Bake a Better Granola Bar

Ready for a challenge? Send your kids to school with healthy, homemade granola bars next week. The best part about making your own granola bars is that you can make them with exactly what you want in them - fruits, nuts, chocolate, added fiber, anything! My daughter's school is peanut free, so I use sunflower seeds, flax seed, chia seeds, coconut, chocolate chips and walnuts. They are unbelievably delicious and packed with vitamins and minerals. Soaking your oats, cracked cereal and walnuts is highly recommended - the bars will be significantly more nutritious, and soaking makes the oats naturally sweeter, reducing the need to additional sugar.

4.5c Thrive Instant Oats, Soaked*
1/2c Chopped Raw Walnuts, Soaked *
1/2c Thrive 9 Grain Cracked Cereal, Soaked*
1/2c Thrive Whole Wheat Flour
1/2t Thrive Salt
1c Honey
1/4c Butter
1/4c Coconut Oil
2t Vanilla Extract
Optional (choose at least 2): 1/4c Ground Flax, 2T Chia Seeds, 1/4c Mini Chocolate Chips, 1/2c Chopped Peanuts (or any other kind of nut), 1/2c Peanut Butter (or other nut butter), 1/2c Sunflower Seeds, 1/2c Shredded Coconut, 1/2c Dried Fruits (raisins, craisins, Thrive apple slices, Thrive banana chips, chopped figs),

*Soaking: combine oats, walnuts and cracked cereal with 1-1/2c warm water, 1/4c whey, buttermilk or plain yogurt and 1/4c Thrive whole wheat flour. Stir well to combine, cover and leave on the counter overnight or for up to 24 hours. Drain any remaining liquid (there might not be any), then spread everything out on a large cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours or until crisp. Yes, this is a time consuming step that requires you to plan ahead. Yes, it is absolutely worth it. You can always make a double batch and freeze half for next time!

In a small sauce pan, combine honey, butter, oil and vanilla. If you are going to use peanut butter (or another nut butter) add it at this step. Heat the mixture on medium heat until simmering and frothy. Continue to cook the honey, stirring frequently, until the froth has disappeared. This is a very important step - if you don't cook the honey long enough, your granola bars will fall apart later!

While your honey is heating, combine the remaining ingredients and your choice of mix ins. Stir all of the dry ingredients together, then pour the honey mixture over the top. Mix very well and press firmly into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars or squares. Store in an air tight container.

The Ultimate Healthy Breakfast

I used to be anti-breakfast. I would live on diet soda until lunch, then inhale a "number eight" at the closest drive thru. Luckily I wised up in college and realized that I couldn't focus in class if my stomach was growling loud enough to invite stares from anyone sitting within a ten food radius. This isn't to say that my breakfast was healthy by any means. Usually it was leftover pizza, half a candy bar, or whatever baked sugar bomb the coffee cart was selling.

These days I'm all about a healthy breakfast. Breakfast cereal rarely makes an appearance at our kitchen table - the simple sugars and lack of protein and fiber just don't do it for me. I need to send my daughter to school with a balanced meal in her tummy. Bacon, eggs and whole wheat toast are favorites, as are whole grain cinnamon rolls (a dusting of powdered sugar instead of frosting) with a side of fruit and milk. After doing a lot of research about the health benefits of whole grains - and better yet, how to get the most benefits from your whole grains by soaking them to "unlock" all of the nutrition - I designed this awesome bowl of warm, hearty goodness. It does require a little bit of planning ahead, but trust me - your body and brain will thank you.

1c Thrive Instant Oats
4T Thrive 9 Grain Cracked Cereal
2T Whey (leftover from making your own cream cheese)*
2T Thrive Whole Wheat Flour
1c Warm Water
1c Milk
2 to 4t Brown Sugar
Dash Cinnamon

The night before, combine oats and cracked cereal. Add just enough warm water to reach the top of the oats, then stir in whey and whole wheat flour. Leave the mixture on your kitchen counter overnight. In the morning, drain any remaining liquid and discard. Stir in the milk and heat, either in the microwave or on the stove. Add brown sugar and cinnamon before serving.

Curious what makes this the ultimate healthy breakfast? Check out the nutrition on this bowl of yumminess:

Per serving (makes 2 servings): Calories 304.9, Fat 3.2 g, Cholesterol 1.9 mg, Sodium 56.2 mg, Potassium 535.6 mg, Fiber 10.9 g, Protein  10.5 g + tons of vitamins and minerals!

*If you don't have any whey but still want to soak your grains, you can substitute a tablespoon of plain yogurt or buttermilk. I prefer whey because you can't taste it at all after the cereal is cooked. You can skip the soaking step altogether, but I promise you will notice a difference in not only the flavor of the cereal but also how full/satisfied you feel after eating it! Want to learn more about soaking your grains? This blog post gives an excellent explanation. Whey can be stored in an air tight container in your fridge for quite a while. You'll know when it goes bad because it smells really gross.