CHIP Alumni Association (PACAA)

CHIP Tip No. 28: Make Your Own Granola Bars
from CHIP Clinical Manager Amy Lister, R.D.

Do you find shopping for healthy foods frustrating?

Purchasing healthy snacks can be especially challenging. You want something with enough energy to tide you or your family over until dinner, but you also want it to be low in calories, sugar, fat and sodium, and high in fiber. What a task. Why not use the time you would spend scanning labels for trans fat, sodium or high fructose corn syrup to make your own healthy snacks?

Try this recipe for a healthy granola bar. It's very simple and makes a perfect after-school snack or energy boost before soccer practice. (Make a double recipe if you have lots of hungry people in your household.) Just wrap the finished bars in wax paper to make a portable snack great for anyone on the go.

Quick and Easy Granola Bars

• 1 ¼ cups rolled oats
• ¼ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup wheat germ
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ cup honey
• 1/3 cup raisins

1. Combine the oats, flour, wheat germ and cinnamon and mix well.
2. Add the honey and vanilla and stir until the mixture is moist
3. Stir in the raisins
4. Spray an 8" square pan with cooking spray
5. Spoon the mixture into the pan and press lightly with a spoon to form a level surface
6. Bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees
7. Place on a cooling rack, cut into bars and serve

Makes 12 bars

Nutrition information per bar: Calories 85, fat 1gm, protein 2 gm, carbohydrate 17 gm, fiber 2 gm, sodium, 2 mg