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I have to take a moment and rant.
Posted by Beth Ann Bentley on Dec 17 2008
iLunchbox Blog >> Beth Ann

As you know by now I have four children.  The youngest is in pre-school.  As pre-school I really love.  The email went around about the winter party to happen this Friday and of course I felt obligated to sign up for one of the “healthy snacks”; after all, I do own iLunchBox.  No pressure that the children should also love it. 

In years past there has always been a note, a little caveat, attached to the food sign-up sheet regarding food allergies.  This year there was none.  WOW, isn’t that great, no food allergies in this class.  But something didn’t feel right, so I asked the director.  Yup, there are two kids with severe peanut and tree-nut allergies, as in hard to be in the same room with nuts (not crazies, nuts); try not to cook on anything you also cooked with nuts on.  YIKES!

I'm glad I asked;  I was working on a new granola bar recipe that had chopped walnuts in it.  Okay scratch that idea.  So I emailed my fellow moms to inform them of this serious bit of news and asked the parents of these two children shoot me over a few of their favorite “safe” recipes and share with the rest of us their knowledge.  Hell, a good nut free recipe comes in handy at any school function these days.  I get asked for them all the time and I have no new ones to share…If you have one, please share it!

Alas, no response.  Not one person commented on this new fact and I never heard from the parents.  Weird!  In our last pre-school it became almost automatic that the parents of the kids with the food allergies brought the food.  This way, and rightfully so, they could control the ingredients and the equipment.  I for one do not want to be the cause of a child being rushed to the hospital. 

So what gives?  Why didn’t these parents inform us of this issue and want to share their knowledge?  I just don’t get it.  People, I just can't figure them out!

This is what I’ve done:   I washed all the equipment in the dishwasher and sanitized it.  The recipe is nut free and I have crossed my fingers.

Nut Free Granola Bar
Makes 32 small bars about 1 ½ x 2 inches each.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups toasted old fashioned oats
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup  brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon (pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice is great to use too)
• 3/4 cup crasins
• 3/4 cup dried apricots chopped

Note:  1 ½ cups of any dried fruit combination will work here.  I also like cherries and blue berries or apples and raisins.  You can also add ¾ cup chopped walnuts if you don't need it to be nut free.

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.  Spray the inside of a 9 x 11 pan with cooking spray.  Put the oatmeal mixture into the pan and spread it out until it is evenly distributed.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes.  You will know when it is done, it will smell really good.

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