I just found out about larabars (I guess I'm a little slow) and was wondering what people thought about them. Obviously a "bar" is not a whole food, but the ingredients are whole, no preservatives and unprocessed. Just wondering what opinions are out there.

I love the lemon one!!! If they weren't so expensive, I could seriously eat at least 5 bars in one sitting. Yum yum yum!

Lara Bars are like the raw foodists junkfood, lol... I agree, if they weren't so expensive I would probably eat more, although I'm trying to eat less bars and more fresh food.... I love 'em, but recently a friend informed me that they are not organic, which kind of surprised me and took some of the joy out of eating them. Their labeling, with all of the catchy words like "1 SERVING OF FRUIT * NO ADDED SUGAR * UNPROCESSED *RAW * NON- GMO * GLUTEN FREE * DAIRY FREE * SOY FREE
VEGAN * KOSHER" almost makes you think that they ARE organic, but they aren't.

Also, just be mindful that Lara Bars are usually high in fat because of the nuts (i guess this is for the 80/10/10 people. Plus, I'm pretty sure that the dates they use in Lara Bars aren't perfectly ripe. And I don't think its too good to have too much unripe fruit. A little won't hurt, but allot might in the longterm.

Just my opinion :-)

"Real religion is the discovery of your authentic nature... it is your own discovery... only when you will be your own discovery will you be able to consider yourself a religious being... a religious soul..."

We should be able to make our own home-made version of them. Anyone ever done this? What would go into the lemon one and are they dehydrated?

Love,
Prism

I love 'em too, though I've cut way back. However, we're going camping Wednesday, and I made sure we each hve one for each day of our trip. My favorites are lemon, lime, ginger, and apple pie.

Sharrhan:


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My (non-raw) husband loves them, and he made his own version. He put some dates, coconut flakes, dried figs, and un-soaked cashews in the food processor, whirled it up, and pressed the "dough" into a pan. Keep it in the fridge. It tasted pretty good.

He kind of improvised, and adds different things, like carob, or almonds. He calls it a Tilly Bar, after our dog.

Peace,
Robin

I've never had a Larabar, because they're not organic. I contacted the company, and they verified that they indeed are not organic.

Raw, but not organic, is an oxymoron to me.

I'm a food snob.

Rawrrr! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm a food snob.

That's the best kind of snob to be

Seriously, I thought they were organic. They ought to be for that price!

I recently came across a recipe for "Energy Bars" from "The Raw Gourmet" by Nomi Shannon. In my third make of this they turned out better because of a change I made. Here is the basic recipe. There are variations. Once you get this down, you can experiment with flavors.

1 C walnuts or pecans
1 C sprouted wheatberries (if you start with 1 cup and then sprout them you will have about 2.5 cups sprouted so be careful)
1 C raisins
4 Tablespoons shredded coconut
2 Tablespoons apple juice or water (optional) I used water
1/2 C raisins or dates (I used dates)

Process nuts to roughly chop. Add wheatberries, raisins, coconut. Process until dough is formed. It is very sticky so add water or juice to keep mixture moving. Add additional raisins or dates for sweetness. Refrigerate dough. Shape into bars and roll in additional coconut if desired. Bars will keep in refrigerator for several weeks.

The change I made the third time that worked very well...I pressed the entire mixture into a square pan and put in refrigerator to set. After, I cut into squares. I then put in my dehydrator and dried for about 5-6 hours. I had mine setting on parchment paper. The recipe seemed too wet the first two times I tried. Drying them gave a great texture and made them more like the bars you can purchase in the store.

"The Raw Gourmet" gives suggestions for variations so you might want to check out the book.

Patty

Now that makes me sad.......laraw bars ar'nt organic. I just discovered them. I gues I will have to try that fantastic recipe, thanks patty for puting it in here.

Raw Revolution and Smart Monkey bars are both organic, and both are quite good.

khale

They're better than some of the other raw bars I've had. I thought Raw Revolution was gross.

I like these:
[www.organicfoodbar.com]

I haven't seen the "raw" at WholeFoods yet though. This one looks good.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2007 03:14AM by LikeItOrNot.

Hi Kwan,

Your signature quote from Patanjali is profound and beautiful. Where did you find it? Is it from his Yoga Sutras? I would really like to find a copy of the translation for my husband and I.

Namaste, Anna

hm
i love lara bars
when there is nothing fresh to eat
but the rest of the time
i prefer my fruit

when i travel i haul them along
gluten-free and minimally processed is far more important to me than organic.
though i do make my own version at home that i actually prefer

dates
almonds
cacao
cinnamon
coconut
whatever i want
pecans and raisins and cinnamin are good...

peace-

Can you give an idea of the amounts you use in your recipe of the main ingredients and then the amounts of the "additions" you use for different flavors???? I'm not experienced enough to create recipes on my own just yet. Do you dehydrate them or just refrigerate?

I read the ingredients listed in the apple Lara Bars and made my own version at home about a year ago. They turned out great! It's been a while and I don't have a Lara Bar in front of me right now but I think the ingredients were just had dates, raisins, walnuts, almonds, apples and cinnamon. I'll probably try them again sometime..

I've been trying a brand called Pure but I won't buy them anymore cuz they have cashews, which aren't raw. I don't have faith in claims made by any labels, so when I buy something I'm just giving it a whirl to see what I think. No one tells the truth so you just have to make a decision and hope for the best.

i don't measure,
and i don't dehydrate.

when i first went raw, i tried to sprout/soak everything before making the bars, and that was a terrible messy yucky failure (though my dog thought they were amazing)

i use enough dates to make it sticky, enough nuts to give it the right texture and to cut the sweetness. usually it's a couple more dates than nuts, for texture and binding. a cup of dates to 1/2 or 3/4 cup of nuts (depending on the nut, walnuts are oily and bind well, almonds make a drier flour, so need the date stickiness) i chop them roughly and toss together. with whatever spices i desire, or other dried fruit or nuts. then i put them all through my omega juicer with the blank, and form into bars, cakes, or balls.

it's usually something i make for when i'm going out, traveling, or have to bring something to a party. and usually they're the first things gone. regardless of how carefully i measure or what i put in, there's something tempting about them to even cooked food eaters....

peace-

THANKS!

I think Lara bars are okay. They're great for traveling, but I actually love the flavor of just plain dates. I could eat a handful of those or more, at a time. It's also great dipping the dates in some raw chocolate powder or carob, or sticking a pecan, walnut or almond inside. But, back to simplicity, I love just eating dates over a lara bar ANY DAY!

Kristen Suzanne
--
www.KristensRaw.com
www.KristensRaw.blogspot.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2007 07:53AM by Kristen's Raw.

I like the idea of dipping the dates in carob and having a nut inside. Why didn't I ever think of that? One of the problems I have with sticking to 100% raw is boredom. It's my own fault because I don't really like a lot of foods so I tend to eat what I like over and over and over and then I get sick of it and want something cooked. I really need to experiment with more recipes, but I've been a bit lazy this summer. I did make a raw carrot cake yesterday that turned out really great, so I just need to get off my butt and into the kitchen.

Durh!
raw almonds, one per half date, is the most amazing desert ever!!!! i didn't even think of it for this thread, but it's so quick and i love serving it to my husband for dessert. he always appreciates it when i share my dates.... cause i'm kinda selfish about them... i'm working on sharing.

i really don't do a lot of fancy preparing, i just buy whatever fruits smell irresistable at the store... and mix and match from there. i find if i buy things that are just totally appetizing, then when i open the fridge b/c i'm hungry, or if i just walk into the kitchen and the smell of pineapple wafts down, or melon, i know exactly what to grab. and it stops my mind from even wandering into the realm of "i'm hungry, what should i cook?"

oh, i also came upon a recipe for my favorite childhood cookie (the greek almond things) that i think i can convert to raw- except the rose water.... any suggestions?

it's 8 oz - almonds, ground
4 oz sugar- raw dates or raw honey
3-4 drops vanilla essence or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teacup rose water
and then dusted in 3 oz white sugar (i'm going to solve this issue)

that's all it is in the real recipe- talk about begging to be made raw!!!

peace-





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2007 02:34PM by Mama Cass.

There is a thread on here about rose hips. I don't really know much about them or about rose water, but I would think you could use the rose hips to make the rose water. Let us know how they turn out.

rose water is made from the petals not the hips ... just google "how to make your own rose water"



...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

There are four organic Larabars at Capers, mostly containing cacao. I didn't buy any but I'd like to try them one day. There are several non-organic flavours and for the 20 cent difference I wonder why they don't make all their flavours (certified) organic.

Still, when I look at the ingredient list, I feel like just making them at home, since they're all based on dates, nuts and flavourings.

i made lara bars, the apple pie ones.
if i do say so myself mine were better!!!

seriously, i used more apples and less walnuts.
i love them and they are way cheaper to make yourself.
enjoy.

dc

In my first weeks of going raw, I came to the logical conclusion, while studying, that I no longer rely on others to process my food. I either eat it as it is, or do the processing myself. Of course it would be awesome to have someone else do some preparing, but I don't have that option where I live and in my current circumstances (but that could change!).
Anyway, it takes a lot out of a person to do so much preparing, especially if you have kids. My kid has grown up and is almost on his own, so I know all about it, and I feel 'sinful' for having enough time and energy for things I want to do now, like prepare my own food! So I would say that we have to decide how much time and energy do we have, and then what is the most important, and then try to find the most efficient way to go about it.
I would think that making your own bars is a great choice. They will last and you can make a pretty big batch. (I hope I'm right on that).
I have started experimenting and the results are improving. From the thread about almond milk, I decided to make cookies with the almond pulp that is left over. I added agave and carob. I hated the consistency of the almond pulp and so I kept adding more things - raw honey, ground sunflower seeds, homogenized (put it through the juicer with a blank screen) apple. The apple really helped! And what helped even more was dehydrating the cookies. Next time I'll make a similar recipe without the almond pulp.

anna_elle--

Just discoverd your question about my Patanjali quote tonight! (This morning, actually, as I worked a double shift tonight and didn't get home till after 12 a.m.)

Gee, I can't remember now where I picked it up from. It's nice, isn't it? Sounds like a very modern rendering of Patanjali.

Sharrhan:


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