Real Food: Granola Bars

I was on a kick of making bran muffins (in various ways) but something just wasn't appealing to me lately in terms of their texture, so I decided to head a different route: granola bars.

I found this recipe and adjusted it accordingly.

Ingredients

* 2 cups quick cooking oats
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 3/4 cup raisins
* 1/2 cup wheat germ
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup chopped English walnuts
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup honey
* 1 egg
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and spray with vegetable oil spray.
2. In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, raisins, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and walnuts. In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into the flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan.
3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars.

Here's what I did differently: I replaced the 1/2 cup wheat germ with 1/4 cup flax seed and 1/4 cup wheat bran (make sure you let this sit with the liquid ingredients for at least 5 minutes). I replaced 1/4 of the oil with applesauce, used Craisins instead of raisins, and reduced the sugar to a 1/2 cup. Plus, you can be super creative and add whatever delicious items you have around the kitchen. Chocolate chips? Yes please! Banana? Yep! Peanut butter? Of course! Any dried fruit? Yum!

These are delish, and super convenient. Lucas was very happy, which in turn, made me very happy.

Go on, make yourself a snack!