Easy Bars

I am going to apologize upfront for my pictures with this recipe.  They are very yellow.  I took them a while back before I had figured some things out about my camera.  We have Edison bulbs in the light fixture above our stove and I didn’t make the proper adjustments to compensate for that.  My husband is a chocolate peanut butter freak.  When we go out for milkshakes, it is almost certain that his will be chocolate peanut butter.  I used to be crazy about peanut butter, but hate the smell of wet peanut butter, so I hesitate to ever use it because I don’t want to smell the peanut butter as the dishes are being cleaned. When I saw the recipe for Easy Bars, I knew that making these bars would make up for some of my past cooking missteps.  First of all, I substituted wheat flakes for oats because I am allergic to oats, however Easy Bars should be made with oats.  Wheat flakes are a sub par substitute.  It’s not that the recipe failed or that they were bad or anything, but the wheat flakes I had were thicker than oats would’ve been, so they didn’t hold their shape as well as I would’ve liked.  I am sure that I could figure out some adjustments if I were to make these again, but since the recipe calls for oats, use those.  If someone knows of a great substitution, let me know.  Easy bars are easy.  They require very little work and yield delicious results. 

Easy Bar

4 cups oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oleo (margarine) melted

Mix together and bake at 425 for 10 minutes.
Melt 6 oz chocolate chips and 1/2 cup peanut butter and spread over baked mixture.

 

 

 

 

Groovy Teen Bars

Are you concerned that your teen or preteen is just not groovy enough?  Do they seem a bit down in the dumps?  Maybe your son wears his polo shirt buttoned all the way up to the top button.  Perhaps he has no idea how to roll up his sleeves or loosen his tie. Maybe your daughter can’t see past her very proper twin set and pearls.  Perhaps it’s time to turn off the Pat Boone and put on some Janis Joplin and serve your teen a plate of these groovy treats (while wearing a tie-dyed apron, of course).

This was one of those recipes that I knew I had to make.  When we were kids my mom served us something called a “Teen burger.”  This is a fabulous creation that is like a hamburger and a sundae all at once.  Literally a scoop of ice cream on top of a burger with all the fixings.  Our introduction to this recipe used chocolate marshmallow swirl ice cream, but mom said the proper way to do it was really vanilla with chocolate syrup.  My sister has continued the tradition in some of the exotic places she has lived and for some reason, I have never made that for my very groovy kids.

However they did get to eat an entire pan full of these bars.  I can’t remember who was coming to visit when we made them.  If it was you, please comment and let me know.

Ok, so what do you need to know about these bars? (I just re-read the recipe and realized that they are only for boys.  Maybe no one wants groovy girls?)  They are pretty good.  The fudge, egg white, nuts,and coconut topping was a little weird to make.  The crust was super easy. 

I found another recipe in the archives that must be for the girls.  It’s called “teen bars”.

So if you want your boys to be groovy or just make some bars especially for teens, put on the lava lamp, burn some incense, and get super hip to this recipe.  Let your hair hang down and…who am I kidding?  I’m not even slightly groovy, even after eating these bars.