and dates. Stir until heated through and well combined. Remove from heat and pour mixture into bowl containing dry ingredients. Stir until well combined and all ingredients are incorporated.

3. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with nonstick spray. Transfer oat mixture to dish and flatten with the back of a spoon until level.

4. Transfer baking dish to the freezer for 20 minutes. Remove from freezer and cut into bars. Wrap individually in wax paper and store in refrigerator or transfer to a ziplock bag to store in freezer. Enjoy!