Orange BBQ Chicken, Crockpot style

I love being able to throw a couple ingredients in the crockpot and let it cook for a while. And just like that, dinner is created with little effort on my part. Could this apply to other areas of my life?! Kidding.

Found a recipe on Pinterest and decided to make it. I've made it a few times now and it is a hit. Hubby loves some BBQ so it is an instant  hit in this house.

About 4-6 good size chicken breasts, left whole

1/2 a jar of Orange Marmalade (18 oz jar)

1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (18 oz bottle ) {I'm sure any other brand will do}

2-4 tablespoons soy sauce

Some seasoning to taste (I used an all purpose seasoning)

Spray the crockpot pan generously with non-stick spray. I've found it helps so much with clean up the more you spray! (Tip: Coconut oil works well with no coconut taste) Place chicken in and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours. Remove any excess liquid that is produced. Make sauce mix in another bowl and to chicken, while shredding chicken. Allow to cook on low for another 30-45 minutes. Add more sauce mix if you like a more saucy meal.

After making this nearly half a dozen times already in the past 2 months, it is a hit and super easy. 

Breakfast Anytime {Monkey Bread

Breakfast happens to be my most favorite meal of the day. Scratch that, it's nearly my favorite meal ever. Of course, spaghetti and Italian is a close second. The point is, I could eat breakfast anytime of the day or night. So, having it for dinner is a pretty good way to end the day!

Sundays, or Saturdays, usually are a big family breakfast day (if I'm not at work, then the boys are fending for themselves. I try to make a pretty special breakfast, even if its just scrambled eggs. Waffles, pancakes and omelets are regular cast members. Monkey bread also makes an appearance from time to time. I didn't have a recipe off hand, so went straight from memory.

Monkey-See-Monkey-Do Bread

2 cans refrigerated biscuits

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

About 1 1/2 cups mixed sugar and cinnamon

A bunt pan, greased

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Cut each biscuit into 6 or 8 pieces (the smaller, the more bite size pieces you'll have). Place sugar and cinnamon mix in a bowl. Coat by rolling each biscuit piece in sugar cinnamon mix and place in bunt pan. Mix butter and brown sugar in microwave bowl and melt butter. Drizzle over cinnamon sugar biscuits. Bake for 30-35 min. Will be crispy on top, but make sure it's not too gooey underneath. Yum! Eat warm.

Easy peasy.

There may not be many leftovers if you live with boys, FYI.

                                 

                      

Crescent Roll Pan Pizza {recipe}

What to do when you want pizza but just can't find time to wait around for a yeast crust to rise? Use refrigerated Crescent rolls!

A last minute decision to make pizza meant I had to use what I had on hand. This worked perfectly! In the can of 8 rolls, I used 6 here as the crust forming as solid a crust as possible with very few 'holes'. The other 2 rolls of dough? I put strawberry jelly in and rolled and baked. Desert!

What's it take?

1 can crescent rolls, only 6 needed here 
1 round cake pan
pizza/spaghetti sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
chopped bell peppers
chopped zucchini
sliced, grilled chicken
cooked Italian sausage

I used some left over grilled chicken and left over Italian sausage. Great way to use left overs! I had some chopped peppers and zucchini and threw those on. Preheat the oven to 350. Spray pan with non-stick spray. Cover bottom as best as you can with crescent rolls. Layer pizza sauce, cheese, sausage, chicken, veggies, more cheese. Bake for 15-17 min (or what the crescent roll package says). Perfect crust!

What an easy dinner!

Egg McBacon with Cheese {recipe}

On a cooking roll? Trying to fit in where I can and make ahead to plan and organize. Win for everyone!

Another Pinterest creation and a pretty genius one I might add. I am a big breakfast person so anything dealing with breakfast I will usually jump up and down screaming all over. Another thing I'm pretty excited about is planning ahead. Being a busy full time working mom, and shift working at that, anything to help me plan ahead and make easier and cut down on time, I'll give a solid high-five to.

Original idea via Pinterest 

What did I use?

8 eggs (plus a splash of egg white I wanted to get rid of)
About 1/2 cup total: chopped red bell pepper and chopped zucchini
Salt and pepper to taste
About 1 tablespoon Wheat Germ (I use this everywhere I can!)
8 pieces of bacon
6 English muffins
5 slices of cheese

(clearly I did not measure to make them all the same. Some have cheese, all had bacon and an extra piece for me to munch on while making!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray. I mixed the eggs with the veggies, wheat germ and salt and pepper in a bowl. Place bacon on a cookie sheet and bake 10 minutes in the oven BEFORE the eggs go in. Scoop egg mix into the muffin pan slots. Once the bacon has been in 10 minutes, flip bacon and put muffin pan in the oven for another 10 minutes. By time, the bacon was done and I found the eggs needed another 1-2 minutes.

I toasted the English muffins in the toaster. Placed a slice of cheese then bacon and then the egg. You could easily add some spinach, remove the cheese, etc. I used wax paper to wrap up the sandwiches. 6 total sandwiches between the Hubby and I, should last about 3 days. I plan to make these again and make some more. Storing in the fridge with just 6 should be fine for the next few days. Take out, pop in microwave for 2-3 minutes. Wah-lah! If I can make a big enough batch, I'll store these in the freezer.

Another Pinterest Win!



*Disclaimer: Egg McBacon is a name I just made up about 25 minutes ago. Not taking credentials from any big chain restaurant. And original idea for this recipe was not my own, I just made it and made my own twist on it. Thanks!

Not Lasagna Stuffed Shells {Recipe}

I made a last minute roster change-up and didn't make lasagna last night. Instead, stuffed shells. I don't think anyone was disappointed. I know I certainly wasn't!

So how did I make this?

What ya need:

1lb ground meat (I used hot italian sausage, highly recommend!)
1/2 - full jar of marinara sauce of choice
Garlic salt to taste
Italian seasonings to taste
About 20 large shells, cooked.
8-10 oz ricotta cheese
1/4 - 1/2 cup frozen spinach (or fresh)

I cooked the meat the night before, thinking I was going to make lasagna. Last minute change of plans! You can add more spaghetti sauce if you like, and change the amount of spinach depending on how much you like or don't like spinach. I used close to 1/2 cup I'd guess and it wasn't a huge "spinach" flavor, but I like spinach.

Cook shells and rinse in cold water. Spray large casserole dish with non-stick spray. Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Mix ricotta and spinach in a bowl. Mix meat and spaghetti sauce in another bowl. Fill each shell with about 1 tablespoon of ricotta-spinach mix and then about 1 tablespoon of meat-sauce mix. You can overfill or under fill, however you want your shells! I used too much ricotta mix so a few shells only had meat-sauce. Still just as yummy. I layered some marinara in the bottom of the casserole dish and set all the filled shells in the dish, then layered some more sauce on top. Just to keep things..saucy! Put dish in oven for about 25-30 minutes. I don't like my stuffed shells 'crispy' so I lean towards the shorter bake time. This was a pretty easy dish and took maybe 15 min prep time, not counting cooking the noodles/shells. Most of this can be done ahead of time.

Give it a try! Essentially the same ingredients in lasagna, minus the cheese. Cheese could easily be added to this, that is more cheese aside from the ricotta. I used the garlic salt and italian seasonings for the meat.

Garlic bread goes with everything. Just so ya know...

If you  make this, let me know how it turns out! What did you do differently?

Pinterest Wins: Pancake Muffins

Instagram'd my Pancake Muffins

Found an idea on Pinterest and BAM...made it work. Pretty tasty. Didn't have anything too crazy for toppings but Chocolate Chips and Blueberries work wonders. 

The original Pin:

Source: theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com via Char on Pinterest

And here's how I did it.

Ingredients:

Pancake Mix (yep, I used box mix. Easy)

Toppings of choice (I used chocolate chips and blueberries)

Mix batter in bowl according to directions on box. If using a from-scratch version, it will work just the same. Preheat oven to 350* degrees, or according to box directions. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray. Spoon batter into muffin tins, about half full. The fuller, the more plump your muffins will be. Add toppings. Also would be good: Nuts, bacon, sausage...Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes, again according to box directions for Muffins. Check with a toothpick. Let cool. Eat up. Eat them all. Ok, maybe not all of them.

These are super easy. Can be made ahead of time and grab 'n go for breakfast.

You'll thank me later. Or thank Pinterest. Same thing.

"Best Of"

What about a "Best Of" recipes post? I need to get my butt in gear and start coming up with new and exciting things for dinner. In the mean time, here are a few of the "Best Of" selections that are made over and over again and somewhat east to do.

Pizza Bites-- Remember these? A few ingredients you may already have laying around and in less than 30 minutes you have hand-held pizza bites to munch on, take for lunch, or a great appetizer!

Baked Zucchini Sticks-- Ok so maybe not a meal, but another great snack. Better if made & eaten fresh, as they may get soggy as leftovers. Very few ingredients. 

Broccoli Chicken Bake-- One of the most requested recipes. Simple, vegetable, pasta, chicken. Dinner in a dish & bake. 

Easy Enchiladas-- I realize these are just cheese enchiladas, so adding ground beef would be extra better. EASY!

Potstickers or Dumplings-- I need to make these again! So easy, finger food and can be customized to whatever you want to fill them with!

Now I feel like I need to go make a bunch of food!

What are some of your favorite, easy, go-to meals? What would you like to see me make?

Get your vegetable on!

Gotta get those veggies in somehow. I am pretty easy to eat my veggies. Now having a little one around, I'm doing everything I can to instill healthy eating and exploring new foods. So far, he's done great. 

Another great recipe that I found here and tried and the boys loved it! So much that I have no idea how many I made because they were eating them straight out of the oven. Luckily, I was able to grab a few for myself. These are great and a great finger food for toddlers. Woah, I have a toddler now.

Baked Zucchini Sticks (Original recipe here from SkinnyTaste) 

3 medium zucchini, sliced into sticks (3"x1/2". Mine were too skinny!)
1 large egg white
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I used basil, oregano, garlic powder)
2 tablespoon parmesan cheese (I added more)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
cooking spray
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put egg white in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. In another bowl, or zip lock bag, place breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Dip sticks into egg whites then into breadcrumbs and place on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Lightly spray sticks while on the cookie sheet. Cook in oven for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Serve with marinara sauce to dip in. WOW! These are great and a great way to get your veggies in!

Kid-Friendly, Dad-Approved Dinner

In an effort to be prepared for dinner time ahead of time with these two boys that I live with, I've come up with and found various recipes that help me do just that.

Thanks to various blogs, websites and cookbooks I can continue to find new and exciting things to eat and feed these hungry guys. I never realized how simple Chicken Nuggets were. I find myself saying while making these "Chickens don't have nuggets".

Easy Chicken Nuggets (Original recipe here from Weelicious)

1 lb chicken breast, cut into chunks (I've also used ground turkey too)
1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs 
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese grated
**2 tablespoons Wheat Germ (my own addition)

I have sub'd in ground turkey for the chicken and it did not taste any different. I've made these both ways before. I tend to add a little more parmesan cheese and I also added in some dried basil and oregano, about the same measurements as the parsley, to taste.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor, combine chicken (or turkey), oats, parsley, garlic and onion powder and salt. Mix until meat is chopped and everything is mixed. 

Place bread crumbs and parmesan in a shallow bowl or dish, add in wheat germ. There is no taste difference. Keeps the nuggets crisp and just adds to crumb texture. Healthy addition! Form meat into small nuggets, about the size of your palm, but really as big or small as you wish. I would recommend keeping all nuggets about the same size, they will cook more evenly. Place nuggets in bread crumb mixture to coat.

Place nuggets on a cooling rack, on top of foil covered cookie sheet. Lightly spray nuggets with cooking spray (I use olive oil spray). Cook in oven for 15-18 minutes, and serve! These are also great as left overs in the fridge and warmed up the next night. Yum!

Huh, still blurry. Bummer.

These also work well if you want to freeze them. Just stop before cooking them. Freeze them on a pan and then transfer to a zip lock bag. When ready to cook, just pop them out of the freezer and onto a baking sheet with the cooling rack and spray with cooking spray. Cook for 18-20 minutes

Pumpkin Pancakes

Fall is leaves, cool temperatures, warm socks, hot chocolate & Pumpkin anything.

I love pumpkin anything, any time of year. Since everyone else is into pumpkin baking and the only thing I've baked pumpkin-wise has been bread, thought I'd give these a try. But, why do it the easy way? Let's do everything from scratch. Don't worry, its not much more work (seriously), I just didn't have the easy stuff (pancake mix) on hand. As I'm stocking up on pumpkin now, the real ones and baking them myself, I might as well make some good stuff with them. These are great for dinner the next day, or any time of day FYI.

Pumpkin Pancakes (from scratch, original recipe by me)

1 1/2 cup milk (soy or dairy-free work well too)

1 cup pumpkin puree (room temp)

1 egg

2 tablespoons apple sauce (in place of vegetable oil)

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 cups flour, white or whole wheat

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground all spice

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2 teaspoons ground flaxseed

*Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, mix milk, pumpkin, egg, apple sauce & vinegar. If using vanilla add into milk mix. In a separate bowl combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda and spices including flaxseed. Can use more flaxseed if you'd like. Adds a nutty-er taste but hardly can tell. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients just enough to combine. Not mixing too much or the batter will make the pancakes too "heavy". I still haven't perfected this. Poor onto hot griddle and flip over when 'bubbling' begins. 

I'm not the best at cooking pancakes, still working on that. These had a slight enough pumpkin flavor but not overpowering. Personally, next time I'd add more pumpkin, vanilla and more cinnamon.

Chicken Pesto Pizza

Did you think I forgot how to cook or how to post food & recipes? Nope! I just don't post often. I'm still cooking.

While looking through The Pioneer Woman's cookbook for dinner ideas I came across her Pesto recipe and Pizza dough. I absolutely love Pesto but never have basil and always want to make my own. This meant a trip to the grocery store!

Chicken Pesto Pizza

Pesto sauce (recipe below)
Chicken, about 1 lb, grilled & shredded
Cheddar cheese, about 1-1 1/2 cups shredded
Pizza dough (recipe below)
Oregano (to taste)
Basil (to taste)
Garlic salt (to taste)

Pesto Sauce (taken from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook: Food From My Frontier)

3/4 cup fresh basil
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, peeled
salt & pepper
1/3 cup EVOO (olive oil)

Place basil, parmesan, pine nuts, whole garlic cloves and salt and pepper to food processor. Put lit on and begin to blend. Adding EVOO as you go. Add enough so the pesto is a sauce and not so thick. Set aside or put in the fridge for a day or so. Can also be frozen in cubes to be used later!


Next, make the pizza dough...which can also be stored in the fridge for a few days.

Pizza Dough (Also taken from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook: Food From My Frontier)

1 scant teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

First combine yeast and warm water in a small bowl. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. Add flour to the bowl of a mixer, using paddle attachment. Sprinkle in the salt. Turn the mixer on and add olive oil. Finally, pour in the yeast water mix. Stop mixing when it becomes sticky. Allow dough to rise for about an hour before using. If storing in fridge, take out and allow to rise for about an hour before using

Before cooking

And after cooking

Once you have the dough and the pesto, and the chicken is cooked and the cheese is shredded, heat oven to 350 degrees. I lined a cookie sheet with foil so it wouldn't stick. Roll out pizza dough and lay on the cookie sheet. Cover with pesto sauce. Next, sprinkle cheese around. Then, add chicken. I sprinkled with oregano, basil and garlic salt. Baked in the oven for 15-18 minutes. If you want a crispier crust, bake a little longer.

This was delish! I made the pesto and dough a day ahead of time, so that saved time. All I had to do was grill the chicken and shred the cheese while the dough was rising. Good to make a head of time! There were no leftovers :)

Hey, Hey Little Muffin

These tasty muffins made their debut!

After sharing this photo on Instagram of these wonderful little banana muffins I made, I had a few requests for the recipe. So for all of you, here you go!

The recipe is originally from Taste of Home but, of course, I modified it a bit.

Banana Oat Muffins

1 1/2 cups old fashioned Oats
1 1/2 cups flour (I didn't have whole wheat so just used regular white)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bananas, mashed
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil**
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (There is no taste with this, if anything a slightly nutty taste)

** I wanted to make it a bit more healthy so I sub'd in apple sauce for the vegetable oil, 1/4 cup apple sauce, unsweetened.

The applesauce and small amount of brown sugar are all the "sweetness" in this recipe but the bananas help to give the "flavor" a sweet touch without being too sweet. If you'd like, add more brown sugar to be sweeter as this is a healthy version.

In a small bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, flax and salt. In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, oil/applesauce and vanilla. Add in mashed bananas. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just moist. 

Fill greased muffin tin cups or paper-cups (Or be super special and use the new re-useabe muffin cups you just got! 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Let cool before you dive into these and eat them all up. With this batch I was able to get 16 muffins. They are pretty hearty and fill you up. A great grab-n-go breakfast item. And Healthy!

Have a great week. And if you are super special maybe you have a short week due to the Labor Day holiday, if so, ENJOY :)

Breakfast: French-Omelet

Alert the presses. I'm back in blogger world & in the kitchen.  Haven't had a whole lot of time to be cooking anything fancy or taking pictures of it, but I'm making a better effort to try. I find myself using my phone to take pictures and send it more often.

Had some time this "weekend" (my weekend off work) to do some cooking. This consisted of making Jackson's food and some delish items for us grown ups too! Who you calling "grown up"?


French-Omelet (created by me)


8 eggs
about 1 cup milk (soy or regular)
3 slices of bread (whole wheat) tore up into 9 slices
1 bell pepper (I used red)
2 teaspoons cinnamon (or to taste)


Mix all these in a bowl. Preheat oven to 350. Use a cheesecake pan (with the outer ring that can be removed, and obviously I don't know the real name of it) and spray with non-stick or olive oil. Place slices of bread on bottom of pan. Sprinkle cinnamon on the bread. Pour egg mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. **The more eggs you use/larger batch will require more baking time as it will be thicker. 

Slop Sloppy Joes & Homemade Ketchup

Food overload. This is a great go-to dinner meal idea when nothing else sounds good or you don't have all these elegant ingredients to make a huge over-the-top dinner. Who doesn't like Sloppy Joes? Maybe the guy they're named after, ok touche.

I promise a better picture next time. I ate mine before I could photograph it. I was hungry!

Sloppy Joes


Ingredients:


2 lbs ground meat (I used ground beef, but have used turkey & its just as good)
about 1 cup brown sugar
about 1 1/2 cups ketchup (cool people like me make my own, below)
about 3/4 cup mustard
Italian seasoning


Brown meat until cooked. Season with Italian seasoning. Once cooked, turn heat down to low and add brown sugar, ketchup and mustard. Add to taste, hence my measurements are "about" and not exact measurements. Tangy? Add more mustard. Sweet? More ketchup/brown sugar. Delicious served on toast or buns, and topped with relish. Don't ditch it until you've tried it! This is a super easy meal that can feed leftovers and are great re-warmed up.


Made-my-own-ketchup-because-I'm-cool


Or because I didn't have enough and needed enough to make Sloppy Joes and was too lazy didn't go to the store to get more. Don't judge me. I looked on the back of a ketchup bottle and created this myself. It wasn't just like ketchup, but it was pretty close!


1 small can tomato paste
about 1/4 cup white vinegar
about 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
about 1/4 cup water


*These were some of the main ingredients in ketchup and the ones I could pronounce and had on hand.


Mix all in a bowl and taste. Add more of something to alter the taste. Experiment! I found it took a lot of sugar to get it sweet, and still my end result was very tomato-y. It didn't have to be EXACTLY like ketchup though because it was going in Sloppy Joes.

Mexican Food is Back

As promised from this post, I'm giving you some food to stare at and recipes to go try out yourself. 


Pork Fajitas


It's been too long since we've had any Mexican food in this house, so I saw we bring some in! And, I don't make fajitas nearly enough, but come on, this is the simplest meal there is! I never know what else is in fajitas, so its pretty simple here.

Ingredients:


3/4 lb thin sliced pork chops, sliced into strips
taco seasoning (or if you're weird like me make your own, below)
3 bell peppers, your choice of color (2 red, 1 green for me)
tortillas (or leave these out if you're going no carb)


Slice up, julienne style, bell peppers and set aside. Season meat and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour, longer is better. I let mine sit for about 2 hours, overnight would work too. When ready, cook meat until 90% cooked through and add bell peppers. Finish cooking, so peppers are soft but not soggy, or cook to your liking.


Super easy, and easy to get things prepped ahead of time. This made enough for 2 people, or 1 person for lunch & dinner. 


Taco Seasoning (make do with what ya got)


Chili Powder
Cumin
Garlic salt
Salt & Pepper


Season to taste. The main ingredients are Cumin and Chili Powder, at least that I taste/can think of. 

Staple Food--Fried Rice

I'll take one order of this please. 

That's Pork Fried Rice, as promised from this post talking about a bunch of good food. Remember?

Fried Rice has become a staple for us. It has been a while since I've made some, but it is so easy and when you love rice like we do, its a great go-to meal. I personally love steamed white or brown rice, but fried rice is also good too.

Pork Fried Rice

2 cups steamed white or brown rice, cooled

1/2 to 1 cup frozen peas (or veggie of your choice)

1/2 lb pork, sliced into strips (think stir fry)

2 eggs

Soy Sauce

Hot sauce (I use Siracha)

Marinade pork in soy sauce (about 3 tablespoons, or whatever "looks" like enough) for at least 1 hour. I did mine overnight. Steam rice and set aside to cool. I let mine cool overnight in the fridge. Easier this way! Cook pork in a pan until cooked through. Add eggs and scramble. Next, add in rice while heat is still on medium high. Poor soy sauce over, covering rice until most of the top is covered. It really is up to you how much you like soy sauce or how strongly flavored you want. I go for a medium flavor. Toss rice in the pan and cook for a few minutes to get the flavor and things mixed up. Next, add in some frozen peas. Cook for another few minutes to "thaw" out peas and get them warm. 

This is great warmed up the next day for lunch. Add in hot sauce to your liking. This works as a side dish or a whole meal itself. This made enough for a good size bowl for both of us with left overs for each of us for lunch the next day. This can be halved too. 

World Traveler via The Kitchen

I was able to get in the kitchen this weekend and crank out some meals for this week, especially helpful since I will be working overnights. Welcome zombie shifts!


Here is what you have to look forward to for recipes to come:


Pork Fajitas
Sloppy Joe's
Pork Fried Rice
Greek-Jamaican Chicken
BBQ Chicken


Sense a bit of world travel there? I covered almost all the basic continents! Prepping things ahead of time can help so much and make it that much easier to cook a meal in little time. I'm all about time management  since my work and family life schedule are pretty crazy at times.

So here's to a week of great food! Still working the Juneathon and going strong!

Kitchen Tales: Healthy Granola

The crunch. The sweetness. The smell. Granola. 

Hungry yet? Feel the need to go hike? I'll wait.

I love a good granola cereal with milk for breakfast. A granola bar to crunch on. A handful of granola to munch on as a snack. Granola is so versatile with what can be added, kind of like a trail mix; make your own "mix".

I came across a few different recipes on campingmeals.net while looking for things to make easy and quick. I didn't find any one recipe to use, so I used a couple different ones to come up with this one. It still needs to be tweaked a bit, but for a first batch, its not bad!

Homemade Granola Bars

5-6 cups old fashioned oats

2-3 tablespoons flax seed*

2 tablespoons wheat germ*

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup butter/margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)

1/2 cup brown sugar

sunflower seeds

sliced almonds

optional: sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts

*the healthy stuff. no taste changed. take it or leave it.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cake pan/casserole dish with foil. I made this decision to help get the bars out of the pan without having them ALL fall apart. Thinking as if I'm making fudge. In a small sauce pan: melt brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, honey/nectar and vanilla extract. In a large, read LARGE bowl add oats, flax seed, wheat germ and any additions (nuts, fruit, seeds, etc). While sugar-y sweet stuff is melting line the pan with foil. Stir to melt. Once melted and warmed pour over dry ingredients and mix through to make sure everything dry gets wet. Spread out in foil covered pan. Bake in oven for 20 minutes. When you take it out of the oven, allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Cut and serve/store.

My problem: My bars didn't fully stay in bar form. While cutting them I could tell some were falling apart. Next time: Maybe more honey? 

The peanut butter added a great protein to the already healthy snack, and a nice flavor. I personally wasn't a huge fan of the sunflower seeds or almonds, next time I'll try some fruit. 

Super easy, quick, healthy snack.

Yum. An easy snack to make ahead of time for a road trip, hike, lunch snack, 2am hunger pain....

Baby Food 101

Making apple sauce

All of the baby food that Jackson has eaten so far, I've made. Besides the oatmeal rice cereal, I've made everything else. It has been pretty cost effective too. We've tried Avocado, Banana, Sweet Potato, Zucchini, Carrot, Apples (sauce), and next is Butternut Squash. 


It has been pretty easy thanks to my handy dandy food processor. This thing rocks!


The baby food making process has been pretty easy and fun too! I love that I know exactly what is in the food that he eats. And color compare, WOW! It's hard to believe the color of the food on the shelves is what it says it is when the color of the natural stuff I make is so different. Carrots are a vibrant orange, zucchini is a neon green, apple sauce smells of warm apple pie. Bananas and avocado are easy, just peel, remove seed (avocado) and mash up real good. The food processor does that too for the other foods.


I freeze the pureed food in ice cube trays and then transfer to a zip lock bag. So easy! Take a cube or two (depending how much baby eats) in the morning to put into a container and leave in the fridge. It should thaw out by afternoon time. Or do it the night before. Wa-la!


When Jackson eats this, I scoop out of the container into a bowl he's eating from. Important: because once you dip into the food, put in mouth and back to food it has been introduced to bacteria. So to keep the food in the container "clean" I just scoop what I need into a bowl. Plus, by only using a cube at a time, I'm saving all the rest for later.


Genius!


Give it a try if you like. The apple sauce is really good. Yes, I tried it. Baked apples with a touch of cinnamon. Pureed. Who says it's just for baby? This might be "baby food" but it's all regular food made for Jackson.

Some of the goodness in the freezer: Carrots, Sweet Potato

For all the recipes and tips, I've used Wholesome Baby Food for help.