I merrily tipped some rice bubbles into a bowl and turned around to find a spoon. When I turned back, there was something crawling out of the bowl.
Now, I know these people are not scared of creepy crawlies, but this was surely a bridge too far. I tipped the lot into the bin and wondered if they did cleanups of pantries as well.
After a cup of tea and a sit down, I conducted a thorough clean/search and destroy mission and gathered all the safe ingredients on the bench. Then I conducted a thorough search of the internet until I found something that I could use them in. When that didn't work I adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I bet Deb never has mysterious crawling things in her cupboards.
Mega muesli bars
These are big, thick, chewy slabs of nutritious deliciousness, filled with lots of good things and not too sweet. If you don't have coconut oil, try another neutral oil or - gasp! - butter. Mix and match the nuts, seeds and fruit to suit your (clean, ordered) pantry too.
100g coconut oil
6 Tbsp honey
80ml (1/3 cup) tahini
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole oats
1/2 cup oatmeal (if you can't find oatmeal, whizz 1/2 cup rolled oats in a food processor until fine)
cups quick rolled oats
a good pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup linseeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup roasted almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Heat the oven to 175C and line a brownie pan with baking paper, leaving enough to overhang the tin.
Put the coconut oil, tahini and honey in a small saucepan and heat gently until the oil and honey have melted. Stir well and set aside.
Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir well, then pour in the oil mixture and stir until everything is well combined. Press into the prepared tin, smoothing the top with a spatula, then bake for 35 minutes, until golden.
Let cool completely before cutting into bars. If it seems very crumbly, put the tin in the fridge for an hour or so before cutting. If there are lots of crumbs, gather them up and sprinkle them on your yoghurt tomorrow morning.
Have a great weekend everyone x
Another interesting take on muesli bars. I love how the crumbs become instant granola.
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought the instant granola was a good benefit too, but after a weekend spent trudging on them, I am less convinced!
DeleteShall be making a batch to take on my travels this week. Minus the creepy crawlies. Intrigued to know what garden renovations you've done.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to come and see - essentially it involved cutting down a lot of trees that were threatening to crash down on the neighbour's house (after that happened to us we are keen for it not to happen to others) and in the process realising there was a whole lot of useable garden space. I'm thinking urban goats are the next big trend...
Delete"Big, thick, chewy slabs of nutritious deliciousness" - I like that! And the fact that they're not too sweet. I'd have to leave out the linseeds, though. We don't eat those in the US. They are always made into oil. What are they like?
ReplyDeleteHi Jean, lovely to hear from you. What, no linseeds? Why use them just to polish your furniture when you could be eating them? It's not that they are especially delicious, but they are full of omega 3s, which are so good for you. Linseeds also go a bit gel-like when they're introduced to liquids, which helps stick things together. They're often used as an egg replacer (when mixed with water) in some vegan baking. Hope that helps!
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