Yesterday was one of those days when everything just goes well.

First, I got a lot of things checked off my to-do list for work. Then my time at the gym was a tough, sweaty workout. I switched it up and tried the rowing machine for the first time to get more of an arm workout in and really liked it! I’m definitely going to add rowing into my repertoire of cardio exercises, especially when my legs are sore and need a bit of a break. Have I mentioned lately how I love trying out new types of exercise?!

Last night I had a dinner date with a girlfriend of mine that I met living in San Diego, Tiffany. She was in town for work, so we had dinner together. I was excited to have see her and have some girl time — I’ve been missing that since moving to the Bay Area and not having any good girlfriends up here (yet). We decided to meet at an Italian place in the downtown Campbell area called Tigelleria, which wound up being a fabulous pick. I was a bad blogger and took zero pictures, but our dinner was awesome and I definitely plan to get back there for another meal ASAP! Afterwards we split vegan cupcakes for dessert, which were a perfect ending to a great meal.

While the day ended well, it started just as well with an early morning kitchen creation:

These bars are a copycat of a BluePrint bar I recently tried. The bar was tasty and only contained 4 ingredients: cranberrys, lemon zest, cashews and dates. Can’t get much more natural of a bar than that!

I decided to replicate the bar at home using the same ingredients:

After pulsing the ingredients in my food processor, I determined that the mixture wouldn’t stick together as is, so I threw everything in a bowl and added some honey to the mix as a sticking agent.

Lemon Cashew Cranberry Date Bars

Foodie Loves Fitness

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings

Calories 181 kcal

Ingredients

1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup cashews salted
1/4 TSP lemon zest
2/3 cup dates halved
2 TBSP honey

Instructions

Pulse first 4 ingredients in a food processor until well combined.
Transfer to a bowl, then drizzle honey into mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon.
Pour mixture into a 6x9 baking dish lined with parchment paper. Press mixture firmly into the dish using the back of a spoon.
Let the bars harden in the fridge, then cut into 6 bars.