The Hungry Swimmer: Strawberry Date Bars

See all those strawberries at the store and need a good recipe to use them for (before they all go bad?) SAME. My pet peeve is buying a huge tub of strawberries and not being able to eat them all before they get moldy…so I used them for a healthy dessert instead! This is especially a taper-season approved dessert recipe….since it only incorporates fruit, nuts, and oats! No added sugars here!! I pop these in the freezer for a few hours and eat them like a little fruit popsicle. Perfect for a post-practice treat for ANY swimmer! Since summer is a great time to use cooling fruits and berries, these are very timely. Quick, easy, healthy dessert!

Strawberries are the shining star here providing you some much-needed Vitamin C! This acts as an antioxidant in the body and helps decrease inflammation. Dates are also wonderful – I call them nature’s candy. Dates are high in fiber (important for gut health) and contain minerals like magnesium and potassium.

One note I will make about strawberries – they are consistently on the Environmental Wellness Group’s list of “The Dirty Dozen” items. These produce items are most commonly sprayed with pesticides – which are being linked to gut dysfunction and other health issues. It’s important to try and buy organic strawberries, plus they usually taste better to me 🙂

What you need:

• A food processor works best, but a blender could also suffice
• 1 cup of pitted dates
• 4 tablespoons of nuts (your choice! I used walnuts)
• 4 tablespoons of rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ¾ cup of mashed strawberries

How to do it:

• Combine all ingredients into the food processor and blend until it forms a thick dough-like texture
• Line a small square baking pan with parchment paper and lay the dough out evenly
• Top with additional sliced strawberries or chocolate chips if desired!
• Cut into small squares 🙂
• You can pop these in the freezer to make them into a popsicle-like dessert!