“Trail Mix” Cereal Bars
4 cups Cheerios cereal
1/2 cup dried banana chips 1/2 1/2 cup roasted whole almonds 1/2 1/2 cup roasted salted hulled 1
pumpkin seeds (pepitas) 1/4 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
Syrup
cup packed light brown sugar
cup honey tablespoon butter teaspoon salt
If you are looking to try out a new kind of recipe, you should try what I call “Trail Mix Cereal Bars.” I’ve listed the basic ingredients, but feel free to try variations. This recipe can be tailored towards being a healthy breakfast, filled with cranberries, raisins, and dried fruit, or can be made into a sweet treat consisting of marshmallows, chocolate chips, and coconut. You will need a microwave to melt together the ingredients for the syrup. Begin by mixing Cheerios and the rest of the “trail mix” ingredients together and spreading them in a 13X9 in. pan. Melt the butter, and combine with the sugar, honey, and salt. Pour the syrup over the trail mix, and let cool for 30 minutes. Cut the bars to desired size, and store in a tightly covered container.
Microwave Quick Bread
5 tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda 1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 egg
2 tablespoons of milk
2 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of oil
Need a little variation from the same old sliced bread? Here is the solution to your struggle with monotony! This recipe is also dorm friendly, requiring only a few ingredients and a microwave. I used the same glass, microwave safe bowl to both mix the ingredients together and cook the dough. To make the bread, combine all of the ingredients, and mix until the batter is uniform throughout. You may need to add extra flour if your batter is still a thin liquid. The ideal batter is not as thin as cake batter and not as thick as cookie dough that you would mold with your hands. Microwave the batter on high for 4 minutes. Then, adjust your microwave power setting to 50%, and cook for another 3 minutes. Depending on how your microwave works, you may need to heat the bread longer if the dough is still gooey in the middle. Remember that the bowl will be hot when you remove it from the microwave! Transfer the bread to a plate, and it’s ready to be served. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the recipe to make more dessert-like bread, too. I used a little bit of powdered sugar to thicken up my batter and make the bread sweet. If you prefer cinnamon and brown sugar over vanilla, feel free to try that instead! If you are feeling the need to satisfy that sweet tooth, try adding cocoa powder and sugar to create chocolate bread. Experiment with a couple different variations to determine your favorite microwave quick bread recipe!
