Chocolate Cherry Cashew Bars

This recipe came to me by way of my dear friend, Mary Ann. She enjoys cooking and reading blogs, and she always sends me her best finds. This one is from the blog "Peas and Thank You" and it hit a home run in my house. It's a sweet and salty, fruity and chocolaty, crunchy and chewy taste treat.

What more could you want?

Chocolate Cherry Cashew Bars

Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 30 mins | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• Ingredients (12 bars)
• 2 T. flax seeds (or approximately 3 T. ground)
• 1/2 c. maple syrup, agave or honey (or mixture of any of the three)
• 1 t. salt
• 1 c. whole almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 c. peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 c. cashew pieces
• 1/2 c. dried cherries
• 1/2 c. quality chocolate chips

Directions:

Prep Time: 5 min.
Cook Time: 30 min.


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To the ground flax, add the syrupy sweetener of your choice. Mix well and set aside. In a large bowl, combine salt, almonds, peanuts, cashews and cherries. Pour flax syrup mixture over nuts and cherries and stir until evenly coated. Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper. Spread the nut mixture in the baking pan evenly, from corner to corner. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, until bars are slightly browned and edges are crisp. They will be soft, but will harden upon cooling.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave or over a double-boiler. Drizzle chocolate over almost cooled bars. Chocolate will be wet, but will set upon cooling.

When bars and chocolate have set, pull parchment out of pan and set bars on a flat cutting surface.
Cut bars into squares, and store in an airtight container. They stay especially crunchy if you refrigerate them.

Nutritional Info:

3.62 = weight watcher points 1/3 cups = cherries

Note: The pic is not mine.

Kale Chips

I know... you've seen this deletable treat on every website and blog for about a year. Well, as usual, it takes me a while to catch on, but I now understand what all the fuss is about! It's no surprise that potato chips are bad for our health because of the fat and sodium. Still, they're a tasty snack that hit the spot from time to time. Kale, however, is a good source of B vitamins and if you bake it properly it will satisfy your desire for the "other" chip and provide a healthy alternative. So, if you haven't tried making kale chips, you really should, and here's how.

Kale Chips

Kale, one bunch
Olive oil, 1 T
Celtic sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Separate the leaves from the stem and cut them into small pieces (similar in size to a potato chip).Wash and thoroughly dry the kale in a salad spinner. Pour the olive oil into the bottom of a bowl and rub oil onto each piece of kale, front and back. Lay the kale out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lightly salt. Bake for 8 - 12 minutes.

Note: The photo isn't mine. I couldn't get a picture of the chips because we ate them so fast!