Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Granola Bars

A while back I got on a granola kick and made the stuff pretty regularly.

Then, for one reason or another, I let my inner hippie down and haven't gotten around to making it in quite a long time...

Leave it to my resident barefoot hula-hooper to get on me about though; he's been bugging me to make it now for weeks okay, maybe even months.

The other weekend was one of the first in a long time that we had absolutely nothing to do- we went on a lovely date Friday night, spent the next morning weeding the garden, met some friends for fantastic Texas BBQ, and spent the rest of the time between the couch and the backyard.

Needless to say, I had no excuse but to make MM his ever so desired granola. Of course, I wasn't going to stop there, which is where these granola bars come in.

After whipping up some Basic Granola with dried cranberries and blueberries, I decided to make use of the bag of banana chips I had in the pantry..

And what goes perfectly with bananas? Peanut butter and chocolate of course!

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Granola Bars

1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup rice krispies
1/2 cup bran flakes
2 TBS pumpkin seeds
2 TBS sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dried bananas (lightly crushed)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 TBS oil

Preheat oven to 300 and line a small loaf pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix oats, krispies, bran flakes, seeds, bananas and chocolate chips.
In a small saucepan, over medium heat, stir peanut butter, honey and oil until peanut butter becomes thins and mixture is smooth.
Pour warm mixture over dry ingredients, mixing until granola is evenly coated- the mixture should start to clump together.
Press granola mixture into prepared pan and flatten with back of spoon or spatula.
Transfer to oven and bake for about 8 minutes.
Allow granola to cool slightly before placing in fridge to continue to cool for at least 20 minutes.
Use a plastic knife and cut into bars.

Happy Baking!

Apple & Cranberry Muffins with Granola Topping

What's worse than being sick all weekend? Being sick on your birthday weekend.

That's right.. as soon as we got done with a lovely Italian birthday dinner Friday night, I could feel my body starting to shut down and was in bed by 9... lame.

So while I should have been out celebrating all weekend, I was instead curled up on the couch surrounded by tissues, cups of hot tea and way too much medicine.

Come Sunday morning I was ready to do something; still not feeling particularly keen, I was determined to get in the kitchen and bake something anyways.

Not being able to sleep the past few nights turned out to be a great time to brainstorm some new recipe ideas.

Mountain Man said he could taste the healthy in these muffins (but in a good way he insisted) and I need all the health I can get right now, so I was by no means offended.

So if you're needing a little healthy in your life or just looking for something delicious for breakfast, these are the muffins for you.

Apple & Cranberry Muffins
swEEts original
Oven: 375 Bake time: 20 minutes
Makes 12 muffins

1 cup AP flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flax seed meal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup fat free vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup pear sauce* or apple sauce
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Granola Topping *optional
1/2 cup quick oats
1/4 cup bran flakes, crushed
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 TBS brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4-1/2 cup honey
To make granola topping, mix all ingredients in a small bowl- adding just enough honey to coat ingredients.

Preheat oven to 375. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, add flours, sugar, flax seed meal, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
In a small bowl, mix egg, yogurt and pear(or apple) sauce.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well with wooden spoon.
Fold in diced apples and cranberries.
Using an ice cream scoop, fill muffins 2/3 way full.
Generously sprinkle granola topping on top of each muffin.
Transfer to oven and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Because I was out of apple sauce I got a little creative and made my own pear sauce.. it was very easy to make and turned out to be quite delicious- easily substituted for apple sauce.


Pear Sauce (Just enough for the muffin batter)
2 pears, peeled, cored and cut into cubes
1/4 cup water
2 TBS sugar

In a small sauce pan, cook water and pears over medium heat.
Bring to boil and allow pears to soften- about 5 minutes.
Transfer pears to food processor, add sugar and pulse to puree.

What do you do when you're sick?

Happy Baking!