I went to Naoto's company today for a free spousal health screening.

Apparently my glucose is way normal (I have diabetes staring me in the face from all branches of the family tree), I have twice the minimum amount of "good cholesterol" and i'm within the "normal recommended" percent body fat for women my age.

Yippee! I just got off a two day fruit-and-vegetable only (both cooked and fresh) cleansing "fast", so now I feel like eating cake.

Instead I came home and girl1 and I picked out "oatmeal jam" bars instead.

Of course I'll replace the sugar with honey (less) and add chia seeds (good cholesterol secret!), use whole wheat flour and add real raspberries, but it still feels like a celebration :)

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar (I used 2/3 cup honey instead)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (whole wheat!)
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
(I added 1/4 chia seeds and 1/4 cup ground almond meal because I had it on hand and needed something to soak up the extra liquid of the honey)
3/4 cup fruit preserves, any flavor
(I added two handfuls of fresh raspberries)
Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Combine the flour, oats, baking soda and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the walnuts. Set aside 2 cups of the mixture. Press remaining mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread preserves over the base and crumble the reserved oat mixture over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden. Cool before cutting into squares.