Monday, July 21, 2008

"Are You Going to Put This Picture On the Internet, Mom?" (And A Healthy Oatmeal Snack Bar Recipe)

Last night as the boys were having a snack, as they were eating it, Parker asked if I was going to put these pictures "on the internet".  So here they are.  When the boys know they are on camera, they do not have the most photographic faces.  BUT I must say their snack was GREAT.  Scott mentioned more than once that this is the best!  All I did was have some brownies (made with Egg Beaters and applesauce instead of whole eggs and oil) and chocolate pudding and let them make their own "trifle".  They piled whatever the wanted into their cups.  I had lots of berries and other fruit, but they mostly chose the chocolate.  I had some chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, nuts, toffee bits, Cool Whip all for adding to the dessert.  Love doing this!  This is what we do for birthdays instead of cake because no one really loves cake here, except we do it with ice cream sundaes, they can have as much as they want and put all kinds of candies and things on top.  The boys love this and feel like they made their own treat.

Scott filled his cup to the brim and even went back for seconds!

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Even Sam loved his!  By the time he finished, his entire tray and tummy and arms were covered in it.  I think he just wanted to get a bath out of the whole deal!

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I have so many recipes I'm behind on posting, but here's one that I made a few days ago that is so yummy and has NO sugar.  I had to quickly wrap each of these individually and freeze them so I wouldn't keep eating them.  A great healthy treat for taking on the go.  I got this recipes from another site I love reading called Kath Eats Real Food.  This gal is a rock star to me in eating healthy and exercising daily.  She photographs everything she eats so that she can be accountable for all her calories, etc.  She made these yummy Baked Oatmeal Bars.  What I like about them is that you can really add whatever you want to the oatmeal mixture, nuts, dried fruit, even chocolate if you'd like.  It's really just a method for a great "bar" instead of buying those expensive not-as-tasty commercial ones.  I did think there was a bit too much milk in the recipe, especially after mixing it all and dumping it in the pan, but it baked okay.  They are like a soft chewy bar, not crunchy.  I'm going to try them next with a bit less milk to see how they turn out.  I also added about 1/2 teaspoon baking powder just to give them a bit more lift.  I really like these and love that they are healthy, with no added sugar.  Her recipe calls for no sweetener at all, but suggests you can add some honey if you'd like, so I added two tablespoons of honey to mine.  Kath adds cinnamon to hers, but since I added a couple tablespoons of mini chocolate chips, I left that out.  Next time I make these, I'm going to do no chocolate and add the cinnamon.  I used dried cranberries, dried apricots (cut up), hmmm, what else, oh some freeze dried bananas, walnuts (as the recipe says) and I used Egg Beaters with a touch of yolk for the one large egg.  Okay, here, I'll write the recipe as I made it, but be sure to check out Kath's on the link above!

Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup chopped walnuts (you could substitute pecans), toasted

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup dried apricots (cut into small pieces)--I love these

2 tablespoons toasted wheat germ

2 tablespoons chopped almonds, toasted

1/3 cup Funky Monkey Carnival Mix (freeze dried bananas, pineapple, apples, not sure what else was in it--but it's good)

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1 1/4 cup skim milk

2 tablespoons honey  (you could also add some brown sugar if you'd like)

1 Egg Beater With Touch of Yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients in medium size bowl.  Set aside.  Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.  Stir together.  Add wet to dry and combine well.  Pour into a 9x9 baking pan coated with cooking spray or lined with foil, then sprayed with cooking spray (this is my preferred method as the foil always easily lifts right out, after cooling the bars and you don't scratch your pan by cutting bars while they are still in the pan.)

Bake for 40 minutes.  Kath cut her into 9 squares, I cut mine into 16 squares.  You choose.

Here's the yummy bars.  Enjoy a healthy treat!

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6 comments:

eatme_delicious said...

Ooo those oatmeal bars look good! And that's a great idea to make up your own trifles or sundaes instead of birthday cakes. :)

Clumbsy Cookie said...

I love the idea of having the kids make their own trifles or sundaes! I would like a b'day party like that as well. I also do those kinds of bars a lot, but usually with brown sugar. Maybe next time i'll try them like that, they sure look good. Finally I posted about the NY Times cookies and linked back to your post! Your kids are the best!

Pamela said...

The bars look really tasty and I also think it was a great idea to have everything set up like that so they could make their own dessert. As for the pics, they look cute! My oldest always makes some kind of face when the camera comes out. Can't I just get 1 with a smile?? :o)

priscilla joy said...

thanks so much for the comment on my blog! your desserts look very yummy. it is hard getting some of my siblings to take pics, why? i don't think i'll ever know!

Anne Marie said...

Your kids are very adorable. I get the same question from my Taylor..."Mom, this isn't going on your blog, is it?". Love those oatmeal bars.

Pamela said...

I'm back...I'm not stalking you, I promise! I have an award for you. Check out my blog when you get a minute.