Homemade Cereal Bars

Baby G is walking.

I hope this explains my absence the last two months.

This summer has been filled with early morning runs, park expeditions, yoga/wrestling matches (Baby G has mastered the body slam during my Shavasana), and lots of wine after G is down for the night. 

As the summer draws near, my writing work is ramping up and I couldn't be more excited. Next week I will be giving a talk in Verona on healthy after school snacks and I have some projects that are in development but I can't wait to share with you. First, this talk next week, I will be at Verona Chiropractic on Wednesday August 20th from 5:30-6:15 talking about healthy after school snacks and lunches. If you are interested, call 608-497-3000 to reserve a spot by Monday, August 18.

This is one of the recipes I will be sharing next week. It has been a major go-to recipe for us all summer. I developed it for my last cookbook, Homemade Snacks and Staples, because I lived on Nutrigrain bars growing up. Next time you are in the store, read the ingredients and you will see why I made my own recipe (spoiler alert: over 40 ingredients!).


I have been making these so often lately that I have developed some shortcuts. I thought it was easy when I first made it, but now I have it down to an assembly line science. This makes two dozen so I keep about six in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. It's a great little morning treat. If Baby G sees them, she has to have one. They are dangerously good.

Homemade Cereal Bars

 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
[1/2] cup quick cooking oats
1 [1/2] teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
[1/8] teaspoon salt

[1/2] brown sugar, packed
[1/2] unsweetened applesauce
[1/2] cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
[3/4]- 1 cup jam of your choice*

*homemade is best, but otherwise look for jams that have fruit as the first ingredient and no high fructose corn syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350 (dg)F. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan (or two 12-cup mini muffin pan).

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together butter, sugar, applesauce, and vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture. You may need to use a wooden spoon and/or your hands to get it all combined.

4. Use a small cookie scoop to scoop dough into muffin pan (approx. [1/2] tablespoon of dough). Flatten dough into pan. Add a teaspoon of jam to each on. You can do two different jams if you'd like- I usually do apricot and blackberry.

5. Scoop another [1/2] tablespoon of dough for each bar. Then flatten into disk and seal the muffins.

6. Bake 18-25 minutes until tops are golden and starting to crack. 

7. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days, in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. To thaw, either take out and sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes or put in microwave for 20 seconds- if you heat it up, the jam may be hot so be careful when giving it to your little one.

Enjoy!

Cherry-Apps and Cloves Puree

We eat a lot of spices in our house. Spices as in, mouth-watering-forehead-sweating-get-me-water-now spice and spices as in I have two cupboards full of sweet and savory goodness.

When we first started purees, Baby G was more interested in her socks than in eating.

Oh, let's be honest, she was more interested in ANYTHING than eating. It was almost insulting. Then I started reading a book by Anni Daulter, Orgnanically Raised, and I realized that maybe my purees were just too boring. Daulter talks about how it's important to keep flavor in mind when we are feeding our babies.

We never eat plain food so why should I expect Baby G to like it? When I was pregnant, I craved spicy food and when I was breastfeeding I ate everything you weren't supposed- curries, garlic, broccoli, jalapeno peppers, she never minded.

When I started spices to my purees,  suddenly Baby G was more interested in eating than her socks. That's not saying much, but it is saying something.

A Note About Equipment

There are a lot of ways to make purees.  In this recipe, I steamed the fruit in the microwave for this recipe. Is that the best, healthiest way to do it? Nope. For me, it's easy, and steaming my fruit in the microwave is better than buying store-bought. Feel free to steam on the stove if that's your wish.

My husband likes to say that we bought a Vitamix so I could make baby food. That is a blatant lie. We bought a Vitamix because he always wanted one, we both make smoothies every day, and we have a blender graveyard downstairs. However, I do use it occasionally for baby food. Because we have a high powered blender, I don't peel anything. I make sure it's super clean and I buy organic, but Baby G gets rustic purees. Depending on what you are using, you may want to peel the apple.

If you haven't noticed, I use as many shortcuts as I can. For me, this whole making my own baby food is about setting myself up for success. Just because you spend a lot of time, effort, and energy on food does not necessarily make it taste better. Especially when we are dealing with purees.

Cherry-Apps and Clove Puree

Age: 7-8 months

Ingredients:

[1/2] cup organic frozen cherries, thawed

[1/4] cup dried apricots

[1/2] cup hot water

1 organic apple, sliced

pinch of ground cloves*

[1/4] teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Place apricots in hot water. Let seep for 10-20 minutes until tender.

2. Place apple slices in a glass bowl with 2 tablespoons of water (or a good healthy splash). Cover with a plate and microwave for 1-2 minutes until apple slices are tender.

3. Combine cherries, apricots, apple slices, ground cloves, and cinnamon in blender or food processor. Add 2 tablespoons to [1/4] cup apricot water. Puree until you reach your desired consistency. You may need to add more water depending on where your baby is at in terms of feeding.

*Don't have ground cloves? Try ground nutmeg. Or omit altogether and just use ground cinnamon.

Baby G's Review

The flavors are a little strong in this puree, but mama blends it with yogurt or another boring one ingredient puree and usually, I gobble it up. That is, unless I am wearing particularly cool socks. I really like socks. 

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Have you tried any spices in your purees?