Project Pastry Queen: Jubilation Granola Chews

This is my week to host Project Pastry Queen and I chose to make Jubilation Granola Chews. I’ve always thought I should try making homemade granola bars, but somehow whenever I got in the kitchen I’d always end up making brownies or cookies instead. I’m really happy I picked this recipe; it was fun to make a snack food and the results were really delicious.

I made a couple small changes to the original recipe.

~I used grated coconut instead of shredded

~I reduced the amount of dried cranberries to 3/4 cup, and added 3/4 cup of mini M&Ms

~I left out the flax seed. Neither of my normal grocery stores carry it and I was too lazy to drive to the Whole Foods half an hour away (pathetic, huh?)

~After pressing the bars into the pan, I added an extra 1/4 cup mini M&Ms on top. I just wanted to make sure the bars looked colorful and adding extra chocolate is never a bad idea.

These bars are quite sweet. I’d even say you could crumble one up, sprinkle over vanilla ice cream, and call it dessert. You could probably reduce the sugar or honey by a bit if you don’t want something so sweet. The only other thing to note is that the next time I make these I’ll probably increase the salt by 1 teaspoon.

I hope you get a chance to make these bars. It’s a fun and easy recipe and the bars are really good. Little Man was a huge fan and Big Man took a few to work for his colleagues as well. And I definitely enjoyed my share!

You can see how the other PPQ members made the bars by clicking here.

Jubilation Granola Chews (from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather)

3/4 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar

3/4 cup honey

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup almonds, sliced or slivered

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1 cup sweetened dried cranberries or golden raisins

1/2 cup sunflower seeds (I used roasted, salted seeds)

2 tsp. sesame seeds

1/4 cup golden flax seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Combine the brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, and water in a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer about 8 to 10 minutes until it reaches the soft-ball stage, registering 234 to 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Stir in the butter, peanut butter, salt, and vanilla. Spread the oatmeal, almonds, coconut, sunflower, and sesame seeds evenly on 2 baking sheets. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring once, until lightly browned. Combine the oats, almonds, coconut, cranberries, and sunflower, sesame, and flax seeds in a large bowl. Pour in the honey mixture and stir to combine. Cool for about 30 minutes. Evenly press the granola into the pan using a sheet of waxed paper or plastic wrap to keep your hands from sticking. Cool for another 30 minutes before cutting into bars. Cut the bars in half the long way and in eights the short way to make 4-1/2 by 1-1/2-inch bars.

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Sample Saturday

Good Morning! Here’s this week’s roundup of my favorite posts.

Kisses and Kiddos

Be 3D - The Generous Wife reminds us that the key to a woman being a good wife and mother is being secure in who she is and confident in the talents God gave her.

On Remembering What’s Most Important - Seeking a simple, fulfilling life begins with knowing the true desires and values of your heart, as described in this Becoming Minimalist post.

The Importance of One on One Time - I posted this week about how I’ve been proactively enjoying individual time with my Little Man and The Confident Mom also had a great post about making sure to have one-on-one time with every child.

Yumminess

Cheese Blintzes with Berry Sauce - These stuffed crepes from The Curvy Carrot look perfect for a Spring breakfast or even Easter Brunch.

Chicken Cheesesteaks with Mustard - The Foodie Bride showcases this recipe for a savory sandwich with a special mustard sauce.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Devil’s Food Cake Cheesecake - If you are looking for a serious, decadent, show-stopping dessert, check out this amazing cake over at Sprinkle Bakes.

Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn - Dude. Popcorn and sprinkles. Click on over to The Tasty Kitchen Blog for a step-by-step method for this amazing and festive snack.

Just for Fun and Giggles

April Fool’s Day Prank Apology - Stuff Christians Like has a hyper-organized, color-coded system to help you decide what level of apology is needed for pulling an April Fool’s Day prank.

Remember, Easter Sunday is just around the corner!

Enjoy your weekend!

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Toddler Adventures

Little Man is 2. Leading up to his second birthday I heard so many horror stories from other parents about the “terrible twos.” Maybe Little Man just hasn’t hit the “terrible” part yet, but so far the adventures of having a two-year-old aren’t terrible. Frustrating, sometimes. Definitely challenging. But not terrible. And honestly, even after the worst day, Little Man still loves to get in his snuggly pajamas, kiss Big Man and Little Lady goodnight, and let me tuck him into bed. He smiles while I sing “Jesus Loves Me” and kisses me goodnight at the end. And those snuggles and smiles and kisses more than make up for all the frustrations and challenges and grumpies.

Now, he does still do normal “I’m asserting my independence” toddler things. He sometimes throws little tantrums if he doesn’t get his way. He tests the boundaries of the rules that Big Man and I set every once in a while to see if we will enforce them. Occasionally, he will defiantly say “no” to something. But I think these things are pretty much normal for a kid his age, so I do my best to pray for peace and wisdom and loads of patience. And I make sure my pantry is stocked with “Mommy-needs-a-minute-to-cool-down” chocolate.

I’ve been discovering a pattern in the last month or so with his behavior and I’ve found some things that seem to help a lot. Little Man tends to throw fits and push boundaries during times when he gets less than usual one-on-one attention. Sometimes Little Lady just has one of those days where she needs a lot of care or Little Man has to miss his weekly grandma play date. Either way, it is those times when he displays the most “toddler” behavior.

I guess it makes sense. Part of his behavior is probably just trying to get attention. But I think another part of pushing the boundaries is him trying to make sure things are still the same. That the rules are still there.  That Mommy and Daddy will still react the same way if he says “no.” I think he gets a lot of comfort from the fact that our family life stays pretty much the same despite other circumstances. He can count on Big Man and me to be consistent and I think that makes him feel secure and safe.

So I’ve been trying to use this observation in a positive way. I’ve been attempting to balance discipline with extra grace. If Little Man throws a tantrum, or defiantly says “no” he still gets a time-out. But once the punishment is completed, I invite him to have some individual playtime with me or Big Man. I’ll set Little Lady up in her bouncer or put her down for her nap, and Little Man and I will snuggle together and read books or draw or play a game (he loves “helping” me play Angry Birds). I give Little Man this extra bit of attention and love and it seems to really help. Not only does it calm him down and improve his behavior, it also calms me down, lowers my frustration, and “restarts” my patience-meter.

Some days if I’m really observant I can see he is getting in one of those moods and do a “preemptive strike” of extra individual play time with him. And sometimes I don’t catch it early enough and the extra cuddle time has to wait until time-out is over. But either way, it’s had very good results so far, for both me and Little Man.

And really, if Little Man’s “terrible twos” behavior is going to lead to extra hours with him snuggled on my lap pointing out all the letters in his Dr. Suess book, it can’t really be called “terrible” at all.

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