Eat Well: So Granola

The following post was written by my mom, WWW and aunt Nancy (mother of three boys, two of whom are twins b.t. dubs). Take it away ladies!

Homemade granola bars c/o aunt Nancy

When I was in high school, the lunchroom served the most addictive peanut butter bars known to human kind.  I have craved those bars for years and recently found the recipe online. It turns out they are filled with fat (I’m sure they used shortening back then) and sugar and are NOT what I would call an “Eat Well” snack. I cringe at the thought of how many bars I consumed during my high school years.

Finding snacks that are both delicious and healthy is always a challenge.  My wonderful sister-in-law, Nancy, came up with this yummy recipe and wrote a guest blog to share with you all.  Take it away, Nancy!

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My family is snack-happy.  Hubby works at home and trolls the kitchen all day and my teenage son is always hungry. While I love to cook and there’s usually some of last night’s dinner hanging around the fridge, snack food is also in order. 

Confronting the choices at the store can be a problem.  I have an aversion to any prepared food with a long list of ingredients.  All those who-knows-what-it-is fillers freak me out a bit so when my son’s tennis team decided to provide snacks at all at-home matches, I worked on creating an easy, healthy alternative.

Aunt Nancy’s Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats (we like the “extra thick”)

1 cup flour (either gluten free mix or all purpose)

½ c brown sugar

¾ c dried currants

¼ c ground flaxseed

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup chopped almonds, pecans or walnuts, or a mixture

½ c  oil (or ¼ c oil + ¼ c applesauce)

½ c honey

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x13 baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and spray with vegetable oil spray.

In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, currants, flaxseed, salt cinnamon and nuts. 

In a separate bowl, stir oil, honey, egg and vanilla. 

Pour into the oat mixture and mix by hand until evenly moistened. 

Press into prepared pan and use damp fingers to press into the corners of the pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes until the edges are golden. 

Cool completely in pan before turning out onto cutting board and cutting into bars.    These can be individually wrapped and frozen. 

Note: I've made this recipe with both traditional white flour, and my gluten free flour mixture.  Both work well.  Also, to make it a bit lower in fat, you can substitute sugar free applesauce for ½ the oil in the recipe. I prefer the full fat result, but it’s good both ways.

Enjoy!

Love,

WWW and NCW