Granola Bars

I have to give a shout out to this recipe for cranberry-walnut power bars from Food and Wine. They have been powering me through workouts, mid-afternoon slumps, and after-dinner sugar cravings all week. They are tastier, healthier, cheaper, and much more hearty than packaged granola bars. And they are a cinch to make; I made a batch of 16 in less time than it would have taken to walk down the street to the store to purchase a package of six granola bars. I simply can't give these treats enough praise.

Granola

I have been trying to reduce the amount of processed food in my diet. Not only is it not healthy, but processed food is unnecessarily expensive, especially when you factor in that most of the costs is not going towards the food, but to the packaging, marketing, and grocery store storage space of the said food. Cereal is one of the worst culprits, especially in New York, city of the $5 box of Cheerios. I've easily reduced reduced my consumption of processed cereals by substituting oatmeal and homemade granola in my morning routine. My granola recipe of choice has been this one from Mark Bittman. It's easy to make, healthier than most granola recipes, and perfectly crunchy. It's very versatile, too; I like to make it with chopped dates and almonds.