Favorite Homemade Granola Bars Recipe

Chewy, wholesome, not too sweet homemade granola bars are a perfect lunch bag treat or after school snack. You can use whatever combination of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits you prefer, provided you keep the proportions the same, so feel free to adjust the recipe to suit your individual tastes.

Ingredients:

Dried Fruit

3/4 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/4 cup chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, or pecans)
2 tablespoons unsalted sunflower or pumpkin seeds (optional)
2 tablespoons flax seed
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup dried fruit of your choice (raisins, chopped dates, chopped
apricots, cranberries, etc)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350F degrees. Line an 8-inch baking pan with foil that overhangs the pan on all sides by at least one inch. Lightly grease the foil and set the pan aside.

Spread the oats, nuts, and seeds on a baking sheet and bake them for about 10 minutes, or until they are lightly toasted, stirring once or twice to insure even cooking. Remove the pan from the oven and let the oat/nut mixture cool completely.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the wheat germ, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon with a whisk until blended and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir the oil and brown sugar with a whisk until smooth. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture just until combined, then stir in the oat mixture and dried fruit until well combined.

Spread the mixture into the prepared baking pan evenly, pressing gently. Bake the bars until they are set, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack until the granola bars have cooled completely. Lift the slab of granola bars from the pan using the overhanging foil as handles and place on a cutting board. Cut into desired size bars.

These Homemade Granola Bars will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Yield: One 8-inch pan of granola bars

Favorite Homemade Granola Bars Recipe

Martha McKinnon is an avid home cook and cooking instructor who loves sharing everything she has learned through her years in the kitchen with all who are interested.

Her website, http://www.best-ever-cookie-collection.com is dedicated to publishing the best cookie recipes.

And her blog, http://www.simple-nourished-living.com explores easy recipes, tips, and hints.

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Fruit Baskets - Great Versatile Homemade Gifts for Everyone

Fruit baskets are ideal gifts for anyone for all holidays and special occasions. You can create beautiful fruit gift baskets for a group of people or for that one special person. And, they are practical as well as delicious.





If you've never made a gift basket, a fruit basket is a good place to start. You can't make a mistake when choosing items to include in your basket. When designing other theme gift baskets, the colors and sizes of gifts can be confusing. However, all fruits look wonderful together.





Start by selecting a white or natural colored wicker basket. A basket with handles are easier to carry if you are traveling a distance. Place straw or shredded brown paper in the empty basket before arranging the fruit and other items you have chosen.





In addition to fresh fruit, there are many other fruit related items you can add to give your basket more variety. I particularly like to scatter unshelled mixed nuts in with the fruit. Some other fruit related items that are readily available are dried fruits, fruit flavored tea, jams, jellies, fruit salsa, fruit vinegar, candied pineapple, apple crisps, and fruit flavored candy. A small box of chocolate covered cherries or fruit filled cookies are also nice additions.





The best fruits to include are bright red or green apples, oranges or tangerines, and pears that are not yet ripe. Bananas look really nice, but choose the ones that are not quite ripe. My favorite fruits to use for a decorative touch are grapes. At the last minute, scatter a few small bunches of both red and green grapes amongst the other fruits.





Another decorative touch is to place a terry or tea towel with a fruit theme under the fruit. A fruit scented candle is a wonderful gift item to finish off your beautiful gift basket.

My website, Homemade Gift Baskets Ideas is dedicated to creating theme gift baskets. For assembly and decorating ideas, visit the How To Make Gift Baskets web page.

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Banana Chips - Homemade With A Food Dehydrator

Banana chips are a great tasting, healthy snack that can be easily made with a food dehydrator. Banana chips' basic ingredients should consist of:

ripe or slightly overripe fruit if desired, lemon or lime juice

Dried Fruit

To make these chips: Peel the fruit and cut them crosswise into about 1/4 inch thick chips. If desired, before dehydrating, you can dip the sliced fruit into lemon or lime juice to help prevent browning post drying. If the bananas are pretreated with citrus juice, make sure they are well drained and dried before placing them in the food dehydrator. Dry the bananas at 130 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 8 to 10 hours. The dried fruit should feel dry and leathery when done.

Homemade banana chips are a wholesome, healthy, 100% fruit snack that are easy and fun to make. They are very sweet and have an intense fruit flavor due to the food's reduced water content which intensifies the fruit's natural sugars.

In contrast to homemade chips, store bought dried bananas are typically deep fried in unhealthy oils, like coconut or palm oils. These oils contain high amounts of saturated fats. Further store bought chips can be covered with additional sugars or honey. In fact, nutritional guidelines list a 3 ounce serving of fried chips as containing 44% of the daily recommended amount of fat and 123% of the daily recommended amount of saturated fat.

To recap:

Homemade banana chips - 100% fruit, 100% natural ingredients and sugars

Store bought banana chips - Fruit, but also unhealthy saturated fats and added sugars

Go with the real thing - homemade dried bananas made with your food dehydrator.

Banana Chips - Homemade With A Food Dehydrator

Visit Food Dehydrator to read food dehydrator reviews, obtain dehydrator recipes and learn how to make fruit leather and beef jerky.

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How to Add Color to Homemade Soaps

There are many different ways to add color to soap. Natural color can be added with dried herbs, fruit fibers, clays and essential oils. Bright bold colors can be added with FD&C colors, iron oxides, and micas. Here is some more information about these different options.

Herbs

Many herbs can act as a natural source of color for your soaps. Some herbs like chamomile, calendula, rosehips, and peppermint release their color when infused in oil. These oils retain their color through cold process soap making. Some herbs will lend their color and texture to soap when the dried herb is stirred into the soap. Good herbs to try are powdered sandalwood (light brown), powdered patchouli (brown), calendula petals (yellow), and powdered rose hips (red). Some herbs will not retain their color using this method, so always test your herbs in a small batch of soap before using them to color a large batch. You can get herbs from herb companies as well as soap making suppliers.

Fruit Fibers

Some vendors sell fruit fibers as natural soap colorants. Blueberry, cranberry, and raspberry fruit fibers add differing shades of pink to soap.

Essential Oils and Fragrance Oils

Some essential oils and fragrance oils can be used for coloring soap. Most notable are vanilla fragrance oil or any fragrance oil containing vanilla (will color soaps a light to a dark brown) and sweet orange essential oil (if the color hasn't been removed the folded oil will color soap a dark orange). Some other fragrance oils will all color to your soap - it depends on the manufacturer of the oil. I had a lilac fragrance oil once that always turned my soaps pink after they aged. It was very pretty.

Dried Clays

Dried clays can also be added to soap for color. Two popular clays to add to soap are french green clay (for a pale green color) and french pink clay (for a light pink color).

FD&C Colors, Iron Oxides, and Micas

FD&C Colors and iron oxides add bright colors to soap. FD&C colors are best used with melt and pour soaps. Micas add shimmer and sparkle to soap. Many manufacturers sell kits for these colors.

Ololade Franklin is the owner of http://www.SoapmakingBusiness.com - a website for people who want to start and grow handcrafted soap and bath and body care businesses. For labels to package your handmade soaps and cosmetics, visit her site at http://www.zazzle.com/nicescents

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Fruit Leather - Homemade Via a Food Dehydrator Versus Store Bought

Fruit leathers are a great tasting, healthy snack that can be easily made with a food dehydrator. Homemade fruit leather's basic ingredients should consist of:

- ripe or slightly overripe fruit,

- if desired, juices, spices, nuts, coconut or applesauce for flavoring and or different textures and,

- if desired, honey, sugar or other sweeteners.

Fruits best suitable for leather include apples, apricots, bananas, berries, cherries, grapes, oranges, pears, pineapples, plums, strawberries, tangerines, and tomatoes. Applesauce can be dried alone or added to any fresh fruit puree before dehydrating. Applesauce will add sweetness and make the roll up smoother and more pliable. Further, spices can be added to the pre-dehydrated fruit mixture including cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mace, mint, nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice. However, spices should be used sparingly.

Homemade leathers are wholesome, 100% fruit snacks that are easy and fun to make. In contrast to homemade fruit leathers, store bought roll ups are over processed, over priced, imitation fruit products that include extra sugars, extra corn syrups and trans fats as ingredients. Below is a listing of the major ingredients from a well known, branded fruit roll up product sold in a typical grocery store:

- Pears from concentrate,

- Corn syrup,

- Dried corn syrup,

- Sugar,

- Partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil

To recap:

- Homemade fruit leather or roll ups - 100% fruit, 100% natural ingredients that you control.

Store bought roll up - Fruit juice, corn syrups and trans fat. - Go with the real thing - home made leathers made with your food dehydrator.

Visit Food Dehydrator to learn how to dehydrate food and make beef jerky and dried fruit. Use our content and calculators to discover the benefits of food dehydrators and dried food.

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Homemade Parrot Treats

Commercially available parrot treats look very appealing, but unfortunately they are usually designed to appeal to the parrot owner more than to the parrot's nutritional needs. Very often they contain too much artificial colorings and preservatives.

But the good news is you don't have to depend on pet shop supplies to give your bird healthy, tasty treats.

Parrot treats can be very simple, like fresh millet, dried fruit on a skewer or pieces of fresh coconut hanging from the cage (don't overdo the coconut though as it is still a nut and as such contains more fat than fruits), or require a little more preparation. Here are some more elaborate ideas of homemade parrot food your pet bird will probably love:

Parrot treat recipes:

1. Fruity muffin

1 pack Hodgeson Mills Corn Muffin Mix with whole wheat flour (has lower sodium than Jiffy's)
3 eggs (with their shells)
1 mashed ripe banana
1 mashed and peeled yam
1 chopped and seeded apple
2 cups pitted fruit (peaches, apricots, papaya, nectarines)
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup varied nuts and seeds (almonds, pumpkin seeds, ...)
1 jar of fruity baby food

Mix everything and bake on 350°F for about 30 to 40 minutes. Be careful to let it cool before feeding a piece to your parrot.

NOTE: You can use 2 cups of corn meal flour, 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 tablespoon of baking powder instead of the muffin mix if you prefer.

2. Spicy muffin

1 pack Hodgeson Mills Corn Muffin Mix with whole wheat flour
3 eggs (with their shells) 1 mashed and peeled sweet potato
2 cups fresh vegetables: spinach, broccoli, green peppers, peas
1 grated carrot
1/4 cup seeded jalapeno peppers
1/2 cup carrot juice
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 jar of veggie baby food

Here again, mix everything and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes.

TIP: You can cut individual portions and freeze them and then thaw one daily or every other day.

Why a spicy muffin? Well, parrots have a less developed a sense of smell and taste than we do, so using spices in moderation can be a good little extra, and you have no doubt already noticed that your bird sometimes soaks some of his food in water to bring out the flavor. Chilies are also rich in vitamins A and C so it's healthy too not just tasty!

Fun and training

Part of the treat is the way to find the food: having your bird forage for it will make it just that much more fun. You can also make the treat playful: for instance romaine lettuce does not have a high nutritional value but can be used to wrap other foods for fun foraging rumps and to entice your bird to try new fruits or veg.

As its name implies, a treat is something out of the ordinary, a special extra not to be substituted to a regular diet. Which makes it great as a training reward. For training reinforcement you can use seeds (if your bird has a balanced parrot diet rather than mostly seeds), low fat cheese (many a parrot are cheese junkies, so that's a safe way to let them indulge from time to time), or pieces of spicy muffin.

Laurene Arroyo is a parrot enthusiast and author. You can learn more about what parrots eat and sign up for her FREE Parrot Care mini-course by visiting http://ParrotBirdCenter.com/parrot-diet/

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Holiday Gift Giving: Recipes for Homemade Christmas Trail Mixes

Homemade Christmas trail mix is the perfect stocking stuffer, teacher gift, mailman gift, or family gift. Trail mix recipes vary in specific ingredients, but generally they contain cereal, nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, and at times, small candies like M&M's or Heath Bits.

It's easy to make up large batches of trail mix at one time, which means you can make plenty for everyone on your list in one day. It's much easier than baking and is a nice switch from the traditional cookies and fruitcake.

Package your homemade trail mix in tins, cellophane bags, or small paint cans for an interesting and fun presentation. Add a small card with all of the ingredients listed, just in case you're not sure about potential allergies.

Homemade Christmas Trail Mix Recipes

Christmas Tree Trail Mix

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a jellyroll pan or cookie sheet with sides. Also, grease the sides of a large bowl. Set aside.

8 cups popcorn

1 cup walnuts, toasted

1/3 cup real maple syrup

teaspoon cinnamon

teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch of baking soda

1 cup dried cranberries

Pop the popcorn according to the directions. Mix the toasted walnuts and popcorn together in the prepared bowl.

In a saucepan, combine the syrup, cinnamon, and salt. Set to medium heat and allow the mixture to come to a boil and let it cook for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the baking soda and blend well (the mixture should have a creamy consistency).

Let the mixture cool slightly and then pour it all over the popcorn and nuts. Make sure the popcorn and nuts are thoroughly covered.

Turn everything out onto the prepared cookie sheet and distribute evenly. Bake for 15 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit or until the mix is 'dry'. Cool for 20 minutes. Add the cranberries last.

Christmas Party Trail Mix

Yogurt covered raisins or pretzels

Peanuts, walnuts, or your favorite nut

Almonds

Chopped dates

Yellow raisins

Dried oranges, cranberries, or apricots

Corn Chex cereal

Toss all of the ingredients into a large bowl and mix. Take the entire bowl to the office Christmas party or divide it up into smaller containers to give as gifts to family and friends. Easy and delicious!

Holiday Snack Mix

Dry cereal - your choice

M&M's, Heath Bits, or your choice of small candy

Raisins

Dried fruit - apples, bananas, apricots, cranberries, etc.

Granola or oat bran

Chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or white chips

Mini marshmallows

Pretzels

Toss the ingredients together and then divide into mason jars, tins, coffee can, or any other interesting container idea that comes to you.

Packaging Your Presents

Keep an eye out all year at garage sales, dollar stores and sales at World Market to find interesting containers and canning jars to store and gift your recipes. Add a bow or ribbon and the recipe and I'm sure the recipients will appreciate such an attractive and tasty gift.

Trail mix is so easy to make at home! The colors and textures are fantastic from a presentation standpoint too. Try different methods and ingredients in your trail mix and maybe you'll come up with your very own version of homemade Christmas trail mix. Serve it at family functions, give as gifts, or munch on it while you make your homemade Christmas cards. No matter how you serve it, trail mix is the perfect gift.

Shellie Gardner is the owner of Christmas Light source, a great place to find Christmas Lights. Christmas Light Source is a one stop shopping website for all your Christmas lighting needs. From traditional to LED lights to hardware and every thing in between, they have everything for holiday lighting decor as well as tips, tricks, videos and do it yourself projects.