We hit the trails at least 3 or 4 times a week when the weather cooperates. Besides a picnic lunch that waits in the car, I like to bring along healthy snacks for the kids to munch along the way.
I have experimented with making granola bars but they seem to come out hard. I do not like hard/crunchy bars (or even cookies). Then I found this recipe for homemade granola bars from Denise Garoutte’s article, "Homemade granola bars" in Mother Earth news. Not hard or crunchy. chewy but not gooey. Wonderful!
I edited the recipe for what we like and it had rave reviews by the picky Lil' man. So here is my twist on it:
2 3/4 cups oats (I used old fashioned)
1 1/2 cups sunflower seeds (I used roasted and salted)
3/4 cup Wheat germ
1/4 cup Milled Flax seed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Mix the above and spread out on cookie sheet in oven pre-warmed to 300 degrees-
for 20 minutes
In the mean time, mix the following up and slowly warm/simmer while the above is in the oven:
1 cup honey
4 tablespoons butter/margarine
1/4 cup light brown sugar
As soon as the dry mix is done in the oven , take it out, add:
1 cup Various dried fruits (I used apricots and cranberries)
mix well, being sure there are no fruit "clumps". leave in a pile on cookie sheet.
Now add to the honey liquid mix:
1 tablespoon vanilla
Now add your honey liquid mix to your dry ingredients on the cookie sheet. mix till well coated and place in an 8x8 pan -( I would advise lightly coating with oil or they may not come out as well.) Pat down firmly and evenly. Place back into oven still at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. remove and let cool 30 minutes. Then cut into bars(again- I would lightly coat w/ oil what you are cutting with so they do not crumble like mine)- let cool more for around 20 minutes before removing from pan. Any "crumbs" can be placed in a zippie bag/container for topping your next yogurt. The bars should stay good for at least a month or so, depending on type of fruit used.
I also added/mixed in 1/4 cup chocolate chips just before adding liquid, but play with different fruits/nuts/sweets and see what you like best.
If you try it, I would love to hear reviews & what you added for your own twist.
Summer dreams,
Tammie
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