We spent 12 hours on the road today between Vernon and Tofino with a 2 year old boy and a 5 month old puppy in the back seat. So you can’t really blame me for seeking out therapy in the form of thick-cut garlic and Parmesan chips, which we shamelessly devoured almost an entire bag of between Nanaimo and Tofino while the boys slept. Despite my love of all things salty and crunchy (and sweet, sour, meaty, grainy, cheesy, gooey, crispy, melty, ad nauseum) I don’t eat much in the way of chips during the year, but for some reason summer car trips call for crunchy snacks, and we had finished the seedy cereal bars I made for the trip.

Peanut Butter & Honey Crunch Seed Bars

Use any kind of seeds you like – pumpkin seeds are very high in protein, and are lower in fat; sunflower and sesame seeds are higher in healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fats, and all seeds deliver plenty of fiber. You could also add cranberries or other dried fruit as well.

2 1/2 cups corn flakes
2 1/2 cups bran flakes
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla or maple extract

Spray the inside of a large bowl with nonstick spray. Combine the corn flakes, bran flakes and seeds in the bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, stir the peanut butter, brown sugar and honey over medium heat until completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Pour over the cereal and gently stir to coat well. Press the mixture into an ungreased 8” x 8” pan and chill until firm before cutting into bars.

Makes 12 bars.

Per bar: 229 calories, 5.2 g fat (0.8 g saturated fat, 1.9 g monounsaturated fat, 2.1 g polyunsaturated fat), 43.7 g carbohydrate, 0 mg cholesterol, 4.7 g protein, 2.1 g fiber. 19% calories from fat.

And then there was the halibut and chips (my Grandad’s dinner of choice, from Pat & Hank’s in Windsor) at the park in Horseshoe Bay while we waited for our ferry. But come on, we’re on holiday. Sort of.

And obviously we had to stop in Port Alberni at the very last Tim Horton’s we’ll see for a long while.

By the time we arrived in Tofino, it was late and I can’t say any of us had much of an appetite. But my parents and sisters, who have been here for days already, had set aside plates for us, so we did have a proper dinner, after all. And my aunt and uncle brought pie – one apple, one strawberry-rhubarb.

I realize now that I have no idea what my sister did to this chicken, which I have heard about for ages but not yet tried, to make it worth talking about. It was stuffed with lemon, I can tell you that, but I forgot to ask other details before they went to bed. The carrots had some sort of buttery glaze, also unidentifiable in my carlagged (and surrounded by four tired and excited boys under five and an ecstatic dog that had just spent 12 hours in the car) state.

But I have a new summertime use for your chicken leftovers, depending on your locale: Aaron and Emily and I tied the carcasses in a plastic bag, stabbed the bag all over with a Swiss army knife, and used it as bait in our crab trap, which we lugged down to the docks and threw over at high tide (just behind a massive private yacht). So tomorrow night, with any luck, we’ll be having fresh crab for dinner.