{recipe} peanut butter & chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars

Happy Monday friends! 

An especially happy Monday to everyone who has the day off (like me!)

I just watched The Help last night for the 28310031 time and it really had me thinking about how brave of a man Martin Luther King Jr. was. It is a shame that he was never able to see just how much his social justice work helped to form the society we live in today. Just a little side note to honor what he did for our country. :)

This weekend was super relaxing. The roomie and I are literally like an old married couple. We watched movies and cooked dinner and relaxed all weekend. We love to go out - every now and then - but mainly just enjoy hanging out, gossiping, and drinking wine at home. 

On Saturday, we went on a 7 mile hike with four of our sorority sisters. 

We packed lots of snacks, lunch, and a ton of water. 

I am so proud of us for completing this hike! There was a lot of uphill hiking going on.

I am still sore today.... 

After walking over a tree trunk that crossed a little stream.

Don't mind me and my awkward outfit. I kept taking off and putting back on my layers.

A little adventure off of the trail led us to the bank of the Apalachicola River.

This is part of the rock we took a little lunch break at.

There were definitely times during our hike where we were all getting pretty tired.  At points of the hike it seemed like going at a steep incline was never. going. to. end. But we powered through! Next up we are planning on conquering the Torreya Challenge Trail. We'll see how that goes... :)

One thing that kept us going was the little sweets break we took 3.5 miles into the hike. A little taste of our peanut butter & chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars was just what we needed to keep on trucking along through our hike. 

I made the cookie bars the night before while watching Water For Elephants with my roommate and our sorority sister Rachel. They have no oil or egg in them - which totally make them 100% healthy right?!

I'll just keep pretending...

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Original Recipe found on Yes I Want Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c packed brown sugar
• 1/2 c peanut butter
• 2 T flax + 1/4 c water - stir to combine and let sit for two minutes. (this is your flax egg)
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 c flour
• 1/2 c oats
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 c chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugars, and peanut butter until fluffy. Beat in the flax egg and vanilla.
3. Combine the oats, flour, and baking soda in a bowl. Then stir it into the creamed mixture. Spread into a greased 13×9 baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely before you cut into bars.

PS. Thank you to everyone who has been pinning my recipes. :)

xo, Jen