Sometimes in life, it’s not about what you’re making, but about the time you spent making it together. We’re excited to be Baking Up Family Memories to make Gluten-Free Breakfast Bars with Big G Cereal’s Honey Nut Cheerios, Walmart and a little help from Que Rica Vida (quericavida.com.)
Food has always been the conversation of my life. Actually, it’s my love language.
Growing up, sitting at the table eating dinner, my family would talk about what we we’re going to make for dinner tomorrow.
For fun, we’d thumb through magazines and cookbooks looking for new recipes ideas like it was a graphic novel. And the television is always turned on to something food-related whether it’s traveling to a new country to try new cuisines or tips for making beloved dishes better from our favorite chefs.
So it was no doubt, my kids would follow in my footsteps of food.
They have their own aprons, pans, and for fun, they like to create their own cooking shows.
And I love spending time with them cooking, learning and sharing tips and moments that I hope they’ll remember years with their kids, well after I’m gone.
However, with my 7-year old getting more mature and his little sister wanting so much to be a big girl, it was time to let them try their hand in the kitchen – without mom. Well, mom was there, but I wanted to let them read the instructions, measure the ingredients and feel good about themselves for creating a recipe they had made together.
So even though the control-obsessed mama who didn’t want to deal with the aftermath, I let them go with a recipe we found on quericavida.com, a bilingual resource of thousands of recipes for every occasion featuring a world of flavor to delight the whole family. Since we are now a gluten-free family (due to my hubby and children’s allergies), finding a recipe that’s easy enough for my kids to make AND GF, is like hitting the lottery. Featuring one of our favorite cereals, Honey Nut Cheerios (hooray for being GF) and just four base ingredients to make No-Bake Honey-Nut Cereal Bars, I even had the kids add a few things to make it really seem like they were “cookin’.”
Of course, they selected peanut butter chocolate chips:)
Before they started, I did have them read the recipe to me and pull all the items they would need to make their “Gluden Free Breakfast Bars” (that was the 4-year old’s name for their dish.)
From there on, it was up to them. I now was just the observer and by request, also the camera man. They had decided they also wanted to make a “Cooking Show.”
Oh, no! But that’s half the fun, right?!?
Actually watching them behind the lens gave me a chance to really watch them together. It was adorable how he took on showing his sister how to do things like spray the pan with cooking spray and he watching her study his actions, so she knew what to do and how to do it.
#ProudMamaMoment.
Of course, we did have to enlist dad for just a moment to help microwave our mixture (on cue as you’ll see.) Other than that, they made their first dish without mom and almost no fights!
While they may have learned a recipe, mom learned that not everything has to be perfect, clean and Pinterest perfect. Sometimes the best dishes are those that are baked up with family memories (and a little bit of Honey Cheerios.)
- 4 cups Honey Nut Cheerios™ cereal
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
- Line bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with foil or parchment paper. Spray foil with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix cereal, mixed nuts, and peanut butter chips; set aside.
- In large microwavable bowl, microwave brown sugar, honey and butter uncovered on High 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until mixture is boiling. Microwave an additional 1 minute allowing mixture to boil and thicken slightly.
- Pour over cereal mixture in bowl; stir until evenly coated. Using buttered back of spoon, press mixture very firmly in pan. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm enough to cut.
- For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. Store covered at room temperature up to 1 week.
- You can add ingredients to this dish like cranberries, raisins and more for the perfect cereal bar - good for breakfast or snack all day long!
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That sounds like an awesome snack! My boys are going to love these.
I don’t need to be gluten-free but I love Honey Nut Cheerios anyway. I need some breakfast bars for my son so I may have to make these he loves Honey Nut Cheerios.
I love cooking with my kids. Now that they are grown, it makes it all the more special when we all get together to prepare a meal.
YUM! It’s so cool that Cheerios are gluten-free, and I love your recipe! My gluten-allergic friend will LOVE this! Thank you!
How did I NOT know cheerios were gluten free?! Awesome idea! They are super cute too!
I really need to make these. My middle kiddo loves cereal, but it takes him forever to eat. I bet in bar form like this he would eat it much faster and I’m sure he’d love it!
When my youngest daughter was GF we use to make her bars like these. Thank goodness they are easy to make and not expensive because other GF foods are pricey!
You have got one of my family faves, Honey Nut Cheerios. These sure are great looking bars you made with them!!
Really trying to reduce my gluten intake. Breakfast bars are a true favorite! Thank You for the best of both worlds
Those look really good. I would love to have these for an option for breakfast. My whole family loves Honey Nut Cheerios, so I’m sure we’d really enjoy these.
Cheerios are a versatile food item. I have used it for breakfast, snacks, desserts and even in place of bread crumbs at dinner!
These look amazing! So much more fresh and edible than the packaged ones!
These look so delicious and easy to make. I will have to make some of these on the weekend.
We love to bake with the kids on the weekends. These look like a great recipe to try together.
Oh what total fun. I love learning of recipes that I can do with the kids and ones they would like and this one sounds perfect. Thanks so much for sharing… We will be trying these
yum..tasty. i have been eating glueten free foods lately and they taste really good. i really couldnt taste a difference.
You can feel good about serving the kids snacks like that. They sound fantastic even to this mom.
My daughter LOVES these snacks. She has been after me to make some more recently. They are good and I know she is getting a delicious treat.