Lunchbox Treats

Now that school has gone back, I'm on the lookout for treats that I can put in my daughter's lunchbox. Luckily we don't have a 'no nuts' policy at our school, but I do try to avoid putting nuts in things if I can. This slice is perfect if you can't have nuts, but still want something dense and filling.

This recipe for Granola or Muesli bars was in last weeks copy of Epicure in the The Age Newspaper. I don't really like grams of wet and dry ingredients, because I find it too fiddly, but I held my tongue and diligently weighed everything out. Next time I'll take more notice of how much I add and convert it to cup measurements.  I also modified the original recipe a little bit to use up what I had in the cupboard. If you don't like dates, dried apricots, or any other dried fruit would work nicely too.  To make them as a home treat, you could easily add chopped nuts instead of the seeds.

The bars turned out nice and dense, so were great in a lunchbox, where they get tossed around a fair bit. There is nothing worse than a delicate slice or biscuits that ends up as crumbs by the time you get to eat them!

As an after school snack, kids can enjoy with a nice glass of milk and you can sit down and relax with a cup of tea or coffee!

Granola Bars

100g butter, cut into cubes

80g honey

90g brown sugar

80g dried dates, chopped

200g rolled oats

20g poppy seeds

30g sunflower seed and pepita mix

1/4 tsp allspice

A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.

Line a 20x20cm cake tin with baking paper.

In a saucepan, combine butter, honey and sugar and heat until melted. Simmer gently until a soft caramel forms.

Combine all other ingredients in a bowl.

Add the hot caramel to the dry ingredients and stir to coat evenly.

Scoop the mixture into the tin and press evenly with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 15-20 mins or until golden brown. The slice will still be soft when you remove it from the oven, but will set more as it cools.

Cool in the tin, then cut into squares to serve.

Enjoy!

Breakfast To Go

I am not much of a breakfast person and really have no appetite until about 10am. I know I need to have something to fuel me for the morning, other than just coffee, so generally try to take something to work with me that I can eat at my desk. It saves buying an overpriced something from the cafe or reaching for a cake, muffin or other sugar laden treat.

My go-to breakfast has always been fresh fruit, yogurt and a selection of nuts and seeds. Healthy, filling and good for me. Recently I've started making my own granola. It's really like toasted muesli, but my version is full of all sorts of good stuff - seeds, nuts, dried fruit, oats and coconut oil. I used dried apricots and dates in mine, but you could use whatever takes your fancy, or whatever is in the cupboard. If you don't want to add the nuts, you can add extra seeds, coconut or dried fruit.

Eat the crispy little clumps by themselves or serve with yogurt and fresh fruit or milk. For a quick and easy dessert, use as a crumble topping over poached apple and pear. Maybe even just serve with a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream!

My Healthy Granola

2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup chopped dried fruit

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup pepitas

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 chopped mixed nuts

1 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbs coconut oil

3 Tbs honey

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine oats, fruit, coconut, seeds, nuts and cinnamon and stir to combine.

In a small bowl, combine honey and coconut oil. If the oil is solid, microwave for 10-20 seconds to melt and stir to combine.

Pour the honey mixture into the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. 

Tip the whole lot onto two baking trays so that the mixture is evenly spread in a thin layer. You want some clumps, but not too thick, otherwise it won't crunch up nicely.

Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Give the trays a shake every so often to move the clumps around a bit and stop the fruit from burning.

Allow to cool completely on the trays before packing into an airtight container.

The granola should keep for about a week, so enjoy some everyday!