Best Ever! Breakfast Bars

Mornings can be tough. When I've got a few minutes I love to start my day with a dill and Gruyere omelet. Furthermore, I like to eat early, within minutes of getting up. Yummy! But, if I'm being totally honest here, living with a 3 month old sometimes means it's 10:30 before I even think about breakfast these days. I really like the idea of a grab and go breakfast, even if I'm only going 10 feet away to the playmat. I definitely don't do the store-bought granola type breakfast bars, I find they are too high in sugar (and mystery ingredients!) and really have very little nutrients. I came across this recipe on one of my favorite blogs www.healthytippingpoint.com, the original comes from www.fannetasticfood.com.

I followed the basic recipe here and made a few changes based on what I had on hand. I think this would work with almost any combination of ingredients. If you have allergies or food sensitivities, this can easily be adapted. Same goes for the peanut butter*, use another nut or seed butter as you wish.

*A note about peanut butter: Avoid the name brand peanut butters that contain hydrogenated vegetable oil if you can. You'll find it listed on the ingredients near the top. That stuff is terrible for you. Try a natural variety in this recipe. I used a natural organic no stir peanut butter that is sweetened with touch of cane sugar. Find it with the other peanut butters at the grocery store.

Dry ingredients
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup mixed cereal (I used Quinoa Puffs and Chex)
1/4 each (TOTAL of 1 cups) of 4 types of nuts or seeds (I used pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, ground flax seeds, sliced almonds)
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
1/2 to 3/4 cups of brown rice syrup (health section of grocery store)
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Microwave wet ingredients for about 30 second and stir well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well. Press into an 8 x 11 dish. Refrigerate or wrap individual bars and refrigerate.