Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

Happy New Year!!  Our 2014 has been quite the beginning so far and wasn't the slower pace I was hoping for the new year but I'm reminded that we are not in control and God is.  Thanks for the heads up and I'm good for the rest of the year on the friendly reminders ;)!  I'll post about such stuff another day.

I have a few "resolutions", or goals is a nicer word, and one of them is to get back to sharing family friendly recipes!  This is a super easy, super DELICIOUS bar.  I'm hesitant to buy granola bars, cookies and other goodies like that anymore because I can easily make them at home, they taste way better, I know what is actually in them and the fun thing?  Home cooking = money saving.  Sunday afternoons are typically when I bake a treat for the week.  These will not last the week I'm sure.

What You Need:

2 Stick of Butter
1 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Oats (You can use Quick or Regular)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
Dash of Salt
1 Jar Strawberry Preserves

What You Do:

Ya'll, anyone can make this.  It's soooooo easy and change up the filling to whatever you want!  Dare I say you use chocolate at some point in the future?  The possibilities.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Ok, all you need to do is mix all of the Dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then, take your butter out of the fridge, because you want it very cold, and cut it into small pieces.  Put the butter in the bowl and take your Pastry Cutter** and cut in the butter until it is little pea size pieces (doubles as an arm workout).  It doesn't have to be perfect.

Grease a 9x13 baking dish and toss in half of the mixture from the bowl.  Press it down pretty firm since this will be your base.

Grab your jar of Strawberry Preserves and a spreader.   You're going to spread the fruit over the base.  Not going to act like this isn't a tad frustrating because you'll pick up some of the base but don't freak.  It doesn't have to look good and if you're patient it will all spread evenly.  Maybe distract your toddler for 10 mins while you do this.

Then, toss the remaining half of the dry mixture on top of the fruit and press it into place.

Place it in the oven for about 30 minutes.  It will become golden on top.  Let it cool a bit before cutting into bars and be prepared to ration out if your husband is anything like mine.  Let's just say I will be making another batch later.

Fun tip!!    The dry mixture and butter is great to use for apple crumble or a topping on muffins.  It is the classic "crumble" in recipes like that.

**Pastry Cutter is an important tool to have in your kitchen.  You'll use it in a lot of baking recipes especially for crusts and biscuits.  I use mine for mashing potatoes too!