Breakfast in a hurry

Of course, you could have breakfast for dinner if you want. 

I recently found several good recipes for easy to make chewy granola-style bars. Yummy any time of day, really. Certainly good to stave off starvation in the pre-dinner hour! 

Version One, adapted from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express:

Open and warm a tin of sweetened condensed milk (the 397 g size) (I poured it into a jug and microwaved it on medium for two minutes)

Mix together in a bowl:

 250 g of oats, 

125 g of seeds (sesame, pumpkin, sunflower, etc), 

100g dried fruit in small chunks, 

125 g chopped nuts (I used almonds but she says peanuts), 

75 g shredded coconut

Pour the warmed milk over top, stir well. Press into a 9x13 inch oiled pan and bake at 130C or low temperature oven for an hour. It will be quite a pale golden colour at the very edges. Cool and cut into sticky, moist, fibre-rich bar treats.

Version Two, from a Canadian Basics cookbook

Mix together in a bowl:

1 and 1/2 cups of oats

1/2 cup each flour, brown sugar

1/2 cup each of two kinds of dried fruit (I used cranberries and apricots)

1/4 cup slivered almonds

Beat together in a small bowl:

1/4 cup each oil and corn syrup

1 egg

Pour the wet over the dry and stir well.

Flatten into greased 9 inch square pan. Bake at 180C or 350F for 20 minutes or until golden brown (definitely darker than the first type).  Cool and slice into bars.