Happy New Year! OK, so it's February already, and I haven't updated the blog since August. BUT, to be fair, (to myself) our pot-luck group was a little frazzled over the holidays. We didn't get a lot of recipes in, or even a lot of people coming to the pot-lucks. So in January, with the beginnings of a lot of good New Year's resolutions, we had a lot of ladies come, and a lot of recipes brought. Yay!
Casseroles are comfort food. They're also kinda hard for some people. I'm not sure why. You take food, dump it in a casserole dish and bake it. Then when it's hot, you feed it to your family. Dinner. Eat it! In my mind, there are endless ways to serve the same thing and call it a different casserole. Chicken and corn tortillas = Chicken Enchiladas! Chicken and Spaghetti = Chicken Tetrazinni! Chicken and Rice = One Dish Chicken and Rice Bake! Chicken and Potatoes = Chicken Pot Pie! (OK, technically not a casserole, but you get the idea...) Of course, you also need a sauce of some sort. All of my fave casseroles use a cream of soup, but you could totally change it up with a marinara sauce and use ground hamburger instead of chicken. (Beef Enchiladas, Spaghetti Pie, Spanish Rice, Shepherd's Pie) See what I mean? Now, if you use whole grain rice and pasta it ramps up the health value. Also, if you make you own sauce, then you know exactly what you're getting in your casserole. To that end, our first recipe comes from Mary Ostyn (One of my fave ladies, wish I knew her personally...)
http://www.owlhaven.net/2012/10/12/recipe-cream-of-anything-soup/
I used it in my Mom's ultimate comfort food, Chicken Enchilada casserole. My mom grew up in Mexico, so you'd think she'd LOVE spicy food. Wrong. My Mom grew up in POOR Mexico, which means she grew up eating beans and bread. My poor Dad used to carry his own personal shaker of cayenne pepper with him to sprinkle on food at social functions so he could taste it. Anyway, my Mom's recipe for enchilada's is NOT what you would expect from enchiladas. These have absolutely NO spice or even mild warmth in them whatsoever. So feel free to up the heat level to your family preferences with green peppers, chilies, pepper jack cheese, whatever. Or, just bring your own personal shaker of cayenne pepper.
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
8-10 corn tortillas
1 can cream of chicken soup (or one serving cream of anything soup)
1 can milk (or about 1 1/4 cups)
grated cheese
about 1/2 to 1 cup cooked diced chicken
Mix together soup and milk. Tear corn tortillas into fourths and make a layer on the bottom of your casserole pan. Sprinkle diced chicken and cheese over tortillas. Pour some soup mix over that and continue layering like lasagna until everything is in there. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Top with cheese and serve. (Note: If you're crunched for time, I have successfully microwaved this before in about 10 min.It's a little softer, but it's still good.)
I have no idea who any of these next casseroles come from, because nobody put their names on their recipes! Didn't you guys go to school? Didn't your teachers tell you to ALWAYS write your names on your papers? Sheesh! Just kidding, I'm actually just glad I have more recipes than just my own to type up...
This one was probably the least healthy one of the bunch... but well... it was really good. And really easy. And, your kids will probably loooove it. I'm pretty sure mine will. (I'm also pretty sure this was Darla's recipe...)
Chili Dog Casserole
2 cans chili with beans
1 pkg beef hot dogs
8 in flour tortillas
8 oz. cheese
Preheat oven to 425. Pour and spread 1 can chili on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Wrap hot dogs in flour tortillas, layer on top of chili, seam side down. Spread the other can of chili on top. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake for 30 min.
OK, now to make up for the chili cheese dogs, :) we have:
Vegetarian Mexican Casserole
1 can corn
1 can black beans, drained
2 cups cooked rice
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
8 oz. cour cream
10 oz. diced tomatoes with chilies
8 oz. Picante sauce
1 tsp black pepper
Mix it all up and dump it in a 9x13 in pan. Cook at 350 for 50 min. Top with green onions, diced olives and Monterrey Jack cheese. She served this with blue corn chips, so I'm thinking this one came from Rachel because I saw her carrying them in...
I'm such a good detective, I've figured out two so far! I guess I wasn't as busy snarfing casseroles as I thought I was! So keeping my Sherlock Holmes cap on, I'm going to deduce that this next recipe is from Jackie, the vegan in our group.
Vegan Christmas Casserole
1/2 cup almond, rice or soy milk
1 cup veganaise (I personally did not even know there was such a thing...)
2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
salt/pepper
1 tsp. paprika
3 cups cooked rice
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 in. pieces
3.5 oz. sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Preheat oven to 400. Lightly oil 9x13 casserole dish. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until transparent, 3-5 min. Add mushrooms and cook another 3 min. Add asparagus and sun dried tomatoes and cook 5 min more. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, mix milk, veganiase, Dijon, salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked rice and vegetables to milk mixture. Spread in casserole dish. Sprinkle with paprika. Place in oven and bake for 20 min. Allow a few minutes to cool, then enjoy!
I'm gonna say this next one was from Margie. It seems like a Margie type of casserole. Mmm... ravioli... cheese... I can't wait to make this one for my family, serve it with a nice green salad and some french bread. I think this is gonna be dinner tonight!
Weeknight Ravioli Bake
i jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, un-drained
1/2 cup water
2 pkg. (1 lb. each) frozen cheese ravioli
1 pkg. (7 oz.) shredded Italian Three Cheese Blend
2 Tbs. Kraft grated Parmesan Cheese
Preheat oven to 400. Mix spaghetti sauce, tomatoes and water; spoon 1 cup onto bottom of 13x9 in. baking dish. Layer half the ravioli and 1 cup shredded cheese over sauce mixture. Top with remaining ravioli and sauce mix. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover. Bake for 30 min. Uncover and bake 15 more min. or until ravioli is tender and heated through. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Let stand 10 min before serving.
This next one is a lot like the ravioli bake, but looks like you can use any kind of noodle. Tracy, (I think it was Tracy...) used broken spaghetti noodles, but I can easily see bow ties or macaroni noodles in here. This is one of casseroles that becomes a casserole when Daddy's not home from work yet, but you want to keep diner hot.
Pizza Casserole
Any type of noodles, cooked and drained
Spaghetti sauce
favorite pizza toppings (pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, you get the picture...)
Layer them up in a 9x13 casserole dish and cook at 350 for 1 hour.
My daughter would love this next one. She loves broccoli! (Weird kid, where did she come from?) AND... by virtue of having guessed everyone else, I proclaim this one as coming from Angela.
Broccoli Casserole
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups Mayo
1/2 cup milk
Cooked broccoli
3 cups cooked rice
shredded cheese
Heat soup, mayo and milk. Layer bottom of pan with 1/2 sauce, then rice, broccoli, chicken and cheese. Add the other half of the sauce and top with more cheese. Bake at 350 for 45 min to 1 hour.
I KNOW this one's from Sheri, because she forgot to bring it, so I had to go to her house and make her give me a massage and watch my kid before I would let her give it to me. I know. I'm so nice, right? This one is a LOT like Angela's only... healthy-er? It's the same basic recipe, with a few healthy changes. So, take your pick... And if you're questioning the taste factor of the healthier version, don't worry about it. It's just as good. It comes from http://eatingwelllivingthin.wordpress.com
Broccoli-Quinoa Casserole
1 (10 oz) can low sodium cream of broccoli or mushroom soup
1/3 cup reduced fat mayonnaise (Sheri used mayo made with Olive Oil)
2 Tbs. milk
1 1/4 cups reduced fat shredded cheese (cheddar, Colby-jack, etc.)
1/2 tsp. Splenda or sugar
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups cooked broccoli
1 1/2 cups COOKED quinoa (see note)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
To cook quinoa:
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
Rinse quinoa in a fine sieve until water runs clear. In a small saucepan combine the quinoa, water, and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. reduce heat to low and cover. cook for 18-20 min. or until fluffy and the white ring/tail is visible. Fluff with a fork.
To PRONOUNCE quinoa:
say keen-wah
To continue:
Preheat oven to 350 and coat a shallow (8x8 or 5-6 cup) casserole dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl combine the soup, mayo, milk, cheese, sugar, pepper, and nutmeg until mixed well. Stir in the quinoa and broccoli. Spoon mixture into prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake for 35-40 min or until bubbly and golden.
Well everyone, enjoy your casseroles! Hopefully you found a new family favorite, or at the very least a new way of looking at casserole cooking. Until next month, live clean!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Friday, August 31, 2012
Clean snacks
For a while now, our ladies exercise group here has been talking about getting together a group to share healthy eating ideas. While we realize that there are SO many different ways and ideas about what eating healthy even MEANS, we just wanted to brainstorm ideas that will help us eat a little healthy-ER than we do now. So, whatever your level of healthy, we hope you find some good ideas here, and some good recipes to jump-start your journey into a healthier lifestyle!
At my house, we're trying to wean the kids (and mommy!) off of SO much sugar and sugary snacks. No more Dora fruit snacks, no more Oreos, no more Marshmallow Mateys... But we've gotta have something to munch on, right? So, I've become a baking fool. This week alone I've made: Bran muffins (eh), Power balls (hit!), zucchini bread (hit!), zucchini brownies (hit! Except with the teen, who doesn't trust my brownies after the spinach brownie incident...) I've also bought a LOT more fruit and veggies, as well as pre-packaging carrot sticks and snack-sized bags of popcorn. I think my husband's happy that there are so many easy munchies laying around, and my kids are no longer going through a box of fruit snacks a day.
Here are the recipes from our first month's meeting:
Healthy Snack Ideas
Power Balls Thank you Pinterest! (And my sister who made me pin this and try it...)
http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/08/no-bake-energy-bites-recipe.html?2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey (can substitute dark agave nectar for all or part of the honey)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or nuts or raisins)
1 tsp vanilla
Mix everything together in a bowl. Chill for one hour in the fridge. Roll into balls. Keep in fridge. My kids love these and keep sneaking them because they think they're cookies!
6-Week Bran Muffins http://www.owlhaven.net/2008/01/30/my-very-favorite-price-is-free/1 cup boiling water
3 cups Bran cereal, divided
1/2 cup melted shortening or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk (make your own by adding 2 Tbs. white vinegar to 2 cups milk, let sit while bran is soaking in water)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbs. baking soda
1 Tbs. salt
Pour boiling water over 1 cup bran cereal in the biggest bowl you have. Let stand until water is absorbed. Stir in shortening or oil until well combined. In a large bowl, combine remaining two cups cereal, sugar, eggs, and buttermilk. Set aside. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add buttermilk mix to cereal mix in first bowl, stirring until combined. Then add flour mix, stirring again until combined. Store batter in fridge, tightly covered for up to six weeks. To make muffins, pre-heat oven to 400*. Grease and flour muffin tins (Seriously, do NOT use muffin liners, the batter sticks to them and you loose half your muffin) spoon batter into tins until 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 min.
You can stir raisins in just before baking and in retrospect I should have done that, then I probably could have passed them off as raisin-bran muffins. Maybe next time I'll dip the tops in sugar like Mary Ostyn recommends and see if my kids go for them a little better.
Applesauce Muffins (Made up by our very own Holly B.)1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup bran cereal
1 cup buttermilk
1 apple
1 tsp butter
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon (divided)
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs. brown sugar (divided)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal
3/4 cup flour (white or wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup veg. oil (OR cut out the oil and add another 1/2 cup applesauce!)
1 egg
Topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup butter (OR more applesauce!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
Wheat germ for sprinkling
(Whew! That's a LOT of ingredients, but these are worth it 'cause they're SO yummy!)
Pre-heat oven to 350* Put oats and Bran cereal in buttermilk and set aside for 30 min. until softened. Cut up apple into very small pieces and put into saucepan along with a sliver of butter, cinnamon, and 1 Tbs. brown sugar. Cook just until apple softens. Let it cool. Meanwhile, mix flaxseed, flour, baking soda, baking powder, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon in large bowl. Add applesauce, oil, egg, wet oats/bran mix, and cooked apples to bowl and mix. Spoon into muffin tins. Mix toppings together and sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake at 375* for 12 min if regular sized muffins, 7 min for mini muffins.
This recipe is from Stephanie R.
Banana Bread3 bananas, smashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Cream together smashed bananas, sugar, butter and eggs. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir and mix well. Bake in a large greased loaf pan at 350* for 55-65 min.
And from Rachel B. we have
Peanut Butter Granola Bars (These kinda remind me of Payday bars)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanuts
wheat germ
Combine together peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil over low heat in a saucepan until melted together. Add oatmeal, peanuts and wheat germ. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Dump into an 8x8 in pan, spread to corners and let cool. Cut into bars or squares.
Peanut Butter Popcorn From Rebecca N. 6-8 cups popped popcorn
1 Tbs. butter or margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup or honey
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt together butter, corn syrup and sugar in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla, stirring to combine. Pour over popcorn. Cool and enjoy! (Protein and grain in one snack! I looove popcorn!)
(Ok, we're all done with the peanut butter recipes, for those of you who have peanut butter allergies, sorry!)
From Christine M.
Maple Vanilla Granola with Almonds
http://goodcheapeats.com/2012/05/maple-vanilla-almond-granola/5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (do not use quick oats)
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup oat bran
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dry-roasted, unsalted almonds
In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, and salt.
In a small saucepan, combine the syrup, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Heat just until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the liquid over the dry mixture and stir to coat. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread evenly, pressing the mixture firmly.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Break into clusters and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before packaging in an airtight container. Stir in the almonds or add them to taste upon serving. Store in an airtight container. Freeze for longer shelf life.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 45 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8
This is a great granola, it turns outs nice and crunchy, and super yummy over vanilla yogurt.
And ALSO from Christine:
REAL Fruit Roll-Ups
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/09/how-to-make-homemade-fruit-roll-ups/Ingredients
2 1/2 – 3 cups ripe or slightly over-ripe diced fruit
sweetener to taste: honey, sugar, agave, etc.
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
optional: seasonings, spices, extracts to tasteInstructions
Preheat oven to lowest temperature. 140° or higher. Puree all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Pour onto a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap, or a silicone baking mat (don’t use foil, parchment, or waxed paper), and spread to 1/8″ thick. Place in oven and bake for 6-8 hours, until center is not tacky anymore. Remove from oven and peel off of baking sheet. Cut into strips and roll in parchment or plastic. Store in airtight container or freeze. Tips:
-All fruits will produce slightly different results. Strawberries and Raspberries are two of my favorites, that consistently produce good flavor and texture. You might have to experiment to find what works well. If you’re going to make a giant batch, you may want to test one first to make sure it works well.
- The addition of sugar or honey enhances the texture and makes the fruit roll ups a little more chewy than if you leave it out.
- If using plastic wrap, it will shrink a little as the fruit dries, so do leave a little extra around the edges. A silicone baking mat works the absolute best in my opinion.
Tracy M. brought an quick snack fix that was probably the favorite with the pre-school crowd we had with us, (but it was lunch time…)
Sandwich WrapsGet a wrap from the store with your favorite sandwich topping. Make just like a sandwich. Roll. Cut into the same size pieces. I like to do 6 pieces, easier to eat.
That’s it! She made peanut butter and jelly ones for us in like, a minute. (Peanut butter again! I think we’re junkies…) I can’t wait to try this one for my kid’s lunch boxes.
Darla H. brought in a huge long list of lunch ideas, so I’ll hang on to those and post them when we do lunch ideas.
Next month we’re going to bring in healthy salad ideas for dinner. So ladies, start thinking, and pinning and trying! Oh, go check out the blogs we borrowed ideas from. Some of these gals are hilarious and you might just find a new favorite blog!
…Wait, what? You want my zucchini brownie recipe? It IS to die for, but we did SNACKS today, not desserts! I’m sure we’ll get around to healthy desserts sometime, (knowing us…) so remind me again when I post about healthy desserts and I’ll give it up as well as my recipe for zucchini pie that can fool the toughest critic into thinking it’s apple. Until next month… eat clean!
At my house, we're trying to wean the kids (and mommy!) off of SO much sugar and sugary snacks. No more Dora fruit snacks, no more Oreos, no more Marshmallow Mateys... But we've gotta have something to munch on, right? So, I've become a baking fool. This week alone I've made: Bran muffins (eh), Power balls (hit!), zucchini bread (hit!), zucchini brownies (hit! Except with the teen, who doesn't trust my brownies after the spinach brownie incident...) I've also bought a LOT more fruit and veggies, as well as pre-packaging carrot sticks and snack-sized bags of popcorn. I think my husband's happy that there are so many easy munchies laying around, and my kids are no longer going through a box of fruit snacks a day.
Here are the recipes from our first month's meeting:
Healthy Snack Ideas
Power Balls Thank you Pinterest! (And my sister who made me pin this and try it...)
http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/08/no-bake-energy-bites-recipe.html?2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey (can substitute dark agave nectar for all or part of the honey)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or nuts or raisins)
1 tsp vanilla
Mix everything together in a bowl. Chill for one hour in the fridge. Roll into balls. Keep in fridge. My kids love these and keep sneaking them because they think they're cookies!
6-Week Bran Muffins http://www.owlhaven.net/2008/01/30/my-very-favorite-price-is-free/1 cup boiling water
3 cups Bran cereal, divided
1/2 cup melted shortening or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk (make your own by adding 2 Tbs. white vinegar to 2 cups milk, let sit while bran is soaking in water)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbs. baking soda
1 Tbs. salt
Pour boiling water over 1 cup bran cereal in the biggest bowl you have. Let stand until water is absorbed. Stir in shortening or oil until well combined. In a large bowl, combine remaining two cups cereal, sugar, eggs, and buttermilk. Set aside. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add buttermilk mix to cereal mix in first bowl, stirring until combined. Then add flour mix, stirring again until combined. Store batter in fridge, tightly covered for up to six weeks. To make muffins, pre-heat oven to 400*. Grease and flour muffin tins (Seriously, do NOT use muffin liners, the batter sticks to them and you loose half your muffin) spoon batter into tins until 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 min.
You can stir raisins in just before baking and in retrospect I should have done that, then I probably could have passed them off as raisin-bran muffins. Maybe next time I'll dip the tops in sugar like Mary Ostyn recommends and see if my kids go for them a little better.
Applesauce Muffins (Made up by our very own Holly B.)1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup bran cereal
1 cup buttermilk
1 apple
1 tsp butter
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon (divided)
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs. brown sugar (divided)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal
3/4 cup flour (white or wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup veg. oil (OR cut out the oil and add another 1/2 cup applesauce!)
1 egg
Topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup butter (OR more applesauce!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
Wheat germ for sprinkling
(Whew! That's a LOT of ingredients, but these are worth it 'cause they're SO yummy!)
Pre-heat oven to 350* Put oats and Bran cereal in buttermilk and set aside for 30 min. until softened. Cut up apple into very small pieces and put into saucepan along with a sliver of butter, cinnamon, and 1 Tbs. brown sugar. Cook just until apple softens. Let it cool. Meanwhile, mix flaxseed, flour, baking soda, baking powder, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon in large bowl. Add applesauce, oil, egg, wet oats/bran mix, and cooked apples to bowl and mix. Spoon into muffin tins. Mix toppings together and sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake at 375* for 12 min if regular sized muffins, 7 min for mini muffins.
This recipe is from Stephanie R.
Banana Bread3 bananas, smashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Cream together smashed bananas, sugar, butter and eggs. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir and mix well. Bake in a large greased loaf pan at 350* for 55-65 min.
And from Rachel B. we have
Peanut Butter Granola Bars (These kinda remind me of Payday bars)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanuts
wheat germ
Combine together peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil over low heat in a saucepan until melted together. Add oatmeal, peanuts and wheat germ. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Dump into an 8x8 in pan, spread to corners and let cool. Cut into bars or squares.
Peanut Butter Popcorn From Rebecca N. 6-8 cups popped popcorn
1 Tbs. butter or margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup or honey
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt together butter, corn syrup and sugar in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla, stirring to combine. Pour over popcorn. Cool and enjoy! (Protein and grain in one snack! I looove popcorn!)
(Ok, we're all done with the peanut butter recipes, for those of you who have peanut butter allergies, sorry!)
From Christine M.
Maple Vanilla Granola with Almonds
http://goodcheapeats.com/2012/05/maple-vanilla-almond-granola/
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup oat bran
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dry-roasted, unsalted almonds
In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, and salt.
In a small saucepan, combine the syrup, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Heat just until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the liquid over the dry mixture and stir to coat. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread evenly, pressing the mixture firmly.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Break into clusters and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before packaging in an airtight container. Stir in the almonds or add them to taste upon serving. Store in an airtight container. Freeze for longer shelf life.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 45 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8
This is a great granola, it turns outs nice and crunchy, and super yummy over vanilla yogurt.
And ALSO from Christine:
REAL Fruit Roll-Ups
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/09/how-to-make-homemade-fruit-roll-ups/Ingredients
2 1/2 – 3 cups ripe or slightly over-ripe diced fruit
sweetener to taste: honey, sugar, agave, etc.
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
optional: seasonings, spices, extracts to tasteInstructions
Preheat oven to lowest temperature. 140° or higher. Puree all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Pour onto a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap, or a silicone baking mat (don’t use foil, parchment, or waxed paper), and spread to 1/8″ thick. Place in oven and bake for 6-8 hours, until center is not tacky anymore. Remove from oven and peel off of baking sheet. Cut into strips and roll in parchment or plastic. Store in airtight container or freeze. Tips:
-All fruits will produce slightly different results. Strawberries and Raspberries are two of my favorites, that consistently produce good flavor and texture. You might have to experiment to find what works well. If you’re going to make a giant batch, you may want to test one first to make sure it works well.
- The addition of sugar or honey enhances the texture and makes the fruit roll ups a little more chewy than if you leave it out.
- If using plastic wrap, it will shrink a little as the fruit dries, so do leave a little extra around the edges. A silicone baking mat works the absolute best in my opinion.
Tracy M. brought an quick snack fix that was probably the favorite with the pre-school crowd we had with us, (but it was lunch time…)
Sandwich WrapsGet a wrap from the store with your favorite sandwich topping. Make just like a sandwich. Roll. Cut into the same size pieces. I like to do 6 pieces, easier to eat.
That’s it! She made peanut butter and jelly ones for us in like, a minute. (Peanut butter again! I think we’re junkies…) I can’t wait to try this one for my kid’s lunch boxes.
Darla H. brought in a huge long list of lunch ideas, so I’ll hang on to those and post them when we do lunch ideas.
Next month we’re going to bring in healthy salad ideas for dinner. So ladies, start thinking, and pinning and trying! Oh, go check out the blogs we borrowed ideas from. Some of these gals are hilarious and you might just find a new favorite blog!
…Wait, what? You want my zucchini brownie recipe? It IS to die for, but we did SNACKS today, not desserts! I’m sure we’ll get around to healthy desserts sometime, (knowing us…) so remind me again when I post about healthy desserts and I’ll give it up as well as my recipe for zucchini pie that can fool the toughest critic into thinking it’s apple. Until next month… eat clean!
Ivy
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