My kind of Granola Bars!!!!!

" Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
1 Peter 1:3
Mercy!!!!!Oh how thankful I am that God is full of great mercy....mercy that the Bible says is new every morning!!!!!! So glad He doesn't give what I deserve!!!!!
Days like today really make me feel alive! I love it when the sun is shining and the birds are singing and the weeds that you mow in your backyard are still green!!!!! (If you have real grass, you can be all the more thankful that it won't be yellowish brown and prickly in a month!!!!)


Anyhoo, on a day like today, we  headed out to hike up through Forest Falls, so I put a batch of these in the oven...and let me tell you , the SMELL alone is soooo satisfying- but you WILL want to eat them too!!!!!!
 
I was planning to just make granola, but for the portability factor, I decided to make these granola BARS instead- they are chewy and oh sooooo good for you!!!!!! Okay, maybe that last part is something of a stretch, but they ARE called granola, so how bad could they be?????And they ARE good!!!!
First preheat your oven to  350° .
And here's what you'll need on hand:

2 1/2 c.oats
1 1/2 c. sugar
2/3 c. oat flour (oats ground in the blender)
2/3 c. almond flour
1/2 -3/4 c. coconut
1 1/2 t. salt
2 T. orange zest (if you like that sort of thing)
combine all these ingredients.....

then combine these ingredients
12 T. melted butter
2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. of sticky stuff...corn syrup, maple syrup honey...or a combo....
2 t. apple juice

ahhhhhhhh.....all the best parts!!!!!

Then stir the butter mixture into the oat mixture
 

then add:
2 c. Trader Joes Fruit/Nut Trek mix
1 c. golden raisins
....and because you are going to burn off all these calories hiking.....
add the leftover bag of chocolate chips that are begging to be used!!!!!


the combo will look something like this.....

it is safe to eat at this point, but if you are not like me you will want to press it into a pan....

and bake it for 30-40 minutes.......sorry, no picture- we were running out the door, and now my computer has no room for me to import any more pictures....so you'll have to settle for these and note that you should let the pan cool and then cut into bars and wrap each one separately in saran wrap.....
when I eat these, I feel like I am doing something wonderful for myself.....or at least I feel like I am TASTING something wonderful.....I cannot confirm which!!!!! You can decide for yourself!!!!

Look at this studly little pug!!!! Can you believe I have had an ad for him as a pug stud in the Riverside Pug Meetup for over a year and a half and no one has called to "marry " him??!?!??! He is soooo handsome- don't you think???
...and speaking of handsome.....

He stayed up the entire time we hiked- NO NAP for this little one...can you see. he was fighting it the whole time!!!!! too much to see!!!! Absolutely beautiful!!!!!!!Hope you enjoy the gorgeosity of THIS day and enjoy  the mercy and grace of God in your life today!!!!!!!!