Saturday. I didn’t think you would ever get here. Benzo and I both had stressful, busy weeks at work. So are we ever glad to see Saturday. I still might have to work a little bit today or tomorrow, but it shouldn’t be anything too crazy. I will be very glad when January is over!
So I meant to put this blog post up earlier in the week, but I’m just now getting around to it. Last Saturday I made some delicious oatmeal bars from a recipe on Oh She Glows that I have had my eye on for several weeks now. It was Healthy Banana Cranberry Oat Bars.
I feel like I need to have more homemade, healthy snacks around the house. I usually have fruit and soy yogurt and Larabars on hand, but it’s nice to change it up. Besides Larabars are expensive!
So when I saw this recipe I knew I needed to try it. For the recipe see this link:
Healthy Banana Cranberry Oat Bars
Recipe Notes:
- I had everything I needed already on hand!
- I left out the unsweetened coconut flakes. I’m not a huge fan of coconut and I didn’t have any on hand anyway.
- I used cranberries instead of raisins.
- I used brown sugar instead of Sucanat
- I did not add the pepitas as Angela did, but I think that would be a good addition
- I cut the bars like this so they would be more like bars instead of squares:
These bars turned out great! They were a real cinch to whip up. I thought they would be like granola bars, but they turned out more cake-like. Benzo ate them for breakfast and I enjoyed them as a afternoon or pre-workout snack. I found one bar to be a very satisfying snack. It really kept me full. Because of that I never felt like I wanted to gobble up the entire pan in one sitting, which is often the case with other cookies or bars. One was enough.
Next time:
- I will make a double batch and try to freeze half of the bars individually
- I will try reducing the sugar to make them even healthier
- I may try increasing the amount of oats. I love oats!
- Although I loved the banana and cranberry combination, I will definitely try different mix-ins for variety. Some ideas rolling around in my head are walnuts, almonds, chopped dried apricots, mini chocolate chips, pepitas, sunflower seeds, dried blueberries, and chopped dried pineapple.
If I can freeze these bars I may never need to buy granola bars at the store again. If you have a great homemade granola bar recipe, please share it in the comments. And what would you mix into your homemade granola bars?
Everything Is Homemade 
I made this recently and put half the batch in the freezer. I wrapped each bar individually, then put them all in a freezer bag. I just ate the first defrosted one today (they’ve been in there about 2 weeks, I’d say) and the flavor was spot on. They seemed a bit more crumbly than the fresh ones were, but still held together pretty well. I’m hoping to make a chocolate chip peanut butter version!