Sweet Sixteen Oatmeal-Raisin Bars

Get ready for the Sweet Sixteen basketball playoffs with these super-healthy oatmeal-raisin snack bars.  Make 16 bars in just 16 minutes: sweet!   They're perfect for budding athelets, full of whole grains and fruit with have no cholesterol or added fat. The bars hold together well and aren't sticky, so you can bring a plate of them into the TV room without hesitation. Of course, they pack well in a lunch bag too.

I'm excited that two teams I follow made it into the Sweet Sixteen: my home team, NC State's mighty Wolfpack, and the team from where I grew up, Michigan State's fierce Spartans. I hope both teams shoot for the moon!

But back to baking.... I took a plate of Oatmeal-Raisin Bars to a friend who sent these comments from her family:

We all loved them and would be very happy to find them in our lunch boxes! "Really good. " "I like the consistency." "Just the right amount of sugar." "It's like a muffin."

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Candied Orange Peels with Chocolate and Chipotle Options

Turn peels from expensive organic oranges into a wide range of treats, from raisin substitutes to a gourmet candy. Boil the peels twice, once in plain water to extract the bitterness and then in sugar water to infuse them with sweetness. Save and reuse the sugar water used for the second boiling to make this a thrifty as well as easy and delicious dessert.

Prep time: 20 minutes. Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes plus a day or two for drying. Makes 16 servings, 5 slices each.

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Apple-Raisin Pockets

Looking for a baked fruit dessert without butter, lots of sugar, or artificial ingredients? Try this recipe for Apple-Raisin Pockets. Just wrap the appealing, apple-pie-like filling with a low-fat dough.

Use the dairy-free, slightly sweet dough below. For a more sophisticated flavor combination that is also vegan, use the Whisk Pizza Dough or Speedy Grilled Pizza Dough from Wildly Affordable Organic. Whisk Pizza Dough does not require a bread machine or kneading, but does rest at least one night in the refrigerator.

Make-ahead or small-family tip: I like to make all the dough at once, then roll out and bake three batches of Apple-Raisin Pockets over a two-week period, using fresh apples each time. This makes the active time of the first batch only 40 minutes and the active time for the other two batches about 30 minutes each.

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