Healthy Flapjacks with Fruit and Seeds

Readers, like most of you I’ve approached 2015 with renewed vigour and a need to kickstart my healthy eating again.  I’ve realised it’s about everything in moderation.  There’s no point in starving yourself to look good if you are constantly miserable.   My whole thing is exercise.   Like the majority of the population, a demanding desk based job means I’m not active through the day and am struggling to fit it in around everything else going on.

I’m making a point though of cutting the alcohol, watching what I eat, enjoying treats in moderation and doing a bit more exercise.  I’ve managed the gym once and a hour’s swimming this weekend, so here’s hoping I keep it up.

As it’s the start of a health kick, I had a look into healthy bakes.  Turns out there’s loads of them over on Pinterest.   I wanted something I could make with cupboard ingredients, that wasn’t laden with fat and sugar and came across these oat flapjacks on DieticianUK.

I’ve amended this wonderful recipe slightly to suit what I had in the cupboard.  On first bite they were a shock to the system – we are used to flapjacks being syrupy and sugary.  These are much less sweet, but I suppose you could up the honey content slightly if you can’t quite kick the habit!  I at least feel these are filling – the oats are a source of slow energy release, so you shouldn’t crash and burn on them.   The dried fruit and nut filling is also a source of energy and protein, whilst the banana binding helps with those potassium levels.

This recipe is also great for special diets – it’s dairy free, egg free and if you used gluten free oats, could be gluten free as well.

I’m hoping to make more recipes from the site in future which I’ll share with you all.

Happy Healthy Living (for now)

Healthy Fruit and Seed Flapjacks

Recipe adapted from DieticianUK

Ingredients (makes 12 pieces)

200g porridge oats

120g dried fruit of your choice

20g seeds of your choice (I used one of my Graze snack boxes) 

2 mashed bananas (ripe)

1 tablespoon clear honey (warmed)

3 dessert spoons sunflower oil

 Method

1.     Preheat the oven to 190c/170c fan.  Line a 20cm x 20cm silicone traybake tin.

2.     Add the porridge oats, dried fruit and seeds to a bowl. Mix to combine.

3.     Mash the banana well in a separate bowl.

4.     Add the sunflower oil, mashed banana and honey to the oat, fruit and seed mix until it all comes together.

5.     Press the mixture into your tin and flatten.

6.     Cook in the oven for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, remove and cover with a tin foil top to                 prevent burning. 

7.     Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, then remove from oven. Turn onto a cooling         

        rack.

8.     Slice when cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

I'm linking this recipe up to #recipeoftheweek over at A Mummy Too

I'm also adding it to this month's #TreatPetite hosted by Cakey Boi with the theme of healthy baking.