Granola Bars

Here is my recipe for granola bars, I modified a recipe by Food Network's Alton Brown to use stuff we have on hand including bananas. We always seem to have a couple sitting around getting spotty. You can add a couple of tablespoons of butter to the sugar mixture like he does but I leave it out to trim fat.

4 cups 5 Grain Rolled Whole Grain Hot Cereal (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 1/3 cups walnuts
1/4 cups Flaxseed, Ground
1/2 cups Wheatgerm
1/2 cups Honey
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2/3 cups Brown Sugar
1 cups Chopped Dates
2 Bananas
1 cups dried cranberries


Heat oven to 350. In a shallow pan toast cereal, nuts, flax and wheatgerm for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small pan mix honey and sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved. (you can also substitute agave nectar to taste for the sugar) Add vanilla and remove from heat.

Mash bananas and mix with sugar mixture. Stir in cereal and dried fruit and press into a greased 9x13 pan using waxed paper or plastic wrap to pack it firmly. Bake for 25 minutes and let cool before cutting into 12 bars.