Granola bar - FAIL

I love making snacks for our family.  I love knowing that we are snacking on healthy, homemade food...rather than processed food from the store.  I love the entire process (well everything but the clean up anyway) of creating delicious healthy treats.  Last week, I wanted to make some healthy snacks for the plane ride last week, so I decided to make some granola bars.  I based my recipe on one I saw in a Taste of Home magazine, but apparently I should have followed the recipe a little closer, because my granola bars wouldn't stick together...FAIL.

It wasn't a total failure though, because actually, this granola bar crumbled mess made some of the tastiest, chewiest granola I've ever had.  So...if you are in the mood to make your own granola, you can use my tried and true recipe healthy granola, or you could try this one too...minus the egg...that was only necessary for the granola bar recipe. Hey, and if you want to try to make bars out of this recipe, let me know if it works for you. 

3-1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup chopped cashews  
1 egg, lightly beaten 
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup honey 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/2 cup sunflower kernels 
1/2 cup flaked coconut 
1 cup dried cranberries 
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon  

In a large bowl, mix oats, almonds, cashews, cranberries, coconut, sunflower kernels, cinnamon, and any other seeds or nuts you would like to add.  In another bowl whisk together the honey, butter, and vanilla.  Pour the honey mixture into the oat mixture and stir until thoroughly combined.  Spread in a large cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Egg scramble and lots of veggies

I'm not really a huge fan of scrambled eggs, but throw in a few veggies and a side of toast and it quickly becomes a favorite.  I love to cook with vegetables, all kinds of vegetables.  For this meal, I just used whatever I had laying around in my fridge.  This was actually a meal I made for dinner (breakfast for dinner is the best) but it would be perfect on a lazy Saturday morning too. 


1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1 Roma tomato chopped
1-2 handfuls spinach
6 eggs
1-2 tbsp cream (or milk)
salt and pepper to taste
feta cheese (for sprinkling on top)

In a bowl whisk together eggs and cream, season with salt and pepper. 

 Saute onion and peppers in olive oil for 5 minutes, add in tomatoes and season with salt and pepper (a few shakes of each) and cook for another couple of minutes.  Add in the spinach and cook for one more minute and then add in the egg mixture.  Cook through and sprinkle with feta.  Enjoy!

Chocolate cookies

I love this simple chocolate cookie recipe from Martha Stewart.  They are perfectly crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside.  Normally, these cookies flatten out pretty well, but when I made them this time they stayed puffy.  I think it's because I used Silpats (silicone cookie sheet liners) instead of parchment paper.  I recently purchased a couple of them, and I'm still learning when to use them and when to not.  Flat or puffy, these cookies are tasty...enjoy!

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies (Martha Stewart)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 sticks plus 4 tablespoons) unsalted, butter room temperature
2 cups sugar, plus more for dipping
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix to combine. Gradually add dry ingredients, and combine with mixer on low speed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and chill until dough is firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Dip top of each ball into sugar. Place on prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Creamy Pesto Sauce

I have a special place in my heart for creamy sauces over pasta.  I know a good cream sauce is calorie rich, and probably has more fat in it than I should consume in a day, but it's so worth it.  Last night I made a creamy pesto sauce with tomatoes, and it was AMAZING!  You can my recipe for pesto sauce here, or even a store bought pesto, if you want a really easy dinner.

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp butter
1 cup pesto sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)

Heat cream on low to medium heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add butter, and once butter is melted add pesto sauce and tomatoes to pan.  After sauce is heated thoroughly, add Parmesan cheese to sauce.  Pour over pasta and enjoy!

Leaving on a jet plane

Well, I'm off to Vegas for a few days, so I'll be taking a little blog break.  Have a great week!

Baked Veggie Chips

Wow...so baked chips are not for the faint of heart.  I've never baked chips (or fried them for that matter) and I had no idea how time consuming it was.  I gave my mandolin away at a white elephant Christmas party last year, which is unfortunate because it would have really come in handy yesterday.  I had to manually cut the potatoes and beets, which wasn't a big deal, except that they were different sizes and so they all cooked at different times.  Anyway, they were super tasty and I think I'll do it again, I just think it would be way easier with a mandolin.  Here is the recipe if you want to brave making these tasty treats.

2-3 russet potatoes (peeled and sliced thinly 1/8 inch-ish)
1 large beet (peeled and sliced thinly)
Any other root vegetable you have on hand (sweet potatoes, parsnips)

Place the slices in a large bowl, and drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper to taste.  Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Bake at 375 degrees until they veggies are golden brown or about 15 minutes, turn once. 

Enjoy!

Things are coming up!

I so love this time of year, when my seeds start sprouting and popping up out of the ground.  My peas have been out for a couple of weeks now, I have some lovely onion starts in the ground, and my lettuce just peeped it's head out of the soil a couple of days ago.  I'm going out today to plant a few more seeds with my little guy.  He is very excited about his own garden bed that daddy made for him last week.  Today, we will be planting carrots, beets, broccoli, and kale.  It's been so fun to get him involved.  He helped daddy fill the box with soil, and yesterday, planted all of his peas by himself.  He is choosing the veggies that he'd like to grow, and can't wait to eat them.  I love that we are not only teaching him how to grow his own food, but also teaching him hard work and patience.