Saturday, September 7, 2013

Homemade Granola Bars



In an effort to clean up our lifestyle, I realized one of the first things that needed cleaned were the kids' items. My husband will eat what I put in front of him.  He will listen to reason.  For the most part.  I occasionally find cheeseburger wrappers when he borrows my car, but that's getting more and more rare!  The kids are a different story.  Lauren will try anything, but she does point out her friends at school have the "yummy food" she used to take.  Jacob is an outright, stubborn mule of a child.  He will turn his nose up at food, refuse to eat until his pediatrician even caves and says feed him what he'll eat before he loses any more weight.  He's not a negotiator.  He's a tyrant.  I knew if I could get Jacob to eat it, it was an amazing recipe.  This week, I'm dedicating my blog entries to those of you with tiny overlords (underlords?) dictating your menus.  This week, I will feature recipes designed to win over your kids to clean eating.  From mac and cheese to fruit roll ups, from cereal choices to spaghetti- I will walk you through kid friendly menu staples that can turn your battles into blissful binges. And I'm going to start with foods we usually buy at the supermarket as an afterthought.  

Granola bars are a mom staple.  They're an easy way to get an energy boost into kids, especially ones who are picky eaters; they are easily portable, and they're usually DELICIOUS.  But the next time you're in the grocery store about to grab a box, check out the label. Read the ingredients.  There are SO many chemicals I have no clue where to start!  There are hydrogenated oils, multiple forms of sugars, artificial flavors and even artificial colors.  Even brands we assume are healthy: Nature's Best, Kashi- use fillers and preservatives to lengthen the shelf lives of their product.

When determining a good recipe for a granola bar, my criteria were as follows:
no processed sugar (marshmellows)
no processed ingredients (unclean cereals or candy pieces)
easy and fast to make

The first two are hard enough to find or determine substitutes for- while still producing a chewy, delicious granola bar.  The third was the death knell of most recipes.  There's no point in talking you out of purchasing that cheap box of Quaker granola bars and giving you a recipe that took 4 hours to make.  Most moms would laugh at me, label me a zealot (or crazy woman) and move on.  The recipe I've developed for you, took 30 minutes- INCLUDING bake time.  30 minutes for your family to have healthy, delicious, car safe snacks.  You're gonna love these!  They have my family's seal of approval for taste and mine for convenience! :)



Granola Bars

2 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup clean rice cereal.  (we used Nature's Path Envirokids Koala crisps)
3/4 cup clean chocolate chips (Nestle is usually clean)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup softened butter (don't sub margerine here.  Margerine is gross anyway! ;) )
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup local honey
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350* and grease a 9x9 brownie pan.  Mix all the ingredients together and press into the pan.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Edges will be slightly browned.  Cut lightly- you don't need to cut all the way through yet- when you pull them out the oven.  This will enable you to cut them easily later.  Let cool, wrap in wax paper and store on counter top! :)  They won't last long enough to worry about how long they'll last!


Just a tip:  Remember to include your kids as much as possible in the process!  From operating your stand mixer to executive ingredient pouring manager- the more your kids do, the more excited they'll be to try out their work!

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