Recipe - Fruit & Oat Bars

Sorry for not posting lately, but I've been really hard up for anything funny. I have, however, been cooking a lot. These spurts come and go. We can go weeks where my kids literally live off ramen (it's educational - they're learning the self-sufficient skills necessary for the real world) and then I get a burst of cooking energy and go nuts for days on end. The fridge overflows with leftovers, the dishwasher gets filled and run almost daily, and Jay gets stuck scrubbing the counters and stovetop over and over. (I'm a clean up as a I go cook, but I don't believe in cleaning anything with a top, as in stove or counter.) I believe in comfort food, big quantities, and even bigger flavor. I've discovered most recipes that involve too much fuss, too many ingredients, and anything with ramekins, springform pans, or candy thermometers just aren't worth it. I prefer things that I can rustle up with stuff I already have rather than spending a fortune on fancy ingredients that I've never heard of and probably won't use again. So if I've run out of things to bitch about, chances are I'm happily baking and will share that instead. 

This is such a yummy recipe for homemade fruit and oat bars. Think kinda Nutrigrain, but crunchier, and much, much more flavor. Quick oats and a bag of frozen berries and you're making a healthy snack/dessert that took almost no work at all. This is a recipe I found on allrecipes.com several months back, and I changed several steps & ingredients, which means it's now my recipe. You'll want to make it for your kids, but when you taste them you'll decide your kids haven't been good enough today for these. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1-1/2 cups sugar (I use Splenda to make myself feel better) - DIVIDED (1 cup and 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups butter (recipe says cold, but I think cutting butter is a bitch, so I divided mine into 3 half sticks & nuked them for 20 seconds each; much easier!)
2 cups fresh or frozen berries (I use the Target Archer Farms 16 oz frozen smoothie mix of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, but use whatever you want)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice (the Real Lemon squeeze crap works just fine)

Directions:
In large bowl, mix flour, oats, 1 cup of sugar, baking soda. Add butter and cut into mix until completely crumbly. In greased/buttered/Pam'd 13 x 9 pan, press half of mixture along bottom of pan in even layer. 

In saucepan, combine berries, 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. Set on high and bring to boil. Continue to boil for 2 minutes. (Right before the 2-minute mark, you'll notice the mixture is nice and thickened and the berries have almost completely cooked down.) Spread evenly over the crust and then sprinkle remaining crust on top. Smooth and tamp down a little on the top crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until top is slightly browned. Let completely cool (at least 1 hour) before cutting. Bars will be very crumbly and to die for. Promise.