Starting Over, from Scratch

I can't believe it's been two years, almost to the date since I last blogged on here!
Lately I've been trying to cook and bake as much as possible from scratch. This includes making my own marinades and sauces, some breads and snacks. Why, you might ask? The main reason is for health, there are SO many chemicals and preservatives (yes, I know preservatives are chemicals) in most of the food on the grocery store shelf. Budget also plays a role in this equation, it is much more cost effective to bake from scratch.

Time is the third piece to the puzzle, since starting a Masters program in October 2011 I have been busier than ever! I work full time, have a husband and a 9 year old daughter, thus my days an nights are pretty booked. It is so nice to have my meals all planned out for the month, with most of them already prepped and ready to go in the freezer. I'll blog more about that another day. For today I'll share a recipe with you for Sweet and Salty granola bars. My daughter loves the sweet and salty granola bars from Quaker, but they are SO expensive in the 'regular' grocery store and I no longer have a Costco membership. I searched the internet to try and find a comparable recipe but didn't have much luck, so I ended up combining two recipes found here and here.
Mary's Sweet and Salty Granola Bars

• 3/4 cup peanut butter, preferably natural
• 4 tbsp butter
  
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 cups mini pretzels
• 3 1/2 cups *toasted oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used half peanuts and half cashews)
• 2/3 cup melted butter
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup honey
  
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
  

*To toast the oats, put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Line a 13" x 9" baking pan with parchment paper.

In a sauce pan melt the 4 tbsp butter, add the 3/4 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, 1/4 cup honey and 1 tsp vanilla extract, stir over medium low heat for about 10 minutes, or until completely mixed. Pour the mixture into the baking pan. Put the mini pretzels on top of the mixture (see picture).

In a large bowl mix oats, brown sugar, chopped nuts, chocolate chips,
egg, honey, melted butter, vanilla extract and salt. Put this mixture
on top of the pretzel mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Let cool before cutting.


They turned out really good! They don't taste anything like
the Quaker ones, but I'm happy with the result. I would maybe add a little less chocolate chips next time, since they are really sweet.

Let me know if you try out the recipe!