Road trip, tea pots and banana pecan oat bars

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope things are good in your part of the world. Check out the gift my bestie gave to me - a recipe folder. So cute! Can't wait to come up with some new culinary creations :-)

Today has been a wonderful day because my boyfriend and I decided to take a mini road trip to the Lake District. For those of you who don't know, the Lake District is a beautiful place bursting with mountains, walkers, wildlife, quiant little cafes and spectacular lakes.

We had a car picnic, took photos, went for tea and scones and wandered through a variety of great shops specialising in outdoor and running gear. I spotted some vibram five fingers but they didn't have my size :-( I'm really intrigued by the barefoot running thing...I'll definately give it a try one day.

Phil and I bought matching teapots after a discussion over lunch about how loose leaf tea is waaayyy better than teabag tea :-) I currently have amaretto tea leaves brewing in my little pot. Mmmmmm!

Speaking of mmmm.....ever since Angela over at OSGs posted her recipe for "Healthy Banana Cranberry oat bars", I've been looking forward to making some banana oat bars of my own. I altered the recipe a bit to suit what I had in my cupboards. Needless to say....they're yummy! Thankyou Angela!

Banana Pecan Oat Bars

- 3 cups oats

- 1/2 cup chopped pecans

- 2 large bananas, mashed

- 1/2 cup cherry/raisin mix

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 1/2 cup applesauce

- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1 tbsp cinnamon

Fresh and frothy almond milk in the Vita-Mix. Yum :-)

I <3 Maple syrup :-)

Homemade applesauce in the Vita-Mix

Mix the wet ingredients together then throw in these babies! Mash your naners by hand or with a fork first.

Add your oats.....

And then bake at 190degC for 25 mins.

By this point your house should smell like christmas and Thanksgiving all rolled into one! Mmmmmm!

It's just cooling down before I cut it into bars :-)

What have you been up to today? I'm just about to watch "Bruno" and I'm slightly uneasy after the whole "Borat" experience (I really didn't like it!). However, my boyfriend really wants to see it so I'll give it a go. Fingers crossed it's not too cringeworthy!

Much love xoxo