3.05.2011

What do you do?

What do you do when your boyfriend is cheating?


....


on your baking. 

with these.
 
Each weekend it's the same story.  We're walking down the snack aisle and it happens. Wham, bam, thank-you ma'am, into the cart they go.  He won't break up with them.  I'm becoming a jealous girlfriend. I find myself muttering in the aisles.

I can bake portable, tasty, satisfying snacks too Quaker Oats!

Sure, they look all innocent with their 8 grams of whole grains.  Look, look, no high fructose corn syrup!  But take a closer look and you'll see them for what they really are: Corn syrup, corn syrup solids, soy lecithin, glycerin, and BHT (preservative) to name a few ingredients.

 So I decided enough is enough.  I confronted Quaker Oats.  It wasn't pretty. 

Let's just say QO won't be showing up around these parts anymore.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars 
Satisfying granola bars with an ingredient list you can take home to mom.
adapted from All Recipes

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter  
3 TBSP pure maple syrup
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped almonds
6 tsp flax meal

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan, or smaller if you want the bars thicker. 

In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, peanut butter, maple syrup, applesauce, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together the oats, chocolate chips, almonds and flax meal. Stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture until evenly coated. Press lightly into the prepared pan. 
I used 1/2 cup whole almonds and chopped them in the processor.
Bake or 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until slightly golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars. 

All wrapped up and ready to go!

 

5 comments:

  1. Yeah, but does he appreciate them? My husband loves my homebaked goods...but no more and no less than anything he can buy at the store. Sometimes I feel like homemade is wasted on him (unless it's banana muffins, which he'll rave about for days).

    On another note, he can also decide he wants to trim down, hop on the treadmill for 15 minutes and come off 10 pounds lighter. Also, he falls asleep before his eyes are even closed. Some things are just easier for men! Haha!

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  2. I asked him if he'll buy the granola bars again...and he said YES! You're so right.

    And I agree about it being easier for men. He just started going to the gym again and I already notice more muscle. Not fair, wahhhhh!

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  3. these look delish! My husband does the same thing with snack bars- he just doesn't think lol

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  4. I love this! Even if he's going to keep buying the bars, its great that you took the initiative to make your own- I would have never thought of that. They look yummy!

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  5. This totally cracked me up. I finally got my boyfriend to break up with the low fat cheez its, to which he would always say "but they're low fat!" :P

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