In our busy lives, it's hard to eat healthy while on the go. For those with food allergies, it's even harder. One Boise woman is using her own experience with celiac disease to bake up a "Made in Idaho" treat.
Linda Everett is the mother behind the Jete bar, "one mother of a bar." With celiac disease and a lack of gluten free options to keep up with her active lifestyle, Everett first got the idea.
"We were backpacking and I realized I didn't have the food that I needed. I thought I did, but there was an ingredient in it that I couldn't eat. So I told my husband, that's it, I'm going home and I'm making my own bars that I can just grab and go like everybody else," Everett said.
And that's what she did, experimenting and loading all of the healthy, wholesome ingredients she loves into one nutritious bar.
"Literally about the first year, I did not let my husband and family have them. I said you can go buy the other stuff in the store, I don't want to bake that much. Now I'm really baking a lot," Everett said.
Eventually, she did let her family eat them, and her friends, all to rave reviews.
"The family said these are so good you need to be selling these. I'd start having people ask me for the recipe and I'd go it's in my head, I don't have a recipe," Everett recalled.
Five years ago Everett turned the Jete bar into a business. Now every Monday she meets her employee Lauren at the kitchen to get baking.
They handmake their own peanut butter and applesauce to add in with the other ingredients.
"Oats, prunes, almonds, pecans, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, coconut, and coconut sugar," Everett listed.
There are no preservatives in all three flavors, semi sweet chocolate, dark chocolate, and cranberry raisin.
Her husband, College of Idaho President Jim Everett, and family help out too. Their initials make up the name Jete.
"Our youngest son Travis puts on the labels. He's special needs, but he does a great job. It's very time consuming, it takes hours, but we have a lot of fun in here and it goes by fast. We can make 1,100 bars in a day if we need to. Generally we're around 550 bars a week," Everett said.
The "Made in Idaho" treat is satisfying those with or without food allergies.
"We're thrilled that people love them," Everett said smiling.
You can find Jete bars in stores throughout the Treasure Valley. You can also order them online at www.jetebar.com.
