Well, those of us in Starkville have started school again. That means I am brainstorming slow cooker dinners and stocking up on lunch meat.

I’m also trying to make sure we have enough snacks for a week of school. It seems like we would need more snacks when we are all at home, I realize, but eating at home is just different. If you want a plain tortilla at 2 p.m. at home, that’s no big deal. Grab one from the pantry. But if you pull out a Ziplock with a plain tortilla in it at school, somebody’s probably going to call home about that. Or at least give the side eye.

So I’m trying to make sure we have snacks that look like normal snacks.

Mostly so I can be a mom who looks like a normal mom. You know the drill.

Or maybe you don’t. Maybe other moms look normal without even trying. I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been one of those moms.

Anyway, we also have a lot of honey at our house, and I’ll be danged if I let all that honey-extraction labor go to waste.

So I set out to try making a granola bar that both uses honey and replicates one made by a company that rhymes with Baker and whose logo is a man wearing a funny hat.

You know the granola bars I mean: they are ubiquitous and delicious, sheathed in a metallic wrapper. Just like the Puritans used to eat.

They do not contain nuts. Unfortunately for us, they do carry a cross contamination warning for nuts. And because we strictly avoid peanuts and tree nuts in our house, even in trace amounts, those chewy granola bars do not make a regular appearance in our home.

But, man, I gotta tell you… these homemade bars take those storebought bars and kick them up a notch.

In addition to being about half the cost of the packaged variety, they contain only ingredients I can pronounce. And the older I get, the more that matters to me.

The only drawback is that if you want them to stay in a nice clean bar shape, you do need to keep them in the fridge. They will store on the counter perfectly safely, but – at least in a Mississippi summertime – they begin to fall apart as they warm. Again, they still taste fine; they just get crumbly.

No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars

(Adapted from Now Cook This!)

Ingredients

2 cups quick oats (not old fashioned)

1 cup puffed rice cereal (such as Rice Krispies)

1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) butter

1/4 cup honey (pro tip: grease the cup first so you don’t lose a drop)

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional: about 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

• Oil an 8-by-8-inch baking dish and line with parchment paper or foil. Leave extra paper or foil hanging off edges to make removal from the pan easier. (If you are doubling the recipe, which I did, use a 9-by-13-inch pan instead.)

• Into a very large mixing bowl – one much larger than you think you will need – pour oats and cereal. In a saucepan set over medium heat, add butter, honey and brown sugar. Stir until butter melts and mixture begins to boil. Turn heat down so mixture is at a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add salt and vanilla to mixture. Pour sugar mixture over oats and cereal and stir until cereal appears to be evenly coated.

• Press mixture into prepared pan firmly; I used the back of a heavy metal spatula for this. Mine did not stick, but you could oil the spatula to prevent sticking if you have concerns. Place pan into refrigerator for about an hour to firm up. When mixture is cool, sprinkle on chocolate chips if using. Press chips firmly into cereal mixture. Remove from pan and cut into 12 bars. Place bars in airtight container and store in the refrigerator (unless you like living on the edge). Bars will keep at least one week.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.