Breakfast Bars

These  cereal bars are very addictive and much nicer than any packaged store broaught bars. They make a great snack of breakfast to munch on the run. The recipe comes from "THe Everything Vegan Cookbook" by Jolinda Hackett and Lorena Novak Bull, RD.

3 cups breakfast cereal, any kind (i used rice bubbles)

1 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup tahini

1 cup maple syrup ( i used rice syrup as the cheaper option)

1/2 t vanilla

2 cups muesli

1/2 cup flax meal or wheat germ

1/2 cup diced dried fruit or raisins

1. Place creal in a sealable bag and crush partially with a rolling pin but you can skip this step if you are usuing smaller cereal. Set aside.

2. Combine peanut butter, tahini, and maple syrup in a large saucepan over low heat, stirring well to combine.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Allow to cool a bit so that the cereal wont go soggy and then mix in the cereal, muesli, flax meal or wheat germ and dreid fruit or raisins.

4. Press firmly into a baking/casorol dish and chill for about 45 min before cutting into bars.

* After making this a few times I have found sometimes the bars come out dryer and more crumbly than others and don't hold together and I think it may depend on the brand of peanut butter you use and how dry or oily it is and also perhaps on the tahini. So you may want to add just a little  extra peanut butter to reach desired moistness. The moistness/dryness of the bar will also depend on the cereal you use. The first time I used rice bubbles and later I used the larger sultana bran and found that rice bubbles are better.