Are granola bars healthy?

When they first became popular, back in the 1980s when my kids were little kids, I thought so. And in my efforts to be a “good mother” who tried to give my children healthy food, I bought what was available then. Granola bars were frequent snacks in the house and for school.

I later learned that many of those so-called healthy snacks weren’t.

Just because something is called granola doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

Like if the bars are loaded with trans fats, hydrogenated vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup, marshmallows, chocolate, artificial color and so on. 

Here’s a recipe for Honey-Oat Granola Bars. Yes, they have chocolate. And honey is a sweetener. And there’s a little brown sugar in there. Still, there’s oats and dried fruit and nuts. You can add some sunflower seeds if you wish.

And they taste good. These are rich, so you just eat a little and feel snack-full.

Honey-Oat Granola Bars

2 cups quick cooking oats

6 tablespoons vegetable oil 

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper, letting a few inches hang over the side of pan (to help you lift the bars out of the pan). Brush the paper with vegetable oil. Place the oats on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-6 minutes, mixing them once during the baking process, to toast them slightly. Mix the vegetable oil, honey and brown sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until blended, smooth and hot. Combine the toasted oats, almonds, chocolate chips, cranberries, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Pour in the honey mixture and stir until well blended. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toasty brown. Let cool in the pan. Lift the square out of pan using the overhanging paper. Cut into squares or rectangles. Makes about 2 dozen 

Here’s an oldie but goodie. My Mom’s Marble Cake, which she would bake whenever there was leftover sour cream that was about to get the heave-ho. It’s a moist cake and she served it plain, as a snack or coffee cake. But sometimes she’d frost it with a thick, fudgy icing.

Well, I’ve read so much lately about the benefits of coconut oil, that I wanted to see if I could make various dishes using that instead of the dreaded hydrogenated vegetable shortening (coconut oil is solid at room temperature). The recipe calls for only 1/4 cup shortening so I thought it might be a good place to start.

It was. There is a definite coconut flavor to the cake (although when I served the cake no one was quire sure what that “new” flavor was). Because of that it has more of a sweet quality about it.

I also substituted non-fat plain yogurt for the sour cream.

Maybe that makes this cake a bit of a healthier snack.

But it’s the same old, same old Mom’s Marble Cake. For traditionalists, use vegetable shortening instead of the coconut oil and sour cream instead of the yogurt. 

Mom’s Marble Cake with Coconut Oil

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-3/4 cups cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup plain yogurt (non-fat is fine)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. Melt the chocolate and set it aside. Cream the sugar and coconut oil together in the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium for 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat the ingredients until well blended. Sift the flour and baking soda together. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in thirds, alternating with the yogurt. Beat the mixture for 2-3 minutes to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Divide the batter in half. Mix the melted chocolate into one of the halves. Either drop blobs of alternate batters into the prepared pan or spoon in one batter, add the second and swirl it into the first. Smooth the top. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Eat plain or frost with fudge frosting. Makes one cake serving 8

I love Andrew Weil. His advice, positive outlook and sunny disposition are unrivaled.

I learned about Ginger Tea from him: peel and slice some fresh ginger, steep it with some honey in boiling water and you get a homey, tasty, soothing and comforting brew. I make it frequently (now without the honey. It isn’t necessary). 

But he just wrote something on his blog that makes him even more lovable. Basically, what he says is that pistachio nuts are a good snack because they can help people control their weight.

YAY!

I order pistachio nuts by the 5-pound bag. I eat some of these nuts EVERY day. I have ALWAYS loved pistachio nuts, ever since I was a little girl and the only kind available then were the red dyed ones that made my fingers mottled and streaky, as if I had a rash. 

Now I buy the natural, un-dyed ones. Turkish pistachios, which, sorry to say, are infinitely better than the Californias.

One point Weil made, that I always knew, is that because it takes some time to get the nut out of the shell, you actually eat less of them than some other goodies and that makes another reason they’re suitable for healthy snacking.

One point he didn’t make is that pistachio nuts are not only good for snacking, they add delicious flavor and a satisfying crunch to food. Like this bulgur wheat casserole, which can be an entree or side dish.

Bulgur Wheat with Dried Apricots and Pistachios

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

6-8 ounces mushrooms, chopped

1 cup bulgur wheat

2 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)

3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup shelled pistachio nuts

2 tablespoons choppd fresh parsley

pinch of cinnamon or 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes or until softened. Add the bulgur and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring often. Pour in the stock and add the salt, pepper, herb and apricots. Stir, bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for about 25 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the pistachios, parsley and cinnamon or lemon peel. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Makes 6-8 servings

Yesterday I mentioned an article that discussed healthy snacks. One of the good, easy snack ideas, according to this piece, was to mix cottage cheese with applesauce and cinnamon.

I used to make something like that (minus the applesauce) for my children when they were kids, but I would make it into an open-face sandwich. They loved it so much they still talk about it. Whether you make it for lunch or a snack, it’s amazingly easy and takes just a few minutes. Here’s how:

Warm, Open-Face Cottage Cheese Sandwich

1 slice whole wheat or multi-grain bread

1/4 to 1/3 cup cottage cheese

a few drops pure vanilla extract

ground cinnamon

Toast the bread lightly to give it a surface crispiness. Mix the cottage cheese with a few drops of vanilla extract to taste. Spread the cheese on the toasted bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Preheat an oven or toaster oven to 375 degrees. Place the sandwich on a small baking sheet or ovenproof dish and place in the oven or toaster oven. Bake for 5-6 minutes or until hot. Makes 1

Yes, yes, yes!!! I just read that popcorn is a good, healthy snack. One that will not “derail” my diet. I’ve heard that before, but it’s so good to see it said at a reputable website.

Yes, yes, yes!! I love popcorn. Have ever since the long ago days when my brother Jeff took me to the movies on Saturday and doled out the kernels one by one.

The article was about 10 healthy snacks and one of the points that was made was this one:

“You should think of a quick snack as a mini-meal,” advises Debra J. Johnston, RD, registered dietitian and director of nutrition services at Remuda Ranch, a treatment program for eating disorders in Wickenburg, Ariz. 

A mini-meal!! Imagine, popcorn as a mini-meal.

I have to confess that on occasion, when my husband Ed is away on business and I am alone, I sometimes go to the movies with my friend Susan and popcorn is my meal. And I don’t mean mini-meal. I get the big bag because like most Americans I can’t resist the fact that it is SO much bigger than the smaller one and only costs a dollar more.

I only make popcorn at home occasionally. It’s a snack I really should think of more often because if I had homemade popcorn to nibble on while reading or watching TV, it might cut down on more caloric items (like yogurt raisins, which sound healthy but are sugar-loaded candy, after all, or potato chips, which are probably the worst snack there is because they are high-fat, high-calorie and addictive (at least for me)). 

Fairway has great store-made packaged popcorn, but I have found that when I buy the package I eat half on the way home from the store.

Not good.

Homemade — is good but I tend to cook it after I’ve eaten a meal so I don’t gobble it all up.

Here’s how to make popcorn. It isn’t difficult and takes only a few minutes. Also, you don’t need any special equipment. Just a large pot. The recipe is dressed up a bit to add variety to your popcorn choices. But you can leave out the additions and just pop the kernels in the vegetable oil. 

Garlic-Parmesan Popcorn

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 large cloves garlic, cut in half

1/3 cup corn kernels

1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes to brown the pieces and flavor the oil. Remove the garlic and add the popcorn kernels. Cover the pan and cook, popping the corn until all the kernels have popped. Place the kernels in a large bowl. Pour the olive oil on top and toss the ingredients. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper and salt. Makes about 8 cups

littleladieswholunch:

Pictured: My 8 year old daughter’s choice for her ice cream sundae: Haagen-Dazs low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, chunks of frozen black cherries and a drizzle of dark chocolate.

The end of the school year is coming to a close, and we’ve taken part in one celebration after another — end of the…

BRAVO! 

Yes, the whole healthy nutrition, school-lunch thing has been politicized. And guess who’s being hurt?

OUR CHILDREN.

Why wouldn’t all parents want their children to eat in a healthy way? Do they actually want their kids to be obese and feel sick and get diabetes or heart disease?

Those who think that proponents of healthy choices for their children are “police” or that the government is in their faces can choose not to have their children eat the healthy snacks. But why try to derail the rest of us from making our choices, from trying to give our children the gift of a healthy life?

I also have a daughter who had food limitations. She has a life-threatening allergy to fish and certain tree nuts. There never was a problem at school — or anywhere else — when she was young. The school, camp, even certain restaurants and other places we went were more than happy to accommodate. No one felt I was the police. No one felt that their rights were being infringed because I asked that the smoked salmon be put at the other end of the room (in fact many of our friends simply refrained from serving those foods when Gillian was going to be present. And no one said boo about it.)

Today I would be regarded as the food police. Or one of those parents whose kids are fussy (as opposed to having an actual anaphylactic-prone allergy). As a person who prevents others from eating peanuts on an airplane. As if eating peanuts on an airplane is a Constitutional right. 

I also never wanted to be the mother who sent her kids to school with carrots and raisins when the other parents sent chips and cheese doodles. But I also didn’t want to send chips and cheese doodles. It’s difficult to keep a stand and yet not be the weird one. In those days (my daughters are now in their 30s), granola bars and peanut-butter/cheese snacks were touted as “healthy” (oh my!). So that’s what I sent. I am sure my kids traded sometimes with the chip and cheese doodle kids.

That’s okay. I am not the food police. And I don’t think they did that every day.

Sometimes you can make progress little by little. We can’t convince people to change their ways all at once. But we can do it one small step at a time. Slowly. This kind of education always takes longer than we think it will.

And in the meantime, those who want to politicize this will keep on keeping on because they have a political agenda to achieve. They don’t care about the kids. If they did, at least for this one issue, they wouldn’t use the children as bait for their ideology. They wouldn’t work so hard against those who are trying to educate parents and young people about healthier dietary choices. No matter what their political agenda, they would all choose health and life.

One further word, as long as I am now on my soap-box. It’s very difficult for parents to say “no.” A lot easier to just give the kids the bag of chips or raisinets. But our responsibility as parents is a balance of yes and no and guiding our children into adulthood. Sure, you have to say no to so many things, you could feel that giving in to the snack thing is less important than some of the other “nos.” That’s true. But honestly, your children will not hate you because you said no to the daily junk. They may even thank you for it when they are old enough to understand.

My kids still tease me about the “healthy choice” stuff when they were kids. But I see what they give their children for snacks. It’s not the chips and cheese doodles.