HEALTHY PLANET OAT BARS

So lately food, the environment, outer space, and other things have peeked my interest and I have been doing some further reading on these topics.  It rather blows my mind what I did not know or what I sort of knew but took no interest in before.  The most incredible thing that blows me COMPLETELY away is; we live in a solar system that revolves around a star that is in a galaxy along with over TWENTY million stars that most have planets revolving around them.  Then when you leave our galaxy, you head on out into the rest of the universe where over a billion other galaxies are with their twenty million stars. Wow! It makes you think how special we are, how small we are, and what is out there. 

About two years ago I had this moment of clarity. My husband was reading this book and doing further reading about the universe and society and was talking out loud about it. I found myself wanting him to stop telling me about the universe because it made me think about life and death and that scared me, then I wanted him to stop talking about the war with the Americans over in Iraq because it made me realize that maybe the government is corrupt and cruel and this made me feel unsafe.  I wanted him to stop talking about people on the other side of the world who were starving and dying because that wasn't our problem but rather their own government's problem and it made me sad.  My clarity came when he told me what cognitive dissonance was.  And I had it! Most of our society does.  Every time I heard or saw something that made me question my beliefs or pushed me to think about negative things going on in the world I experienced the dissonance.  Refusal to believe or entertain anything more than what I already had known or decided what life is like.  I didn't want to get in touch with the planet we live on and how the human race behaves because it didn't make me feel safe. I didn't like what I saw.  So ignorantly, I went along with the people who said that people dying on the other side of planet was not our problem.  How ridiculous! Would we not all ban together if we were possibly invaded by something cosmic or foreign to the human race? When did we stop being a human race?  I ignored environmental issues because 'someone was going to figure that out' and I didn't have to change but rather enjoy life 'cause it's not happening in my lifetime'.  Clearly I was out of my head. One day I just woke up from being ignorant and it all came rushing in and I felt angry that I had become this person. Now I rant about the environment and the injustices of our world and I am called "one of those tree huggers" (which makes me laugh because I would only hope that my children saw me in that light).  I have had people tell me I am being silly for even worrying about wars on earth, poisoned water, bad air, cancer causing foods, corrupted people in power that only care about money and their own gains, (again I laugh because I can only hope my children are silly too and take part in change). So I encourage you to read things that question your beliefs, rant more about being earth friendly and healthy, and talk more about world issues because our children are the future and their children are theirs'.  We all should be shouting from the roof tops that we want to breath clean air, eat food that is not going to give us cancer, and stop fighting with each other over green paper, stop stripping the earth of the resources we can't replace, but rather come together and listen to new ideas and curve our beliefs for our children.  I want my children to be kind, smart, proactive, and most of all, think, so that they can be apart of positive change that every one desires but won't let their voice be heard.

With that said, how does this tie into the healthy planet oat bar recipe below?  Part of being proactive in the future of our planet is to nourish the people on it.  The recipe is fun because you can be creative and add what you want to it.  I will provide the basic ingredients and give some ideas of what I put in mine.  Other wise you can be creative and make sure you share your thoughts and ideas below!


HEATLHY PLANET OAT BARS

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup packed coconut sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats or rolled oats (I use gluten free)
1 cup crispy rice cereal (I used gluten free)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons mini carib (dairy free) chocolate chips

Additional things I added:
-golden ground flax
-skinny B cereal mix (hemp hearts and chai seeds)
-almonds
-cinnamon
You can add anything your heart desires!

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside. In a small pot, melt coconut oil, honey and coconut sugar together over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes. Pour in vanilla and stir. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients. Spread out on a small cookie sheet and pack it down to desired thickness.If your pan isn't small enough, pack the mixture into one side. You really want to press them down so they stick together. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly. Cool on a countertop to room temperature for two hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

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