Cherry Berry Walnut Granola Bars and the Winner is Me!

I saw Brown Eyed Baker's Basic Granola Bar Recipe and I knew that I had to make them for my husband, who is always looking for something sweet after dinner.  These bars are very versatile, and you can customize them any way that you want. There are 5 basic components:  rolled grains; nuts, spices, and seeds; sticky sweetener, dried fruits: and a binder.I chose dried cherries, craisins, raisins, walnuts, honey, rolled oats, unsweetened applesauce with a Tbsp. of peanut butter, and of course cinnamon. Check out Brown Eyed Bakers combinations and possibilities, and then make your own healthy granola bars, Yum!  These bars are quick and easy, and you can make them with ingredients in your pantry.

First, you mix the honey, the applesauce, peanut butter, and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Then you add the rolled oats to the wet mixture. Be sure that all the oats are moistened.  Then you add in the chopped dried fruits and nuts.  I put mine in 9X9 pan, because I wanted them thinner, but if you want them thicker, use a 8X8 pan.  Bake in the oven for 25 min, and then put in freezer for 1 hour to firm up, and then you can cut in bars.  My turned out more like squares,  and a little clumpy. but these are so yummy, and not very sweet at all.

Over the past two weeks , I have been the winner of two giveaways, Lucky Me!  The first giveaway I won was from Wendy, The Weekend Gourmet courtesy of Cookwell & Company. Thank you so much! I got a whole box full of wonderful products, and they're from Austin, TX. Here they are from left to right:   Two-Step Chili Mix. Grilled Pineapple and Candied Jalapeno Sweet Heat Sauce, Green Chile Stew Mix, Escabeche Style Salsa, Pepper and Mustard Blend BBQ Sauce, and finally Pecos 83 BBQ marinade. Whew!, That was heavy box.Because I had receives all of these wonderful products, from Wendy complements of Cookwell & Co., I told Wendy to send me here wish list from Trader Joe's, and would send her a few products, which Idid last week.  In return, she is sending me a few more products from Texas. I love blogging!
 
My family has three birthdays this month so we're planning a Mexican Fiesta, to use many of these products More to come.  You wouldn't think that scheduling three couples would be a problem, but believe me it is.

The other Giveaway I won was from  Veronica at Quay Po Cooks , who is in Malaysia. She sent these beautiful  glass bead earrings. Soo pretty!  Look at the beautiful stamps and . green is my favorite color. She cooks both Western and traditional Chinese cuisine.Hop on over to her blog, it's lovely.  Thank you Veronica for the earrings, I love them. If you look closely you can see that I'm wearing the earrings in the picture below.