Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

• 4 c. dry oats (old-fashioned or quick cooking)
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 – 1 c. canola oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 c. raisins

1. Dump all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

2. Stir, by hand, just until completely moistened and combined.

3. Press into a greased 13×9 casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into individual bars.

A few notes about this recipe:

~ I’ve always prepared this recipe with 1 full cup of liquid. However, I was running low on oil today and had no applesauce in the house. So, I used 3/4 cup of oil and the bars turned out great! Also, as you can probably tell, I usually use some applesauce in place of some of the oil.

~ If your family isn’t too keen or raisins, you can substitute with other dried fruit. Or, if you’re especially daring, I suppose chocolate chips might work as well.

~ These bars freeze beautifully. I usually wrap the cooled and cut bars individually and then freeze. They can be thawed in about 2 hours, or if you’re in a hurry, cook in the microwave on the defrost cycle for about 20-30 seconds, depending on the size of your bars.