"Nutragrain" bars

P is completely in love with nutragrain bars, he will try to convince me to let him eat 4 for breakfast. Well, too much of a good thing isn't really a good thing anymore, now is it?

So, I love this recipe site called Recipezaar and I happened to stumble across a recipe for nutragrain bars that are homemade. I decided it would be worth a shot to see how they taste, not to mention a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them at the store.

They just came out of the oven and they have made my whole house smell so darn fabulous! Of course the recipe says to let them cool completely, but really, who has time for that? :) So, I just had to dig into one to try them out. The verdict.....they are super delicious! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (18 ounce) box yellow cake mix
• 2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (use only quick-cooking)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (use 3/4 cup for a sweeter crust and topping)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup melted butter, plus
• 2 tablespoons melted butter (can use vegetable oil)
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups strawberry preserves or raspberry preserves (can use a little more, or use your favorite preserves)

Directions

1. Set oven to 375 degrees (oven rack to second-bottom position).
2. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
3. In a large bowl combine cake mix, oatmeal, cinnamon and brown sugar; mix with a spatula or a large wooden spoon.
4. In a small cup whisk egg with lemon juice and vanilla until combined; add to the crumb mixture along with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted butter.
5. Using a large wooden spoon toss to combine then use your fingers to finish the mixing.
6. Mix until the mixture clumps together.
7. Sprinkle a litle more than half of the crumb mixture into the pan then spread out evenly pressing firmly to cover bottom.
8. Spoon the jam carefully over the crust in the pan and spread evenly.
9. Cover with remaining crumb mixture over top of the jam then gently pat the mixture down slightly.
10. Bake for 20 minutes (the top should be very light brown).
11. Cool completely, or semi-freeze before cutting into bars (this will make cutting the bars easier).

Of course I made a few changes of my own. Instead of using the yellow cake mix, I used 2cups flour, 2tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup sugar. Also, instead of using 1/4 cup melted butter, I used 3/4 cup ground flax meal (for added fiber of course!). I did use the 2tbsp butter that it called for on top of the 1/4 cup. I also used Polaner All fruit strawbe rry jelly with no added sugar. They are definitely sweet enough and thats even after I cut the sugar way back. I put these together all while the boys took a nap. They are easy to make and you can freeze them once you cut them into bars. Here are some pics of the finished product: