Best Granola Bars Ever!

I've mentioned before that I like granola bars, but can't buy any of the ones I like in the stores because of Anna's problems with dairy and peanuts. I had found a good recipe that worked okay a few times, but the more I changed it, the more problems I had with it.

Not too long ago, I found this recipe at Simple Organized Living and wanted to try it but was missing a few key ingredients. Well, I finally got them all yesterday and, having been out of granola bars for a week (grr!), decided it was time to try it. Oh, my goodness!! They are amazing!! I couldn't quite spread them out to fill the 9x13, so I may have to adjust the amounts, as I'd like to make a full pan each time. Other than that, it's definitely a keeper as is. One of the best things is that they are no-bake so they take much less time to prepare.

Chewy Granola Bars
1/2 C honey or corn syrup (I used about 1/8 C honey and the rest corn syrup because I don't always like the bitterness of honey, but it would be fine with more honey)
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C peanut butter (I used creamy SunButter)
2 C quick oats
2 C crispy rice cereal
1/4 C ground flax seed
1-2 T wheat germ (optional--I used 1 T)
1 C mix-ins (I used dark chocolate chips, but you could use dried fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.)

Lin a 9x13 pan with wax paper or grease it well.

Mix the oats, cereal, flax seed, wheat germ and mix-ins in a large bowl. (I used a 5qt bowl and it was about the right size.) In a small saucepan, mix honey or corn syrup and brown sugar. Cook over medium-high heat until sugar is completely dissolved, stirring constantly. (I wasn't sure exactly when to stop cooking it. The sugar appeared to dissolve very quickly, but I kept cooking it just to heat it all up because of the next step.) Remove from heat and quickly stir in peanut butter. Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients. Mix well. (I ended up using my hands to mix it all.)

Press mixture into prepared pan. (You can either use your hands or cover the mixture with wax paper and press down with a measuring cup.) Let cool and "firm up"--kind of like Rice Krispy Bars. Cut into bars and store in an air-tight container. (I lifted the wax paper and bars onto a cutting board and used a pastry cutter/scraper to cut them into 1.5"x4.5" bars. You can store them in the freezer in an air-tight container as well.)

600 Muffins

Yesterday we went to the library to sign Emily up for the summer reading program. It's been months since we went to the library (pre-Anna, actually), but this was enough to get us there. Knowing that Emily can get prizes for going to the library...great!

But, that's not really what this post is about. I've seen several people (including Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy) talking about Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and I wondered what all the fuss was about. So, I decided to look for the book while we were at the library. I wasn't overly impressed with that book (I just don't make or want to make fancy "artisan" bread), but I saw this book.

Since muffins have become a good snack for me (and I've really enjoyed making them!), I was intrigued and checked it out. Out of the 100 or so muffin recipes (and 500 variations), I picked out 24 that sounded good enough to copy the recipe to try. (Not sure how many variations there are of the 24 I picked out, but I'm guessing 4-6 per recipe.) Some are what I typically think of as muffins--sweet, breakfast goodies5--but others are savory like Roasted Garlic Muffins and Pizza Muffins and Potato Muffins. I can't promise I'll post about all the recipes, but I may post about some of my favorites.

Here goes...
Berry
Bran
Cheddar
Chocolate Angel Food
Chocolate Chip
Coffeecake
Fudge
Honey
Lemonade
Lemon Poppy Seed
Maple
Oatmeal
Peach
Pear
Pineapple Upside-Down
Pizza
Potato
Refrigerator Honey Bran
Roasted Garlic
S'mores
Strawberry Jam
Tomato

Cinnamon Streusel Topping
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
Crumb Topping
Oat Crunch Topping