Homemade Granola Bars

If there is an easy way to get a job done, I'm in. This includes eating breakfast.

These granola bars are a great grab-and-go breakfast. Pair them with a cup of fruit and a glass of juice, and you can leave the house feeling like you've started the day on the right foot. Nice with coffee and tea; they are also a great mid-afternoon snack.

Don't let the ingredients list scare you. I always keep a supply of the good, grainy stuff in the house, and sprinkle a little wheat germ here, add a little flax seed or wheat bran there, etc. It will boost the nutritional value of whatever you're preparing, and most of the time you won't even know it's there.

Homemade Granola Bars

½ cup softened margarine (I always use the heart-healthy or cardiologist-endorsed stuff)

1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup prepared granola (I use a peak protein variety to boost the protein content, but you can add any kind you like. If you like nuts, add something with almonds.)

2 Tablespoons wheat germ

2 Tablespoons wheat bran

1 Tablespoon ground flax seeds

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/3 cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup mini-chocolate chips, semi-sweet (You may wish to omit this, if you want to cut down on the fat and sugar content or if you are not a chocolate lover. Experiment: add chopped almonds instead.)

½ cup dried cranberries or cherries

Preheat oven to 350°. I use my small, countertop convection oven. It works great and it doesn’t heat up the entire kitchen. Spray an 8x8 inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray (I use non-hydrogenated, no trans fat, no cholesterol, no sodium variety), and set aside.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. That's it! I use a mixer, but you can get the same result with a fork and some muscle. Press firmly into prepared pan. Bake 18-20 minutes.

Let cool for 10 minutes, and then turn onto cutting board and cut into squares. Let sit until they are completely cool, or they will fall apart! Once completely cool, I wrap the individual squares in plastic wrap and freeze in a plastic freezer bag for the week.

These are not overly sweet, so you won't feel like you are eating a bar of sugar— like some commercially prepared granola bars. If you prefer them sweeter, just increase the amount of brown sugar.

Best Bread and Pizza Dough

It makes sense to begin this culinary journey with one of the most basic and frequently used recipes in my collection. I have no idea where this came from. I think I had a recipe for bread dough that contained pastry flour, sugar, olive oil, and some other stuff that I later learned wasn't necessary for authentic pizza dough, so I just took them out and kept the basics. Water, flour, salt, and yeast. That's it. Couldn't be easier. And the crust couldn't be crisper.

1 cup warm water

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups bread flour

2 ½ teaspoons yeast

I do this in my bread machine. Follow your manufacturer’s instructions. Mine suggests the order above. Set on dough cycle. Shape. Let rise again. Bake as desired.

Suggestions for pizza and bread:

If making pizza, flatten into discs (on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel) and add desired toppings. Slide onto a pizza stone in a 500° oven. Keep a close eye on it... this is a very hot oven! I add mozzarella or goat cheese during the last couple minutes of baking so it doesn’t burn. Slide out on a pizza peel and add desired cheese, then carefully slide back into oven until cheese is melted. (Note: the cornmeal on the pizza peel will make it easier to slide unbaked dough into the oven, but there is no need to add more cornmeal when you take it out to add the cheese. Once baked, it should slide on and off the peel pretty easily.)

If making bread, shape into loaves (I use a baguette pan with tiny perforations on the base). This recipe will make two small baguettes. Bake at 425° for about 20 minutes. Baking time will vary according to loaf size and oven, but the bread will be golden on the outside when it's done.

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