Whole Grains

About two weeks ago, I shared here how I was trying to learn how far to balance things out. Well, the Lord has a wonderful way of letting you know exactly how balanced things should be. I was trying not to become too obsessive about things, especially in the area of foods and "organic".

Then about a week ago, I was diagnosed as having low functioning adrenal glands. It can be a serious problem, but it can also be fixed with proper lifestyle changes (think in bed by 10:30), proper supplement support, and proper diet changes. The latter consisting primarily of cutting out all processed food.

Well, when you look around at all the food choices there are today, you discover that not many of them are unprocessed. Even many of the organic foods have undergone some sort of processing.

So I turned to a book I had gotten the week before, Cooking with Whole Grains. The first thing I tried was their granola recipe. It was too good. I made four cups and it was gone in about two days. I mixed up some more trying to get to the 5 cups needed to make the Granola Bars. But no sooner had I made the second batch then it was down too low. So I tried a third time. This time I had all the ingredients right there and made the granola and then immediately the bars. They turned out excellently. In fact, I might need to hide them.;-)

I want to share the recipe with you, because it is such a good treat and you control how processed it is. :-)

Good-for-You-Granola

Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats

1 cup coconut (be wary of all the sugar that is added to this! I managed to find some un sweetened at the local co-op)

I cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ

1/2 cup sesame seed

1/3 cup maple syrup or maple-flavored syrup (obviously, I recommend the real thing. :-)

1/3 cup butter or margarine (again, the real thing)

1 cup raisins

Milk or cream (optional)

Directions:
Stir together the rolled oats, the coconut, the sliced almonds, the toasted wheat germ, and the sesame seed. Stir in the maple syrup and butter or margarine. Spread in a 15X10X1-inch baking pan. Bake in a 375 oven for 15-20 minuts, stirring once.

*My notes: I don't use the wheat germ, and only occasionly use the almonds. To make up for it, I add another cup of oats and a 1/2 sesame seed. Also, I only bake mine for 8 minutes. Any longer and they'd burn. They also recommend eating it with milk or cream, but since dairy products are also out for me, I eat it plain, or on salads and it's great!


Chewy Honey-Granola Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup honey

5 cups Good-for-You-Granola

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Directions:
In a saucepan combine brown sugar, butter or margarine and honey. Bring to boiling, stirring constantly. Stir together granola and whole wheat flour. Pour brown sugar mixture over granola mixture. Stir till granola misture is well coated. Press mixture into a greased 13X9X2-inch baking pan. Cool; Cut into bars. Makes 24 bars.

*My Notes: I didn't use brown sugar, but just substituted honey, but the constistancy is quite soft...the bars don't hold their shape.

I hope you like these as much as our family does.

Well, I better sign off if I'm going to get to bed by 10:30. ;-)

Tiffany