Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook

I've never made my own power/energy/trail bar until now. I had purchased a little silicone trail bar maker and picked up this book at the same time. I find I am more apt to make a recipe if I have it in print form over finding something in the internet. This book is full of recipes- quite an assortment. There are also lots and lots of glossy pictures that accompany the recipes.The book stars off with a primer on ingredients (with a little blurb of helpful information on each) , and what you may want to have on hand to build your trail bar making pantry. It also includes a page on Special diets consideration (gluten-free, vegan, paleo). The book is further organized into the types of recipes, ie;--Super-Natural Knock-Offs (making bars compared to Cliff, Kind, Fiber One, Powerbar, Nature Valley, Larabar, Luna)--Activity Bars (includes use of healthy, complex carbohydrates-help maintain blood sugar- help maintain energy levels)--Endurance Bars ( includes use of healthy, complex carbohydrates and protein)--Protein Bars ( includes use of high quality protein)--Raw and Almost Raw Bars (minimal number of ingredients, prepared raw or dehydrated rather than cooked)As well as a few recipes in each category that aren't quite trail bars- like protein truffle balls, protein "pucks" (a brownie), protein chocolate chip cookies, gel blocks/energy chews (blocks of gummy!)All of the recipes seem customizable, and there are ideas included to help with coming up with a perfect bar for you. Whether baked, or just pressed into place, the variety of bars in this book make my tummy grumble. My first set was a pumpkin bar, and I am eager to make more.Book finished up with a nice list of where to buy ingredients, etc.This is worthwhile to have in the food library. Makes a nice gift for someone, too.

I was looking for a book to use for meal bar recipes and snatched this one up as soon as I saw Camilla Saulsbury's name. I have her soup cookbook (Enlightened Soups) and everything in it has been delicious and unanimously well-received. She seems to actually cook and eat the things that she includes in her books.This book is just as good as Enlightened Soups. There is a featured recipe, recipe tips, and then suggested variants. She presents one bar recipe, but then has a list of ways to alter it into completely different tasting bars. There's also a lot of flexibility in many of the recipes- you can choose from several grains or sweeteners or nuts. It's easy to stock your cupboard with a few basics and then flip through the book and find different combinations that use the ingredients you have on hand. Not a lot of weird ingredients are needed - some bars use protein powder and others use different types of seeds that might not be easily available at a local grocer. But most of the recipes contain ingredients you probably have or can easily find.There are knockoffs of popular bars too, so if there is a style you like, you'll probably find it here. And then you can follow her suggestions to make more flavors, or invent your own.This will save you money too. I made the equivalent of 3 boxes of granola/protein bars for under what I would have paid for one at a store. And it tastes better.One word of warning- many of these recipes are assembled in a food processor, a medium to large sized one.Edit: It's now March and I'm using this cookbook constantly. I make two batches of bars on the weekend for the rest of the week. Flavors have been good for every recipe. Consistency can still be an issue with some bars turning out too wet or too dry. I just make a note in the cookbook and increase or decrease liquids the next time, or immediately if I can tell it's needed. It is easy to make bars on a whim if you stock the kitchen with oats, nuts, dried fruits, and sweeteners. This cookbook is highly recommended.

The recipes are good and relatively easy to prepare-some cooked, some raw. I gave it only 4 stars because the bars are all so caloric.Although she suggests for some bars, instead of processed white sugar-using maple syrup, dates and dried fruit... she also has many with agave (now shown to be more harmful than good), organic light corn syrup (not in my grocery) and stevia (that I abhor the taste of).Many bars use nut butters other than peanut which would be great for the taste of NOT peanut butter for a change, but buying said butters are VERY expensive, and buying the organic nuts to make my own is just about the same prohibitive cost.She uses in many bars coconut oil- yes it's unrefined and virgin (and hopefully organic) but it's really fattening. Coconut oil is made of 90 percent saturated fat (butter, a distant second, contains a comparatively puny 64 percent saturated fat). Yes, I know it's all about the KIND of fat. About half of virgin coconut oil’s saturated fat is lauric acid, a medium-chain triglyceride that turns out to have a number of health-promoting properties, including the ability to improve levels of “good” HDL cholesterol. People can also more easily digest medium-chain triglycerides and convert them to energy, making coconut oil a good choice for athletes. That said, because it’s so high in saturated fat, even the purest, most natural coconut oil could be problematic for long term heart health and most nutritionists don't think coconut oil is as healthful as vegetable oils like olive oil and soybean oil, which are mainly unsaturated fat and therefore both lower LDL and increase HDL. (although almost all soybeans are now GMO- so I avoid it).Although some of the bars can be switched to oil, most that call for coconut oil can not, due to the fact that it's the coconut oil that holds the bar together. The same holds true for bars that must have the corn syrup as opposed to dates, dried fruit, organic cane sugar etc.- the corn syrup in those bars holds them together.Lastly, she is a big proponent of protein powders which is fine- and she gives a couple of recommendations for brands I appreciated. She uses the sweetened with stevia kinds, but you can certainly substitute the unsweetened or very lightly sweetened kind of powder.Understand, I am not bashing this book, or her recipes- they are very good tasting bars that are relatively easy to make....I think I was naive in thinking I could make a really nutritious bar that is protein packed and tasty without being uber fattening or caloric= that's my problem, and not this author's fault that the majority of these recipes won't do that for me.