Granola Bars Recipe

A few years ago, Husband and I made a trip to Philadelphia.  We stayed with our lovely friend from college, Lindsey, who made the most delicious granola bars for us to take with us on our adventures. Since then, I have shared this recipe numerous times and have yet to find someone who doesn't like it. I take one for a snack at work, Husband eats them for breakfast, and sometimes I'll even consider it a dessert.  Obviously, there are almonds in the recipe so they are not ok for those with nut allergens, but the best part of this recipe is that it can easily be adapted and ingredients swapped.

Ingredients:
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2/3-1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13" pan. Dump all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together well (it is recommended that you use your hands to really incorporate the ingredients). Press flat in the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and cut into bars.  (We usually cut them into 15 squares) Finish cooling and enjoy!

Feel free to add other ingredients that you would like in your bars- like coconut, trail mix, raisins, Reese's, protein powder, etc. Experiment! The possibilities are endless!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

To keep from overindulging on ice cream for the next six months, I have learned that keeping something sweet in the house is necessary.  We don't always have dessert in the house, mostly because with only two of us, rarely does it not go to waste.  These cookies though, satisfy my sweet tooth (and I feel better about them because they have oatmeal in them and oatmeal is healthy right?) and I can freeze half of the batch so we don't end up with old stale cookies.  Win-win.

Recipe:

¾ cup shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
¼ cup water
1 tsp vanilla
3 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cloves
2 cups chocolate chips

Mix shortening, sugars, egg, water, and vanilla thoroughly. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes at 350. Immediately remove from baking sheet.

Easy and delicious... yum!