Granola Bars Revisited

A while back I posted a recipe for granola bars. These bars are great and it's still a great recipe. However, we've made some modifications around here so I thought I'd share the changes.

First, we've pretty much switched to almond butter in our house in general, so I switched the peanut butter for almond butter in the recipe. And, we had to use unsalted almond butter once so I added sea salt to the recipe to make up for it. Turns out I like the bars with a little bit of salt added so that's on the list of ingredients now too.

Almond butter and sea salt.

Second, we had a small portion of dried cherries and dried cranberries around the house and I wasn't using them for anything. One day I got tired of looking at them in the cabinet so I added them to the granola bars. Delightful. So, we either buy dried fruits in bulk to add to the mix or use some of our own dehydrated fruits. We had a big batch of strawberries earlier in the spring and some peaches and apricots from earlier this summer. I chop them up with kitchen scissors and mix them right in.

Dried fruits.

Finally, I didn't have sesame seeds one day and so they didn't get added. I didn't miss them and it was one less thing to buy at the store so they're gone.

So, here's the updated recipe:

Mix the following in a large bowl:

5 Tbsp. melted butter
2/3 cup almond butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup whole flax seeds
1/2 cup ground/milled flax
1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 tsp. vanilla

sea salt to taste

Then stir in:
1/2 cup steel cut oats
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 bag of dark chocolate chips

dried fruits of your choice

Press into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I usually let them cool for a bit before I cut them and then I store them in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Almond Caramel Corn

A few weeks ago we stumbled on a package of almond crunch popcorn in the store. They happened to be giving out samples so we tried some. It was delicious. But, it was around $3.79 for a little 8 ounce bag. We bought one anyway, but I knew that this was not going to become a routine purchase for us. So I decided to try my hand at almond caramel corn.

I used 1/2 cup of popcorn and popped it up in my whirley pop. Then, I combined 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 3 Tbsp. butter and 2 Tbsp. Amaretto. I heated that mixture on the stove until it was completely dissolved.

Melted sweetness.

Then, I added it to the popcorn and mixed it well.

Note to self: REMOVE the old maids before you mix in caramel. No one likes to have a clump of popcorn with a piece that could break their teeth.

I poured the coated popcorn into a 9x13 pan and baked for 15 minutes at 300. I stirred it and baked it for another 10 minutes before dumping it on a coated piece of aluminum foil to cool.

It smelled so good here. And I am not afraid to say that I did eat some pieces right out of the oven. It was worth it.

It was pretty tasty, but incredibly sweet. And sticky. I think I'll continue to experiment with this one, but it sure looked pretty!

Good stuff, just too sweet for us.

Iced Coffee

One of my favorite splurges when I'm out and about is a granita at our local coffee shop. The granita is basically a toddy, a coffee that's been cold brewed, mixed with ice, milk/cream, and a sweetening agent. These things are ridiculously good.

Being value conscious, my husband and I talked about trying to make something similar at home. So, last year for his birthday, I bought a french press iced coffee maker. It was my favorite birthday present that wasn't actually my birthday present.

So here's what we do, put the same amount of coffee you would normally use for the number of cups you are preparing in the bottom of the pitcher. I usually stop to admire the beauty of the coffe at this point and stick my nose right down in there to get a good wiff.

It's pretty AND it smells good!

Fill the pitcher about half way with water, stir the coffee with a wooden spoon, and fill the rest of the way up with water. Pop the top on it and set it in the fridge overnight.

Water + Coffee Beans = Crazy Delicious.

In the morning, take the lid off and stir it again with a wooden spoon. Then place this compressor top thing on the pitcher and press those coffee grounds to the bottom.

Put the "compressor top thing" on the pitcher.

Since this is the french press part of the equation, feel free to say things with a French accent. Bonjour! It has no effect on the taste of the coffee, but it's fun to do in the morning before you've had a delcious cup of joe. Also, it makes my husband laugh and he is not a morning person so I consider it a victory when I get a chuckle.

Press it down. S'il vous plaît.

This is where things get going. We have a Magic Bullet, but you could easily use a blender. We fill the glass about 2/3 of the way full with the iced coffee and add a slug of half and half or cream.

The wonders of the Magic Bullet.

Then, this is where it gets intense. We had a tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk. We top it off with a few ice cubes and let the bullet work its magic.

Sweetened condensed milk is amazing. Like "I want to stick my tongue in there and lick any residual milk that didn't make it out of the can" amazing.

Pour it into some glasses and enjoy. It is so delicious that we have had to limit this treat to weekends so we can continue to fit into our pants.

Good morning!

Granola Bars

I used to pack a granola bar in my lunch every single day. It was a "healthy" little taste of sweetness that served as my dessert, but didn't make me feel bad about eating dessert at lunch.

There are so many varieties: chocolate, peanut butter, raisin, cranberry, coffee. All great stuff. Well, I stopped packing those little guys in my lunch over a year ago due to their cost as well as their crazy sugar levels. So, when I stumbled on a recipe for homemade granola bars I was pumped. I made some adjustments and they were ready to go. These are really quite tasty and very easy to make.

The first set of ingredients.

Mix the following in a large bowl:

5 Tbsp. melted butter
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup whole flax seeds
1/2 cup ground/milled flax
1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
2 tsp. vanilla

Adding oats and yummy chocolate.

Then stir in:
1/2 cup steel cut oats
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 bag of dark chocolate chips

Pour it into the baking dish.

Press into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I usually let them cool for a bit before I cut them and then I store them in the fridge.

A pan of granola bars never looked so good!

So thanks to these homemade granola bars, I'm back to getting a little piece of dessert with my lunch every day. Enjoy!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

So maybe I'm late to the party on this, but have you tried making taco seasoning rather than purchasing the stuff in the grocery store aisle? It's so easy, tastes fantastic, and is much cheaper. Also, when I make it at home, it doesn't have fun stuff like maltodextrin, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and ethoxyquin. I initially found a recipe on allrecipes.com, but made some adjustments based on our tastes. Here's the recipe, try it for yourself and you'll never go back.

Yummy spices.

Taco Seasoning

1 Tbsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. minced onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. Lawry's seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Mixing up the goodness.

1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. ground black pepper

Enjoy!

Mix all ingredients together. Add mix and 2/3 cup water to one pound prepared meat.

Cajun Chicken Sandwiches

One of the things I love about my husband is his ability to make up recipes or adjust recipes on the fly. We'll try a new recipe and after the first bite, I think it's a total bust. He'll rummage around the spice rack and come up with some mix of spices to make it more palatable. Then he'll plan ways to improve the recipe for next time and start to come up with a whole new dish. It's amazing.
Earlier this summer, we stopped at a Backyard Burger and ordered their Spicy Chicken Sandwich. It was a delicious simple chicken sandwich, but it had a kick. The sandwich was just GOOD. So, Drew decided we could easily make this sandwich and he developed this recipe the next week. It tasted so good and it's so easy, we've added it to our repertoire. And since we grill even when it's snowing, we can enjoy these whenever the mood strikes.

Cajun Chicken Sandwiches

Spicing it up.

• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic Seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon Emeril's Original Essence
• 3 Tablespooons Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
• Lime Juice
• 2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Colorful mixture.

 In an appropriate marinating container, combine the spices and enough lime juice to create a marinade. We never measure, but I'm guessing it's somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup lime juice.



  

Mix well and place the chicken breasts in the marinade for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Marinating.

We usually grill them for about 13 minutes on each side and serve them on buns with Cajun mayo. What is Cajun mayo, you ask? It's plain old regular mayo spiced up with some Tony's and lime juice. Very tasy!

Grilled goodness.

Enjoy!