Breakfast Bar recipe

H is going on a field trip to King's Island with the school this week, which means an early day.  She will have to be at the school by 6 am and will be eating breakfast on the bus.  I was given the choice of either letting the school pack her breakfast and paying for a lot of preservatives and junk food (they are seriously packing "super doughnuts" to give the kids for breakfast!) or I could pack and send one with her.  Guess which one I chose!

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a health nut.  I eat doughnuts and junk food on occasion.  But I seriously think that if I am going to pay for a meal at school, it should be relatively healthy.  Especially when they have put so many restrictions on the food that parents can bring in for parties.  (I can't order pizza for a class party but I can order pizza through the school for a class party.  I can't bring in cupcakes on my child's birthday, but they can serve super doughnuts for breakfast.  No candy for the Easter egg hunt but I am expected to sell candy, cookie dough, and candy coated popcorn for school fundraisers.  Makes LOTS of sense to me!)  Any way, enough ranting.  The point is that I had to come up with something that doesn't require refrigeration, was relatively healthy, tasted good, was portable, requires no utensils to eat, and I can pack in something disposable.  What came to mind?  Breakfast bars!

I love the ease and portability of a good breakfast bar.  I also like that when you make them yourself you can throw just about anything you want to in them.  So I figured why not share my basic recipe with you so you too can enjoy your own breakfast goodness.

Sunflower's Breakfast Bars

 (YES!  I took this picture on my back deck because the sun was finally out and

I could get a decent picture of something....finally!)

2 cups old fashion oats (these are the ones you have to cook, not the 1 minute or the instant variety)
3/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed fruit of your choice (this batch was 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of any add ins you want or leave this out.  It's your breakfast bar!  Some suggestions are raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, coconut etc

Here is the hard part.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Spray an 8 by 8 pan with cooking spray.  Dump all of your ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.  Pour into the pan and cook for about 1 hour.  Allow to cool completely and then cut into bars.  (I prefer to make 3 cuts L to R and then one cut top to bottom down the center to get 8 bars)

I love "dump" recipes.  They are pretty much fool proof.  Let me know what you think if you decide to make a batch!
Until next time,