Mother Earth No Bake Treats

A few years ago when when I was learning how to manage a rotational diet with my son and me, I formed a "support" group by inviting several people over for supper who wanted to learn a little about what I knew about cooking. Although the group I invited over didn't offer a foodie like me much knowledge, they did give me the inspiration to keep seeking new ways to wow them using all sorts of unique meals using a wide variety of ingredients, like a gluten free, yeast free buckwheat flour and tapioca flour bread that actually sliced and toasted.

I did this because my son has a diagnosis that places him on the autistic scale, as well as asthma/ restricted lung disorder, food allergies to 38 common foods... he is not vegan, nor vegetarian and could not be. He is highly allergic to soy, peanuts, several legumes, pineapple, asparagus and brocolli, all cow and goat dairy products, eggs, pork, beef, wheat, corn, rice... yeah, the list goes on. He is not allergic to chicken, turkey and fish .... nor buckwheat, romaine lettuce, millet, etc. During these dinners my son would cook the meat for himself and I would make everything else during these friendly dinners and when my guests would RAVE about my dishes, he was willing to try the new foods and I could then offer them to him on a rotational diet.

A pastor friend came to one of my dinners. He used to be a hippy/ druggy/ bumb living in California in the early 70's (and says so himself) and loved to buy something called Mother Earth bars at a health food store during that time. He told me what they were like and asked me if I could try to make them for him. I gave it a shot and when I was done he was very happy with the result. I share that result on my blog today.

Dori's Mother Earth Bars
In a large bowl mix the DRY INGREDIENTS (I usually quadruple this recipe)
1 1/2 C organic millet puff cereal
1 1/2 C rolled oats
1/2 C english walnuts
1/4 C sesame seeds
1/2 C whole buckwheat groats (toasted or not - you choose)
1/2 C sunflower seeds
1/2 C pumpkin seeds
2 Tbsp flax seeds (ground)
WET MIX:
Melt together. This does not need to boil, but the unrefined sugar granules do need to melt. I have tried to reduce the sugar and even to cut it out. The bars will not hold together without adding alot more syrup, which I did not want. I make this using organic sucanat and it works equally well with an unrefined sugar in the raw or turbinado sugar.
1/2 C sorghum
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1/3 C sugar in the raw
Add the syrup to the dry mix. Press solidly into a lightly oiled 1/3 C measuring cup. I place a muffin wrapper in the measuring cup and then press the mix in, very tightly packed. Set aside. Let set in a cool place overnight. These need to kept cool to store and will keep in the freezer. If not stored in a cool palce the bars will crumble... sure it's tastey still, but then it wouldn't be a bar.

NOTES: You can use whatever mix of nuts or even dried fruits in the dry mix, just have 2 1/3 cups of goods. In the recipe pictured I used english walnuts, sunflower seeds, thick shredded coconut, and almond slices. I would have used some dried fruits, but these were for my son and he doesn't like dried fruit ... just nuts and lots of them.

**The SORGHUM I use is grown and made on a farm 30 miles from me. I have visited there and watched them harvest their crop as well as make the syrup.