Cherry Orange Oatmeal Bar Recipe

Remember my craving for a cherry-filled day?  And then when I was thinking about packing cherry oatmeal bars as a snack for the kids while we traveled to the east coast?  Well, yes.... the kids and I did make those Cherry Orange Oatmeal Bars before our trip.  We followed the recipe from Whole Foods.... definitely pretty good.

We gathered the ingredients (we used mostly organic, but it's not necessary)...

The recipe calls for dried cherries (or cranberries or even chocolate chips), but at the moment we're all about fresh cherries and their plump and juicy flavor, so we used these cherries... yum.  I removed the pits, then quartered the cherries.

Then we mixed all the ingredients together (I'm sure there were a few bites taken here and there... ya know, taste-testing!)....

.... then spread the mixture the pan.   Instead of coating the pan with oil, I laid parchment paper on the bottom of the pan, then piled on the bar mixture...

We baked the bars, then pulled the parchment paper straight out of the pan and set it out to cool...

Then we sliced the bars and of course ate a few before packing the rest for our trip....

And here's the recipe if you'd like to taste the bars for yourself.... this recipe is straight from Whole Food's website...

Cherry Orange Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients
Natural spray oil for pan
3 cups gluten-free rolled oats
1/3 cup smooth almond butter
1 cup dried sour cherries, or a mix of cherries and raisins
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons finely ground flaxseed

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly spray an 8-inch square pan with oil; set aside.  Mix together oats, almond butter, cherries, orange juice, honey, nutmeg, salt and egg whites in a bowl; press firmly into pan.  Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 35 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes, sprinkle flaxseed over the top, let cool completely, cut into bars and serve.

Yum....