Community Voices for Health

By: Kris Berry

Someday I’ll write more about it, but I have been making a switch to a plant-based diet for myself.  That means, while my kids and husband are still eating meat and dairy, there’s much less of it in my house.  I have been looking around for some delicious and healthy recipes that the kids will try and enjoy.

I love a quick breakfast.  My kids usually wake up and just want to play, so I love to find ideas that they can eat quickly and head outside.  But I’m not into giving them sugar-heavy cereals or poptarts.  I found this recipe for oatmeal breakfast bars on food.com a few months ago and my kids love them.  I like to change recipes so I use applesauce instead of the oil and molasses and water instead of juice and reduced the amount of sugar.  My kids love them with dried apples and raisins (and no nuts).  Enjoy!

 Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats, uncooked
• 1 cup oat flour (can be made by pulverizing rolled oats in a blender or food processor)
• 1 cup packed currants or 1 cup raisins or 1 cup chopped prunes or 1 cup other dried fruit (apples are great!)
• 1 cup apple juice or 1 cup orange juice (you could also use 1/4 cup molasses and 3/4 cup water)
• 1/4 cup white sugar or 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds or 1/4 cup nuts, pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9 inch by 13 inch pan, or two 8 inch by 8 inch pans.
3. Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix well.
4. It should be moist enough to form a ball, without extra liquid.
5. Put mixture in prepared pans and spread evenly.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and cut into squares while still hot.
8. Wait until the bars cool before trying to remove them from the pan.
9. One tip: if the fruit is hard, soak it with a bit of water before starting to make this recipe because the fruit doesn’t soften much in baking.