Homemade No-Bake Granola Bars

Granola bars are one of the best snack foods. They're portable, so it's easy to have one with you, no matter where you are. I like having them around when I'm traveling, and in my gym bag as a pre-workout snack (or post-workout snack!)

They're packed with lots of energy-rich food, like oats, nuts, and dried fruit. Best of all, when you make them yourself, you can decide what to put in them! Feel free to switch out any of these ingredients for your favorites - you can switch out peanut butter for any nut butter you prefer, and use your favorite nuts and dried fruit instead of those listed. Coconut would be a great addition. You can even add chocolate chips! However, if you are doing that, I would recommend waiting until everything has cooled slightly, so you don't melt all of the chocolate.

I know you might be wondering, well why would anything be hot if these are no-bake bars?? You do end up heating things - you heat the honey and peanut butter together, so they're liquid enough to coat everything well. And you toast the oats and nuts for better flavor. If you don't want to turn on your oven, you can skip that step, but I would recommend using pre-toasted ingredients if possible. For the part on the stove - well you can use your microwave if you really don't want to turn on the stove. These are called "no-bake," because you don't have to bake the bars once you press them out in the pan.

Recipe: Homemade No-Bake Granola Bars
Yield: 16 large bars or 24 small bars

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled (old fashioned) oats
3/4 cup wheat germ
1 3/4 cups seeds/nuts (we used 3/4 cup pecans, 3/4 cup almonds, and 1/4 cup of a sunflower/flax seed combo)
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dried fruit (we used 1/2 cup chopped dried plums and 1/2 cup raisins)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F and line a large baking sheet with foil. Mix together the oats, wheat germ, and nuts, and spread out on the pan. Bake for 10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them so they don't burn.

Line a glass 9x13 pan with wax paper, and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small pan (I like using a small nonstick frying pan to make it faster), mix the honey, peanut butter, salt and vanilla over low heat, until melted and well mixed.

Pour the toasted oats and nuts in a large bowl, and add the dried fruit.

Pour the melted honey and peanut butter over, and stir until everything is evenly mixed. Dump out into the prepared pan, and use an offset spatula to press down evenly. Make sure you press down really hard - this will prevent the bars from falling apart later.

Cool completely before cutting - it works best if you have refrigerated them first. The bars keep well in the fridge, since it prevents them from being sticky. If you would prefer to eat them at room temp, just pull them out of the fridge one or two at a time, about an hour before you want to eat them.

You can cut these into however many bars you would like. If you want them to be the typical "granola bar size," you can cut them into 16 bars (8x2). You can make them a bit smaller, and cut them into 24 bars also (6x4). I have included nutritional information for both sizes below. I find that it's easiest to lift up the wax paper, and put the whole thing on a cutting board. Use a large, sharp, non-serrated knife and press down firmly with each cut.

Nutrition (for 16 bars/for 24 bars):
247 calories/165 calories
12 g fat/8 g fat
32 g carbs/21 g carbs
4.5 g fiber/3 g fiber
6.8 g protein/4.5 g protein

The calories might be a bit high in the large bars, but they're packed with so much good stuff!

Nuts and oats, freshly toasted

Honey and peanut butter melted. 

Don't mind my dirty stove...

Nuts/oats in a large mixing bowl

Prunes/raisins on top, honey/peanut butter mixture ready to be poured

Action shot!

Start mixing everything together until it looks like the picture on the right

Press everything down REALLY firmly, so you have compact bars that don't fall apart

Finished product!

Close up - you can see what a great job Joey did of cutting them

Charlottesville Women's 4 Miler - 2014 Recap

I recently wrote a very belated post about the running I did in August, mostly emphasizing that I had barely done any! This was even with the extra effort I made to get in some miles in preparation for the Women's 4 Miler. I remember feeling unprepared last year for the 4 Miler, but this year was even worse. And then, to add onto that, I came down with a cold 5 days before the race. Joey caught the cold about a week before I did, so I unfortunately knew what to expect. In the days before the race, I barely had enough energy to do my normal activities, let alone go out for a run. The last run I ended up doing before the Saturday race was on Tuesday. I had planned on doing a run on Thursday, and a little shakeout jog on Friday, but couldn't muster the energy.

Instead, I spent as much time as I could resting. On Friday, I walked a mile to the packet pickup for the race, and even that felt taxing. I was in such a fog! Everyone there was so happy and excited, that it helped pick me up a bit. I remembered from the previous year, that they sold race tees from earlier years, and made sure to bring cash with me. I picked up the 2012 shirt (I already had the 2013 shirt from last year) and a pair of running socks, for a total of $8. The 2012 shirt was pink with silver writing, the new 2014 shirt was HOT pink with white writing, and the 2013 shirt I got last year was baby blue with pink writing. All of the shirts are made by the same company, and fit exactly the same - I really like the fit, so I'm excited that I have three of them now!

With the combination of general lack of training, and feeling really crappy, I decided my only goal would be finishing. That was it - there was no way I could make any pace goals. The cold was completely in my head at this point, with congestion, headache, and runny nose. I had some doubts as to whether I would even be able to finish the race!

In the end, not only did I finish the race, but I was just under a 10 minute pace! I definitely didn't feel great during it, and there was a point around 2.5 miles, where I just wanted to stop. I was so glad that I pushed myself through that point, and that I did the race at all. Joey was great, and came out to support me, even though he wasn't through with the cold himself.

One thing I'll note - this is the only race where the distance on my gps device (garmin watch in this case) was actually shorter than the official race distance. Usually I end up tracking slightly longer than the official distance (10.08 miles for the 10 Miler, 5.08 miles for the 8k, 6.42 for the 10k and 3.21 for the 5k - okay, you get the point). This time, the garmin had recorded 3.94 miles for the 4.00 mile race. Last year I used runkeeper, which recorded 4.07, although I've noticed that runkeeper always over-estimates mileage. Either way, this time I had the pleasant surprise of finding that my calculated pace was actually faster than what I was seeing on my watch!

Official results:

Everything set up, the night before the race. This was the first race where I actually wore the race shirt. I think that I can be picky about what I wear when working out, and don't like wearing anything new. Since this year's shirt was exactly the same as last year's (except the color), I knew I already liked it. The 2012 shirt is seen in the bottom left - it's slightly darker in color than the 2014 shirt. And what do you wear when you're wearing a neon pink shirt? Bright orange shorts, of course!

In my typical "post-race" stance. Why do I scrunch my face up so much when I smile? 

My post-race food. Since clearly, running 4 miles entitles me to eat 3000 calories, all in carbs

Btw, that bagel at the top (in the shape of a ribbon) was the best thing ever. I believe it was cherry vanilla with walnuts? Panera needs to make that all the time

Also, I love my new running socks (pictured below)! They only had size large, which I believe is one size too big, but I think they still worked out okay. I would definitely buy more pairs.

Penne with Vodka Sauce

Penne with vodka sauce is one of those dishes I've always been intrigued by. Everyone raves about it, plus cooking with booze always seems like fun. When someone from my lab gifted me with 3 lbs of tomatoes from her garden, and instructed me that they would be best when cooked, I knew I wanted to make this dish. I didn't really think about the fact that I don't normally like tomato sauces. I somehow knew that this would transcend normal tomato sauce.

Almost every recipe I've seen for vodka sauce has started with canned tomatoes, and I would be using fresh. Because of this, I ended up combining a few recipes, and just making everything work with what I had. I'm really pleased with how it all turned out, and would definitely make this again. I'd be curious to see if the flavor profile changes when using canned tomatoes instead of fresh. I would think that using fresh tomatoes would make it taste more, well, fresh. Although they're cooked for so long, that it's possible you end up losing any extra freshness.

Recipe: Penne with Vodka Sauce
Adapted from Serious Eats
Yield: 3-4 servings

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1/2 small onion, finely diced/minced
1/2 tsp salt
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp tomato paste
28 oz can crushed tomatoes, or 2 lbs plum tomatoes, peeled, cored and crushed (see below for instructions)
1/3 cup vodka
1 lb penne pasta
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup milk or cream
4 oz goat cheese
parmesan cheese for serving (optional)

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. This will take a while, so let's get started on the sauce.

2. In a large sauce pan, heat butter over medium heat. Add onion and 1/2 tsp salt, and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, red pepper, black pepper, basil, and tomato paste, and stir well. Cook for another minute, being careful to avoid scorching. Add crushed tomatoes and vodka, and bring back to a hearty simmer. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently. This will cook off (most of) the alcohol, and reduce the sauce.

3. Once your pasta water is boiling, add the pasta, and give it a few stirs to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Cook until the pasta is not quite al dente. Drain the pasta, but don't forget to save some pasta water. I like using a scoop to pull out the pasta, so I don't forget, and pour all of the pasta down the drain. Let the pasta hang out in a separate bowl until the sauce is done.

4. Once the sauce has reduced and the alcohol has cooked off, you have a few options. If you like a chunky sauce, then leave it as is. If you want a completely smooth sauce, then (CAREFULLY) put it in the blender. I like it somewhere in the middle, so it isn't really chunky, but still has some texture. To achieve this, I use my immersion blender (also called a stick blender). I can focus on any large chunks, and try to smooth out the sauce, while still retaining some texture. Regardless of what you do, just make sure to be careful! The sauce is hot, and splatters will definitely hurt. Once you have your desired texture, give it a taste, and add any salt and pepper as necessary.

5. Put the sauce pan back over medium heat, and add the milk and goat cheese. Cook 1-2 minutes, until heated through, and goat cheese has melted. Stir in the pasta, and bring back to a hearty simmer. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until your pasta has finished cooking, and the sauce has thickened. Add pasta water to thin out the sauce as necessary. Serve immediately, with a generous sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese (optional, but not really).

Note:
This sauce can be scaled up or down, as necessary. If you want to make just a single portion, I would recommend making the full amount of sauce through step 4, and making just enough pasta for one serving, about 3 oz. Then, put the drained pasta in a smaller pan with some of the sauce, and add 1 tbsp milk and 1 oz goat cheese, and proceed as instructed. You can store the rest of the sauce (without any milk/cheese) in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for several months.

Using fresh tomatoes:
Instructions from The Yummy Life
Start with 2 lbs of fresh tomatoes - plum tomatoes work really well. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Using a sharp knife, score an "x" on the end opposite the core. Add tomatoes to boiling water, putting only a few in at a time. Boil for 30-60 seconds, then remove and put in a bowl of ice water. Continue working in batches until all tomatoes have been boiled. Don't leave the tomatoes in the ice water for too long, or they might start to freeze! Once they are cool enough to handle, remove them from the water, and the skin should pull off pretty easily. Put the peeled tomatoes in a big bowl, and (this part is fun), crush with your hands. For best results, crush one tomato at a time - this way you can make sure you pull out any bad parts, and the core. You should get about 3 - 3 1/2 cups of crushed tomatoes, and use all of that for the recipe.

My tomatoes, crushed by hand (it felt pretty nice)

The diced onion on the right, and some rough chopped garlic on the left. It will be minced more finely before I add it in

The onion cooking in butter, not quite ready

The onion has browned more now, and the garlic, tomato paste, and seasoning has been added in

The tomatoes have been added in, as well as the vodka

This is what I call a "hearty simmer" - with lots of bubbling

My individual serving of pasta - 3 oz of veggie penne

The finished sauce, pulled off to the side so I can use my immersion blender

Pasta and a generous helping of sauce, in a small sauce pan

Back up to a hearty simmer, with the milk and goat cheese added

The sauce is exactly where I want it - thick and creamy, and the pasta has cooked perfectly

Bowl of deliciousness

I wouldn't be me if I didn't add a bunch of cheese on top!