Round Cereal Bars Recipe

I'm only human after all. This entire week has slipped past me with out posting our activities! I usually sit down to type after the kids go to bed, but with the Olympics on I've been glued to the TV and have left my computer to sit and collect dust.

Here's a recap of some of the things that happened this week. There was a guys fishing day, where the boys went out to the lake to see what they could catch (which ended up being nothing, but the bonding was good).

While they did that we had a girls day in which we made heart shaped purple cookies, painted our toe nails, played with the princess dolls and watched a girl movie uninterupted by big brother complaining about it.

This week we also went to a street fair and shared a funnel cake, went swimming, rode our bikes, spent even more time at the park, and watched the sun set.

To refuel ourselves today I made a batch of cereal bars. They're kind of like a Nutrigrain Bar base. There are several variations you can make from this recipe, based on your taste, what you have on hand, and how nutritionally packed you're trying to make them. I've tried to include all these options in the easiest to read format.

Round Cereal Bar Recipe

Combine
     1 c rolled oats
     1 c whole wheat flour **or 3/4 c white flour + 1/4 c wheat germ**
     2/3 c brown sugar
     1/2 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp salt
     **optional add 1 scoop protein powder or 1/4 c powdered milk
Add
     1/4 c oil **or 2 T oil + 2 T unsweetened applesauce**
     1 egg **or 1 T milled flax seed + 2 T water**
     1 tsp vanilla
     1/4 c apple juice **or white grape juice**
     **optional add 2 T pureed veggies, yams work well with recipe
Optional (but highly recommended) Stir In
     1/2 c to 1 c any combination of nuts, seeds, dried fruit &/or choc chips
          (I personally like to add mostly healthy add ins, what ever I have handy, and then
          just a sprinkling of choc chips to make the kids think they're getting a sweet treat.)

There's two options to bake the treat. My favorite is #1 because it is easy to transport so this snack can be taken on outings without falling apart. Option #2 is better for at home snacks.

#1. Grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin. Fill tins 2/3 full. Depending on how many fruits and nuts you added it might not fit nicely in 24. You can either bake it in 2 batches, or put the remainder in a random dish and bake one big treat, or fill them all the way full and just have big snacks (they're harder to get out when you do this). Bake at 325 for about 20.min, until set and browned. Cool for about 5-10 min before removing, and then let cool completely before storing.

#2. Spread mixture evenly into a greased 13 x 9 pan. Bake at 325 for 30-40 min until golden brown. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

I over filled my tins a little and you can see in this picture what happened. You don't want them spilling over the sides like that. It makes it harder to take them out.

And you get crumbling like this.

Crumbled or not this recipe is a winner. It never fails that when I take this snack kids gobble it up and moms want to know how to make them. I took a batch to a play date at a friends house today and there were none left over to take home.