Foodie Friday: Seed Bars

My latest dietary experimentation resulted in the seed bar.  Attempts to find a suitable migraine-friendly energy bar/snack bar have left me troubled by the endless products on the market with either nuts or chocolate in them (two very common migraine triggers). If there isn't a nut or chocolate in the bars to ruin them for me,  usually there ends up being another ingredient that ruins it for me as a migrainuer (see my food elimination list).  It is also nice to know that as a result of preparing the bar myself I can guarantee there will not be any of the extra unpronounceable preservative ingredients hiding in my food as a potential migraine trigger as well.

Seed Bar Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1/3 cup sunflower seeds (an excellent source of vitamin E, which contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds (a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are heart healthy as well as a great fiber source)
2 cups puffed rice cereal

caramel sauce:
2/3 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the cup of oats, 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds, 1/3 cup of pumpkin seeds, and 1/4 cup of flax seeds on the baking sheet and bake it for 8 minutes.

While those were baking I started on the caramel sauce: I combined the 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of honey, 4 tbsp. of butter, and 1/2 a tsp. of salt in a saucepan on medium heat and stirred it until I had a smooth caramel sauce.
 
I removed the caramel sauce from the heat and then added the 2 tsp. vanilla.

In a large bowl I combined the oats, seeds and 2 cups of puffed rice cereal and then stirred in the caramel sauce until evenly coated.

Then I lined an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper and emptied the cereal mixture into the dish.  I pressed the mixture into the dish to distribute it evenly and then let it sit for 2 hours.  I then lifted the parchment paper out of the dish and transferred it to a cutting board where I sliced up some bars.

I snacked on these for breakfast and used them as energy bars until they were gone.  In fact, I made a second batch yesterday to have on hand for my tennis tournament this weekend.