Yep – time for another completely random recipe blog posting. I’m posting this because these are on my mind – I have to make a new batch. For awhile I was really good about making these every couple of weeks so my kids had something healthy-ish for a snack in their lunchbag. But I started to slack off – now I’m hoping I’ll get back into it. I found these searching the web for a good granola bar recipe for my nut-allergic son. The thing is – granola bars can be a very handy snack. BUT I challenge you to find one that is nut safe. It’s unbelievable. And if when you do finally hunt one down, check out the ingredients and I’m sure you’ll find high fructose corn syrup. Crazy. So when I found this recipe I was excited – chewy, yummy (albeit a bit sweet) granola bars that lend themselves to be tweaked by adding whatever you want to them.

Nut-Safe Granola Bars

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 c packed brown suagr
• 1/2 c wheat germ
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 c flour (I use white whole wheat)
• 1/2 c raisins (or dried cranberries)
• 1/2 c chocolate chips
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c honey (or blue agave syrup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 c canola oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Tweaks I’ve made: add some cheerios or rice krispies, add 1/4 c ground flax seed, throw in a few tablespoons of cocoa to make them “chocolate”, add other chopped/dried fruit, add some sunflower seeds for extra protein (or of course nuts if you don’t have nut allergies to worry about!). You might need to adjust the flour/oat/oil combination if you add too much of these things. Also – you can reduce the sugar a bit and it will be OK.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish well with oil spray like Pam.
2. In a large bowl, mix together oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat this mixture evenly and firmly into the prepared pan. Make sure it’s packed in well so it’s not too crumbly.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven until the bars begin to turn golden brown at the edges. Do no over cook them or they will be crunchy instead of chewy! Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. That’s VERY important – don’t let the bars cool or they will be too hard to cut.
4. I wrap these individually in plastic wrap then keep them in a big zip top bag. They keep for a couple of weeks this way, surprisingly!

I hope you try this. And it’s not just for kids – it’s better for you than many of the “power bars” and will give you some good energy!

In the news last week was an announcement from the FDA that they acknowledge that the chemical bisphenol A (or BPA) causes “some concern” and they are going to investigate it further. According to an article in the Boston Globe, while the FDA did say that there is not yet any evidence to further regulate the use of BPA , the Department of Health and Human Services did suggest that people throw away scratched plastic cups and baby bottles with BPA to avoid the ingestion of small amounts of the chemical that can seep out into drinks. It looks like the governmental agencies are showing potential to give this the attention it deserves.

The Health and Human Services has a great posting on their website at :http://www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa/. They give some good explanations of what is being investigated further, and they also list other helpful suggestions – in addition to the one above – to avoid exposing your children to BPA. One interesting fact is that powdered infant formula is generally free of BPA, it’s the liquid version that can be contaminated.

The only tip they offer that I disagree with is the one that says it is generally OK for infants to suck on soft plastic toys. They may be safe from BPA but they are often packed with phthalates (a whole different concern) – so always find out as much as you can about the safety of plastic toys before you allow your infant to suck on them. Wish I’d know about all of this before I had kids. Ugh. It’s scary to think about all that they may have been exposed to!

For the past few years, instead of buying extravagant gifts that we don’t need, my husband and I have picked one thing that we wanted to have that is useful but fun. I know, not that romantic, but we are trying our best to keep things simple (which doesn’t always work…) Anyway, this year we decided to get the SodaStream Seltzer machine. We drink a lot of seltzer around here – we aren’t big soda drinkers. So my husband had seen this machine (or a similar one) at our friend’s house (thanks Lisa!!) and thought it would be a great thing for us to have.

Here’s the deal. This “machine” doesn’t use any electricity. The seltzer is made from tap water. The bottles are BPA-free and reusable so we don’t add as much to landfills. The power comes from CO2 canisters that make 60 to 110 liters of seltzer. Canisters are refilled when they are done. We add natural flavorings (no sugar or artificial sweeteners) to make berry, lemon-lime or orange seltzer. Cool, huh?

We are LOVING it. I think we spent around $150 for a huge kit that included 3 canisters of CO2, the natural seltzer flavors, 4 bottles and the “machine” (which is sleek enough to keep on the counter). Plus we bought one extra canister. Oh – and it came with a sampler of soda flavors (but not a big fan of those – filled with artificial flavors and sweeteners, but my oldest son can’t WAIT to make them!). The whole kit will make something close to 300 liters. Not bad!

So if you are a big seltzer drinker – or if you’d like to easily make your own soda – definitely check this out! Not only will you save money, but you’ll also reduce your carbon footprint!