Granola bars are one of my favorite snacks to have on hand for after class, in between rehearsals, or while running errands. They are portable, packed with filling and nutritious ingredients, and delicious. For years I would kill hours standing in the grocery store reading and comparing the labels of granola bars, looking for the ones with the least added sugar and processed ingredients. After a while this got old and I stopped buying them altogether and replaced my favorite snack with nuts and dried fruit. But as tasty as trail mix can be it just wasn't as satisfying as a granola bar, so I started making my own. After a few tries, I settled on a recipe I loved and it has once again become a go to snack for the studio. Now that we are in Russia some of my standard ingredients are a bit harder to find and I had almost resigned myself to drastically altering my recipe. However, thanks to my husband's persistent scouring of store aisles I have everything I need. 

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter and honey until creamy and thoroughly mixed.

2. Then add the egg and beat it in, now the batter should be easier to stir.

3. Now add the ground flax, hemp flour, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda and combine thoroughly.

4. Mix in the coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and raisins.

5. Fold in the oats, one cup at a time, mixing until they are all wet and evenly distributed.

6. Grease a baking pan, a 7x9 works well, and pour the mixture in spreading it until it is even.

7. Bake at 350 F or 180 C for 18 minutes. 

Enjoy as an after workout snack, grab-and-go breakfast, or healthy dessert! This is a very versatile recipe, so feel free to switch the nuts, seeds, and dried fruit to suit your taste. I would just suggest chopping larger nuts like walnuts before adding them.

Living in America Andrey and I always tried to be conscious about what we were buying to eat and use in our home. Both because we care about what the process of growing food with pesticides or making chemical laden cleaning products does to the earth, but also because we are very concerned with health. In the past this has meant buying organic food whenever we could afford to, researching to choose companies like The Honest Co. to buy our household cleaning and bath products from. I was concerned that moving to Siberia would mean giving up on this lifestyle and Andrey did not have high hopes for finding health-food stores or environmentally conscious brands. Omsk is a mid-size city, but unlike in America it is unusual for people to have the purchasing power to worry about how their soap was made or if their apple has pesticides on it. We realized that taking the time to care about these things is a luxury that may not have made it to this part of the world yet. However, upon arriving we still decided to explore what options might be out there. 

First we found Товары Востока which translates to Goods from the East, a small store focused on new age self-development. In addition to a large book selection, and eastern and Indian objects, they have a selection of spices and plant oils. We were able to find spirulina, which was a happy surprise and coconut oil. After further exploration Andrey stumbled upon Магазин Настоящей Еды or Health Food Store. While pretty small this store has an excellent range of health foods and environmentally conscious products. They have natural soaps, toothpaste, and hair products as well as laundry detergent and dish soap. They have almost every kind of flour you could think of even some I have never seen before like pumpkin seed flour. They have seeds, nuts, grains, dried legumes, raw cacao, herbal teas, and even hemp protein. They also carry some prepared foods like honey based chocolate from a woman here in Omsk and dehydrated bars from a company in Saint Petersburg. Best of all they are soon going to carry a line of natural nut butters, so far I have found one brand of peanut butter here and it is of course not natural and has added sugar. The store is a very exciting find for us and I am so happy to know we will be able to keep at least some of our customs on this subject unaltered. 

As we move forward building a life in Omsk it will be interesting to see what else we can do to maintain the environmental standards we were so used to in the U.S. For instance there is no recycling program here, so people throw everything into the trash. And after years of careful recycling in America, it is very difficult to just throw paper boxes, plastic containers, and all the other things you know could so easily be recycled into the garbage. I guess we will have to try and think of other ways to reduce our waste production. Let me know if you have any suggestions.