Because you asked....

A few people have asked for my granola and protein bar/balls recipes, so I am posting them here! Some of my recipes aren't "mine" at all, I simply found them online and won't take credit for it. I'll give you the link to go grab it from the original source.

I used Alton Brown's recipe for both granola and crunchy granola bars. You can get the recipe for his granola by clicking HERE and his bar recipe HERE. Head's up though....be sure to take those bars out of the oven at the appropriate time. If you leave them in there just a tad too long, your bars become too crunchy to bite comfortably. As with all my recipes, I substitute a lot and often just use what I have on hand. Alton calls for a large quantity of dried fruit, which I just swap for raisins, craisins, coconut flakes....or whatever I have.

Here's my chewy granola bar recipe:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups quick rolled oats
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 1/2 cup extras (peanuts, chocolate chips, raisins, dried fruit, coconut, etc.)
Mix first 5 ingredients well. Add remaining ingredients until completely mixed. Press
hard and evenly into a 9x13 greased pan. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes. Cool. Flip out
onto cutting board. Cut into bars. Wrap individually. Will keep in pantry for 2 weeks.




Here's my Energy/Protein Ball recipe:

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated.  Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.  Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy!  Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

**When I made these most recently, I didn't have mini chocolate chips or flaxseed, so I substituted sunflower seeds and crunched up M&M's. The pops of color brought into the mix made it quite cute. I toted these around with us the day we did our home inspection, which kept my family from wilting during the 2 hour process. ;-)

Can you think of other recipes you'd like to check out? Let me know. If I don't have one already, I'll experiment and report back to you! 

*************POST UPDATE************

I wanted to share an example of my substitution habits with you. A few days ago, I needed to make a double batch of the Energy Ball mentioned above....but as usual, I did not have all the ingredients listed. So I swapped things out for other things. Here is what I ended up using instead:

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup agave 

2 cup coconut flakes

1 cup chopped baked almonds

1 cup chopped white chocolate flavored candy (AKA almond bark)

2 tsp vanilla

For recipe swaps to work, the key is to keep the ratio of dry goods to sticky goods the same....and it will probably work out! I didn't mind the taste of the original recipe, the rest of the family thought they were good. However, we all LOVED this combination.