Winner of the Very Cherry Hot Giveaway is Kylie!  Thank you to all that entered to win, it was greatly appreciated!  Hope to keep all of you as readers. Also, thanks to those that left cherry recipes, I plan to try some of those out and will blog about it soon.  And I agree with dddiva, the most divine way to enjoy cherries are in the all natural fresh fruit itself!  What a great little fruit it is!

 Enjoy your cherry hot giveaway!!

Now, on to our “A’s” of August Fruit and Vegetable Challenge…..

Fruity Oat Bars (with Apricot filling)

Apricots

Not a very common fruit.  Really good dried, sweet and no need for added sugar.

Fresh = kids don’t like so much.  Dried = they love them.

This recipe takes dried apricots and turns them into a puree with the help of a little water and a blender.

Fruity Oat Bars

1 cup dried apricots

2 tbsp water

2 1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oatmeal

2 tsp salt

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup canola oil

Blend apricots and water until they are pureed.

Mix all other ingredients in another bowl.

Spread and press 1/2 of flour mixture into an 8×8 greased baking pan.

Spread apricot puree over and cover with remaining flour mixture by pressing down.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 min.

Kids Kitchen Konnection:

(like I said before, I will always include this section and tell you how it worked for kid taste testers and/or how to adapt a recipe for kids….and I am honest.)

Kids were not super impressed, disliked the apricot layer (even though they eat dried apricots).  However, I enjoyed them.  Different from the norm.