Granola Bars-Success

Wahoo!
I came up with a recipe that meets our criteria.
They are made from whole foods.
They stick together and can be eaten on the go.
They taste great! In fact your kids will probably just call them cookies.
And they are simple to make. Really, they are.


Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars


1/3c brown sugar
1/4 c room temp. butter, unsalted
1 medium egg
1 t. vanilla
1 1/4 c old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c bran (wheat or oat, whatever you have on hand)
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 c flax seed, ground
3/4 c raisins
1 T boiling water

Place raisins in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Cover and let steam.
Preheat oven to 350
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and cream until light and fluffy.
Combine dry ingredients.
Add dry ingredients and raisins, including any water left in the bowl, to wet ingredients. Stir until blended.
Form into balls, press together firmly. Place on lined baking sheet. Flatten balls slightly with wet fingers (it will help to keep it from stinking to your fingers)
Bake 14 minutes. Let cool on sheet. Transfer to airtight container, if there are any left.

The first night they were a little crumbly and crisp, the next day they were soft and moist and held together perfectly. These are more on the chewy side, I am not a huge fan of super crispy granola bars and neither are my kids but these are great. So much healthier than the granola bars from the store, cheaper, and tastier too.



I had so much success with the first batch I decided to try another flavor



Apricot Almond Granola Bars
Just a few changes:
Omit the water and raisins. Cut up 1/2 c dried apricots in small chunks.
Omit the Bran instead pulverize 1/4 c almonds into flour like consistency.
Add 1/4 t almond extract (more to taste)
Add 1/4 c toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
Then proceed with the recipe above.
I am sure you can think of endless varieties. I can't wait to try them with some sesame seeds, dried cranberries, etc.
Enjoy!

Peak Times- Fruits and Veggies

I found this listing of peak times for fruits and vegetables and thought it would be useful for us all as a reference. This is for Nebraska, but I don't think other states will be too far off (other than CA and FL).

January
February
March
April	Asparagus
May	Apricots Asparagus Blueberries Cherries Mango Nectarines Peaches Plums	Leaf Lettuce (Romaine, Green) Radishes Spinach Turnips
June	Apricots Beets Blueberries Cherries Mango Nectarines Peaches Plums Strawberries Sweet Potato	Broccoli Bell Peppers Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Eggplant Green Beans Leaf Lettuce Onions Peas Potato Radishes Snow Peas Spinach Squash Tomatoes Turnips Zucchini
July	Apricots Beets Blueberries Cantaloupe Cherries Honeydew Mango Nectarines Peaches Plums Strawberries Sweet Potato	Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Corn Cucumbers Eggplant Green Beans Leaf Lettuce Onions Peas Potato Snow Peas Squash Tomatoes Zucchini
August	Apples Apricots Blueberries Cantaloupe Cherries Grapes Honeydew Mango Nectarines Peaches Plums Strawberries Sweet Potato Watermelon	Cabbage Carrots Corn Cucumbers Eggplant Green Beans Leaf Lettuce Onions Peas Potato Snow Peas Squash Tomatoes Zucchini
September	Apples Blueberries Cantaloupe Grapes Honeydew Mango Nectarines Plums Peaches Strawberries Sweet Potato Watermelon	Cabbage Carrots Corn Cucumbers Eggplant Green Beans Leaf Lettuce Onions Peas Potato Snow Peas Squash Tomatoes Zucchini
October	Apples Plums Sweet Potato	Cabbage Corn Green Beans Leaf Lettuce Onions Peas Potato Snow Peas Squash Tomatoes Zucchini
November	Pomegranate
December	Pomegranate

All year: (These are mainly imported so we can get them all year)

Avocado
Banana
Grapefruit
Kiwifruit
Oranges
Papaya
Pears
Pineapple
Artichokes
Bean Sprouts
Black-eyed Peas
Celery
Leeks
Mushrooms

Granola Bars - Take One

Granola bars seem like a healthy food. But most of what you find at the store, really isn't that good for you - and if it is, it is so expensive you wouldn't give it to your kids.
So, is it possible to make you own? We tried, and well, we are going to try it again.

Granola Bar Recipe #1 - Kind of like a sweet bread but a bar. It was dense but yummy because we added chocolate chips. It fell apart when we cut it into bars the first day we made it, it was easier to cut the second day, but we still wouldn't give it to our kids inside the house or car.
Granola Bar Recipe #2 This one was lighter than #1, but fell apart just the same. With fruit inside it would have been just like a nutrigrain bar (w/out the nasty aftertaste). But the not staying together part was not working for us.
Granola Bar Recipe #3 Recipe adapted from Alton Brown's Granola Bars. This was more traditional granola made into a bar. This one stuck together better, still not what we would expect of a treat that is supposed to be portable. It had fruit and nuts and oats and a carmel type sauce that helped it stick together. Cutting it proved to be difficult because it had a mind of its own.
Granola Bar Recipe #4 Honey Almond Granola Bars. This recipe tasted really good. It had no sugar - just honey and was not too sweet. Broke apart though when we tried to cut it into bars.
Granola Bar Recipe #5 Oatmeal Cookie Granola Bars. This was a recipe for regular granola that said to press it into a pan before baking to make it into granola bars. It turned back into granola after I tried to cut it. It tasted just like an oatmeal cookie.

So every recipe had the same basic problem: Falls apart too easily. Could never feed it to the kids because of the mess it would make.

So we are still looking for the perfect granola bar recipe. These are our rules:

1. It has to be made from whole foods - no over processed fake food or trans fat.

2. It has to stick together(not fall apart) and be easy to eat on the go.

3. It has to actually taste good.

Homemade Babyfood

Our ward just had an enrichment all about babies. We had classes on breastfeeding, scheduling and one on homemade baby food. I taught the baby food class and thought I would just pass along the information that I taught the ladies and the handout I made.

Homemade Baby Food

1^st Foods

Start with single pureed fruits and vegetables

Raw Foods	Buy Frozen, then thaw, then blend with a little liquid (formula, water or breast milk)	Buy Fresh, Steam or Boil, then Blend with a little liquid	Other
Banana Avocado Peaches (peel first) Nectarines Plums Strawberries Apricot Pears * Sometimes can be runny so mix in cereal when serving to baby * Wouldn’t recommend Citrus, Grapes or Melons	Frozen bagged veggies- peas, carrots, green beans *I have found my kids don’t like broccoli or corn and it doesn’t puree or digest well at first	Squash Sweet Potatoes/Yams Zucchini	Canned Pumpkin Applesauce (natural, unsweetened) * Note if you buy canned fruit make sure it is canned in it’s own juice, not in syrup.

2^nd Foods- These are much like the 1^st purees , but you can start mixing flavors and add some finger foods

Fruit Combinations	Vegetable Combinations
Strawberry and Banana Strawberry and Peach Banana and Applesauce Strawberry and Applesauce *Fruits are easy to mix and most fruits go well together	Peas and Carrots Bag of Mixed Veggies Squash and Sweet Potatoes

3rd Foods- They are almost ready for table food, so pretty much anything unprocessed

Some Examples to chop in blender

- Whole Wheat Spaghetti and some Sauce

- Broccoli and Chicken and Brown Rice

How- To Prepare and Store your Purees

Puree:
Frozen Veggies: Microwave or cook on stove until no longer frozen with a few tablespoons of water (doesn’t need to be hot). When veggies are cool put them in the blender until pureed
Fruits: Many of these need to be peeled first. For things like peaches and nectarines the easiest way to get the skin off is to blanch them (dip them in boiling water for 20 sec, then cold water) then peel the skin right off. Then you cut it into chunks, add a few tablespoons of water and puree as usual.
Fresh vegetables: Cut up the vegetable into 1 inch cubes then in a small pan boil an inch or two of water. Turn stove down to a 3 or 4, then add in your vegetables and steam then. Put the lid on, but do stir every minute or so. After about 5 minutes it should be soft enough to mush with a fork. Dump water and vegetable into blender and puree.
Storing:

Once your puree is made you are ready to freeze it for later use. I like to use an ice cube tray that has a slide on lid. Pour your puree into the ice cube trays and freeze until hard (4-6 hours?). When your puree is frozen you dump your ice cubes into a ziplock bag. Use a separate bag for each kind and be sure to write the flavor on the outside and the date. These can be frozen for 3 months or so.

Using:
When ready to use the puree- you just pull out the bag that has the flavor you want out of the freezer. Remove about 2 ice cubes (depends on how hungry your baby is). Then put them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 30 seconds, until it is thawed. If your puree is too runny then add some rice cereal and it will thicken right up.

Baby teething sticks: Ingredients: 2/3 cup milk 4 Tbsp butter, melted & cooled 1 cup whole wheat flour, approx. 1 Tbsp brown sugar 1 cup plain un-toasted wheat germ

Directions : Beat together the milk, butter & sugar. Stir in the wheat germ and enough flour to make a dough. Knead until smooth & satiny for about 8 to 10 minutes. Pinch off balls of dough & roll them into sticks about 1 / 2 inches thick and 4 inches long (1.25 cm x 10 cm). Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350° F (175°C) for about 35 minutes or until browned and hard. Yield : 20 sticks

Meal Planning

I have found that for me to keep my family eating healthy I have to plan ahead. Which means each week I spend about 15 minutes and write out a menu for the week and a shopping list.
Recently I acquired a laminated weekly meal planner and it has been great. I am usually good about planning out dinner, but I am really bad at getting a variety when it comes to snacks and breakfast (we eat way too much cold cereal). This planner has really helped.
I use a Vis-a-Vis pen, so it wipes clean with water. I generally plan out breakfast, dinner and a snack for each day and I try to vary the food groups. If we have fruit with breakfast then the snack is typically a vegetable. The dinner days often get switched around, because I don't always like what I picked for dinner, but the general calendaring helps.
Here is a sample of our week:
The second thing I made on our computer and it is a weekly food planner on one side and shopping list on the other. It is very good for keeping your shopping list organized and I like having the menu on the other side as a reference.
I keep it posted on the fridge and add to it during the week.

Ezekiel Bread

Ezekiel 4:9 "Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and ^afitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof..."

This was really good and easy if you do some prep ahead of time. I halved the recipe and got two large loaves, if I had a bigger mixer I would have made all of it. Note: You need a wheat grinder or find the mixture pre-ground.

In the grinder put in:
7 cups hard white or red wheat
1/4 c pinto beans
1/4 c soy beans
1 c barley
1/4 c lentils
1/3 c millet
1 c Rye ( we didn't have this so we used brown rice)
Mill at a medium flour.
Other Ingredients:
5 C hot tap water
1/2 c honey
1/2 c oil
1 1/2 T. real salt
3 T. SAF instant Yeast
1/2 vital wheat gluten
2 T. dough enhancer


After you have made your flour, in your mixer combine the hot water and 7 cups flour. Add oil, honey, yeast, salt and gluten and mix together. With the mixer running add flour until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead 8 minutes. Add dough enhancer and knead until mixed through. Shape into 4 loaves and let rise until double. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

* This recipe was designed for a Bosch but I used my KitchenAid. My husband made all the flour, but I only used half once I realized there way no way it would all fit.

* A few things about DOUGH ENHANCER; this is the first time I have bought it and it was great. Someone once told me that it was just vital wheat gluten, that is false. Dough Enhancer has soy lecithin, pectin and acidic acid among other things in addition to the wheat gluten. My husband would like us to try making it ourselves.