A Homemade Granola Bar Recipe

Yup that's right! It's time for the long awaited granola bar recipe. Seems all you girlies couldn't wait to get your hands on it! lol

But first let's cover the eats . . .

Eats

Today ended up being an unexpectedly carb-y day. I didn't mean it to be but when I woke up I had few groceries so I threw together something quick with what I had in my cupboards.

Enter whole-wheat pancakes with a small smear of lingonberry sauce on top.

You say you've never tried lingonberry on pancakes? I have to confess I find nothing yummier on pancakes than lingonberry sauce. It's a bit like cranberry sauce but about a million times better. :oP

This would have been a fantastic breakfast except that I forgot I was heading to a brilliant Italian restaurant for lunch. Their menu at that time of day is almost exclusively pasta so I really ought to have stayed away from pancakes at breakfast. Oh well. What's done is done - but boy were they yummy!

Lunch started off with a Caesar salad. It was to have been a bocconcini and tomato salad but they ran out. So I agreed to have another salad instead:

Not bad but I look forward to having my regular salad next time. And it looks like next time will be next Friday so I won't have long to wait. :o)

For my main course I had a lovely veal stuffed tortellini in a garlic tomato sauce with vodka and mushrooms. On top was some freshly grated Parmesan and freshly ground pepper. The dish was much too large and I didn't get to finish it but man was it WONDERFUL!!!!

YUMMERS! :o)

I was stuffed long into the evening so I skipped out on a regular dinner. Instead I had a fruit smoothie while out with the fiance.

The fiance's food was much more photogenic so I thought I'd share that with you too:

That wrap is almost exclusively veggies. It's also a better value than Subway. I think we'll have to visit that resto again. Both the smoothie and the wrap got rave reviews!

A Homemade Granola Bar Recipe

This recipe makes some awesome bars. So awesome you'll never buy store bought again. But I can't take credit for it. It's based on a recipe found in Heidi Swanson's brilliant book "Super Natural Cooking."

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

1 1/4 cups chopped nuts (you can toast them in your oven if you wish)

1/2 cup oat bran

1 1/2 cup unsweetened crisp brown rice cereal (don't use the puffed kind)

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut (you can toast this in your oven with the nuts if you wish)

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup brown rice syrup

1/4 cup natural cane sugar

1/2 cup of your nut butter of choice

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Optional Mix-Ins: Carob chips, chocolate chips, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, goji berries

1. Grease a baking pan with coconut oil. I use a 9x13 Pyrex pan.

2. Combine the brown rice syrup, sugar, nut butter, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow the mixture to come to a boil and thicken slightly.

3. Combine all other ingredients (including optional mix-ins) in a large bowl.

4. Pour the syrup mixture into oats and mix until everything is evenly incorporated.

5. Spread the mixture into a pan and allow to cool. Then cut into desired sizes.

It's a delicious recipe bloggers! I have to confess I've never been able to get a really solid bar (like the harder bars you buy at grocery stores) but I like my bars kind of chewy. :o)

Also, don't feel constrained by the ingredients. Just stick to the basics of the recipe and then feel free to play around. Make the granola bars your own! ENJOY!!

Happy Eats Friends!