::Three days later...times 3

So, three days before Faith's birthday we decided to have a party for her. That meant I had to scramble to get everything together, and I totally put off all blogging until it was all over. Wait, no I didn't. Cause three days after that we went to Bay City for fireworks. Now, three more days after that, I'm finally caught up on all the housework that went to pot over all the craziness. You'd think with all those days in between I'd be posting here and there. Well, I also have three kids, age three and under. Do things always happen in threes?

Karis and I made granola bars today. These last about a day or so in our house. They're really good.

Here's the recipe if you want to try them:

4 1/2 cups oatmeal (quick oats work best)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1-2 tsp cinnamon

1-2 tbs flax seed meal or wheat germ (optional)

Mix these ingredients well, then add:

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup raw honey (if you add the flax meal, you'll need a bit more honey, maybe another tablespoon)

Mix all these together until everything is moistened and blended.

Then add whatever other stuff you want. I usually add around 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the following (I'm an eyeball cook so I'm just guessing on the amounts):

-Mini chocolate chips

-Sliced or slivered almonds

-Sunflower seeds

-Raisins

-Dried cranberries

(It's always best to use ingredients that are small or chopped, because if you add big hunks of stuff like regular chocolate chips or whole almonds, they just make the bars crumble to bits.)

Press mixture (really, really well) into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 325 degrees. As soon as it comes out of the oven, press it all down again with a spatula. This helps to keep them from crumbling. (Trust me, I've made these so many stinkin' times, you can't skip this step, unless you want just granola, and not in bar form.)

After they've cooled, cut them into whatever sized bar you want, and keep em in the fridge. Or just eat them all right away.

Again, I'm really just an eyeball cook. I just dump stuff in and call it good. You might need to adjust things here and there. If they come out crumbly for you, add more honey or butter next time. Just play with it. That's what I did.