 We are a busy family, and this year has been no exception. Trying to juggle homeschooling, working from home full time, and building a business has been quite the task in 2020. Quick and easy vegan meals and snacks are a necessity in our household. Homemade vegan trail mix and vegan bars are essential items. When shopping for vegan bars I definitely check out the ingredients. Is there a long list of ingredients? Are they packed with added sugars, artificial additives, or artificial preservatives? Those are some of the questions I ask. Some of our favorites store bought items are Made Good Bars and Mezcla bars. They contain wholesome, non-GMO, and gluten free ingredients.  Almonds, walnuts, raisins, dates, and a sprinkle of cinnamon are all it takes to make these yummy bars. This is also a simple vegan recipe for kids to enjoy. My daughter helped me make these, and they turned out very well. Many bars today are marketed for kids and have a large amount of added sugars. People fail to realize that there is a very big difference between added sugars and natural sugars. Added sugars are added in during the processing stage, and they do not provide any nutritional value. Naturally occurring sugars in whole foods like fruit have added health benefits like fiber and antioxidants. What about the sugar in dates and raisins? The sugars in raisins occur naturally and are packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. When eaten in moderation they have great health benefits. Raisins can boost iron levels, keep your bones strong, and help you with digestion. Like raisins, dates are a great alternative sweetener. Dates contain vitamins and minerals like calcium, vitamin C, and magnesium. They also contain antioxidants that help prevent cell damage from toxins and folate that is important in pregnancy. Dates are such a versatile and nutritious treat that can be used in everything from vegan chocolate brownies to delicious, energizing bars.  Sweet, chewy, snackable, nutritious, and only five ingredients!
Author: The Sensible Vegan Recipe Type: Smoothie Cuisine: Vegan Serving: 8 Ingredients:
Nutrition Info: Serving size: 1 bar Calories: 154 Fat: 4.5g Saturated Fat: 0.4g Protein: 2.5g Sugar: 23.2g Fiber: 3.4g Sodium: 63mg Carb: 33g
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 Granola is a staple in our home. We eat granola bars, granola bites, granola cereal, and love making our own vegan granola as well. When we're not making our own, we absolutely love Made Good products. This recipe contains some of my favorite ingredients: dates, dark chocolate, and protein powder.  People often talk about vegan food being too complicated, tedious, and expensive. One of the most inexpensive and versatile vegan foods are oats. They can be used a variety of ways, and they are nutritious and filling as well. I used gluten-free rolled oats to prepare this recipe. You can toast them before adding them to the recipe or leave them raw. I prefer leaving them raw. Dark chocolate finds its way into many of my vegan dessert recipes. It's not too sweet, packed with antioxidants, and adds the perfect touch to the granola bars. This recipe is a hit with my husband and daughter, and I hope you love it, too! I am happy to make wholesome granola for my family. In the past when I was not as mindful about ingredients and picked just any old granola off the shelves, I was basically basing it off the price of the product versus the health benefits and quality. Sadly, there are a vast number of granola products on store shelves packed with preservatives, GMO-ingredients, and a long list of other ingredients that help preserve the shelf life by being laden with chemicals. There are quite a few with "wholesome" "all-natural" and "made with whole-grain" on the packaging. These terms do not always ensure a healthy or clean product. That is a definite marketing ploy. When I started reading labels and ingredients and researching what the chemicals can do to our bodies, I woke up. I am so glad I did! For this reason I love preparing our own snacks and meals so I know exactly what I am using in my recipes.   Sweet, simple, and only five ingredients.
Author: The Sensible Vegan Recipe Type: Snack Cuisine: Vegan Serving: 14 Ingredients:
Nutrition Info: Serving size 1 bar Calories: 200 Fat: 4 g Saturated Fat: 2.5g Protein: 4g Sugar: 14g Fiber: 3.4g Sodium: 20mg Carb: 23g  I really enjoy a great granola bar, and I usually keep a few in my purse for those emergency snack situations. As much as I love granola, I have never made my own until now. When looking for a quality granola bar I normally choose the one with the least amount of ingredients. My daughter and I were looking at various brands, and we were happy that there were several plant based varieties but disappointed at the amount of sugar packed into those little packages. Some of the ones marketed specifically to kids had the highest sugar content per serving! One of our favorite brands is Made Good. They really know what they are doing, and one of their bars or packages of granola bites are usually in my daughter's lunch bag several days of the week. This time we decided to make our own chocolate chunk granola, and we had a blast doing it. When you make it yourself you know exactly what goes into it, you control the sugar content, and you can put together your favorite plant based flavors and easily make some delicious granola yourself!  Not all vegan protein powders are created equal. While researching several brands I was appalled at some of the ingredients that were inside. Some people are not particular about ingredients as long as the product is vegan and no animals were abused or killed in the process, but I look at other factors as well. Some of the protein powders contained high amounts of:
and a host of other not so clean ingredients. I learned that it's not just the ingredients that matter but also how the protein is processed. I have not looked so closely at this in the past. All that concerned me was that it was vegan and tasted good, but those days are gone. I received this pea protein powder from Basik Health Company, but it was before I started doing my research. Was I going to have to discard it? Not at all. After looking at the company's website, I knew that I had a clean, quality, protein powder. The JustPea protein is
 I tossed all of the ingredients into my food processor, and the protein powder blended smoothly with the peanut butter and made some tasty granola.  After I pressed the granola into an 8 x 8 inch pan and placed it in the freezer, it was ready to eat within 30 min.  Sweet, chunky, dark chocolatey, snackable, and only five ingredients! Author: The Sensible Vegan Recipe Type: Snack Cuisine: Vegan Serving: 8 Ingredients
Serving size: 1 bar Calories: 170.5 Fat: 11.5g Saturated Fat: 2.6g Carbohydrates: 13g Sugar: 3.4g Sodium: 114.8mg Fiber: 3g Protein: 8g 
 My daughter had a day off from school due to it being a teacher's work day. Each student had to do an enriching activity and report on it when school returned. Making a new recipe was on the list of ideas, so of course we jumped on it. This is a fun, kid-friendly recipe, and it is super easy to make. It started with my trail mix recipe and evolved into chocolate trail mix bark!  I have had several people ask me, "How do I get my kids interested in vegan food?" I hear frustration about kids not liking the food or not wanting to try certain foods. My answer is, allow your kids to take part in the preparation. Let them help create the recipes. They may even come up with their own recipes. When they are invested in the process, there is usually a better outcome. Plus, it is so much fun!  Something amazing happens when you combine dark chocolate and trail mix. You get a nutritious snack that is packed with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and it tastes great, too!  Kid-friendly, fun, sweet, chocolatey, and only ten ingredients to make!
Author: The Sensible Vegan Recipe Type: Snack Cuisine: Vegan Serving: 15 Ingredients
Instructions
Nutrition Information Serving size: 1 piece Calories: 123 Fat: 7.2g Saturated Fat: 3.3g Carbohydrates: 15.5g Sugar: 11g Sodium: 6mg Fiber: 2g Protein: 2.3 g 
This recipe was so fun to make! It is absolutely a kid-friendly vegan recipe, and my daughter and I had a ball making it! I wanted to make a quick and easy vegan snack that incorporated some of our favorite ingredients: chocolate and peanut butter. This recipe definitely did the job!
The base of the recipe is pitted dates. This is the perfect consistency after pulsing them in the food processor. Dates are high in vitamins and minerals, they promote digestive health, reduce blood pressure because of the high magnesium content, and studies also show that they boost brain health because of the vitamin B6 content.
Whenever possible, I encourage my daughter to help with my vegan recipes. She loves cooking, and she really liked this recipe. She was able to mold the mixture and be messy! She is also learning about tastes, textures, different ingredients, and how they work together to make a recipe. She was so proud of the finished product. Those teachable moments are priceless!
Rich, chocolatey, coco-nutty, hard-to-eat-just-one, peanut buttery and only five ingredients to make!
Author: The Sensible Vegan Recipe Type: Snack Cuisine: Vegan Serving: 17 Ingredients
Instructions
Nutrition Information Serving size: One ball Calories: 83 Fat: 4g Sat Fat: 1.9g Carbohydrates: 18.7g Sugar: 8.6g Sodium: 11mg Fiber: 2g Protein: 2g Please let me know how you like this recipe. I'd love to hear from you and see your variation of the recipe as well! Post your recipe photos #thesensiblevegan. Thank you! 
 Trail Mix. It's a high energy, yummy snack that is super quick and easy to make. I don't know why I didn't think of making it sooner. There are tons of variations and ingredients that you can use to make it your very own. This recipe uses nine ingredients and took less than five minutes to put together. My five year-old daughter loves it as well. Of course, she likes the chocolate chips, but we also used it as a teaching tool. While we were eating the mix, several times she picked up something and asked, "What is this?" It was a great opportunity for her to learn about fun, healthy ingredients!  Out of all of the ingredients I used, I knew that I definitely wanted to include dark chocolate. I used dark chocolate chips. I like to incorporate dark chocolate in my vegan dessert recipes. I purchased an extra package when I made the no bake dark chocolate peanut butter bars, so I decided to put them to good use. Dark chocolate has several amazing health benefits as well. It's a powerful source of antioxidants, and the plant phenols in dark chocolate have been shown to lower blood pressure! Just make sure you buy the kind that has at least 70% pure cacao or cocoa solids.  Sweet, crunchy, nutty, dark chocolatey, and only nine ingredients to make!
Author: The Sensible Vegan Recipe Type: Snack Cuisine: Vegan Serving: 20 Ingredients
Instructions
Serving size: 1/4 cup Calories: 227 Fat: 13.3g Sat Fat: 4g Carbohydrates: 20.2g Sugar: 14g Sodium: 2.7mg Fiber: 3.4g Protein: 5g Please let me know how you like this recipe. I'd love to hear from you and see your variation as well! Post your recipe photos #thesensiblevegan. Thank you! |
About Tabatha JamesTabatha James is a wife, mom, and children's book author who loves creating vegan recipes with 10 ingredients or less! Vegan Categories
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