granola bars!

I love finding recipes that my boys like (no surprise). We usually tweak recipes the boys want to try -- to get the right textures for my sensory boy who has a hard time chewing things with chunks or varying textures (chewy/crunchy at the same time). Once we hit the right combo we stick pretty close to our main recipe from there. This granola bar recipe originated from here...we have changed it a bit. Healthy, texture friendly, not too sweet, really really yummy. These are nice and chewy, which is a must for my boys. They don't like the rock hard crumbly things. These are perfect. My husband and I find ourselves nibbling away at them too, so there is an excuse to make more. And my 6 year old loves helping (who doesn't love squishing it all into the pan). And these are SO MUCH BETTER than any store bought granola bars.

::ingredients::

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sunflower seeds (roasted/salted OK too)
1 cup organic shredded coconut
1/2 cup golden flaxseed, freshly ground
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cup raw honey (a little less if you use sweetened coconut)
1/2 Tbsp blackstrap molasses
2-3 Tbsp organic unsweetened peanut butter or almond butter
3 Tbsp organic light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt

Up to 1 1/2 cups chopped dried fruit
(soft/chewy such as apricots, cranberries, raisins)
This time I used 1/2 cup finely chopped peaches we dehydrated

::directions::

Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
Wipe a little butter in a 9x13 baking dish and line it with parchment or foil.
Toss the oats, sunflower seeds and coconut together on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 or so minutes.
Stir it half way through.
Remove from the oven and pour into a big bowl.
Add the ground flax.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300ºF.
Heat the butter, honey, peanut butter, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla and salt in a small saucepan.
Bring to a boil and remove from heat - stir.
Stir it into the dry mix - keep stirring until all fully coated.
Stir in the dried chopped fruit.

Spread it in the prepared baking dish, pushing down to make a nice compact even layer. Wet your fingers - it will be easier to push it down without getting all sticky.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes.
Cool for an hour more before gently flipping the slab out of the baking dish - peel off the foil/parchment.

Cut into squares.
Store in an air-tight container.

Eat!


Some good variations include cinnamon, almonds, or sunflower nut butter...find your favorite!

goodness:: You know granola bars...they are packed with vitamins and fiber and all kinds of good stuff. Sunflower seeds - packed with vitamin E, B1, manganese, magnesium, copper, selenium, phosphorus, vitamin B5 and folate. Blackstrap molasses - iron, calcium, copper, manganese, potassium and magnesium. And that is just two of the ingredients!

If you prefer to soak and dehydrate your oats before baking with them, here is how you can do it...

banana bread.

While I haven't had a recipe or post up for a bit, we have been busy in the kitchen. I have been experimenting with some new bread recipes. We have been soaking/sprouting/drying wheat berries and making our own (malt) flour and learning to use it. I also have found a new local source for wheat (hard red winter) and so have been testing how it works with both the standard and soaked loaf breads to get a feel for its chemistry. We have had a few flops, but have had some really great tasty bread too. I have also been testing a different wheat grinder to see the difference in a finer flour! In between all of the bread baking we have also been making some other goodies.

Today I had a sick boy, so we were home and pretty quiet. I decided to make a loaf of whole wheat banana bread. It is sooo good. I like it because it uses 100% whole wheat pastry flour, but the flavor doesn't overshadow the bananas at all and it is a nice moist bread. It also isn't too sweet, but is rich with flavor. It made the house smell amazing, too!

::whole wheat banana bread::

1/3 cup softened butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar/muscavado
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup yogurt (I used home made vanilla yogurt)
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)

1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder

In one bowl cream the butter, honey and brown sugar together, and then add the vanilla, eggs, bananas and yogurt. Mix to incorporate. The bananas should be a little chunky, but not big pieces (using a fork to smush helps).

In a second bowl mix the dry ingredients together and stir a little to mix.

Mix the wet into the dry a bit at a time stirring to incorporate. Don't over mix.

Spoon into a buttered bread loaf pan and put into a pre-heated 350ºF oven. Bake 40-50 minutes, until done. Pop out of the pan onto a rack to cool. So good served with fresh butter.


ingredient tip::
Bananas are at the top of my list to buy organic. Commercially grown bananas not only are grown in not very environment/worker/wildlife friendly ways, but the end product exposes us to a cocktail of chemicals as well. No thank you. Look for fair-trade organic bananas at your local coop or Whole Foods/Wild Oats type of store!

home made granola.

I love really good fresh granola. I make a huge batch a few times a year - it is never the same recipe twice, but I always write it down. I love variations in texture, crunch, sweet vs. salt. This batch is awesome - which is good, because I made 5 pounds! The good thing is that it is perfect with home made yogurt from our fresh milk - so we made some of that too! YUM.

Here is the recipe -- but remember that with granola you can substitute or tweak anything. Add what you have, what is in season, what you like. I use a variety of sugars so that there are many good nutrients added to the mix, but you can keep it simple and use just what you have!

It sounds like a lot of ingredients and expensive when using all organic. BUT, we calculated the cost for us was about 22-25 for ingredients, and it made 5 pounds. That is a lot less per pound than the organic bulk fruit & nut granola at our local coop - and it is fresh!

ingredients::
4 cups thick steel cut organic oats
1/4 cup ground flax
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 cup unsweetened organic shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups crushed raw walnuts
2 cups sunflower seeds (you can use raw, I used honey roasted)
1 cup organic oat cereal (per special request from my husband...)
1 Tbsp molasses
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp crushed sea salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup oil (I used organic sunflower)
8 oz can organic crushed pineapple (no sugar added)
1 cup hemp milk (or use water, rice, etc.)
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup agave
1/4 cup brown sugar
10 oz. bag natural peanut butter chips
5 oz dried cranberries
5 oz dried cherries
3 oz raisins
1 cup organic/FT dried banana chips

I used organic ingredients...makes for better taste and quality.


directions::

Mix together all of the seeds, oats, coconut & nuts in a big bowl. In a separate bowl, combine oil, hemp milk, vanilla, honey, agave, pineapple, salt & molasses. Stir. Pour over the dry mix, and stir quickly to get all over everything evenly. Spread onto a non-stick cookie sheet. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the top. Place in a pre-heated 350º oven for 15 minutes. Carefully stir and turn over the mix. Bake again for another 15-20 minutes and stir again. Lower the oven temp to 225º and bake for 1.5 hours or so, until dry (but not burned or hard as a rock - keep an eye on it!). Let cool. Once cool, add in the dried fruits, banana chips and peanut butter chips. Stir gently. Store in airtight container!