Feature Recipe

 I'm going to try and flex my "pages" muscle.  I haven't used these things, and so stuff might be in the wrong spot til I figure it out.  =)  But I want to use this page to feature a recipe or meal that we like or that I discovered, or WHATEVER!

Today it's...

Emeril's Nutty Granola Bars

I get a magazine, or rather a digest, called Everyday Food by Martha Stewart.  I'm not wildly impressed, but there are a few things about it I like. Each month it has a recipe from Emeril Lagasse and it's for cooking with kids!  So for weeks, Julia kept begging me to make this granola recipe and I wanted to but took my sweet time in getting around to it.  When we finally made it, the whole family was in spasms.  I doubled the recipe, and what a mistake!  It wasn't the kids that could reach up onto the counter and help themselves to a "little bit" every hour or so.  =)  

What I like about the recipe is that it lends itself to tweaking.  We added dried cranberries, a few white chocolate chips and molasses.  Even though I have almond butter, I used peanut butter because I prefer the taste.  Lucas also asked for peanut butter when given the choice.  I did not measure the honey or molasses, and it worked out just fine.  I think I'll add more nut and dried fruit variety next time and maybe things like sunflower seeds, too.  Wish I could think of a good alternative/addition to oats.  Some other grain to toast and add.  Maybe some cracked flax seed might be nice.  Could a person toast cooked rice?

So here's the directions and such:

Serves 16 * Active time: 10 min. * Total time: 40 min. plus cooling

3/4 C honey, divided

2 T unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish

3 C old-fashioned rolled oats

1 and 1/3 C slivered almonds (6 oz.)

coarse salt

1 C raisins, or other dried fruit

1/3 C creamy almond butter, or other nut butter

1/4 C light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a saucepan, heat 1/4 C honey and butter over low.  Cook, stirring, until butter melts, 2 min.  

Combine oats, almonds and pinch of salt in large bowl.  Drizzle honey mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine.  Spread mixture evenly on a large rimmed baking sheet.  Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Let cool completely on sheet, 10 min.  Return to large bowl and add raisins; stir to combine.

Butter 8 in square baking dish.  In saucepan, combine 1/2 C honey, almond butter and brown sugar over medium.  Cook, stirring occasionally until mixture comes to a boil and sugar dissolves, 10 min.  Drizzle over oat mixture and stir until combined.  Transfer to baking dish.  With a spatula, firmly press granola into dish.  Refrigerate until firm, about an hour, then cut into 16 squares.  Store in an airtight container at room temp up to 5 days, ha!

Per bar: 258 cals, 11g fat, 6g protein, 38 carbs, 3g fiber

Note: T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon

Other things I did/noticed:  I didn't always wait for things to cool completely and it didn't seem to be a problem.  Also, I used a piece of wax paper and my hand to press the granola firmly into the 10 x 15 glass dish I used when doubling the recipe.