I've already professed my love of oats, so it's no surprise that I'm continuing to experiment with oat-based recipes. But this time, instead of catering to my own tastes, I'm trying to cater to one very hard to please client: my 6 y.o. son, Dash, who eats almost nothing. And I don't mean "almost nothing" in that "I'm part-Italian and think everyone is starving" kind of a way; I mean "almost nothing" as in he's been in and out of nutrition programs all of his short life because he really. eats. nothing. And since we're about to start the lunchbox wars again, noting that, bar none, my very least favorite part of parenting is packing lunches, I thought I'd get a jump on finding something he won't throw out or throw up. Iron Chef has nothing on this challenge.
Since Dash loves a good granola or cereal bar, he spent last year toting Luna Bars and Clif Z fruit twists to school for lunch. Wanting to pack more of a nutrition punch and avoid prepackaged excess, I turned to another recipe from Heidi Swanson, this one from her book titled "super natural cooking" for Do-It-Yourself Power Bars. (For anyone interested in natural cooking, Swanson's cookbooks are a must-have; and here's a link to her blog, 101 Cookbooks.) These power bars did not disappoint. Dash scarfed one down and asked for more; Petunia thought it could stand to be sweeter (and she's right, but that's kind of not the point...), and the Guv didn't care for the ginger. I loved them. If you make these, tell me what you think!
Do-It-Yourself Power Bars *
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon coconut oil (for greasing pan)
1 1/4 cups rolled oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 1/4 cups chopped toasted walnuts
1/2 cup oat bran
1 1/2 cups unsweetened crisped (NOT puffed) brown rice cereal (I use Erewhon)
1 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
3 Tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup brown rice syrup (I use Lundberg's organic, which is gluten free)**
1/4 cup natural cane sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
Greace a baking pan with the coconut oil. If you like thick power bars, opt for an 8x8-inch pan; for thinner bars, use a 9x13-inch pan. (We used a 9x13 one, and the bars were the thickness of Quaker granola bars, which was just right for little hands.)
Mix the dry ingredients -- oats, walnuts, oat bran, cranberries, and ginger -- together in a large bowl and set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine the brown rice syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir constantly as you bring it to a boil; after boiling, it'll take several minutes to thicken. In our case, the mixture frothed up bizarrely, so we turned it off then -- and it worked just fine. So don't be alarmed if it gets a bit foamy!
Pour the syrup mixture over the oat mixture and stir until evenly mixed. Pour into pan. If necessary, grease hands with coconut oil to press into pan gently.
Cool to room temperature before cutting into bars. It's hard to say how many this recipe makes, as it depends upon the size of the bar -- but this would easily do for lunch for Dash and snacks for Petunia for at least a week.
*Note: I don't use Swanson's exact words and terms, but the ingredients listed are hers and the methodology is generally the same.
**A note on brown rice syrup: It's not as sweet as sugar, honey, or agave, but you have to remember that this is a "super natural" recipe; and the bit of natural cane sugar in the recipe tweaks the sweetness north a bit. Since brown rice syrup is a low glycemic-index sweetener and a source of some minerals like magnesium, potassium, and iron, plus B-group vitamins, I really like it for my kids. It is an acquired taste but is one worth acquiring if, like me, you're starting to get very concerned about the evils of white sugar. (Read this article by Gary Taubes, and you'll worry, too.)
Enjoy!
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