Homemade Granola Bars

I found this on the web a while ago. The munchkins love it. I've tried to fiddle with the recipe to make variations to reduce the sugar or create other flavors, but they results were either too dry or too soggy and they didn't hold their shape. Sorry, I can't find the original link and I can't figure out how to post pics to the blog. But this is a good one to pack and take for lunches or snacks on the go. I hope you like it.

2 C Oats
3/4 C wheat germ
3/4 C sunflower seeds
1 C nuts (chopped small)
2/3 C brown sugar
1/2 C honey
4 T vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t kosher salt
approx 8 oz dried fruit

Preaheat oven to 400. Combine oats, nuts, wheat germ, seeds in a jelly roll pan and toast for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so they don't get burned. Meanwhile prepare a glass baking dish or jelly roll pan (about 11x13) by lining it with waxed paper and spraying with nonstick spray.

Put the brown sugar, honey, oil, vanilla and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. In a large bowl, combine the dry and wet ingredients, and the dried fruit. Mix everything really well, you want to make sure the glue gets all over everything.

Dump the mixture out into the prepared pan and spread as evenly as you can. Next, use a piece of waxed paper to press the mixture. Press REALLY HARD all over the granola. You want to make sure your bars don't fall apart when you cut them. Allow to cool completely (2-3 hours).

Turn the bars out onto a cutting board, peel the waxed paper off and pressing down with a large chef's knife, cut into whatever size bars you'd like.