No Bake Oatmeal Nut Bars

These are amazing snack bars for all you mommies on the go.  They're real mid-day energizers.  This is my second batch of these.  I have been playing with and tweaking the recipe.  The first batch I added more of the semisweet chocolate.  I thought they were pretty good.  But my hubby said it was too much chocolate

I first used cooks.com for my guide for my own bars.  I think that 6 cups of cereal is a bit too much.

You will need:

2 cups instant oatmeal
1 cup Multi grain Cheerios (Any cereal  would work.  Maybe try Granola?)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup honey
1 cup brown sugar

3 tbsp semisweet Cocoa

1 tbsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup any kind of nuts

1 cup any kind of dried fruit

~ First mix the peanut butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and the semisweet chocolate in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Keep a close eye on it.  It cooks quickly.

~ Next while that is warming up on the stove combine in a bowl the oatmeal and cheerios.

~ Whatever nuts you decide to use, run a knife through them so they are about bite size.



~ Before the knife.....



 I used a combination of almonds, raisins, peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkins seeds and cashews.

               ~ After some chopping....

~ Combine the cereal mixture, the nuts and raisins and also the dried fruit.  I used a premixed bag of cranberries, cherries, blueberries and strawberries.

~ Your wet ingredients on the stove should be just about done.  It should look something like this...

~ Pour over dry ingredients in bowl and mix it all together.  You have to use a pretty heavy duty spoon to combine everything.

~ Once you have it all mixed together, spray a large casserole dish with pan.  Pour mixture into dish and press down firmly with wax paper.  Put in fridge to cool for about an hour.  Use a sharp knife to cut into squares.

~ Pour a large glass of milk and enjoy!