A snack for our house must be under $.20 per serving for me to consider buying or making it.  That gives me plenty of room to purchase string cheese on sale, granola bars on sale etc. When not on sale, granola bars may range between $.33 to .60 per bar!  However, baking granola bars puts them under $0.20 every time, depending on what I decide to add to them.  This way, I sometimes let the neighbor kids enjoy our snacks without cringing inside every time my kids ask their friends if they are hungry.  I will share any baked goods we have, and neighbor friends are always welcome to our pretzels!

These granola bars are perfect. They are chewy, which is how my kids like them.  They are a good base to add anything you feel like putting in.  Dried fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, etc.  I pack them in my kids lunches, I have a container of them for snacks, and we always eat them pretty quick, so I can’t tell you the shelf life on them.

I promise next week I’ll post food ideas that do not have a recipe!!  I know you don’t want to spend your lives in the kitchen.  Tomorow’s dessert post requires no baking or cooking. 

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done a post about dessert, which if you know me or have read my blog know it’s my favorite meal of the day.

My sister in law was over copying a recipe I have for healthy granola bars. She made a comment that it was very similar to a recipe she had for oatmeal cookies.  So I thought, “maybe I’ll just make them into cookies then.”  My kids like the granola bars fine, but they eat them so slowly, that I end up scarfing up the whole pan myself. And they aren’t exactly low in calories if you know what I mean. If I’m going to indulge, it’s not going to be on granola bars.

I halved the recipe (which I’ve been doing with experimental foods) and it only made 16 cookies. The kids liked them. I felt good about the cookies overall because there was a lot of oats, whole wheat flour, nuts, and dried fruit. I thought it was the perfect healthy snack until they picked out the dried cranberries.  On top of that they each only had one, which means I may have eaten 12! I really, really liked them.

If you like to bake, or have time to bake, here is the recipe. If you are a super busy mom and don’t have time to make mac and cheese, I totally approve of the Kashi granola bars!  This was the half recipe; 2 1/4 cups oats, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed), 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/3 C softened butter, 1/3 C honey, a handful of dried cranberries, and a handful of chopped pecans. It was very difficult to mix. I used my hands and sort of squished it up. Rolled into balls and baked for 8 minutes at 325.  I under-cook everything and it seems to keep them soft and chewy rather than crunchy.