Pumpkin Pie Granola

I am one of those people that jumps on the "pumpkin spice" band-wagon each fall.  It smells amazing and tastes delicious.  I ended up making five new pumpkin recipes in 2016.  It doesn't help that I buy big cans of pumpkin so I have to make multiple items to use up the whole can.

One of my favorite new recipes was my own creation of Pumpkin Pie Granola, which was inspired by this recipe.  The biggest thing I learned was NOT to stir the granola to make it all clustery and extra amazing.  It was a granola revelation.  I will use this method for all granola-making in the future because it just makes better granola.  So on with the recipe ....

In a small saucepan on medium-low heat, stir together the following for five minutes:
  1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  1/2 cup honey
  3 tablespoons oil

Take off the heat and add:
  2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  2 teaspoons vanilla

In a large bowl stir together:
  3 cups old fashioned oats
  1 1/2 cups bran cereal
  1 cup shredded coconut
  1 cup slivered almonds
  1/4 cup ground flax seed
  2 tablespoons chia seeds

Pour pumpkin mixture over it and stir until combined.
Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.
DO NOT STIR until it has cooled, and then store in an air-tight container.

Recipes 2016: January

After completing my 100 Recipe Challenge last year, I wasn't sure that I would be eager to do another one right away. But I got my slow cooker for Christmas, and with our current church schedule, we have started having Slow Cooker Sundays.  So I'm at it again.  Instead of doing a separate list for this year, I'll be adding my favorite recipes to our master recipe list, and calling it good.  But so you have an idea of what's going on the list, here's what I made this month.

Our first Sunday meal was Sweet and Sour Sauce on Slow Cooker Ribs. A fabulous meal to break in the new slow cooker.  The meat was amazing and the sauce worked great. We bought a huge can of crushed pineapple (hence all the other pineapple recipes), and made a large batch of sauce, so we froze a lot of it.

Apple Chips - I had apples and was about to return a borrowed dehydrator.  I really need to make these more often, because we were given a dehydrator, and I ate them up fast. Great snack.

Had to use up the pineapple so I made Pineapple Pudding Whip, Pineapple Chicken Salad, Layered Lime Tiramisu (from Company's Coming: Mexican Made Easy), Sweet Carrot Salad, and Pineapple Meatballs (Company's Coming: Slow Cooker Meals).  Pudding was yummy, with a different texture. We made the tiramisu for a friend's birthday and would happily make it again (if you are interested in the recipe please ask).  The salads were alright, but didn't hit the spot for me - maybe in the summer.  The meatballs were okay, but not a favorite.

Greek Yogurt Pizza Crust - we make pizza often at our house, and since our breadmaker died, this is definitely going to be our go-to crust recipe.  Two ingredients (or technically four) is perfect.  And it is delicious. We made some slow cooker pulled pork and it was AMAZING on a pizza.

Almond Milk Pancakes - We found almond milk for cheap and bought a lot, so we were finding ways to use it.  I usually prefer French toast to pancakes, but these were delicious. We made them three times in one weekend.  The small batch is perfect for the three of us.

Avocado Lime Ice Cream - We just happened to have all the ingredients for this (we don't usually have fresh limes), so I was happy to try it out.  MUCH yummier than the plain avocado ice cream recipe from last year. I would happily make this again.  Aaron also made a huge batch of Raspberry Frozen Yogurt, but didn't follow a recipe or write any measurements down, but it included almond milk, greek yogurt, raspberries, and a little sugar.  It goes great with the lime.

Oatmeal Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt - the first time in forever that I didn't have a banana in the freezer (or anywhere!) so I used an avocado instead and added extra honey.  Didn't turn out horrible, but not amazing either.  I'll eat what I made (with the addition of chocolate chips and coconut) but won't be making it again.

"Tasty" shares a bunch of quick videos with fun recipes on Facebook, and we've tried Apple Fritter Rings and Honey Garlic Chicken.  The apples were deliciously crunchy. Such a fun little dessert.  We enjoyed the chicken too, but I prefer potatoes and carrots with red meat. 

Recipe 25: French Toast Churros

I found this recipe for French Toast Roll-Ups on The Girl Who Ate Everything.  And it was delicious - like fruit filled churros, leave a smile on your face, go back for more, yummy.  Here's the recipe off the website:

• 8 slices white sandwich bread  *(make sure it is soft, or it will fall apart)
• softened cream cheese, diced strawberries, or Nutella
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
• butter, for greasing the pan

1. Cut the crust from each slice of bread and flatten it out with a rolling pin.
2. Place about 1-2 teaspoons of your chosen filling 1 inch from one end of the bread in a strip. Roll the bread up tightly and repeat with the remaining pieces of bread. 
3. In a shallow bowl whisk the eggs and milk until well combined.
4. In a separate shallow bowl mix the sugar with the cinnamon.
5. Heat a skillet set over medium heat and melt a tablespoon of butter.
6. Dip each bread roll in the egg mixture coating well and then place them in the pan seam side down. Cook in batches until golden brown, turning them to cook and brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Add butter to the pan as needed.
7. Put cooked rolls immediately from the pan to the cinnamon sugar and roll until completely covered in sugar. You can serve with syrup for dipping but I think they're perfectly good all by themselves.

I followed her "inspired by" link and they had more suggestions for fillings - peanut butter, jelly, dulce de leche, marshmallow fluff, any kind of fruit, preserves.  I made some with jelly and some with bananas.  Yum.  I didn't dredge in cinnamon, just sprinkled, and that was plenty.  

I dipped the crust trimmings into the egg and cooked those up too.  They were like French toast French fries .. toast fries?  Appropriate to go with the "churros" - like carnival food.  Definitely a treat.


*Half way through March and already at 25 new recipes?  I'm well on my way to 100 new recipes in a year!

Yummy Smoothies

When it's too hot outside to even consider flipping pancakes, I like a cold breakfast. I serve a smoothie with a piece of toast, and you get a nice, balanced meal!

Throw all this into a blender (for 2 servings):
1/2 C yogurt (vanilla or plain for any flavor, or go with peach, strawberry, etc. for specific ones)
2 Tbsp flax seeds
1/2 C ice
1/2 to 1 C fruit -- I like bananas, frozen berries, or pineapple
enough milk or orange juice to make the mixture liquid as you blend it

To make it a bit richer, you can add chocolate syrup...my very favorite is bananas, strawberries, and chocolate sauce!

(I also like to make these as breakfasts on the run...subliminally, it feels like I'm getting a milkshake for breakfast, if I drink it with a straw!)

peanut butter granola bars

We love baked oatmeal and all things peanut butter in this house ... this is a wonderful mishmash of the two. Got it here.

Peanut Butter Granola Squares

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup whole wheat flour (or another kind of flour if you prefer)
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (optional)

1 cup butter*
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter (preferably organic PB with no sugar added)

Directions:
Combine oats through salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine.

Heat butter through peanut butter in a sauce pan until all are melted. Add melted mixture to the dry ingredients in the bowl. Stir to make sure oats are completely covered.

Spread the mixture into a 13 x 9 baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into squares. Enjoy!

*****
Comments: I used 1/2 c butter (well, dairy free margarine) and 3/4 c applesauce, and added about 1/2 c craisins. They were done at about 27 minutes. I used regular white flour (because I'm a dork and my wheat flour has gone bad).

The pan lasted for more than 2 days as it's very filling and we all could only eat one at a time, and they're portable and healthy, triple score! I'm actually eating the last one right now (because I work nights and need something to get me through). Kiddo loved them for breakfast, and even ate the craisins. lol. Hubby loved them, too, grabbing one in the morning as soon as he got home from work. They are soft to begin with but if you forget to cover them, they harden up a bit. We did take a couple squares in baggies while we were out and those were softer as well.

I would give them 5 stars because even if I wouldn't take them to a dinner party, I would serve them to house guests for breakfast.

blueberry lemon muffins

I love these and bake them whenever I find blueberries at a decent price (which is never ... so sometimes I buy the blueberries anyway and bake them because they're YUMMY!) I baked them again this weekend.

1 and 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup superfine sugar (run a cup of regular sugar through the blender and measure it from there - it makes a big difference in the consistency)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter melted
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
5 ounces or 1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, melted butter, milk, vanilla, and lemon zest until thoroughly combined.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. Stir until the flour is incorporated but not until it's entirely smooth.

Dust the blueberries with flour, and then fold into the batter. (The flour prevents them from sinking to the bottom during baking.)

Put into baking pans and bake for 20 minutes at 400.

The recipe says that this is for 12 muffins - I got 16 out of it.

Easter Breakfast

So I really don't have a recipe for this, I don't even really have a name for it - but we have it every year in the days following Easter and it is so yummy. Not "knock your socks off" kind of yummy, but serious "comfort food" type of yummy.

Peel and chop of the died hard boiled eggs that are left - separating the whites from the yolks
Make a simple white sauce (plenty of salt and pepper)
Toss in the egg whites
Serve egg/white sauce on toast with crumbled egg yolks on top

I tend to make this every few months just because I like it, it is a lot more fun after Easter because you get a few spots of colored egg whites in the mix, festive and yummy, and a great way to use up hard boiled eggs.

Breakfast Casserole

We had this for breakfast every Christmas and Easter every year for as long as I can remember. I've started the tradition at our house! I make it the evening before and then it's ready to pop into the oven before church on Easter Sunday (or before stockings on Christmas morning...).

1 lb sausage

6 slices white bread, crusts removed

margarine, softened
1 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese
5 eggs
2 C half and half
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard

Cook sausage and drain. Butter both sides of each slice of bread, then cut into cubes. Place bread in bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. Sprinkle with sausage, then top with cheese. Combine all other ingredients and beat well. Pour evenly into pan. Chill for at least 8 hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Strawberry Waffles

My families big deal on Christmas and Easter is Strawberry Waffles. All that we do is make waffles like normal, and then add strawberries (either fresh, or the frozen compote, thawed), and top with whipped cream.

They are the yummiest!

crepes

We originally got this recipe off AllRecipes, but altered it a bit. This is our version. Adam makes these so frequently that we have the recipe on cardstock and taped to the inside of the kitchen cupboard. I finally made them myself a couple of weeks ago, so it's #9 of 50.

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 regular sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Sift the dry ingredients together.

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons melted butter

Mix the wet ingredients together, then combine wet and dry ingredients.

Butter the skillet between each crepe. Pour a small amount of batter into pan, then pick up pan and swirl it around so the crepe is very thin. When ready to flip it, pick up the pan and shake it to loosen the crepe from the pan before lifting it with the spatula.

Top with whipped cream and diced fruit. Our favorites are strawberries and blueberries, OR very tiny diced apples heated in a saucepan with cinnamon and sugar.

Oatmeal Bake

I just found this recipe online. I went ahead and made it. While I was making it I went ahead and tweaked it a little though. The cinnamon made me think of apples so I added two small granny smith apples as well. I definitely would be a great breakfast item, or something to snack on. It does require a fork though.

I love it and will add it to my recipe arsenal!

Oatmeal Bake
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup canola oil (or can use applesauce or combo of)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 cups oats
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine all. Grease a 9 x 12" pan. Bake 30 min.