granola bars

I finished reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food last week. I am now reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Both books have me thinking about how to eat more responsibly and lessen my impact on our ecosystem. I am missing all of our local food options and hate to think about how far my food has to travel to get to my table. Since reading these books and choosing to support my local food system, I am much more aware of where my food comes from. I had to think twice this morning before reaching for a bunch of green onions from Mexico. I decided that my recipe wouldn't miss them that much, so they stayed in their neat display in the produce section. One concept from Michael Pollan's book that has really stuck with me is the idea of choosing whole foods. When you go shopping and are making food choices, think about whether your great grandmother would recognize the product. If she wouldn't, don't buy it. Clearly the point is to be avoiding processed foods but some choices are not so clear. For example, yogurt tubes. When they are on special I will buy these for my children. They are yogurt after all. But my grandmother would certainly have no idea what they are. The tub of yogurt without added sugars, colours and flavours would be a much better purchase. I feel I do a good job preparing food from scratch and avoiding the freezer section almost entirely (ice cream, frozen fruit and the occasional bag of frozen peas and corn do make it into our cart). But the quick snacks for my kids is where I do fail. So, I figured that I would try to search for an alternative to the packaged granola bars. Of course I crammed them full of lots of good stuff which means only one thing...my kids won't eat them. Andrew and I love them, even Jesse will eat them. So, for now they are our snack. They stay in my freezer upstairs where I can grab one and eat one on the go. (They are great still slightly frozen.) I just need to find the right combination of goodies that will get all the kids eating them.

Homemade Granola Bars - adapted from Allrecipes.com

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup wheat germ

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup honey

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup applesauce

1 1/2 cups dried fruit and seeds (I chose to add a 1/4 cup each of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, craisins, coconut, diced dried apricots, chocolate chips) * this is why my kids didn't eat them because there was something in there that they didn't like. If they had their way I would have just added chocolate chips.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour and salt. Make a well in the centre, and pour in the honey, egg, oil, vanilla and applesauce. Mix well. Add in your dried fruit and/or seeds. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

Other options to add to granola bars - almonds (I chose to keep mine nut free), other nuts, raisins. Be creative and include what you like.