Comments on: Chocolate Cranberry Granola Bars

By: joanne b.

joanne b. — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:19:57 +0000

These look great, but my son has a severe allergy to coconut. Any ideas to sub that out to make these?

By: Tracy

Tracy — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:19:26 +0000

Um, can someone help me. Coconut oil is soft but you can melt it. so softened means…? I want to make these but I am chicken to have a mess on my hands if I dont’ get it right because I screwed up the ingredients. thanks. tracy

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:47:44 +0000

Hi Jeri, soy and corn can be real foods ~ they can be grown in gardens and fields around the world and when eaten whole or ground to make flour or fermented foods they can be nutritious and delicious for folks who don’t have allergies to them. However, many times they are genetically modified crops and are heavily processed to make ingredients that are far different from what we think of as real food growing in our fields. Corn syrup in particular requires a surprisingly lengthy chemical process developed in a lab and carried out using specialized additives in an industry setting, i.e. not something that regular folks at home can do under normal circumstances. Real foods can come in many different forms, but if we can’t replicate a food item by starting with recognizable whole foods and household kitchen equipment then the original food has probably been processed beyond recognition of what would constitute desirable eats to people concerned with “real food”. Most foods have been processed in one way or another, but the key is to see if you can follow the process in your mind’s eye from whole form to what you see at the grocery store. Ground beef has been processed but it’s easy to imagine that process ~ the cow was butchered, the meat was ground up and packaged for sale. With whole grain flour we can picture it being harvested, washed, ground, sifted, and packaged. If you google “how to make corn syrup” you’ll find recipes on how to make a substitute at home, using a simple syrup made from cane sugar, not corn. You might also run across a video of two guys who attempted to make a batch of corn syrup in their kitchen and couldn’t replicate it. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it would be difficult and it’s not easy to picture how you can get sugar out of a starchy vegetable. In comparison, olive oil, almond flour, tofu, wine, coconut milk, etc. are all foods that have been changed from their original, whole form but 1) still retain many properties of the original food and 2) could be made from scratch at home using simple methods. Other sweeteners like honey and maple syrup can potentially be obtained from one’s backyard and in terms of eating “real food” these would be much more desirable to include in one’s diet.

By: Menu Plan Monday | Simply Thrifty Living

Menu Plan Monday | Simply Thrifty Living — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:44:59 +0000

[...] Freezer Cooking: Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Breakfast Rolls Muffin Mix No Bake Energy Bites Chocolate Cranberry Granola Bars Are you doing any fall baking this week? I think my Pumpkin Buttercream candle is making me [...]

By: Jeri

Jeri — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:37:59 +0000

I just wanted to point out that corn syrup and soy are “real food”. They are not something someone just made up in a lab. They both start out in the fields that I can see out my window.

By: Crissy

Crissy — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:26:17 +0000

I have made granola bars in the past, but always have trouble keeping them together. My kids don’t care they love them so much they’ll eat them even if they end up being a bunch of crumbles but the mom in me wants them to be less messy. Any suggestions?

By: JanaC2

JanaC2 — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:19:26 +0000

This past week, I have finally made the leap into gluten-free living. Not sure if I will go back just to get properly tested, but I am enjoying a reprieve of my overwhelmingly long list of symptoms in the meantime! I sincerely appreciate this recipe as I am preparing to transition the entire family over to gluten-free soon (and the kids already have allergies to nut, dairy, egg, flax and many fruits). This is actually a recipe we can ALL enjoy! Thank you!!

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:15:57 +0000

Adding to favorites- I homeschool my kids and I’m teaching my oldest 2 cooking 1-2 times a week as part of school! (what a blessing that has been to me many, many times!!). This looks like something they could easily do on their own! Awesome:)