Homemade Granola Bars

Mmmm....Chewy

The boys both love to snack and they super love to help me make granola bars.  It's great in their lunch, you can sneak nutritious things into it and it is mega easy to make.  Pretty much the only rule is that the oatmeal needs to bind together and there are a number of ways to make that happen.

Granola Bars ala Ashley

pre-heat oven to 350

4 cups of Oats (I prefer slow cooking, has more grain)

3/4 cup of Rye or Whole Wheat flour

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of Honey

1/4 cup of blackstrap molasses (optional, but so healthy)

1 cup of Sourdough Starter OR 1 cup mashed banana OR 1 cup of warmed peanut butter (this will bind it)*

handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips, or more...to your liking**

Combine your dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients and stir it all together.  It should form a loose mass of oat-y goodness.  If it is too dry and you can't incorporate all the ingredients add more honey or more of your binding ingredient.

Grease a 9X13 baking dish and press the granola into the pan.  I use a fork and just press everything into place eliminating any empty space.  Bake for 25 minutes.

*Some granola recipes use an oil to add wetness to the granola.  I am trying to make these granola bars healthy and suitable for packed lunches so I prefer to use the sourdough starter.  In fact, there are many recipes in which you can use sourdough starter in place of a fat such as oil or milk or butter...

**you could add so much awesome stuff to these bars such as nuts, dried fruit, wheat germ, flax seed....