feast.

on life lessons and things you can eat with one hand

Joe Jennings would be so proud. {Sidebar/background: I grew up as a classically trained singer. I sang with the San Francisco Girls Chorus from age 8 to 18. I have not sung formally since I left — except for a short stint as a tambourine girl/backup singer in a dirty garage band … okay?} Joe is the charisimatic, brilliant former artistic director of the San Francisco-based, male chorus Chanticleer. I had the privilege of working with him over the course of three months while my then director, Sharon Paul, was out on maternity leave. One particularly difficult rehearsal, we just were not getting it. We were out of tune. We were missing notes. We were sloppy. Not to mention, one perfectionist, gay director plus 45 sassy, moody, angsty, teenage girls creates a volatile mix. In short, he got fed up with us. He yelled at us, attacking not only our musicianship, but also us personally. And then he made us walk around the perimeter of the rehearsal room. In single file. In silence. This only angered us more. It seemed like a juvenile punishment, and despite our juvenile behavior, it felt unfair. But he kept yelling and we kept walking. He singled us out. “All the way around! I said around — that means to the corner! You!” Finally, after what seemed like a dozen tortuous rounds, he let us back onto the risers. We stood there meekly, astonished. Once we finally settled ourselves, he looked at us and said, “Don’t cut corners. You walk around the room and you cut corners. You do that in music. Don’t cut corners. Don’t get lazy.” And then he started us up again — and we got it.

What does this have to do with granola bars? Well, it’s not about granola bars per se, but recipes. You see, I’m not very good about following them. It’s like how boys cook — no measurements needed, just add more hot sauce or tomato paste. This is harder to do in baking, which requires more precise chemistry, but I’ve gotten comfortable enough that I can eyeball a teaspoon or tablespoon in the palm of my hand. I’ll work with slightly cooler than room temperature butter, because I’m impatient and hadn’t planned ahead. It’s a bit pretentious, really. Who am I to think that I know better than someone who has carefully developed and tested these recipes? Just because I like cardamom doesn’t mean I should just add it whenever I please. After all, I don’t really know better. I’m just cutting corners. But for once, with this recipe, I did not. Joe Jennings would be so proud. To prove his point, it was well worth the effort, and ultimately, not really more difficult or time consuming.

My very good friend’s best friend just had a baby. I don’t know them terribly well, but as young parents — as new parents, I know they can use a little help. As congratulations, I decided to send them a box of treats. However, I didn’t want them to be standard cookie/brownie treats. I had more particular criteria. I didn’t want to send them junk. It may be homemade and delicious, and even made with quality ingredients, but junk is still junk. I wanted these treats to be healthful, especially for the new mother. I also wanted them to survive the U.S. postal service, and to endure another few days in their household. I wanted them to be easy to eat — preferably with one hand. Fortuitously, my Amazon order, including Kim Boyce’s Good to the Grain, arrived as I was struggling to find the most appropriate treat. When I came across her granola bar, I knew I had a winner.

These bars are a far cry from the Kudos of my childhood. Containing only the seemingly innocuous mix of oats, raisins, butter, flax seed meal, cinnamon, and bit of sweetener, these bars have the heart of a cookie. They’re dense and chewy like a good oatmeal raisin, but with a more toothsome bite. They’re also not too sweet, and manage to defy their simplicity. Ms. Boyce does a fantastic job of enhancing the whole grain flavor rather than just using whole grains as health food. In fact, I resisted my urge to replace some of the oats with nuts or seeds (possible allergens!), and was pleasantly surprised by how nutty the oats were, a result of the pre-baking toasting process; I’m happy to have listened to Ms. Boyce. I was happier, though, to read her head notes indicating possible substitutions: other grain flakes for the oats, wheat germ in place of the flax seed meal. I have to admit, while following her directions in full resulted in big success, I can’t wait to try these again with different flavor combinations — different spices, dried fruits, grains, and possibly even nuts or seeds!

Granola bars
From Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce

I doubled the recipe to fill a big box and have listed the larger recipe below. I don’t imagine you’ll have terrible difficulty finishing these off.

• 1 cup flax seed meal, plus 2 Tablespoons
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup raisins (a mix of light and dark Flame raisins works well)
• 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
• 4 cups oats
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons unsulphured (not blackstrap) molasses
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325F and butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 cup flax seed meal and cinnamon. Set aside.

On a large cutting board, combine remaining 2 Tablespoons flax seed meal and raisins. Chop finely, then add to flax seed mixture and stir.

In a large, heavy bottomed pot, melt butter over medium heat. When melted, add oats and toss to coat. Cook, stirring every minute, until oats darken roughly two shades, about 6 minutes. When toasted, add oats to flax seed meal mixture and stir well. Set aside.

Wipe out pot, add honey, sugar, and molasses, and cook over medium heat until boiling. When at a full boil, remove from heat and carefully add to the oat mixture. Stir well to coat. Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish. Using greased hands or a spatula, press mixture into the pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes; the edges should be a slightly darker shade than the center. Let cool 10 minutes in pan before cutting.

Makes 24-32 bars.