Homemade Granola Bars

At Whole Foods they have  these yummy sesame seed bars baked in honey until they are almost like candy bars. I thought I would give it a try. I didn't really have enough sesame seeds, so I kind of substituted with other nuts. And so, Mo's Granola Bars were born.

What you'll need:

1/3 c of almond meal* (ground up almonds)
2/3 cup dried unsweetened coconut flakes (tiny)
1/3 c ground oats*


1/3 c slivered toasted almonds chopped coarsely
1/3 c toasted pecans chopped coarsely
1/3 c raw pumpkin seeds (green ones)
1/3 c raw sunflower seeds
2/3 c sesame seeds

2/3 c honey
5 dashes cinnamon
8x8 baking pan

1/2 T butter (to butter the pan, and whatever is left just throw in with the honey)

*If you can't find ground almonds in the store and to grind your oats, all you need is a coffee grinder or food processor.

Set the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the 8x8 baking dish with 1/2 T of butter. In a small sauce pan, heat up the honey to a very liquid state - not boiling though. If you have left over butter, just throw it in with the honey. No point in wasting it. You can also heat up the honey in the microwave, but I like to watch it, so it doesn't boil.

Mix all dry ingredients plus Cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. With a spatula, stir in the heated honey and coat evenly. Transfer to your buttered baking dish quickly and press firmly into the pan, spreading the mixture as evenly as possible.

Baked for 20 minutes in 350 oven. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes until firm but not hard. Cut into squares, bars or whatever sized pieces you prefer.

To keep fresh, I wrapped each bar in parchment paper and the sealed them in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Freedom of Speech

On this Independence Day, I'm going to take a minute to exercise my right to free speech and get on my soap box. I'll try to make it short though...

I've often thought that for my generation freedom and independence was a given, and something we take for granted. Because, it's not like we've had a hand in fighting for it. 

However, as I was reading the news this morning about more unrest in Egypt, coupled with a recent conversation with my Dad and thoughts about last weeks SCOTUS ruling, I took a moment to reflect. We (and by we, I mean Americans) may not be fighting for freedom and independence from government rule, but we are still fighting for freedom of oppression from each other. 

It is our constitutional right to have beliefs and opinions, but it's how we act upon them that either sparks a fire for bias and prejudice, or cultivates a deep reverence for diversity.

Unfortunately, bias seems to come much easier than understanding. I suppose because you don't have to educate yourself...I think the saying is "ignorance is bliss." Except that it's not. It's just lazy.

We've all succumb to laziness in some form or fashion, whether we want to admit it or not, but we have to keep pushing ourselves to fight for and towards the founding principles of this country...freedom and equality. We are the melting pot of the world after all, so if we can't embrace our differences and see the beauty in that, then we've failed ourselves, and as a role model to those who are literally still fighting for this dream.

-Mo