Hawaiian Granola Bars

In an effort to eat less processed foods I've started making granola bars and man are they delicious.

This recipe is mostly based off of this recipe from the Joyful Abode.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oats
• 3/4 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
• Macadamia Nuts (roughly 1 cup, some chopped, some not)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 tbsp Earth Balance (or butter if you prefer)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 oz. dried pineapple
• dried coconut (unsweetened or sweetened, I had sweetened on hand)

Mix together oats, wheat germ and sunflower seeds and about half the macadamia nuts (that are chopped). Put on pan and roast at 300 degrees for 12 or so minutes, mixing periodically so nothing burns. (The original recipe recommends roasting at 400 but I ALWAYS burn the oats at that temp.)

(granola mixture on the bottom, top is another fantastic recipe I'll share sometime)

While those are roasting heat the honey, brown sugar, butter/earth balance, salt and vanilla over low heat on the stove until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm. Now put the oat mixture in a large bowl, add pineapple and coconut and stir. Dump in the liquid and mix it all together.

Take a 9x13 pan, line it with wax paper and spray the wax paper with some nonstick oil. Dump all the mixture into the pan. Once it's sort of spread out and smooshed I put the rest of the macadamia nuts on top and a little extra coconut on top. Take another piece of wax paper, put on top of the pan and push it all in together. You really want to get it in there tight or they'll crumbled when you cut them.

Let this pan cool for a few hours. After it's completely cool turn the pan over onto a cutting board. The whole thing should sort of fall out but you may have to help it a little. Cut the bars using butcher knife and don't saw it, just push through the bars (if you saw they'll fall apart, speaking from experience). Now package and enjoy (I use sandwich bags if I'm lazy or wrap them in plastic wrap). You do need to package them individually before storing or they'll stick together in a tupperware.