Granola-To-Go Bars

I have been making my own granola bars for quite a while. Maybe a year. I got frustrated with buying them for a few different reasons. First, my kids loved them and went through them so fast, that a box that cost $2.50 would be gone in like 2 days. Also, we started trying to eliminate certain things from our family's diet, like artificial preservatives and high fructose corn syrup. Of course we are far from doing this perfectly, but are definitely making progress. I had a recipe for homemade granola bars that I've been using all along, using butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup, along with graham cracker crumbs. Well, one day (why this took me so long I don't know) I read the label of the graham cracker crumbs and saw that it has both of the things we are trying to avoid. I looked at the Natural Living Center for something akin to graham cracker crumbs, like organic ones or something, but didn't find anything. My sister-in-law did have success replacing the crumbs with dry baby cereal that she had leftover (she is very resourceful) but I don't want to start adding that to our grocery list. So in last month's Taste of Home that my sister gave me, they had this recipe for granola bars which have different ingredients (it's from a section they called Daybreak Delights, which has a few easy healthy breakfast recipes). At first I wasn't going to even try them, because you have to buy almonds and coconut, 2 things I definitely don't always have on hand. But there is a LOT of coconut in one of those bags, and so it could make several batches. The almonds, not so much. But I thought it was worth a try. And, for my other recipe I have to buy wheat germ and graham cracker crumbs, so it probably evens out.

Granola-To-Go Bars
3 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup chopped almonds (I only could find sliced at Walmart but it worked fine)
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sunflower kernels
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped dried apples
1/2 cup dried cranberries (I subsituted both the apples and cranberries with 1 cup of raisins instead)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine oats and almonds in a 15x10x1 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until toasted, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, combine the egg, butter, honey and vanilla. Stir in the sunflower kernels, coconut, apples, cranberries, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir in oat mixture.

Press into 15x10x1 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 13-18 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.

So these were a bit more effort to make than the other ones I was making, but I like that you don't have to store them in the fridge. Sam and I each had one of these for breakfast this morning, and they were quite good. More crunchy than the other ones, but kind of chewy too. So I will keep this recipe for a while. Probably I will make it again. Also I don't know where to categorize this one. I guess cookies. It's not really a dessert. Although it is meatless, ha ha.