the road to enlightenment is paved with granola. vegan MOFO day #9

so in an earlier post i whined about how i can't stop burning granola. thanks for the feedback, everyone! that recipe was adapted from vegweb.com and the directions called for the 350 degree temp, which i thought was kind of high anyway. future batches of muh-muh-my granola will be baked at a lower temp.

mo talks about how she likes to make granola because she's sticking it to the man. agreed--i feel the same way about energy bars. finding vegan ones that don't taste like dirt and are nicely priced-(yes i love you larabar, but c'mon $2 per bar? puh-lease.) can be quite the challenge--until NOW! about these bars: i got the recipe from a summer 2008 issue of family fun magazine, of all places. * side note: when did they turn into "disney's" family fun mag? yuk. the recipe was totally vegan too, which made me immensely happy. i didn't have the exact ingredients on hand so i improvised and found the results quite tasty. here is my makeover:

chewy granola bars

1 c raw pumpkin seeds (ground into a fine powder via a coffee/spice mill)
2/3 c maple syrup/agave nectar blend
1 c raisins
1/4 c chopped dried apricots
1 t cinnamon
1.5 c oats-( i used thick cut, and this worked out fine)

mix all ingredients in a bowl and preheat oven to 275. your hands will get messy. rinse your hands off and with wet hands press mixture into a well greased 9x13 baking dish for 40 minutes. check on sides and top for browning. remove from oven and let it cool completely before cutting.

i thought the bars tasted like really dense oatmeal cookies. in the future, i'll try different fruit/nut combos and add a pinch, just a pinch of salt to the recipe to see if that does something.

i know MOFO guidelines state that we don't need to post during the weekends, so i might just take tomorrow off. i hope y'all have a great weekend!