Patagone Trail Bars (No Bake!)

Like my two horses, I’ve always been a grazer. Big meals aren’t too much my thing (asado being the exception), but am a constant eater. Whether I'm out on a trail or heading to work, I always have a secret stash of energy bars at arms length to avoid any 'hanger' that might sneak up. However, at over $2 bucks a pop my energy-bar budget wasn’t cutting it. Even if I only ate a two a day it’d cost me nearly $500, just for the duration of the Patagone journey. I started playing around with different recipes and came up with a new concoction that I’m absolutely crazy over. The best part is that I can literally whip-up these wild rice, no-bake energy bars on the trail in less than 10 minutes. Plus, most of the ingredients it calls for are typically carried with me anyways, so I’m not hauling around any extra weight to make them. If you use maple or brown rice syrup instead of honey, the bars are both gluten free and vegan. It’s a very simple and easy recipe, so change it up, supplement ingredients, and share any tasty concoctions you end up with!

vanilla

oats

almonds

flax

patagone trail bars

cereal

honey

Simply Native Foods

peanut butter

Patagone Trail Bar Recipe

• 1 cup Simply Native Foods Wild Rice Hot Cereal (my favorite for this is their Sunflower Seed, Cranberry, & Blueberry mix)

• 1 ¼ cups crisp rice cereal

• 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats

• 2 tablespoons ground flax-seed (flax-seed meal)

• ¼ cup chopped nuts or seeds

• ⅓ cup maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or honey

• ½ cup nut or seed butter ( sunflower seed butter, peanut butter, almond butter)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• A pinch of ground cinnamon (optional)

Instructions: 1. 1 cup of Simply Native Foods Wild Rice either pre-hydrated or cooked (if you’re in a hurry, just be sure to let it cool before mixing it in)

2. Mix together the crispy rice cereal, oats, flax-seed meal, and nuts in a separate bowl and then combine the mix with the wild rice.

3. Pour the syrup and nut or seed butter into a small saucepan and warm over medium-heat while constantly stirring it, just until the mix is soft and runny. 4. Stir the vanilla in with the syrup and nut butter mix and pour over the wild rice/cereal mixture. Stir well with a spoon or even better by hand until everything is very well coated and mixed together. 5. You can use any kind of flat, non-stick pan, but I find that a square pan around 8 inches works well. Coat the pan with oil and then press the mixture as firmly as possible onto the pan using a sheet of wax paper if possible. The firmer you set it in together, the better it will stick when it cools. 6. Let the mix cool and then chill it for at least 30 minutes to really set it in. 7. After it’s completely set, cut into small bars or even trail bites if you like. Afterwards you’ll want to store the bars in tightly wrapped plastic and in a cooler place, out of direct sunlight. Enjoy!

Thank you to our principal sponsor: Guayaki Yerba Mate and to the associate sponsors: Simply Native Foods, Woolrich, Adventure Medical Kits, Granite Gear, Ruffwear, Riding Warehouse, Hilleberg, and Custom PackRigging.

#Patagone #trailrecipes