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Recipes: Then & Now - Oatmeal Breakfast Bars - by Douglas Carpenter
posted: Mar. 05, 2010
I am always amazed at how I am able to pull a rabbit out of the hat every two weeks. Yet again I had no clue what to write about. But all I need do is sit down with a couple of cook books or at the computer and I seem to come up with something as though from thin air. So, I am pleased to present to you yet another of my culinary adventures.
For some time now I have been thinking there has got to be something out there that is more nutritious than some of the things I call breakfast. If I stop on the way to work for a breakfast sandwich at a fast food joint it will surely not be a healthy choice. And sometimes just a bowl of cold cereal won't do either. I want some thing that takes no time to fix in the morning and is tasty and healthy. It must also be filling. I do not always have time to take a break and eat something before lunch rolls around. Also, I like granola bars but they can be so dry I need a drink just to get it down. So it should not need a drink to go with it.
None of the cook books I have listed anything even remotely similar to what I was looking for. I did my research on-line for this one. Of all the recipes I found, this one had the most raves and no complaints about it. With a little tinkering of the exact amounts I think it will be something you might like too. I also have listed alternative ingredients and some optional things to add in. These came from all the other recipes I found floating around out there in cyberspace. This is a very changeable recipe. Make it what you want it to be.
The flax seed meal and wheat germ are not necessary, so you can leave them out, but they do add a great deal to the nutrition of the recipe. And I just had a thought, I wonder if dry milk powder might add a whole different nutrition profile to it. I will have to try that next time.
image courtesy of Douglas Carpenter
Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
3 cups oats, old fashioned or quick
2 tablespoons flax seed meal
2 tablespoons wheat germ
¼ tsp salt
½ cup dried fruit: raisins, cranberries, blueberries, chopped apricots, apples or prunes, etc.
½ cup chopped nuts: walnuts, pecans, almonds, peanuts, sunflower, whole flax seed, etc.
1 teaspoon spice: cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice, etc.
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/3 cup canola oil or half oil and half apple sauce
1-2 tablespoon sweetener sugar, brown sugar, honey, barley malt or maple syrup
One egg
Optional additions: peanut butter, coconut, vanilla, chocolate chips, puffed rice, etc.
image courtesy of Douglas Carpenter
Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Mash the bananas and add the egg, oil and sweetener and mix well. Stir the dry ingredients into the banana mixture and blend well. Add a small amount of water if mixture doesn't seem moist enough. Press mixture into well greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Remove pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool to just warm, and cut into 12 bars.
image courtesy of Douglas Carpenter
image courtesy of Douglas Carpenter
image courtesy of Douglas Carpenter
image courtesy of Douglas Carpenter
image courtesy of Douglas Carpenter
image courtesy of Douglas Carpenter
Douglas Carpenter is an avid recipe and cookbook collector. He has over 400 cookbooks in his library and he has published two cookbooks of locally-collected recipes. He has won sweepstakes and blue ribbons in the Culinary Arts division of the Indiana State Fair. Email your cooking questions to
douglas@BroadRippleGazette.com
douglas@broadripplegazette.com