Raisin Granola Bars

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent almost all of Sunday starting our veggie garden and an herb garden. I’m still new at the gardening thing, and I still have a lot to learn. My stepmom is the one who got me started on it and gave me the information I need. She also let me borrow a  book which has a lot of good information. I’ll have more pictures after we do our other bed next weekend. Isaac was excited when he saw it!

I’ve also been working on my baking skills lately and in particular, focusing on a new healthy snack for Isaac. I decided on granola bars. They’re easy to hold for young ones, and they can easily replace the high sugar and sometimes highly processed bars that can be found in stores. They’re a hit with all of us in the house.

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup raisins (or dried cranberries)

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup honey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins (or dried cranberries) and salt. In a separate bowl,  mix together the egg, honey, applesauce, and vanilla extract.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture into the well. Mix ingredients well  using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for about 30 minutes in preheated oven. Times may differ among ovens-bars are ready when they 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.

Enjoy! I hope everyone has a great week! Thank you for reading.

Selene