I have a treat for you this week. Something delicious to add to your healthy cooking list in this New Year…
This year we had Dave’s parents, and his sister’s family in town for the holidays. We had a great time catching up, eating holiday meals, hanging at the beach, eating fudge, playing games, eating pie, and…well…You know how it goes with family and holidays: Lots of fun. And lots of eating.
A special part of their visit was that Uncle Ted…Dave’s sister Cami’s husband, brought with him some of his favorite healthy recipes. Ted is a family doctor in McMinnville, Oregon, and just in the past couple of years he has gotten pretty radical about his own nutrition.
Ted’s always been good in the kitchen. Dave and I laugh remembering Ted’s famous leftover casseroles, where he would combine pretty much every leftover in the fridge and heat them all up together and “Voila!” Dinner is served. It always tasted great (or at least pretty good) but on a scale of 1 to Healthy, it probably didn’t rank very high. Haha. We love Ted.
Nowadays, Ted’s diet puts us all to shame. He’s mostly vegetarian, pretty much dairy free (he blends his own walnut milk most of the time), and in general has a thing for nuts. All of the nuts. (Just ask him and Ted might rattle off a whole bunch of facts about eating nuts and living a long, healthy life.)
Last year, Ted had shared his famous recipe for what he calls “Dr. Ted’s Nut Bars” with me. They quickly became a family favorite. We changed them to “Uncle Ted’s Nut Bars”, but with all due respect, decided on, “Uncle-Dr. Ted’s Nut Bars.” Things like that just can’t be left alone around here, so in our house these might go by any variety of…
“Uncle Ted’s Dr. Nut Bars.”
“Dr. Ted’s Nut Uncle Bars.”
“Nutty Uncle Ted’s Dr. Bars”…
Which of course made it really hard to title this post.
Well, whatever you call them, these are really good. Sweet and moist, easy to take on-the-go, and packed with nutrition, these bars do not disappoint. Each time I make them I seem to switch out a few ingredients for whatever I have on hand, and my most recent batch was no exception. Adding chopped apricots and dried blueberries (in place of the cranberries), I might have made my favorite batch yet.
So below you’ll find the recipe, just as Uncle (Dr.) Ted has written it out.
Make them, eat them, and may you live a long, healthy, nutty life.
As always…Personalize it by swapping ingredients and playing around with the recipe.
- Dry Ingredients A
- 3 cups walnuts
- 1 cup Hazelnuts and 1 cup Cashews (or your choice of nut)
- 1 cup Old fashion oats, ½ cup Sunflower Seeds, and ½ cup flax seeds
- 1 cup dried cranberries (or other dried fruit combination) and 1 cup coconut flakes
- Dry Ingredients B
- 1 cup Old Fashion Oats
- ½ cup Sunflower Seeds
- ¼ cup Flax Seds
- 1 cup Coconut flour
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp. salt
- Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup Honey
- ½ cup Agave Nectar
- ¼ cup Light Olive Oil
- ¼ cup Coconut Oil
- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Use a food processor or good blender to grind each item under "Dry Ingredients A" one at a time, into a coarse powder texture. Place them all in a large bowl and combine well.
- Add everything listed under "Dry Ingredients B" to the mixture. Combine well, breaking up any large clumps.
- Combine all wet ingredients in a sauce pan or a microwaveable bowl and heat until coconut oil is melted. (microwave about 30-45 seconds should be enough.)
- Pour warmed liquid mixture into the large bowl of dry ingredients. Stir util ingredients are well combined. Spread and pack onto a large baking sheet or pan oiled with a tbsp. of coconut oil. (Dr. Ted covers the ingredients with a sheet of wax paper and packs and smooths them down with his hands.)
- Cut into bars, about 2X 2 inches, then bake at 375 degrees for 17 minutes. Allow to cool about 5 minutes, cut bars again, then remove with a spatula.
- Enjoy!
Thank you to Dr. Uncle/Uncle Dr. Ted for sharing your recipe with us!
Cami and Ted enjoying the North Shore ^^^ 😉
See you all soon!
Monica
PS Be sure to jump onto instagram and follow my new account @healthyhappyandfree for healthy, balanced living and inspiration!
ALSO, once again, food photo credit by the talented Josiah Swanson. 🙂
Man…those nut bars look delicious! Do you happen to know the nutritional content? I know my son would love these but he is diabetic and we have to know the carbs for everything…..
Thank You
Thank you Katie! I am so sorry, I do not know the nutritional breakdown. I keep meaning to get a little app that allows me to list that for all of my recipes. Glad you commented on that — reminds me to look into that more! 😉 Much Aloha-
These sound amazing! I’ve pinned them to my snack board and can’t wait to make a batch. Thanks for sharing!!
I think “nutty uncle Ted’s dr bars” is the best!