Success!

There have been some simple successes happening over here.

  

 

I haven't gone any further on my cracker making lessons, but they are not forgotten.

I did make progress in the granola bar realm, though.  I took a chance on Heidi Swanson and her recipe for what she calls DIY Power Bars in her Super Natural Cooking book.  After previously trying and despising  her recipe for Acai popscicles, I decided to give it another go before writing her off. And I'm glad I did.

These are granola bars to me, and the recipe turns out pretty great.  The beauty of it, is the sheer amount of possibilities for these. Truly they are endless.  You can very easily adjust the ingredients for those that you love. 

The following is my adaption, because I did not have a few of the ingredients she called for and I wanted to add in some of the ones I did. My measurements are not that exact either.  The only thing to keep in mind, when ad libbing, is to try to keep the ratio of dry to wet ingredients the same. 

The brown rice syrup is a natural sweetener made with brown rice, surprise, surprise.  It is apparently lower on the glycemic index than sugar but I have read continued debate about that.  It may not be the best option for diabetics, because the combination of the maltose and glucose of which it is comprised, can raise their blood sugar quickly. I don't have diabetes, but I try to eat like I do.  Still, I think it works well in this recipe and if diabetes is not something you're worried about, then by all means, make these!

Chewy Granola Bars
1 1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup puffed millet
1 1/2 unsweetened crisp or puffed brown rice
1-2 Tbs. wheat germ
1/2-1 cup dried chopped cranberries
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped almonds

1 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt 

1. Grease either a 9x13 pan (for thin bars) or an 8x8 pan (for thick bars).  She uses coconut oil.  I use cooking spray.
2. Mix the dry stuff (oats, rice, nuts, etc) in a bowl and set aside.
3.  Combine rice syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt in small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir constantly as it comes to a boil and as it thickens, approximately 4 minutes.
4.  Pour over the oat mixture and stir to coat.  Make sure there are no dry spots.
5.  Spread into your greased pan and smooth with the back of a greased spoon. 
6.  Cool to room temperature before cutting into bars (or any other shape you'd like).  After I've cut them, I wrap each one in plastic wrap and store them in the pantry.