Home made granola bars

Martin and I have decided to steer away from processed foods and more towards whole foods. One of our first steps was to do away with store bought granola bars and make our own.

• 4 cups oats ($1.64 bulk)
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds (44 cents)
• 3/4 cup almonds, chopped (91 cents)
• 1 1/3 cup brown sugar (About a dollar))
• 1/2 cup honey (about a dollar's worth)
• 4 Tbsp butter (50 cents)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (15 cents)
• approximately 12 oz. dried fruit (we used raisins and apples) ($1.54 and 41 cents)

Mix the nuts, oats, and sunflower seeds in a bowl.

Prepare a glass baking dish for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray.

Put the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.

Mix everything together in a large bowl. The grains, the liquid “glue,” and the dried fruit.

Mix everything REALLY WELL because you want to make sure the “glue” gets all over everything.

Dump your granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.

Spread out the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula (spray with a nonstick spray).

Press the mixture and compact it together so that your bars won’t fall apart when you cut them.

Wait until the granola has totally cooled and carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board.

Now, firmly pressing down with a big knife (not sawing), cut your granola into whatever size bars you’d like.

Wrap as you desire.

Total cost- $7.59 We got 20 bars out of this batch. 38 cents a bar and they are HUGE.