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!