Granola Bars

I have never been, and at this point in my life, may never be a morning person!  It's not that I don't think it would be a great thing to wake up refreshed and eager to enjoy a new day; it's just that my body just does not respond in that manner.  So, being always in a rush to get out the door to get to work, there is no way I can plan and enjoy a leisurely breakfast (which all the gurus out there say is the most important meal of the day, although I'm not so sure I can personally agree).  Along with a caffeinated beverage, breakfast for me usually consists of whatever I can grab and eat at some point during my morning.  And what better fit to that criteria than a granola bar?  No prep, no mess, comes packaged, perfect sizing, what's not to love?!  Well, once I actually started looking at the ingredient lists and nutritional information, I was in for kind of a rude awakening.  Who knew that many of the bars stacking your grocery stores are about as good for you as a morning candy bar?! 

I thought, this has to be better!  So I started investigating and determined that if you make your own, you can control your ingredients and the taste is SO much better.  Here's a basic recipe that can be modified to your liking, using oats, wheat germ, nuts, dried fruit and a binder.  Hope this can make your mornings run a bit more smoothly too!

 

 Ingredients:

2 cups oatmeal (non-quick cooking)

1 cup nuts (I like almonds and/or pecans)

1/2 cup wheat germ

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2/3 cup honey

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla 

1 1/2 cups dried fruit (any combination of raisins, cranberries, cherries, apricots, etc.)

Combine oatmeal and nuts on a sheet tray and bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.  Add wheat germ to tray, stir to combine and bake an additional 5 minutes until everything is toasted.  (If using toasted wheat germ, skip this step and bake oats/nuts for 10 minutes).  Remove from oven and transfer to a large mixing bowl.  Add dried fruit and stir to combine.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

In a small saucepan, combine butter, honey, brown sugar and vanilla.  Bring to a boil and stir for another minute.  Add to the mixing bowl with the nuts and fruit.  Stir to combine all ingredients together.

Place a piece of parchment paper into a 9x13 baking dish.  Pour the mixture into the baking dish.  Spread evenly and press down.  Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow to cool completely.  Store at room temperature.

Here are some tips 'n tricks:

- Large warehouse clubs are a great place to buy bags of nuts and dried fruit!  You'll end up saving a lot of money this way!

- Have fun playing with this recipe.  I don't think I've made it the same way twice, with different combinations of nuts and fruit, the possibilities keep multiplying!