soft chewy granola bars

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease 9 x 13 pan

Direction:

Combine oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, flax seeds, cinnamon, flour, raisins, dried cranberries, sunflower and pumpkin seeds,  and salt.

I’m glad I always have little hands to help.

Mix and form a well in the middle.

In a medium bowl, whisk honey, egg, melted butter, banana and vanilla.

Pour honey mixture into the well, and mix well.

We like fruit in our bars so whatever fruit I have at hand, I use it. Usually it’s blackberries, blueberries or raspberries but I think that you can use fresh/ dried or frozen fruit which you like (like peach, mango, apricot). You can experiment with different kinds of nuts as well. It’s up to your taste. My kids love chocolate chips in there too.

Pat granola dough into greased pan.  You may needto grease your fingers a little, so you don’t end up wearing most of it!

Bake for 24 minutes for chewy bars.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and cut into bars while still warm.

Makes 16, granola bar sized bars.

I wrap them into plastic foil and put them into freezer. They are perfect for school/ work snacks.

cheese | garlic spread

This spread is our old family recipe. We used to make it only when someone came over as it’s a fast, very easy and a delicious appetizer. But lately we make it on weekdays for dinner and kids love to help preparing it as well.

Cheese | garlic spread

• shredded cheese
• plain yogurt
• mayo
• garlic
• salt
• black pepper

Our little ones like marble cheddar but you can use any favorite cheese of yours which can be easily shredded. We use the side with small “holes”on a shredder.

Add plain yogurt and mayo in a ratio to your liking and to make the consistency of the spread as thick or as liquid as you like. We add more yogurt than mayo for a healthier version.

Add salt and pepper and mix everything together. At this point this is where I stop and put 1/3 or so of the spread aside for kids.

For us, adults, I add the garlic to the rest. Again, it depends on your taste, I usually go with 2-3 cloves.

We like our spread on whole-wheat baguettes.

I cut the baguettes into little slices and we usually scoop the spread with a small spoon or knife on them.

When we make them as appetizers for our guests, we sometimes put green olives on the top.

Enjoy.

And if you make them, please let me know how it went.