Pumpkin Oatmeal Squares

It's no secret that Olivia eats pretty clean.  We aren't in denial that this will always be the case.  Nor do we believe that by eating this way she will never have a single health issue or she'll become some beauty pageant queen... or any other theory one might want to pin on us.  Our reasons are simple.  She came out as a clean slate, and we'd like to keep her that way for as long as possible.

It's also no secret that America has some serious issues with food and weight (present party included) and kids are no longer immune to these issues.  Let's add in the fact that she doesn't have the skinny gene (hello 50 pounds that need to go!) AND all of the gross, nasty, disgusting hormones and junk that are put into food these days (um, girls should not be getting boobs and a period at the age of 9--why do you think this is happening?  Check your milk!)...and our point is pretty much made for itself.

Unfortunately, sometimes we all just want to be lazy.  Or have a quick fix.  There is a long list of things that she has never had and we hope to keep it that way.  However, she does have a processed food now and then.  But even in those choices, we try to be wise.  It makes it pretty easy when she can't have dairy or soy.  Read a label sometime.  They have to state in big bold black letters any allergens.  Check out some of your favorite boxed food and snacks and if it doesn't have dairy it will surely have soy.  If not both.  While I believe that she's probably grown out of most of her issues, this is just a good "excuse" to keep her away from the junk.

One quick thing we like to have is a snack bar.  She eats multiple fruits and/or vegetables at all 3 of her meals, so we like for snack to be something different.  Personally, I prefer it to be in the grain family since I sometimes lack in that area.  We also want something that can travel and be eaten on the go.  She was loving the Ella's Kitchen nibbly fingers.  The ingredients are pretty straight forward.  The problem is they are so small and expensive.  We also tried Lara Bars.  These are also pretty clean and have a good amount of protein for her.  Unfortunately, she got burned out on them.

It's so frustrating that the healthier you get, the more expensive the item is.  I'm not willing to spend over a dollar on each snack bar.  I am trying to save money, not spend it like crazy. That sent me on a search for a snack bar that I could make.  I didn't dig too deep.  I went right to a friend's pinterest page.  I knew she'd have something pinned for her toddler that I could use.  Sure enough, I found a recipe for these pumpkin oatmeal squares.  I figured it was worth a try.

Some notes about the recipe:

*I used old fashion oats because it's what I had

*I usually don't have vanilla almond milk, but we had a few travel boxes of milk left from our trip.  Olivia doesn't like them, so this was a good opportunity to use them up. I will just use regular almond milk next time.  I'm sure cow's milk would work, but since the author was trying for it to be "dairy free" she went the almond milk route.

*3 eggs produce 1/2 cup egg whites :)

*I did not buy stevia, so I just used some pure maple syrup as the sweetener.  Next time I think I'm going to try honey or agave nectar (both I have)

*I used up some cranberries I had, and then measured the rest with raisins.
* I didn't have a square pan (mine shattered a few months ago), so I used a smaller pan. It looks like a 9 x 12 in this picture, but it's not.  I'm not sure it's size.

 Olivia loved them.  In fact, she asked for more and ate 2 bars.
I tried a small piece myself.  They were alright.  The cranberries helped give them a kick.  Other than that, there weren't many strong flavors.  Of course, that sometimes happens when you are going for "healthy".

I'm going to keep looking for yummy, healthy, budget friendly snack recipes to make.  In the meantime, I would make these for O again.