Baking Day Tuesday: Round two

I did not get as crazy this week like I did last week.  Thank goodness we don't have another birthday for a while.  As predicted, the cookie dough is gone and I have almost finished off the cookie crumbs.  Because we were out of town for the weekend,  we didn't use as much bread as usual, so I still have quite a bit of that.  We are still swamped by halloween candy and that sweet ice cream cake, so our need for sweets is taken care of... too much so, probably.

So for today, I pulled out some recipes that I have been wanting to make, but I just haven't had time: bagels and granola bars.  I also want to make some pretzels, but I don't have the salt that I want, so that will have to wait... until I make a run to the store... I do need socks... and parchment paper...

For the granola bars, I puffed some wheat following these directions.  I did it in two batches and I think I overdid the second batch.  I wish I had timed the first batch, but three kids suddenly needed my attention, and I was scrambling for the lid to the pot because those little wheat berries spit the oil at you.  So I don't even have a guess at how long.  Next time maybe.

I love these granola bars.  You can basically use whatever is handy.  They certainly aren't the healthiest thing to eat, but you can sneak as much healthy stuff into them as you like and the kids still love them.  I like using flax seed because you don't even realize you are eating the healthy stuff, and it otherwise tastes kind of yucky to me.   But, I didn't have any. 
Here's how I made them:

Granola Bars

Boil 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup honey
Then add 1/2 cup peanut butter
Remove from heat when all melted

In separate bowl stir together:
2 cups oats
1 cup other cereal, like rice crispies, or puffed wheat.  This is where I used the toasted wheat berries
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

You can also add 1/4 cup ground flax seed, 1/2 cup dried fruit or/and 1/2 cup coconut, or whatever else you want to have in there.

Mix sugar mixture into cereal mixture.  Add chocolate chips if desired and press mixture into wax paper lined 9 x 13 pan.  Press down on top to flatten.  Cool in fridge.  Cut into bars.

I haven't had a problem in the past with the wax paper sticking because I line the wax paper with the chocolate chips and it will come right off the chocolate.  However, if you aren't throwing in the chocolate, I would recommend putting some butter on the wax paper, because that honey/sugar mixture is really sticky.