Granola Bars/Cereal and the death of Crock Pot Recipes

 I made some delicious granola bars today, but let's talk about that last so we end on a happy note.

Crock Pot Day 8 of 365...the end.

Ok, I'll tell you what happened between the ...

I did make a recipe today. I made bread in the crock pot. It was an epic fail.
Today was day 2 of meetings that are being held at our church that consists of about 10 pastors meeting and fellow-shipping in God's Word. I volunteered to provide salad and bread. I have had a recipe for crock pot bread pinned on my pinterest for a while and thought...I need bread and I'm doing a crock pot a day recipe...perfect! I really think it would have turned out if I would have stuck to 1 one pound loaf, but I got all brave and did 2 one pound loaves in my larger crock pot. Needless to say it never finished cooking in the crock pot. It may have by tomorrow morning. However, my mom ended up taking it home from the pastor's luncheon and throwing it in the oven. I hope it tasted good and was not a waste at least. My husband ended up having to drive through Panera and getting baguettes. Oh well.

  On the other hand the failure of the bread brought on a bad discussion of crock pot recipes and doing one 365 days in a row. The hubs does not like the idea and I have to support that. So while it is not the absolute end to crock pot recipes, there just won't be a lot of them. Sorry. On the other hand, I'll have a happy husband and that's more important to me. Yeah...I know...cry it out. :)  You can still check out the bread crock pot recipe here.

Back to the delicious granola bars! Even though I'm not technically going on a diet until after the baby is born, I do want to start eating healthier than I have been. I found this recipe and made it this morning and it is definitely a keeper. I love that you can make it into a cereal just by putting in regular oats instead of steel cut oats. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I am!

Granola Bars/Cereal
Source: 100 days of Real Food Blog

Ingredients

• 3½ cups rolled oats (if you want bars use steel cut oats so it will stick together better <-- did="did" i="i" is="is" li="li" this="this" what="what">
• 1 cup raw sliced almonds (I did not use raw and it is yummy!)
• 1 cup raw cashew pieces (or walnuts or pecans...I used cashews)
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I could not find this for a price I was willing to pay, so I subbed 1/2 cup of whole flax seeds)
• ½ cup raw sunflower seeds (again...not raw)
• ½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ cup honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Also need – parchment paper

Instructions

 

     1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Cover a rectangular baking sheet with parchment paper.

     2. Mix the dry oats, almonds, cashews, coconut (flax seeds in my case), seeds and spices together in a    large mixing bowl.

                                              

 

     3. Heat the butter and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Once the butter melts stir in the vanilla.

     4. Pour the hot liquids over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly coated.

 

 

     5. Spread mixture onto prepared pan in one even layer. Bake for 75 minutes.

     6. The granola will become crisp as it cools at which point you can break into pieces (if making bars) or break it up into small chunks by pounding it in a zip lock bag (if making cereal). Store in air tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. 

 

 

~Enjoy!
Melissa~