A mission

I'm on a mission to make my own bread for at least a year. So far I've done it!! Every other Saturday is baking day, and I'm LOVING spending more time in the kitchen. This girl LOVES to bake. I never really baked bread until recently. We've been trying to cut back on our white flour intake, and this has helped SO SO SO much.

I feel good doing this little mission. I like it. We've made so many thing with my wheat bread, and I love seeing my hard work being enjoyed. Love it!! Did I mention I love baking? I prefer it over cooking any day. It's therapeutic in some ways for me. There's nothing like tying on my cute apron and throwing a little flour around!

And check out my cute sister-in-law's cooking blog too. She makes me want to bake even more. Check out the Banana Blueberry muffins and breakfast cookies. Brookcancook.blogspot.com

Happy Baking!!

Best Granola Bars

So, I'll admit. I want to be a true granola one day. We'll see if that ever happens now that I'm having kids and what not. Check this recipe out for sure!! There are so many ways to make it even healthier. For mine, I use wheat flour and sub Agave Nectar for Honey, and I cut WAY down on the brown sugar. Our favorite granola bars have been the banana ones, but I honestly LOVED the peanut butter and dark chocolate chip ones a LITTLE too much. EnjoY!

Seriously, these are the best!! You can make substitutions, reduce the amount of sugar, add chocolate chips, bananas, cranberries, nuts, peanut butter or whatever else you have on hand. I have some with banana in the oven right now.





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 (optional)
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup honey
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract





Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. There's no need to spread the mixture to the edges. It bakes as it is in the pan.
3. Bake for 18-25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden 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.

THESE FREEZE SO GREAT!!