Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

My kid isn't a breakfast eater, he's more of a roll out of bed, get dressed and go kind of kid, which ultimately drives me berserk sometimes, especially since school just started and he doesn't have lunch until 7th period which starts at 12:30. I figured I'd go about finding something he could eat on the way to school that was healthy but wasn't messy and he could just grab and go.

After a little searching I found a few recipes for oatmeal bars, but I wasn't happy with the amount of sugar in many of them. When I finally found one that I liked I knew it was good, but it needed a few tweaks and the final product was absolutely perfect.

This recipe is very versatile and you can add nuts, raisins, cranberries, or any other dried fruit, just keep in mind that if you omit the banana or applesauce you need to add 2Tbs oil or they will be too dry.

Oatmeal breakfast bars

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 banana, mashed - or 1/4 cup applesauce

1 Tbs canola oil

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°

In a large bowl add oats, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix well.

In another small bowl add the egg, banana oil, vanilla and milk.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until combined.

Pour mixture into an 8x8 foil lined pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes and cut into bars.

If you want them a little toastier you can put the bars back into the oven for 5 minutes to brown them a little more.