Recipe Spotlight: Homemade Granola Bars

Since I have been on bed rest, I have digested more than my share of Food Network shows. Unfortunately, I couldn't run to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients to make all of what I saw. However, I did (with the help of my mom) make one recipe that I intended to send with my son in his lunch. Truth be told, I ate most of them myself. They were that good. This recipe is courtesy of Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa.

My recipe adaptations: For the dried fruit, we used dried apricots, dried cranberries and golden raisins. For the nuts, we use almonds. And to make it even more yummy, we added chocolate chips! We added the chocolate chips after the granola mixture come out of the oven and have cooled for about an hour. Also, please note, once the mixture has come out of the oven and cooled for a couple of hours, please remove it from the pan and remove the parchment paper. Otherwise, the mixture will stick to the parchment paper…trust me.  After I managed to painstakingly peel all the parchment paper off the granola mixture. I cut them into individual bars and wrapped them in more parchment paper and then stored them in the refrigerator so that would remain firm. They were great on their own or with vanilla yogurt!

Link to recipe: www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/homemade-granola-bars-recipe/index.html