Although we thoroughly enjoyed our three-week winter break from college classes during our freshman year, my friends and I actually looked forward to returning to campus after the holidays. We all lived in different parts of the state, so we were excited to finally see each other again and spend time together.
Since our class schedules rarely lined up during the day, we always tried to meet for dinner multiple times throughout the week instead. With four different dining halls to choose from, we picked the largest and most centrally located one, just a five-minute bike ride from my dorm room.
Because of its size, that dining hall always had a wide selection of different food stations and entrées, including the permanent burger and grilled cheese counter, the long rows of salad bars, and the big dessert display full of sweets. With its location right next to the entrance, I usually glanced there first so I could figure out which treat I wanted by the end of our meal!
Yet during those first couple of weeks back after the very indulgent holiday season, I opted to skip the oversized slices of cake and pie. Instead, I stopped by the salad bar to grab a little bowl of strawberry yogurt, then headed over to the breakfast cereal bar for a scoop of granola, and finished at the soft-serve station for a little sprinkling of mini chocolate chips from the ice cream toppings. That not-so-sweet after dinner treat still hit the spot, and my friends and I actually continued to make yogurt parfaits for the rest of the year!
Just about everyone I know started classes again this week, whether grade school or college, and those dining hall memories resurfaced as I thought about my own undergraduate days. Yet instead of making a parfait like I did back then…
I turned my two favorite components, the granola and chocolate, into these Healthy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Granola Bar Bites! They’re soft and chewy, naturally sweetened, and have lots of rich peanut and chocolate flavors. But unlike the dining hall granola, these snack bites contain no butter, oil, refined flour or sugar—and just 41 calories!
Continue reading & see the rest! ›› Healthy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Granola Bar Bites
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