a Mrs & a Mama

11.11.14

{Cranberry Almond Granola Bars}

I wouldn't say that I love to cook.  I don't like feeling rushed to have dinner done by a certain time or pressured to have a elaborate meal cooked.  Those two things just aren't manageable (for me at least!) with a one year old.  Thankfully, I have a husband who understands!  Most weeks I cook about two to three times and we enjoy leftovers the other nights.  Most of the time I keep it simple, like tonight I just popped some sweet potatoes in the oven and I am sauteing squash on the stove.  We have leftover brisket that my husband will have with the other things I'm cooking and I'll probably have some avocado with mine.. and no, we don't eat this healthy all the time but we really try to be smart about our choices during the week.

Okay, so back to the "I don't love to cook"!  I will say that I enjoy trying out new recipes.  Recipes that look yummy, don't have an intimidating ingredient list, and are somewhat "clean".  Every once in a while I will try a recipe that has that intimidating ingredient list, clean or not clean just because I will get an itch to cook or bake but like I said before MOST of the time I like to keep things simple!  As I'm sure most Mom's do!  

I wanted to find a breakfast that I could cook and have for the rest of the week, that was easy to make, could be eaten on the go and that both Norah and I could enjoy.  I searched Google and Pinterest for ideas as I always do and eventually came up with these super easy Cranberry Almond Granola Bars.  I think they are very tasty and by leaving out the nuts in a separate batch Norah can enjoy them too and she really seems to like them! 

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp honey

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce

• 3 cups old fashioned oats

• a few dashes of cinnamon (i always use a heavy with cinnamon because I LOVE it!)

• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

• 1/2 cup dried cranberries 

• 1/2 cup milk or almond milk (not pictured)

Mix all dry ingredients together and then add in wet ingredients and mix mix mix!  Here I left out almonds and once everything else was mixed I split the mixture in half and added almonds to one batch and left them out of the other. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking pan (or two if you are doing one without almonds) with parchment paper.  Pour mixture in pan and spread.  Mine was thick so I kind of spread and pressed into the pan as evenly as I could get it. 

Bake for about 20 minutes or until it's golden brown like you see in the photo. 

Let cool and then cut into squares.  I cut Norah's into smaller squares than I did mine.   I stored these in a tight container, in the refrigerator and they kept all week.

 

With only eight ingredients and one (maybe two) bowls I can see myself making these over and over again!  I bet they would be wonderful with dark chocolate chips added to them.  If you make them, let me know what you think!

xo,

-Katie