Lemon Date Oatmeal Bar

When I first started the blog, I knew very little about designing a blog. I didn’t spend a lot of time fretting about the design because I just wanted to get started.

I just wanted a medium where I can talk about the fun stuff that happens in life, a place where I can post my recipes, share tips on living healthy with friends and family.

My blog is about 6 months old now (it’s still a baby) and I wanted to do something fun that changed things around here a little bit.

This is the current header, it was something I created from a stock photo from WordPress and added the blog name on the picture.

Below is option #1 of what I’m thinking of changing the header to. I’ve been having a fun time customizing a new header.

Here is option #2. I like both options, they are similar yet it is different if you look closer to the details.

What do you guys think? I am still working out the details and playing around with the size.

I mentioned this weekend that I was baking a batch of snack bars for the fiance. He buys boxes of snack bars in bulk, he likes to eat them because they are convenient and can be easily carried in his work bag. Whenever I can, I try to bake something more nutritious and healthier than his go to snack bars.

Lemon Date Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 5 medjool dates chopped
• 2 tablespoon lemon curd
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup trail mix chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray 8″ X 8″ baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or use parchment paper.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients until smooth.
4. Spread batter in prepared baking pan and bake for approximately 15-20 minutes until bars are cooked all the way through.
5. Let bars cool completely in pan before cutting.

I put 1 cup of trail mix on a chopping board and did a rough chop until all the nuts are uniformed in size.

I bought this jar of lemon curd from Trader Joe’s for the sole purpose of making lemon flavored treats for the fiance.

For me, these bars are perfectly sweetened but the fiance said that he liked for them to be more sweet next time. The sugar, dates and lemon curd all adds sweetness to the bar.

I loved the chunks from the nuts in the trail mix, because it adds plenty of texture. These bars are soft and chewy. The addition of the lemon curd gave the bars more of  a soft texture instead of being densed.

I loved them and have been eating them the last few days as snacks while running errands.

The textures up close.

Wrapped tightly to keep them from drying out and becoming crumbly. I stored the bars in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

I’m not sure if these will last until this weekend. I wanted to take a few bars while we are at Disneyland but I have a feeling that I will baking a new batch soon.

Hope your first day back at work after a holiday weekend went well!

My day was busy but all I could think about the whole day was our engagement pictures. We are supposed to be getting our pictures this week. I have been anticipating them ever since the fun day we had at the photo shoot.