No Bake Energy Bars

This recipe is a repost from my other blog Heather's Sweets and Treats, but it is too good not to share here.  These bars are easy to make and pack in enough calories and energy to last you several hours on the trail.  So far, we have used them for two different backpacking trips.  

They are flexible enough they don't get easily broken and can easily be tucked into your pocket or tossed into the lid of your pack.  I usually cut these into twelve bars, but it makes them pretty large.  Oftentimes, Dave and I will split one on the trail.  You can easily cut them into whatever size suits your needs.

No Bake Energy Bars

• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup sunflower seeds 
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
• 1/2 cup wheat germ 
• 1/2 cup crisp rice cereal
• 18 pitted dates
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (if you only have Mrs. Butterworth, make it 1/2 cup honey and skip the syrup)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (or dried cherries, raisins, etc.)
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (mini is important, they stick in the bars better)

Put oats in the bowl of your food processor and pulse until powdered (like flour).  Pour into a large mixing bowl.  Next, put sunflower seeds and 2 tablespoons oil into the bowl of food processor and pulse until you have made sunflower seed butter.  Pour into mixing bowl with oats.  Put dates and 1 tablespoon oil into bowl of food processor, pulse until you have made a smooth paste.  Dump into mixing bowl.  Next , to the mixing bowl, add in flaxseed meal, wheat germ, and crisp rice cereal.  Mix all to combine.  

In a microwave safe bowl, pour in honey and maple syrup.  Microwave for about 30-40 seconds.  This makes everything a little more liquidy.  Pour into granola mixture.  Stir to combine.  Finally, mix in dried cranberries and chocolate chips.  

Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.  Dump granola bar mixture into the bowl.  Press firmly and evenly into the pan.  I usually just use the palm of my hand, but a clean drinking glass also works.  Allow to sit for an hour or two.  Cut bars to desired size, wrap individually in plastic wrap and freeze or eat immediately.

Trek to Machu Picchu

At the end of May, we went to Peru for 2 weeks.  It was an amazing and exciting trip.  We hadn't traveled out of the country for fun in a couple years and this was our first trip to South America.  Of course, when we were there we had to visit Machu Picchu.  

We are a bit outdoorsy and we knew we wanted to climb the steps to the top (instead of taking the bus) so Dave found a trek that would allow us some outdoor adventure and take us to Machu Picchu.  We decided to go with Lorenzo expeditions.  They are a little bit more expensive than some of the other treks you can find, but I always felt safe doing the adventures and Dave and I had our own very clean rooms in all the hostels.  

The first day, they picked us up, fed us breakfast and took us way up high in the mountains to bike down.  We were up pretty high, high enough it sorta felt like a large man was sitting on your chest.  Luckily, we were only going downhill.  We took a few rest breaks along the way and at our very first rest, I managed to flip my bike while trying to stop.  Nice.  Luckily, as you can see above, I had a lot of protective gear on so no damage done.

After biking, we had the option for some additional cash, to go white water rafting.  I had never been before so away we went.  It was really quite fun.  We merged with several other tour groups so there was quite a big group of us.  The only drawback: they don't want your flip flops to fall off, so if you are going, wear sandals that strap on (see our chacos above) because otherwise you have to take them off and walk a fair distance down to the water barefoot.

The next day was our long hiking day.  I believe we went 10-12 miles in total.  The hiking was not terribly strenuous, but we did go up and down a lot of hills.  About every hour and a half, we stopped at several people's farms to buy water and snacks and to have a rest.  

Our guide showed us the local plants and talked about what they were used for.  It was crazy to see banana plants just growing along the side of the hill or to walk through a coffee farm with the coffee beans spread out to dry.

This day ended at the local hot springs, which is really how a long day of hiking should always end.

The next day we went zip lining in the morning (another optional activity).  There were long zip lines and then there was a crazy suspension bridge that you could cross (still wearing your harness and tether).   

After zip lining, we had another 1/2 day hike to finish out the day.  On our last night, we were treated to a fancish dinner and spent a little time in town buying food for our visit to Machu Picchu the next day.

Early the next morning, we strapped on our headlamps and headed out to climb the 1700 steps to the top of Machu Picchu.  The idea was to get there to see the sun rise, but honestly, our group was a bit too slow and so morning came before we made it to the top.  It took us about an hour and a half to get up all those stairs.  Our guide met us at the top and gave us a tour of this beautiful place.

There were about 40 llamas wandering the grounds.  They were there as natural lawn mowers to keep the grass in good shape.

After our tour, the guide left us and we were on our own to wander the grounds.  We could have paid for an additional ticket and climbed up one of the other mountains, but we had thought we might be too exhausted.  We were right.  When we were done, we went back down the steps and took the train back to Cusco.