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Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat Bars – You have to put yourself out there to get what you want

3 November 2015 4 Comments

healthy granola bar recipe

You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.” ~ Campbell.

Mid-term holidays for children had started and we finalized a pretty destination for our vacation. Two photo-shoot calls and I had to re-schedule our trip and change it to a weekend getaway.

The photo-shoot this time was an independent project for Isha Life restaurant in Chennai. I was approached by Meena ji for this project sometime back.

I had already interacted with her during another shoot for Isha life and was comfortable from the word go. I was a little apprehensive when she asked me to take up both food photography and explained her about my limitations as a photographer.

But we are fine with your photographs and moreover the pictures we expect give more weightage to styling than the photography part. Hoping to see you next Monday Sanjeeta” Meena ji told politely over our telephonic discussion.

Somewhere along the course of life, you learn that you have to put yourself out there to get what you want. This could be my best chance to take up the challenge and surprise myself, I thought. And my choice did not disappoint me 🙂

I had a wonderful time styling, clicking and eating some of the most sumptuous rustic Indian food at the restaurant.
Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat Bars

The ‘Art of living’ center of Isha life is a treasure trove of rustic and traditional Indian props.

The recipes were selected after a short discussion with the concerned person shot at their restaurant using some of the beautiful props.

Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat Bars

I had a healthy and delicious wholegrain thali for lunch at their restaurant.

The week was hectic with two shoots in a row.

Nevertheless we put a break to the hectic pace of lifestyle to be at these beautiful destinations, Horsleys Hill and Yelagiri for a quick weekend getaway trip.

“You don’t have much to do here, just forget your to-do-list, and soak up the nature.” hubby informed, munching the granola bars, enjoying the uphill drive.

And we did the same. We took out time to discover and appreciate the small wonders of nature which are hard to find in city. Those tiny dew drops on leaves, colourful insects on the ground, collected wild flowers and berries and enjoyed the cheerful songs of mountain birds in silence.

Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat Bars

Early morning walk in the hills..

Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat Bars

With hectic days of food photo-shoots, catching up with friends and updating the blog with new recipes has become a real challenge.

It’s good to shuffle your plans at times and slow down. These weekend trips rejuvenate and give you new perspective on how to deal with what is ahead of you.

And the best way to capture the joyful moments of life is to recreate and write about some of those wonderful experiences here.

Healthy Banana Oat Granola Bars

Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat Bars

Ingredients;

  • 1 cup quick cooking Oats
  • 1 large ripe banana
  • 8-10 Medjool Date
  • 5-6 Apricots
  • 1/4 cup chopped nuts
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
  • A pinch of sea salt

Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat Bars

Method; Pre-heat oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Peel and mash the banana with a fork.

Chop Dates and Apricots and grind into coarse paste in a blender.

Coarsely grind the nuts, I have used almonds and cashew nuts in this recipe.

Add oats, cinnamon powder, honey, coarsely ground nuts, Dates & apricot paste and salt in the bowl of mashed banana and combine well.

All the ingredients will come together to form a thick and sticky dough.

Pat the thick mixture evenly onto the greased baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180°C.

 

Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat Bars

Let the bars cool completely before slicing and serving with a glass of milk or tea. These healthy breakfast chewy bars stay good for 6-7 days.

Recipe & Food Styling | Healthy Banana Oat BarsNotes;

  1. Add chocolate chips or small chunks of dark chocolate to the recipe.
  2. Add walnuts and seeds such as sunflower and melon seeds to the recipe to make it much healthier.

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4 Comments »

  • Pavi said:

    Hi Sanjeeta,

    Bar looks yummy! 🙂
    A quick question. Can we substitute banana with any other fruit? If yes, could you pls give some suggestions?

    Thanks,
    Pavi

  • sanjeeta kk said:

    @Pavi, you can try apple puree after boiling the whole apple in a pressure cooker.

  • Salim said:

    In the list of ingredients, the quantity of apricots is missing 🙁

  • sanjeeta kk said:

    @Salim, updated.

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