Granola Bars

I don't know about your family but mine needs Snacks.  All kinds of snacks!  We love the staple granola bar but they're full of junk and super expensive considering how fast my little kids go through them.  I found this recipe a couple years ago on Pinterest and Loved it!  I love the versatility, ease, and quickness of this recipe and my kids love the taste and coming up with their favorite combinations!  Some of our favorites so far are Cinnamon Raisin, Orange Cranberry, S'mores, Peanut Butter, and Peanut butter Chocolate Chip.  I hope you love this recipe and can create your families favorites at a fraction of the cost! 

For the basic recipe you need:

1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c butter
1/4 c honey
1/3 c packed brown sugar
3 cups dry ingredients; which includes but is not limited to: puffed rice, puffed wheat, puffed millet, and oats.  Any combination you want as long as it adds up to 3 cups.
 2 Small hand fulls of your favorite add-ins!  

Directions:

Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.  

In a small pot melt butter, honey, and brown sugar on med-hi heat until it comes to a boil.  Reduce the heat to Lo and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Stir in Vanilla.  

Pour over your dry ingredients and mix well to coat well.  

Quickly stir in you add-ins.  If you want your marshmallows, chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips to be melted a little you can stir them into the dry mix before pouring the hot mixture over.  Peanut butter can be put in before the hot mixture also.  

Once everything is mixed well pour into a lightly greased baking sheet and with a piece of wax paper tightly pack it onto the pan.  

  

This part is important!  Pack it tight!  The tighter you pack it the better they'll hold together.  Let the pan sit on your counter for 2 hours or in your fridge for 20 minutes to completely cool and then cut!  Individually wrap them in parchment paper or plastic wrap and store at room temperature or put all of 1 kind in a ziploc or tupperware and store in your fridge or freezer if they're crumbly.  I like mine in the freezer because they don't get too warm and melt or fall apart if my little ones want to hold them until its time to eat them.  

Tips:  If your bars aren't staying together pack them tighter and try reducing the butter by 1T next time.
 1 recipe makes about 12 bars so I make a batch per kind we're making that day. 
You can buy the puffed dry ingredients at any Sprouts type store.  Watch for sales and you can frequently get them for $1 a bag.






Ideas:
Cinnamon Raisin - add 1t cinnamon and 2 hand-fulls of raisins
Cranberry Orange- add 2 hand-fulls craisens and 1t orange zest
Peanut Butter - 1/2c peanut butter and peanut butter chips if you want *you can add the peanut butter before the hot mixture
Chocolate Chip - 2 hand-fulls mini chocolate chips
M&M's - 2 hand-fulls mini m&m's
S'mores - 1 big hand-full mini white marshmallows and 1 big hand-full chocolate chips *add in bowl before hot mixture so they get nice a gooey when hit with the heat!

Peanut Butter Chip

Cranberry Orange

S'Mores

Be Creative and Enjoy!

 

STATS:

Better? When you and your kids get to make your own custom creations that's always better!!  *check*

Healthier? While alot of chewy granola bars are finally made without high fructose corn syrup they are still LOADED with sugar and are definitely closer to a candy bar.  These are not absent of all things sweet and delicious but there's still far less sugar and these are also made with honey -an all natural and good for you sweetener- which helps.  Also, with these you can use the dry ingredients you like and make it as healthy as you want.  In the end...there's nothing in your new granola bars that you can't pronounce and don't know exactly where it came from! *check*

Cheaper? A box of Chewy granola bars is around $4 for 10!  Cost for your custom bars...$.75 for dry ingredients, and maybe $1 total for everything else-although its really all stuff from the pantry.  Total maybe $1.75 for 12? *check*

Nutrigrain Bars

The request for homemade Nutrigrain bars recipe came from a reader (thanks Steph).  After looking at several recipes I'm excited to share this one I found at pilgrimspantry.com!  They are soooo good and so healthy!!  You're going to be SHOCKED when you scroll down to see what they're made of!  I think my husband has eaten 10 of them in the last day!




Ingredients:

1/2 c butter, softened
1t vanilla
1c packed brown sugar
1c whole wheat flour
1c all purpose flour
1 1/2 c rolled oats
2c jam or fruit preserves

and for the kicker....1/2c white beans, drained and rinsed!  I know -crazy right?!?  Any white bean will work-I used Navy beans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1-Place the beans, vanilla, and softened butter into a blender or food processor to make smooth

 

2- Mix smooth bean mixture with other ingredients-white flour, wheat flour, oats, and brown sugar.  Mixture will be crumbly

 

3- On foil lined and greased baking sheet or silpat press down half the dough on to the pan.

4- Spread jam, jelly, or even leftover fruit boiled with a little sugar onto mixture

5- Spread remainder of mixture on top of fruit to create your "sandwich".  I added some raw oats on top to help fill in holes where I didn't do the best job spreading my 2nd half of the mixture.

6- Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly brown at 350 degrees.

7- Let cool and then cut into squares or bars.  This can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days, or frozen up to six months.

Ideas:  These would make a great after school snack, or breakfast!  Mix extras into the batter if you're trying to get extra goodness into your family, ie. flax seeds or chia seeds!

Mmmmm Mmmm good!

Be Creative and Enjoy!

STATS:

Better - These things are delicious!  I love the endless options these have!!  *check*
Healthier - I know "White beans" is not an ingredient of any nutri-grain bars I've seen!  These also boast a healthy dose of whole wheat flour and depending on what type of fruit preserves you use (ie. sugar free or homemade) there's another place for a health improvement! *check*
Cheaper - These cost me nothing to make because everything was already in my pantry!  The recipe doesn't call for enough of anything  to cause for a separate but if you were doing the math I can't imagine these would cost more than $1 or 2 and you get 1/2 a pan full!  I got an entire gallon ziplock full of bars! -probably 24? Nutri-grain bars in the store are at least $3 for 8!  *check*