Homemade Granola

Sharing the recipe for my homemade granola here for the sweet IG friend who asked…

I started with Barbara's recipe for Brown Sugar Granola but made a few changes for my family's taste and preferences. We don't like coconut so I tried subbing the coconut for nuts but then we found out that Sean can't have nuts so I just leave them both out unless I'm making a batch just for kids. They really like the nuts in it. Here is my version:

Brown Sugar Granola

3 C. old fashioned oats
1 C. chopped nuts (pecans, almonds, walnuts…all optional)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/4 C. oil
2 egg whites
1/2- 3/4 C. dried fruit (Craisins are really yummy!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt and brown sugar with a whisk to mix well. In a measuring cup, mix all extracts oil and egg whites. (If you don't have another use for  the yolks, boil them up and feed them to your dog. She will love you for it!) Pour the wet into the dry and mix with a fork. Don't break up the clumps. Clumps are good! Dump onto a cookie sheet and spread out thin. Bake for 20 minutes. Stir gently so as not to break up the clumps (Clumps are good!) Bake another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the dried fruit over the granola. Let is cool completely and try not to let your little hands snitch away the whole tray while it's still warm… you might want to put it up high where they can't reach it. Don't store until completely cooled or it won't stay crisp. Enjoy!

Day 7: The End

Homemade enchilada sauce ~ recipe here

Well, that was interesting. I don't think I could keep up with 7x7 posting for very long though. In fact, if I hadn't had those tutorial posts already in my drafts folder, I don't think I would have accomplished it. OK, so now that that's done… what's next? How about some thundersleet? Yup. We had thundersleet today. On the second day of March. Is it just me or does "Thundersleet" sound like something we need He-man to battle for us?

Little Miss Cupcake stayed home sick from Mass with me this morning. We were supposed to have some dear friends over yesterday for some frolicking in the 80 degree weather and a "spring inspired" taco bar dinner (complete with the homemade enchilada sauce you see above) but illness on both sides ruined those plans. And now it's 21 degrees outside… Hello, Thundersleet! I want my spring back. (I know, I know… you people who are living in the frozen tundra north of Oklahoma haven't even started spring yet. But it's such a HUGE tease to be at 80 degrees one day and then wake up to "THUNDERSLEET"!!!!)

A New Year's Eve Tradition!

"It's just not New Year's Eve without Puppy Chow!"

"YOU SHALL NOT SNITCH!!!"

Keeping all Balrogs, Dragons and Puppy Chow Eaters away!

Too late.

Tonight will find us coming home from spending some Christmas gift cards from Grammie at the book store and curling up with Puppy Chow and a movie. It's what we do. Maybe that sounds boring, but we love it. Although, I think instead of a movie this year, we will watch the final episodes of the BBC's Robin Hood (Series One){affiliate link}  and maybe even start Series Two. The big kids have seen them, but BigBoy and Sean haven't. Nobody minds watching them again! It's also on Netflix Instant Watch right now.

(BTW… BigBoy has only watched selected, previewed episodes, not all of them. The older kids have only seen episodes from Series 1 & 2. I have watched Series 3 and am sad to say that the show really tanked that season. We will probably just stick with 1 & 2 for the kids.)

There are many different recipes for Puppy Chow. Here is the one I loosely use. (I never bother with measuring exactly.)

Puppy Chow

1 12 oz. box of Crispix cereal (you can use Chex if you like. I prefer Crispix.)

1-2 C. chocolate chips
1/2 - 1 C. peanut butter
1/4 C. butter (opt.)
1 tsp. vanilla (opt.)

2 C. powdered sugar

Melt chocolate, peanut butter, and butter (in the microwave or on the stovetop, you decide), stir in vanilla and pour over cereal. I like to divide it up into two bowls so the cereal doesn't get crushed. Toss to coat. Transfer to a gallon size or larger zip top bag (again, I like to use two gallon size bags). Dump 1/2-1 cup of powdered sugar on each batch. Toss in sealed bag to coat. Add more sugar if you like it lighter colored. We like ours slightly greyish. Enjoy!


What are you favorite New Year's family traditions?

Slow Cooker Chicken Broth

I can make chicken broth in my sleep! 

That sounds like some sort of weird domestic boast, but I mean it quite literally. I made chicken broth overnight in the crockpot while I slept! Whoo hoo!!!

I've heard about people making it this way, but this is the first time I've ever tried it. I followed this recipe except for using parsley instead of basil and adding a bay leaf and some peppercorns in the last few hours. Also, I used about 2 chicken carcasses I has saved and I left the skin on my onion quarters. That makes the broth a deeper golden yellow. (I learned that from all the natural Easter egg dyeing I've done.)

It was really good and so much better for you than the boxed stuff or the cubed stuff (which I admit, I will use in a pinch, I just hate myself later). I used it yesterday to make some Butternut Squash Soup. I used my small crockpot and the recipe yielded about 6 cups of stock. I might try doubling it in my big crockpot especially next summer when the house is too hot to have a pot simmering all day but I want to start stocking up on my stock (hah hah).

Stock

I wish you could enjoy this delicious smell! I wish I could too.

We've been battling colds and/or allergies since The Professor's birthday. The older three have each taken their turn. We are praying that BigBoy and the little one don't get it. I'm either on round two of a cold or having the worst allergies of my life. I'm not sure. Hopefully the doctor will let me know later. Update: The doctor thought it was just allergies but after I came home, took a shower and had some dinner, the chills and fever hit. It's a cold, definitely a cold.

I've started making homemade stock to help us all as we recuperate. A friend (who's wonderful writings on feast day foods and festivities can now be found in mater et magistra magazine) taught me a long time ago how to make soup from vegetable peelings that you save up in your freezer. I've done it before but have recently started doing it regularly. Maybe you know this trick too. You save up your chicken bones and carcasses in the freezer.

Along with those, you also scrub your veggies clean before you peel them as you cook during the week, save the peelings also any celery tops or leek trimmings and add them to the freezer as well. When it's soup making day, dump everything into a pot, add some seasonings and boil it all down!

I like to boil it until the full pot is at half. That usually makes 8-9 C. of a thick gelatinous stock. Easy to use or keep in the freezer.

Salad advice

It's stinking hot down here, as it always is this time of year. Last year, when I was pregnant with Cupcake and my dear OB started making some murmurings about my body not tolerating the pregnancy all the way until 40 weeks based on the evidence he had, I kept whining and complaining that I did not want to have a baby in August because it was the worst month in the whole world! He smiled and said, "My birthday is in August." Yeah... that shut me up. But I still hate August. And even though I first went in to the hospital at the end of August complaining of stomach pains I thought were food or virus related which now I know were pre-eclampsia related, please note that Cupcakes birthday is September 2nd!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand... salads. I make boring salads. Lettuce (romaine), tomato, carrot and celery with maybe some hard-boiled egg, some shredded chicken or sunflower seeds sprinkled on top. I love looking at beautiful salads. Check out this link and you will see 35 beautiful salad ideas from Southern Living. I look at them but I wonder... how does all that stuff taste jumbled up together like that? I've even been reading over Auntie Leila's salad post and realizing that is a standard I aspire to but need to work my way up to. You know... baby steps. Taco salads are about as fancy as I get.

Here's my biggest problem besides not being adventurous enough... the dressing has to be on the side. Why? Because none of my children like salad dressing of any kind. Trust me... we've tried them all. Raspberry vinaigrette, thousand islands, blue cheese, ranch, oil and vinegar. Nothing. They like their salads plain and dry. And to complicate things even more... ever since I had an ulcer in college, I can't tolerate vinegars in my salad dressings or even in sauces like BBQ sauce. Balsamic is the worst.

So... that's my salad predicament. I'd like to try some salads with variety. Any advice? Suggestions? Recipes? Thanks!

 

GF Raspberry Mousse Brownie

This was sooooooo good! Don't skip the fresh raspberries! They really add more than just decoration.  You can find the recipe here. I used a different recipe for the brownies because I couldn't find any Betty Crocker GF mixes. You could use regular brownies if there is no need to eat GF in your house. 

Why, yes, those are white chocolate chip stuffed raspberries on top!  

I also made a batch of Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies since my kids are not big raspberry fans and I wasn't sure how this recipe would turn out since I'd never made it before. The GF Birthday Man was very happy! He didn't mind getting to choose one of each. Didn't mind one bit. 

Friday Food Fun

Tonight, The Professor has a book club meeting so I whipped up this little fruit dip to go along with some apple slices for him to take and share. It was so good, the kids staying home begged me to make a batch for them! Here it is. I cobbled it together from some recipes I saw online and came up with my own ratios which you can certainly change to suit your tastes.

Fruit Dip

1 C. greek yogurt

1/2 C. peanut butter
(I added a little extra to finish off the jar.)

1/4 C. honey

Mix together. Chill. (Yes, it's that easy.)

 

Cookbook Bleg

Looking for a cookbook (or books) with cuisine from different countries that would be easy enough for my 11 and 13 year old to make. Suggestions please...

Pinning It Down {1}

I have been trying to love Pinterest, really I have but I just couldn't do it. I didn't understand why. I am a very visual person. It's a totally visual medium. Should be a match made in Heaven. I saw so many of my sweet friends loving it, making boards and pinning stuff left and right and here I was totally stressed out by it. "Oh well," I thought, "it's just not for me!"

Then Sarah came along and suddenly it made sense. The reason I couldn't get into it... if I don't think there is a darn good chance that I'm going to use it, reference it, make it or purchase it in a reasonable amount of time, then to me, "pinning it on a board" just becomes visual clutter and being a visual person, excessive visual clutter stresses me out. You might say, "But it's virtual visual clutter, not actual visual clutter," and you'd be in right in your mind... just not in mine. (No comments about me not being in my right mind!: ) I am sure most people don't have this weird hang up. 

Anyway, when Sarah and Pam came up with "Pinning It Down" I thought... I can do this! I can pin things that I really do want to accomplish or plan to accomplish. The added goal of blogging it and participating in a linky is just bonus motivation! So here we go...

I figured... start with something easy. A recipe! Australian Crash Hot Potatoes. Here it is, on my Pinboard, and here it is in my kitchen!

BTW... they were so incredibly amazing that my oldest asked to add them to his birthday menu plans at the end of this month. 

Yeah. 

THAT good!

 

Ham and Egg Cups

Ham and Egg Cups

1 dozen eggs
24-36 pieces of thinly sliced ham (I like black forest ham best.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tins. Place two or three slices of ham in each cup spreading out to cover the whole cup. Gently press into cup. Crack one egg in each ham cup. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Less time for softer eggs, more time for firmer eggs. (My family prefers firmer eggs.)

My kids eat them just as they are. Husband and I like to toast English muffins and eat them as part of a breakfast sandwich. I have never tried to make them ahead but I think you can as an easy make ahead breakfast sandwich filling.

From the combox:
Kathy says "If you did want to freeze these, you would want to scramble the eggs and then bake, cool & freeze. Egg whites get rubbery upon reheating if the eggs are not mixed (scrambled)."


 

Nutella Dream-Cheese Ball

Miss Jennifer is to thank for this inspiration. We made this delightful appetizer to go along with our Christmas Eve mini-pizza buffet. I served it with graham crackers and apple slices. It sure was a hit! I mean, a-grand-slam-out-of-the-park-winning-run-the-Giants-win-the-pennant kind of hit! Yum!!!

Nutella Dream-Cheese Ball

8 ounces, cream cheese, room temperature
¾ cups Nutella
1 cup powdered sugar
⅔ cups mini chocolate chips
⅔ cups toasted chopped hazelnuts (I used almonds.)

Beat cream cheese in stand mixer until smooth. Beat in Nutella until evenly distributed. Slowly beat in powdered sugar. Lay out plastic wrap on a flat surface. Pour the mixture into the plastic wrap. Gather it together into a ball twisting it and secure it with a clothespin or rubber band. Place in a small bowl and refrigerate or freeze for at least two hours. While the ball is chilling, combine nuts and mini chocolate chips. Once fully chilled, roll it in the chocolate chips and nuts to coat. Serve immediately or wrap again in clean plastic and chill until ready to serve. Serve with graham crackers or fruit.

Caramel Apple Crisp

Oh. My. Goodness! This is my new favorite crisp. It was a perfect grown-up treat on this special day. Recipe below.

The kids prefer their apples crisp, crunchy and cold, so it was Daddy to the rescue when he picked these up on his way home from golf. (He doesn't golf. He's just the chauffeur.)

Simple and tasty!

Caramel Apple Crisp

Apple Filling:

5 large Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (I used Pink Ladies and cut mine into chunks.)

1/4 C. white sugar

1 Tbl. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 Tbl. lemon juice

1/4 C. water

caramel sauce or dip

Crisp Topping:

1 C. all purpose flour

1/4 C. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 C. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375. Toss the apples with the other filling ingredients (except caramel) and place in the bottom of casserole dish. (I use an 8 1/2 x 11 oval dish.) Drizzle caramel sauce over apple mixture. (I used about a 1/4 C but I also tossed in a handful of these just for fun.) Combine flour, 1/4 C. sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add egg; mix with fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crumb mixture on top of apples and caramel. Drizzle with melted butter. Bake 35-40 minutes until lightly browned and juices are bubbly at the edge. The caramel bits mostly melted during baking but we did come across a few chewy caramelly bits while we were enjoying it. Delish!

 

My Recipe Binder

I have been using a recipe binder for a little over a year now (as Miss Margaret can attest to since it was in use at her visit last year). I've wanted to mention it here but I'm always hesitant to rave about something new that's working for me lest in a month or two I find it completely impractical. Well, I think a year of usage is pretty good for a test run and I can now say that it has worked beautifully and continues to do so.

Do you ever get in a rut when planning and fixing meals for your family? Do you feel like you are cooking the same things over and over? That was the sentiment that inspired this binder. It's not a catch-all binder. Oh no! This binder is strictly for tried and true family favorites that we know and love (or atleast, most of us do). There is a pocket for new recipes to try but they are held back and kept on the outside, so to speak, until they are tested and evaluated and then finally added to The Binder! 

Here is how it works. It's really quite simple as most successful things are!

I chose a colorful binder and added some pretty paper to it. It must be the kind of binder that has clear plastic cover on the outside that you can slip things inside of. Then I created a template for my recipes and started typing up the ones that we used the most, loved the best, or were the easiest to prepare. 

A package of printable dividers allowed me to sort the recipes by my favorite categories. The categories are in alphabetical order (mostly), but the recipes inside each section are not. I'll explain why below.

When I use a recipe, I pop it out of the binder and slip it into the front pocket. This acts like a page protector so that splashes and spills are easily wiped away. Then when I put it back behind it's divider, I always put it up front. What this does is create a record of those recipes I use most often at the front of the section with the ones I haven't used in a while falling to the back. This was quite a happy accident that I didn't intend, but was delighted to discover! So when I feel that rut coming on, I flip to the back of the section and remind myself about all the other meals we enjoy!

So, that's my recipe binder. It has made meal planning and preparing so much nicer. Like I said, I use the inside pocket to store recipes I might like to try, so it still allows for creativity, but those don't get typed up and added to the binder until we decide that it's something that works for a regular family meal. I love how it allows me to refresh my menu plan easily when I feel like I've become stuck and it's functional too having just the one plastic protector instead of one for each recipe.

BTW... here are updated pictures of those bookshelves I linked to above. The K.I.S.S. alphabetical shelf organization is still going strong and working well for us. There was no tidying that took place prior to taking these pictures.

Drool worthy

Both cakes turned out amazing! I forgot to mention yesterday that Jennifer is the one who introduced us to the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake recipe and the children are singing her praises today. They have dubbed it "The Reese's Cake" and have all claimed it as their next birthday cake! They did each try a bite of the Lemon Blueberry and all said it was good... except for the blueberries. Weird I tell you! :)

I also forgot to mention that this was a "milestone" birthday for Husband which is another reason he got two cakes and that most of the leftovers were sent in to work with him today. I hope his co-workers like cake! (Seriously, who doesn't?) We saved some for the kids to have another slice today, but as Amy said, a very thin slice is all you need. This cake is super rich!
 

St. Patrick's Day

~the K.I.S.S. version! (Keep It Simple, Sweetie!)

After a morning trip to the dentist for 5 out of 6 of us and an afternoon filled with sinus headaches for most of us and fatigue for the pregnant mommy, our St. Patrick's Day festivities were significantly simple. Some potato leek soup...

...and soda bread was a welcome sight on the menu (easy on the mommy and easy on the teeth!)

(I love the beautiful cross that formed on top!)

...followed by a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream (hey, it's green!)

...topped with Shamrock Shortbread cookies I found at a local grocery store a few weeks ago and had stashed in my pantry.
(The kids thought I had made them so BigBoy wondered why they had chest hair.)

I call it a day! Happy Feast of St. Patrick to you!

May the love and protection St. Patrick can give,

Be yours in abundance as long as you live!

Chocolate Pecan Pie

This Thanksgiving, my children discovered that they really liked pecan pie! But they also really like their Daddy's famous candy bar pie. So we joked about making a pecan candy bar pie by melting a candy bar on top of a pecan pie. Well, apparently the idea intrigued the Professor, so when it came time for his birthday, he asked if there was such a thing or something similar and low and behold... there is!

This is the recipe I used with my notes in blue. 

Chocolate Pecan Pie

1 deep dish pie shell (I admit, I used a frozen one. Do whatever you like but it has to be deep dish or else split it into two regular pies.)

3/4 C. white sugar

1 C. light corn syrup (I used a smidge less only because it was all I had.)

1 stick of butter

4 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I don't see why you couldn't use chips.)

2 C. chopped pecans (most recipes I saw only called for 1 C. of pecans but we like lots of pecans!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pour chocolate chunks into pie crust (still frozen) until you completely cover the bottom in a single layer. (I used about half a small bag.) In a small saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and butter. Melt over medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter melts and the sugar is dissolved. Set aside and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, salt and vanilla. (OK, some people say you can add some bourbon or Kahlua to your pie if you want a more grown up taste, anywhere from 2 to 4 tablespoons. I opted not to since I didn't have anything on hand and this was for the children, but did add a tiny splash of rum extract, maybe 1/2 a tsp.) Mix well. Slowly pour sugar mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Stir in pecans. Pour mixture over chocolate in pie crust. Bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes or until set. Can serve warm, room temp, or chilled.

Sacred Heart Cheesecake

After devouring the Divine Mercy cheesecake, my kids finally agreed that fruit on a cheesecake was good, especially if it was strawberry.

Looks can be deceiving though. What happens when a distracted mommy fails to double check the recipe because she thinks she has it memorized? You get a cheesecake with no sugar in it. It wasn't terrible because the cake mix had some sugar in it. But not enough. Like I said, not terrible, but noticeable.

For anyone who looks at this and thinks that it requires special training or great skill to put together, I assure you that's not true. The recipe is a super easy one to follow, that's why it's one of my favorites. Just make sure you remember the sugar! It bakes up into a nice, firm cheesecake, not a tender, temperamental one. I have flipped it out of the pan onto my hand and then back onto a cooling rack without ever breaking one. The whipped cream goes on with a spoon and the strawberry sauce come from a can. Those flames? Hah! Just a glob of more whipped cream with colored sugar sprinkled on top and the Junior Mint cross sits on the serving plate. I didn't even anchor them to the plate with frosting which means they kind of slid around while I was taking it out of the fridge.

 

Recipe Blegs

I'm looking for a couple of recipes and would like some that are tried and true so I'm turning to you sweet friends! First, I need a basic pinto bean recipe that can be cooked in the crockpot. By basic, I mean, no jalapenos or other peppers and no meat like ham or bacon. Onions or Mexican spices are fine.

Also, a homemade ginger snap cookie that is more crunchy than chewy, although chewy would be fine too if it is a very spicy ginger cookie.

This has nothing to do with being pregnant. Well, OK... maybe a little. : ) I don't know that I would call them cravings, just a very definite, although sometimes changeable, limit to what kinds of food I can tolerate the thought of without turning green. High protein foods, like beans, seem to help a lot and I know that ginger is a natural remedy that I've tried before. I just don't think I could choke down a giant ginger horse pill right now or live through the after taste either.

Thank you!

Our New Favorite Muffins

My kids love muffins of all kinds (except for the traditional blueberry) but they have really been enjoying this new recipe I've been using. Now, I have a dynamite banana bread recipe that always gets two thumbs up, but I came across this one when I was searching for a carrot muffin that didn't have pineapple in it. My kids are totally pineapple purists. Cold, not cooked and in big chunks, straight from the pineapple, please!

This recipe works up a little different than most of my quick bread recipes; you blend the oil with the sugar first, add the eggs and then alternate the dry ingredients with the bananas. I don't know why they say to do it that way, but it works. These muffins are always light and fluffy, never dense and flat! I'll post the recipe below with my notes in color.

Carrot Banana Bread

1/3 C. veg. oil

1 C. sugar (I use less, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 C.)

2 eggs

2 C. all purpose flour (1 C. all-purpose, 1 C. whole wheat)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (I use 1 tsp.)

1 C. mashed ripe bananas

1C. grated carrots (I usually chop mine in the food processor.)

1/2 C. chopped pecans (optional)

In a mixing bowl, combine the oil and sugar. Add egg; mix well. Combine the rest of the dry ingredients and gradually add to the creamed mixture alternating with the bananas. Spoon into greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Cool before removing from pan to wire rack.