Over the summer, my family and I were lucky enough to visit Europe again. Each day we would walk miles and miles and rarely wanted to stop for large meals. More often than you could imagine, I felt famished, like I needed a snack right away. My go-to snacks were raw fruit and nut bars I could carry around in my bag. In Europe, they were “Raw Bars” in the US; they were “Lara Bars.” In Tunisia, they don’t exist, so I’ve made my own. Welcome to: my Zesty raw lemon bar, fruit and nut bar recipe, healthy, simple on the go snack, 3 ingredients, vegan, paleo, whole 30 approved.

What amazed me about these raw fruit and nut bars is how simple the ingredients were, especially considering how delicious they were. And enjoying them isn’t enough when you’re a food blogger. I was slightly obsessed with how they had a non-sticky consistency when made primarily of dates and dried fruit. A few months back, I tried to make them with more ingredients than needed, and they ended up very sticky and hard to handle. This recipe was just right.

In mid January, I am obsessing over all things citrus, as the fruits are extremely abundant here in Tunisia. A walk in the park allows an opportunity to pick an orange right off of the tree. All of our yards have lemon trees that are yielding buckets of lemons right now. So naturally, I am motivated to use citrus fruits widely available to me. We can’t forget how abundant dates are in Tunisia, making this recipe very easy to create here if you’re local.

This snack is extra special because it’s raw, filled with energy from plants, and easy to take with you for a snack on the go. It’s naturally sweet and has a nice zing thanks to the lemon zest added. We can’t ignore the fact it’s no-bake, making it simple and impossible to mess up. Enjoyed by my husband, picky daughter, and toddler, it was a real hit on our house. I will now be making these in every fruit + nut variation I can possibly think up

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Looking for more healthy snack recipes?

Check out:

Adaptogen chocolate almond butter truffles

Healthy Homemade Apple Pumpkin Fruit Roll-ups

Healthy Maple Cinnamon Quinoa Puff Crunch 

Coconut macadamia truffles