[azphil]

Here’s the recipe for my almost world famous granola bars.

What you need:

1 stick of margarine.
1 box of Smart Start cereal or it’s equivalent
1 bag of marshmallows
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of crushed walnuts or almonds
1 cup of dry roasted or regular roasted (the oily ones) salted peanuts
Chocolate or Vanilla flavored protein powder
A cookie sheet
Pam or it’s equivalent
A 2 qt or larger pot ( I don’t know the real name for this but everyone uses it for cooking pasta ).
A good wooden or stainless steel 'BAS' (big a** spoon). Do not use a plastic spoon as this stuff gets hard to stir as the ingredients are being added.


What you do:

Spray the cookie sheet with Pam and put them both aside.
In the pot over low heat melt the stick of margarine.
Add the marshmallows and, while stirring almost constantly, let them melt.
Slowly add all the cereal to the marshmallow while stirring. Take the inner plastic bag the cereal comes with out of the box and open it up along the seams so it’s like a piece of waxed paper and put this aside.
Do not remove from the heat….keep it on low.
Add the raisins, nuts and as much protein powder as you like. I sample it for taste to make that determination.
Keep stirring and continue adjusting the nuts and raisins to suit. This concoction has to be a very stiff mix.
If it becomes too stiff throw a little more margarine in there. If it’s too loose (unlikely) keep adding more of the raisins or nuts…..sometimes a couple of handfuls of oatmeal does the trick.
Get the cookie sheet and spoon this stuff onto it. It should come from the pot almost in one lump.
Now get the 'waxed ' paper and press this stuff down as flat as you can an about as high as the edge of the cookie sheet. Work it in real well and square it up as you go.
Remove the 'waxed' paper and spray the top of this with the Pam, then put the paper back on and let it cool.
Don’t forget to shut the stove off.
Cut it in whatever size bars you like (a pizza cutter works well) and wrap them in Saran wrap. I then freeze them and then put some in the refrigerator when I will be eating them that week. Keep in mind these things get hard so don’t try to eat one right out of the refrigerator….keep it in your pocket or let it get to room temperature so it loosens up a bit. These things will get soft in your pocket on a hike but they don’t get gooey.
You can make substitutions to the ingredients above. I like more raisins and the chocolate protein powder the best. I’ve also used dried cranberries and dried cherries, I’ve added peanut butter. They’re all good.
Just add what you like. You can’t make a bad batch unless you decide on adding anchovies or something.
Check that you did shut off the stove.

I usually get 24 to 30 bars out of this at about a quarter of what it costs for the same weight of store-bought granola bars.

Phil

[montezumawell]

What? No pumpkin mushrooms? Thanks, Phil, that's literally a mouthwatering recipe. We're going to try to make it in the next few days and we'll be sure to turn the stove off, too!

J&S in RR