Fantastic chocolate granola bars

If you're like me, you love an easy snack that holds up well for at least a day, that's portable, and tastes good. For me, when I was younger, that was a granola bar. I loved Kudos, then graduated on to Nature Valley "Oats & Honey" bars, to Clif Bars and Z bars. But, unfortunately, when I went gluten free a few years ago, I noticed that most oats aren't. Then I discovered gluten free oats, and was thrilled, but most recipes for granola bars contain, at a minimum, honey, which is worse for fructose malabsorption than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). I've found plenty that don't contain dried fruit or gluten, but they almost all contain honey. Ugh.

When Anthony started having even more issues with his gut, I knew we had to up the fiber content. He's a kid and won't touch vegetables (seriously, not even potatoes). But he liked a decent variety of fruit and to take a lot of it out was really difficult and sad. Seriously...I cried.

Thankfully, I discovered this site: Eating Well to Feel Well

Meghann, the lady who writes that site, has a fantastic granola bar recipe (among other healthy recipes) that is low in excess fructose, low FODMAP, and even has my favorite: chocolate.

I followed that basic recipe but I substituted blanched almond meal for the oat bran, and butter instead of the oil. The butter has more moisture in it than oil, for the same amount of volume, so I just increased the cooking time by five minutes until it seemed set. And well, that's it!

Really tasty!