photo by: FoodByJenn

Last October I visited a Bed & Breakfast in Vermont where the owner treated me one morning to a delightful yogurt parfait with his homemade granola.  Ever since, I have been determined to create my own tasty granola.  After much trial and error, and more than a few recipes, I decided what I really wanted to make was a granola bar that I could either toss into my purse to eat on the run or crumble into a greek style yogurt when I had the time to sit and eat breakfast or lunch.  In the end, I modified Ina Garten’s “Homemade Granola Bars” recipe which you can find here. This is a wonderful recipe just as it is written (after all, would the Barefoot Contessa let us down? I think not!).  I tweaked the recipe because I wanted to incorporate quinoa flakes into the bars for a protein bump up, sesame seeds for added flavor, and dried tart cherries for a little pucker.  Continue reading →