In honor of my upcoming beach trip with the Flakes, I have decided to post a couple of my favorite recipes from the gals. I have been going to the 30A in Florida with the Flakes on and off for about 12 years now.

More on than off. The first year I went with them it was a surprise for one of my sister’s 40^th birthday. Truth be told, I was a little intimidated by this group of strongly opinionated women who were fiercely devoted to Jesus, their family and to each other. I had met most of them individually in the years prior to the beach trip, but all together?

Estrogen on steroids.

They are ALL amazingly great cooks, but the undisputed queen of this crowd is Starla. She is the mastermind behind most of the menus we cook at the beach. It’s a week of chick food that only women love. Funky salads, exotic food combinations that can send men and kiddos into utter rebellion.

Don’t you just love when that happens?

This recipe was one of our breakfast choices a few years back but I could eat it for dessert as well. And I did. These are great make ahead and freeze bars. I think at one point I calculated that each 1”x 3” piece was 7 Weight Watchers points.

But who’s counting?

If you decide to omit the sugar (which would probably be just fine when you see all the other goodness that’s in there), but I’m putting this up the way Starla gave it to me after my very first Flakes beach trip.

Thanks, doll.

 Starla’s Granola Bars

 2 cups bran flakes cereal

2 cups oatmeal

2 cups sliced almonds

1 cup pecans (coarse chopped)

2 cups golden raisins

2 cups Crasins

1 cup sugar (or not)

1 can condensed milk

6 eggs

2 sticks of melted butter

Dash of cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Turn into a greased 9 x 13 pan and press into pan. Bake 325 for 20 minutes. Freeze before cutting. Store in fridge.

Go ahead and get your walking shoes on.

You got to hit the road to burn the calories, but oh, so worth it!

Blessings,

Stephanie