Lire & STYLE. Have a fitness tip or recipe to share? Contact the editor at lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca Lunch of the Week: Homemade granola bars Stick-to-your-ribs snacks Sophie Isbister Life & Style lifeandstyle@ theotherpress.ca Gris are pretty much my go-to meal, any time of the day. Whether it’s snack-sized hummus or a yogurt cup, you can find me eating it at noon and midnight alike. So I figured it was about time I try my hand at homemade granola bars—and after looking at the ingredients list and amount of packaging involved in the store-bought met and do raspberries with white chocolate. You can even throw in breakfast cereal like cornflakes or rice puffs! I ended up using a cup of smashed roasted almonds, and a1/2 cup each of unsweetened coconut ribbons, roasted pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and dried cherries. I also threw in a 1/2 cup of ground flaxseed just to be extra healthy. You will need:2/3 cups quick rolled oats 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup oat flour (or 1/3 cup oats, processed till finely ground in a food processor or blender)1 /2 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon will have a hard time getting out of the pan if you forgo this step. Plus, once you go parchment you don’t go back—it’s cheap, reusable, and it makes clean-up a breeze when you're making cookies. Lightly grease the pan and paper once you've lined it, set it aside, and preheat your oven to 350 F.To make the granola bars, first combine all the dry ingredients, including your selection of fruit and nuts, in a large bowl. Once you've mixed the dry ingredients, mix the melted butter, vanilla, corn syrup, honey, and water ina smaller bowl. I like to heat my honey up a little bit first in the you could go tropical with coconut and dried mango, classic with almonds and raisins, or get a little gourmet and do raspberries with white chocolate. varieties I usually consume, it seemed like a no-brainer. I chose to adapt a granola bar recipe from my favourite food blog, smittenkitchen. com. If you love eating simple yet decadent meals and enjoy porn-quality pictures of the cooking process, you need to check out that blog. As Deb from Smitten Kitchen says, this granola recipe is super versatile. It calls for 2-3 cups of dried fruit or nuts, but it doesn’t specify which kind—this allows you to be creative. You could go tropical with coconut and dried mango, classic with almonds and raisins, or get a little gour- ground cinnamon2-3 cups dried fruits and nuts 1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 6 tablespoons melted butter1/4 cup honey 2 tablespoons light corn syrup1 tablespoon water To prepare, get all your ingredients ready—because you have a lot to work with, it’s good to set up your workspace and keep it organized. Then, get your pan ready. This recipe calls for an 8x8 baking pan. Line the pan in one direction with parchment paper (with the ends sticking out on each side). Parchment paper may seem unnecessary, but trust me, you need it for this recipe. Your bars microwave so it mixes more smoothly. Then, pour the con- tents of your wet bowl into your dry bowl, and add the peanut butter to the whole thing. Mix it up until it’s all crumbly—I use my hands for this because it’s more fun that way. Press your mixture into the prepared pan. Use some plastic wrap to press it in smoothly, then toss it into the oven and wait 30-40 minutes. Let them cool down completely before cutting into pieces—you may want to cool them off in the refrigerator. Store your tasty bars in an airtight container in the fridge, or wrap them indi- vidually. These also freeze well. be Photo courtesy of Sophie Isbister The new library VPls Welcome Back Week and neighbourhood DIY libraries Sophie Isbister Life & Style lifeandstyle@ theotherpress.ca Des being born and raised in Vancouver, and living here most of my life, I don’t visit the Vancouver Public Library (VPL). As a book lover, I really should; the library has a lot to offer these days. In addition to events like book readings and author Q-and-A’s, the library also carries much new media, such as DVDs, 10 video games, and ebooks. But my library aversion stems from my deep shame: I have racked up probably a billion dollars in late fees and missing books. So you can imagine what a relief it was to hear that VPL is hosting a Welcome Back Week. The CBC reports that from October 21 to 27, VPL “will waive late return fines for anyone bringing back long- overdue items.” The article also says that the friendly librarians will try to come up with an arrangement for missing books—but you have to go directly to a librarian, and I anticipate that it will be fairly busy with legions of scatterbrained Vancouverites clamouring to return their forgotten and unread copies of War and Peace. Why is the VPL doing this? They want people to read! What is the point of having a huge library if people are kept away by financial woes? Libraries are making a huge comeback—despite the growing popularity of ebooks—and it’s not just the classic, brick and mortar libraries that are seeing a resurgence. Smaller, do-it-yourself, neighbourhood libraries are cropping up in the form of Little Free Libraries. According to littlefreelibrary. org, “a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share.” There are a few in my Vancouver neighbourhood: one, a mere block away from my house, looks like a tiny red phone booth. Another mini-library, not affiliated with Little Free Library, exists along the 10th Avenue bike path in Vancouver. Check out their website to see if there is one near you! These libraries contain whatever books are donated by people in the neighbourhood—a great way to get rid of books and exchange them for new ones. The boxes can be as small or as large as the space allows, but either way, they are bursting with community-improving goodness. Bringing books right to the streets and right to the people encourages reading for everyone, just like VPL’s Welcome Back Week. Students may have a lot of class reading to keep up with, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like to fall into a juicy, fictional narrative every once in a while. So keep your eyes peeled for tiny libraries that pop up in your neighbourhood—they just might surprise you with their broad selection. Welcome back week runs at Vancouver Libraries from October 21 to 27. For more information about Welcome Back Week, check out www.upl.ca