All About Oats Today

 Today was all about oats at our house.  Well oats and laundry we always seem to have laundry to do here.  I've been trying really hard to buy fewer and fewer convenience products that I can simply make myself rather simply.  Granola bars are one of those items that my family loves but they are fairly expensive and really not all that good for you if you buy most major brands.  The other problem is that my daughter can't eat most granola bars in her classroom because they contain nuts of some sort.  So I found a recipe for a simple nut free granola on SparkRecipes.com it was very simple to make and oh my gosh delicious.  The only thing I would say is don't be in a total rush to get them out of the pan, cut them in the pan instead of trying to flip it over on to a cutting board.  The pieces were delicious but they aren't as pretty or as uniform as I would have liked.  Guess I need to get a second 9X13 so I don't have to rush to clean the one I have for the next project.  Speaking of which that was also an oat project but that is still cooling in the pan where it belongs so I've got a bit longer before I can share that one. 

 Sooooooo gooood!  I think next time I'm going to try dried cherries and apricots.

Homemade Nut-Free Granola Bars

Submitted by: BLSCT123

Easy to make granola bars that even my picky-eater loved!

Minutes to Prepare: 10

Minutes to Cook: 35

Number of Servings: 14

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup raisins (or other dried fruit)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup oil (veggie or canola)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins (or other dried fruit) and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well with wooden spoon or your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden brown at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes then cut into bars while still warm. DO NOT ALLOW THE BARS TO COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE CUTTING or they will be too hard to cut.

Makes 14 - 2 inch by 4 inch pieces.

Submitted to:

Thinking of Spring

This has been the most bizarre winter I can ever remember!  As I type this at almost 4 o'clock it is 54 degrees outside.  That is just so weird to have such warm weather here.  It seems almost strange to think of Spring as just around the corner when it feels like Winter hasn't even really started yet.  But Spring isn't too far off at all so it is time to start making plans for the new planting season.  We had some great success last year with some of our plants like the broccoli and others just didn't do as well like our peppers.  I'm quite anxious to get the seed catalogs opened and start getting the kids idea of what they would like to grow and of course EAT! this coming summer.  Hopefully we can add some new foods and buy a little less at the stores than we did last year.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

 Every year the kids and I celebrate Chinese New Year.  Not because we have any Asian heritage but because this time of the year we need something to brighten up the dark days.  Our celebrations started in 2006 when Jeff spent three months out of town and the kids and I were completely lonely and stir crazy. 

If you haven't ever celebrated Chinese New Year it isn't too late the true celebration lasts about 15 days.  Here is a link to the Wikipedia information.  This is one of my favorite websites to use for our yearly crafts.  Molly and Jack got really lucky this year because I found Ni Hao Kai-lan crafts on clearance at Micheal's. 

What do you celebrate that maybe others don't? 

New Baby

Okay I'm not having a baby but my brother and sister-in-law had a baby earlier this month.  He is just the cutest little nugget ever!  Well most babies are though aren't they?  As the auntie I made him a set of mitts and a hat.  I so with that I had known how to knit before my babies were born, although Jeff did point out that before our babies were born we wouldn't have been able to afford the yarn or the needles anyway!  He is totally right to.  At least now I can do cute stuff for other peoples babies. Well and a few things for my not so little ones :)