Homemade No Bake Chewy Granola Bars

 YUMMY!!

For about a month now I have been using this recipe to home make granola bars instead of spending a ton of money on prepackaged ones.  They are fairly easy to make and allow you to put whatever you like in them.  I found the recipe on Pinterest linked back to My Kitchen Escapades.  She has the recipe listed at the link so I won't bother writing it out here.  I also have it pinned under both "food" and "Pinterest Ideas I have used/done IRL".  The only thing I changed up is I use 1/2 agave and 1/2 honey.  The pure honey was WAY too sweet for us.  Only agave didn't hold the bars together very well.

I did take some pictures of the process though, just so you can see how easy it is.

The ingredients, minus the add ins.

First you combine the dry ingredients.  Oats, crispy rice cereal, coconut.

Melt butter, add honey, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla.  Boil.

Pour over dry ingredients and mix.

Add in your add-ins!  If using chocolate you want to let the mixture cool just a few minutes first.  Tonight I made a pan of mini semi-sweet morsels/chocolate covered raisins for the kids AND a pan of Almond Joy candies for J and I.  This pic is of the "Adult" ones.

Press into a 9x13 pan.  I spread it with my spatula and then use a piece of wax paper and my hands to really press it together.  You want it nice and packed so they don't fall apart when you cut them into bars.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Loosen and dump on a cutting board.  This makes it a lot easier to cut evenly.  Just go slow.

We used a pizza cutter tonight to cut them.  We went with 3 rows of five and I think the size turned out perfect.

Baggie up in order to grab quickly when packing lunch/snacks for the day.

Let me know what you think if you try out this recipe!  And a HUGE thanks to Carole Jones for this amazing recipe!

Baking

Here at the Allen house we try to invite the kids into the kitchen to help with meals.  Justin has the older kids help out with dinner quite often.  It helps the meals get to the table faster and is a great learning experience for the kids.  

Personally I've always enjoyed baking with and for kids.  I can remember baking Chocolate Chip cookies with Logan, my first Nanny child, nearly 12 years ago!  

By the time my first child, Adam, came along I was a pro at Chocolate Chip cookies.  When I ask Adam what he wants he usually chooses Oatmeal Raisin cookies.  My standby recipe is the same one you find on the lid of the circular Quaker Oats container.  Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.  I am using an old version though I guess since mine calls for 2 sticks of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar.    These are probably the hardest thing for me to bake.  It took me many years to learn that I need to take them out of the oven when they are still gooey or they will be crunchy instead of soft and chewy.  I'm not a fan of raisins so once in a while I will substitute chocolate chips instead.

Justin's favorite recipe is Lemon Bars.  We use this recipe from our favorite Betty Crocker's New Cookbook.  Adam actually made these a couple weekends ago since he needed to make a dessert for Cub Scouts.  I don't know what the kid did wrong but they were only about a 1/2 inch or less tall and were not at all tasty.

Noelle prefers Chocolate Chip cookies.  I don't have a favorite recipe.  I just use the one on the back of the bag and since I buy generic that has been the Target one lately.  I usually bake most of the batch regular and then add in some coconut to the last bit of dough.  Yummy!

My favorite dessert is Apple Crisp, which also happens to be in the Betty Crocker's New Cookbook (circa 1996, LOL!)  I omit the nutmeg.  I HATE nutmeg, in anything.  Blech!

(Maybe I should contact Betty Crocker for an endorsement deal?!)

What baked goods do you and your family enjoy making/eating?

This post is inspired by Sarah McCoy's The Baker's Daughter. In a small Texan town, Reba discovers Elsie's German Bakery and falls in love with more than the pastries. She's drawn to Elsie's life in Germany during the last year of WWII. Join From Left to Write on August 29 as we discuss The Baker's Daughter. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

Gingerbread Houses

The kids FINALLY got to decorate the houses today!!  

It took a while to get to it since I decided to try making them myself this year.  Spending $12.99 on ONE house the kids have to share just seems silly.  I bought this Gingerbread House cutter set for $8.99 at Michael's or JoAnn's.  I am already looking forward to getting to use it every year.  They can now make houses for any holiday they want!

I used this recipe from Food Network.  The recipe is for a smaller house than my cutters, so I actually made 3 batches of dough to make 2 houses.  Justin and Noelle each ate some of the leftover cookie and said it was very good.  I have never in my life tried actually eating gingerbread anything and I'm not starting now.  

Step 1 - cream together the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, molasses, and baking soda until the mixture is smooth.

Looks smooth, right?!  LOL!

Step 2 - Blend in the flour and water to make a stiff dough.  This was easier said than done.  I had to finish with my hand, the mixture just couldn't get all the flour blended in from the bottom of the bowl.

BTW, this is what happens when you insist on sticking things into the mixing bowl while it is still moving.  Oops!  At least it was a cheap one and not a Pampered Chef.

Step 3 - Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.  I did this step for the first two batches, but it was very hard to roll out.  I skipped it for the last batch and it was much easier.  I would recommend maybe chilling 5-10 minutes only.

It even looks hard, see all the cracks!

Step 4 - Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll dough out and cut shapes.

Step 5 - Bake for 15 minutes.  Re-cut shapes over existing lines right away.  You have to do this while the dough is still soft.  Leave on baking sheet to fully cool.

Step 6 - Make royal icing and have husband build houses so they have plenty of time to harden together.

Making the icing was interesting.  I had never made my own before.  It was REALLY thick and perfect for the grout needed to hold the walls and roof together.  It would not have worked for actually frosting something though.

Step 7 - Decorate!!

Can you tell she's excited!?

Noelle was having some sliding issues.

Pretty lights on the roof and fruit slice bushes.

Justin said we should add an empty sleigh to the top of Noelle's.  Why empty?  Because it looks like there was a massacre on the roof.  Adam's is very nice though.  I hope Santa made it to that house first.

Next year we will be keeping the red away from Noelle.  Also, the tiny tubes of gel icing we had on hand don't work as well as the writing icing tubes.

Random Tidbits 2

(Mostly just "Random Rants" this week.)

1.  Note:  Noelle is not allowed ANY dairy.

This is what this weeks lunch menu for the daycare she attends looked like:

She attends Monday through Thursday every week.  (We feed her breakfast at home every day.  Especially since you have to pay extra for breakfast at the daycare.)  You will notice that the lunch each day she was there this week included dairy (aside from milk, they give her soy regardless).  Here is what she was actually given for her lunches:

It really irks me that the cook can not plan lunches at least 2-3 days of the week that the non-dairy kids can eat.  I HATE that she is given a different lunch than most kids almost every day.  Also, she isn't always given the equivalent of what the rest of the school is.  If the menu says a fruit AND veggie, she should still be given BOTH!  The lack of protein she receives at school also bugs me, but that is one I have to just give on.  And for the record Noelle had bread with jelly for breakfast, lunch, AND afternoon snack on Thursday.  Poor kid, it's no wonder she is starving every afternoon when I pick her up.  Two more things, who really wants to each a plain piece of bread with a slice of ham on it (DRY!!!) and why does the cook feel the need to butter the carrots when she makes them (is she trying to make the kids fat!).  UGH!!

2.  I am starting to bake more foods by scratch at home again.  I had no desire to spend time in the kitchen the last 4 months.  Thank goodness I'm over that.  When I don't have to use a box mix it is a lot easier for me to make sure there is no dairy in it.  My little Remy (Noelle) and I made Blueberry muffins this morning.  We substituted the oil for cinn. applesauce and used dried blueberries, since that is what we always have on hand.  They are a little dense and did not come out of the muffin papers well.  I would LOVE to know what causes them to not come out of papers well if anyone has a clue!  They are plenty edible and the kids are enjoying them!  A few pictures:

 

3.  Here's what my water bill looks like every month:

• Water                   $11.60
• Admin Fee            $5.00
• N Project Fund     $25.00
• Sewer                   $29.25

How is it that I only BUY  $11.60 in water but we more than DOUBLE what goes to the sewer?????  And what about the $30 in other stuff we pay.  The total bill has actually been exactly the sane the last 3 months.  That seems a little iffy to me.

4.  I received an interesting bill in the mail Tuesday from the Pediatricians office for my daughter.  BOTH my children had gotten the Flu Mist last Tuesday, one week prior to this bill arriving.  They wanted $40 for the Flu Mist vaccine.  It also listed a co-payment that was made in January of this year.  Obviously I knew something was wrong since it takes a good month normally to get this kind of bill AND it was only for one child who IS covered under health insurance.  I called them up and she told me to throw it away.  She was super nice and said it appeared they had never even billed the insurance but that she would get it taken care of.  YEAH for people who are friendly and personable in customer service!!

A child's mind...

...never forgets!!  Even though I slept til 9am this morning (I was really tired) Noelle waited to eat breakfast because I had told her last night that we could make muffins.  And sure enough, we did!

She chose blueberry over lemon-poppy seed, which was very surprising.

Since she is currently off dairy we made them with Very Vanilla Soy Milk.  I couldn't taste a difference, but they didn't hold together as well as normal.  That could have been because I got distracted and left them in too long though.  The kids didn't mind at all.

I always use my stand mixer now and Noelle loves to watch it go round and tell me when it is mixed well.  She also poured everything in and put the papers in the muffin tin.  She is a great kitchen helper!!  She also helps me grind my coffee on the mornings we are at home.  She will hold the button down with just 1 finger and then tell me her finger hurts afterward.  LOL  She will proceed to watch the pot until it has filled up and then let me know it's ready.

Omelettes and bagels

Justin is great about letting the kids help cook.  A couple weekends ago they helped make their own omelettes and bagels for dinner.  From what I was told they had a blast and want to do it again!  Noelle doesn't usually eat eggs and I guess she ate most of hers that night!

Little bakers

As I am sure everyone already knows, my kids LOVE to help me bake.  And I enjoy having homemade muffins and breads for them to eat at breakfast and snacks.  I had been craving this coffee cake recipe for a couple weeks and Adam really wanted it too so we made some up.

It is so yummy!!  It has a crumb topping even.

The Breakfast Coffee Cake we like is super easy to make and I always already have all the ingredients on hand since we always buy Bisquick brand pancake mix.  I got this recipe from B's mommy after I had it there once.

Breakfast Coffee Cake

2 cups Bisquick

2 Tbs. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

I often add a little extra milk.  If you think of it as a big pancake you can understand that the moistness really depends on the amount of milk you add.

Mix all together and sprinkle crumb topping over the top.  Bake in a greased round 9 inch pan at 4oo degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup Bisquick

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tablespoons stick butter

I would love to hear if you try it and what your family thinks.

Mommy's little helpers

The kids love to help us cook, especially baked goods! And I guess you could say I've had the baking bug the last couple of weeks. We made Banana Bread last weekend and Coffee Cake Friday night. Noelle helped me make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies this morning. We cooked 6 to enjoy for snack this afternoon and froze the rest in balls so that we can cook just a few at a time later on. Adam and I made Chocolate Chip Cookies this afternoon. We are freezing all of them in balls for later. I also want to make another Coffee Cake in the next few days, since we ate the first one in less than 24 hours. I'll add that we had help from a friend who was visiting.

Oops, a few oats missed the bowl!!


Adam loves to crack the eggs, and he is really good at it.


We had so much fun together!!