Homemade granola bars

I've made granola before so I figured granola bars couldn't be that hard. I found a version of this recipe on the interwebs. It's super quick and easy. The only somewhat fussy part is mixing in all the oats, nuts, fruit, etc. with the syrup/nut butter but you can usually make it work when you press it into the pan...

2 c. rolled oats
1/2 cup nuts
1 c. nut butter (I used natural almond butter. I imagine the oilier the better.)
1/2 c. brown rice syrup
salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. puffed rice cereal (I used that puffed kamut hippie cereal because it was cheap)
1/2 c. dried fruit (I used chopped up dates and raisins)

UPDATE: I made them again and added 4-5 tablespoons (I think) of honey. They turned out better--sweeter and more chewy.

Preheat oven to 350. Spread oats and nuts on a baking sheet and put in oven. Stir occasionally till toasted and brown but not burnt. Combine nut butter and brown rice syrup in a nonstick sauce pan (large enough to accommodate all the other ingredients too) over medium-low heat until combined.
Add salt to taste (don't add a lot if nut butter is salted) and vanilla.
Take the nuts/oats out and reduce oven to 200 degrees.
Add oats and nuts to syrup mixture. Combine it as well as you can (I used 2 wooden spoons). Make sure everything is coated or the bars will crumble apart.
Press really firmly into a greased 9 x 13" pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes in the 200 degree oven.
Allow to cool and cut into bars. (I cut them when they were still just slightly warm and it worked well. It seemed like it'd be tough after they totally cooled because they harden up).
YUM.


Maybe somebody can post something about oh... menu planning or mole sauce. I'm just throwing something out there. I've heard someone named pj makes a mean chocolate ganache too...