What to eat on the run, on a plane– what to send with your child as a school snack or to eat after school before an after school activity that burns lots of calories?

Power bars or energy bars are perfect, not too filling but filled with calories, easy to eat on the run, non perishable...Unfortunately many are filled with sugar and have a really long list of ingredients. In addition I am not comfortable having a pre packaged food be a part of my daily diet. As a result I started playing around with a recipe of my own.

Once I came up with a recipe that everyone liked I decided to analyze it nutritionally, it looked good when I compared it to other options you can purchase. I asked Janis Jibrin the nutritionist that I work closely with on Bob Greene's Best Life Diet to take a look at the ingredients and the analysis. She enthusiastically approved!

Every Day Energy Bars

Makes 26 bars

5 cup oatmeal

½ cup grapeseed oil

½ cup almond milk

1 cup peanut butter

¼ cup ground flax seeds

¼ cup sesame seeds

¾ cup chopped bittersweet chocolate

¼ cup maple syrup

½ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a stand up mixer add all of the ingredients and mix everything is thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes.

3. Measure out 1/4 cup servings, you could bake them in cupcake molds, I baked them in silicone baking molds that accommodated 1/4 cup servings.

4. Bake for 15 minutes. After cooling completely I wrap the bars individually in a small piece of parchment paper covered with tin foil. I store these in the freezer and for me the recipe yields nearly a months supply.

Nutrition Information for One Bar–

calories: 205

protein: 6 g

carbohydrate: 18 g

fiber: 3 g

sugar: 3 g

total fat: 13 g

saturated fat: 2.6 g

monosaturated fat: 3.7 g

polysaturated fat: 5.4 g

cholesterol: 0 mg

calcium: 26 mg

potassium: 182 mg

sodium: 70 mg