A New Year

Since the new year started, I have been sick with a cough and sore throat. I love my family and saw them all over Christmas. Many of them had colds, sinus infections, etc. so I am not surprised that I contracted one as well. Although I hate getting a cold (who doesn't?) and particularly despise coughs (mine usually last about a month), I try to tell myself that "this too shall pass," and that there are people out there suffering from much, much worse right now. It doesn't bother me too much at this point, but it does put a damper on one of my goals for this year: to be healthier.

My husband and I have read a lot of things lately about high fructose corn syrup, and although we know that we can't believe everything we hear and read, we are doing our best to only have moderate amounts of this... product. Since HFCS is in practically everything these days, and we have no desire to go completely organic (mostly because of the astonishing price differences), in order to eat several of our normal foods I have to make my own versions.

For instance, these granola bars:



I found the recipe in a magazine even before I knew that my beloved and trusty granola bars had HFCS in them and had wanted to try them, so when I realized that the only granola bars I could find without HFCS were organic and pricey, I decided it was a good time to try the recipe. I'm glad I did, because I like them better than (almost) any granola bar I've ever had, and they are easy to make. Here is the recipe with some alterations according to my taste:

3 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 egg lightly beaten
2/3 cups butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sunflower kernels
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup dried apples (if available)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine oats and walnuts in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until toasted, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, combine the egg, butter, honey and vanilla. Stir in the sunflower kernels, coconut, apples, cranberries, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir in oat mixture.

Press into a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 13-18 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3 dozen.

The original recipe called for almonds instead of walnuts, but I liked the taste of the walnuts better. Also, it called for more cranberries and apples. But I don't really like cranberries all that much, and I don't like chopping up dried apples at all, so I lessened the amounts. This recipe is very flexible, so I might end up playing around with it even more. We'll see.


Also, I wore two different shoes yesterday for the first (and hopefully the last) time in my life. I didn't even notice it until halfway through the day when my curiosity as to why one foot was louder than the other prompted me to check the bottom of my shoe for a paper or something else that was muffling the sound. I am now going to move my brown heels so that they aren't next to each other, as they are apparently the exact same color and height.