Homemade Muesli Bars- with variations...

We love muesli bars in this house, I used to buy them every week with my regular shopping. My husband would take them to work and they would make great snacks for myself or my daughter when we were on the go.

Then one day I read the ingredients closely and discovered that a bunch of things I wasn't so keen on lurked in even in the best & most health conscious bars. Things like sugar syrup, glucose solids, glycerol... and some had shockingly high sugar levels. Plus they were about $5 for a box of 6 bars.

So I decided to make my own and started searching for a really great Muesli bar recipe.

Luckily enough, one of the wonderful Mums in my local mother's group had a delicious, healthy and cost-effective recipe she was happy to share.


I have added a few bits and pieces to really squeeze as much goodness in as possible, and here it is, a great recipe you can make on Sunday and use all through the week in school lunches, for snacks, or as a great pick-me-up with a cup of tea!

Here are the basic ingredients:

1 cup of rolled oats
1 cup of finely chopped dates
1/2 a cup of self-raising wholemeal flour
1/2 a cup of desiccated coconut
1/2 a cup of soft brown sugar
155 grams of butter
1 tablespoon of honey

Here is the super healthy deluxe version with lots of seeds:

1/2 a cup of rolled oats
1/2 a cup of rolled spelt
1 cup of finely chopped dates (see note below)
1/2 a cup of self-raising wholemeal flour
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 a cup of 'freedom foods' rice puffs
1 teaspoon black chia seeds
1 teaspoon linseeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 teaspoons sunflower seeds
2 teaspoons pepitas
2 teaspoons flaked almonds
155 grams of butter
1/2 a cup of honey

**NOTE- the quality of the dates is important- if you use dry dates you will get a drier, harder muesli bar. The softer and squishier the dates, the better the texture of your end product.

Some Variations-
* Use sultanas and dried cranberries and chopped macadamias/almonds - halve the amount of dates.
* Use golden syrup instead of honey
* Use rice/millet/barley flour instead of wheat flour and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* Use lots of chopped nuts
* Use mixed dried fruit instead of dates- cherries, apricots, sultanas, currants, blueberries, mixed peel.
* Drizzle melted dark chocolate over the top before slicing for an indulgence :)

Directions:

- Add all ingredients except the dates, butter and honey to a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

- Chop the dates finely.

- If the dates are nice a squishy (and they should be) add them to the bowl and rub them through the mixture so that you don't get big lumps of date in your muesli bars.

- Chop the butter into smaller cubes, add this and the honey to a small saucepan and heat on medium until all the butter has melted- do not allow to boil.

- Once melted, add the butter and honey to the bowl and stir thoroughly.

- Empty the mixture into a slice tin and press it down firmly and evenly into all the corners

- Cook in a pre-heated oven on 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, or until light golden brown on top and a bit darker around the edges.

- When cooked, remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes- slice into bar-sized portions while still warm.

- Allow to cool fully, then pack in an airtight container in the pantry (after trying a slice of course).

- Will keep for a week. Enjoy!!

Homemade linguine

Had a great pasta making day with some friends today! It was a lot of fun and fantastic to have your own pasta made with ingredients you know and trust (free range eggs for example).

We let our kids run around and play together (you know, decorate the wardrobe with felt pens, jump off the couch onto bean bags etc...) whilst we got together in the kitchen and made pasta.

We brought our own flour and two people had brought fresh eggs from their own or their neighbours' chickens. I decided to go a step healthier and bought some bio-dynamic wholemeal spelt flour from my local organic shop.

This was the basic recipe:

200 grams of plain flour
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil

**NOTE- if using wholemeal flour, use 150 grams of wholemeal flour and 50 grams of plain flour. Don't sift wholemeal flour.

- Sift the salt and flour together (unless using wholemeal flour).

- Lightly whisk eggs and olive oil together

- Either combine in a mixer with a dough hook or place the flour in a mound on a clean surface, make a well in the centre, place the egg mixture in the well, and gently fold the flour into the middle until completely combined.

- Knead the dough into a smooth ball.

- Cover in cling wrap and let it 'rest' in the fridge for 30 minutes. This makes the dough more elastic and less likely to fall apart.

- After 30 minutes unwrap the dough and roll it flat with a rolling pin on a floured surface. Either cut out desired shapes or cut into thin strips and put through a pasta machine (several times through the flat roller on progressively thinner settings and then through the cutting roller) for spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine.

- Lay the pasta on baking paper or hang it over a pole (chair, rack, wooden spoon resting between two saucepans- anything much will do) to dry for a few hours.

- If transporting- place in a container with a little polenta and shake it around a bit, this will soak up some of the moisture and prevent it from sticking together.

- When cooking, fresh pasta doesn't need much time. Add to boiling salted water for as long as it takes the pasta to rise to the top of the water, remove and drain immediately.

- Add your favourite sauce, or just olive oil, cracked black pepper and Parmesan cheese and enjoy!