My favorite morning snack is greek yogurt. Sometimes I add my sugar-free blackberry jam but lately I've been eating it with blueberries and my homemade granola. This recipe is not the store-bought conventionally sweet stuff--it has just a hint of sweetness so that you can really taste the oats, walnuts, and cinnamon. It uses honey instead of sugar and no oil at all, so it is also low-fat. I got the original recipe from answerfitness.com
You will need:
3 cups rolled oats 1/4 cup wheat germ 1/4 cup flaxseed meal 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1/2 cup honey 1/2 tsp orange zest 1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice 1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan with foil.
Add the honey, orange zest, orange juice, vanilla, and cinnamon to a small saucepan and heat on medium low until the honey has dissolved. No need to bring to a boil or anything. It won't take long, 2 minutes at most.
Add the dry ingredients (oats, wheat germ, flaxseed meal, and walnuts) to a large bowl and give them a toss. Flaxseed meal can be found in any supermarket (even Wally Mart). It's a great addition to homemade bread! I keep a box in the freezer.
Now pour the honey mixture on top of the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Spread the granola onto an ungreased foil-lined jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring after 15.
Allow the granola to cool on the pan. I store my granola in a vacuum seal bag, but any large Ziploc bag will do, just make sure to squeeze out all the air.
After it cools, you can add raisins, mini chocolate chips, M&M's, or any dried fruit. I leave it plain, but you could sure get creative with this recipe!
I toss a handful onto my greek yogurt with blueberries. In one snack you get whole grains, dairy (calcium and protein), nuts, and fruit.
I always thought I was giving my girls a healthy treat when I would pack granola bars in their school lunches, especially the ones touted as "low sugar." Then the warnings came out about high fructose corn syrup and moms starting checking food labels with a vengeance. It turns out that you might have a hard time finding a granola bar without the stuff. Even the Fiber One bars that I used to have for breakfast are loaded with it. And now that I know, I can't let my kids eat that junk, so I make my own. This recipe is easy, super tasty, and completely void of corn syrup. Best part of all, the girls love them!
You will need:
2 cups oats (sometimes I substitute Multi-Grain Cheerios) 3/4 cup wheat germ 1 cup crushed peanuts ******* 2/3 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup honey 4 T Smart Balance 2 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp Kosher salt 6-8 oz dried fruit (your choice) 1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Line a jelly roll pan with foil (or any cookie sheet with sides). No need to grease it, just spread out the oats and wheat germ.
Crush your peanuts. I like to use low sodium dry roasted peanuts, but you can use any type of peanut or nut that you like. I use my mini chopper to chop up the peanuts, but you can crush them in a plastic bag using a cup.
Add the peanuts to the oats and wheat germ and mix.
Toast them in the oven for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes and checking two minutes early. You don't want the wheat germ to burn. After they are done you can turn off the oven.
Line a 9x13 inch glass baking pan with wax paper. Grease the paper with a little cooking spray and set aside.
Add your toasted mix to a large bowl and pour in fruit of choice. I like to use a 6 oz bag of mixed fruit.
Add the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt to a saucepan.
Melt over medium low heat...
until the mixture comes to a simmer or low, low boil. Remove from heat when you see the first little bubbles coming to the surface.
Pour your yummy sugar mixture into the bowl over the fruit and oats.
Stir and make sure that everything is evenly coated.
Now the chocolate chips!!
Drop your granola bar mixture into your greased and lined 9x13 pan.
Spread evenly to all sides.
Cover with another sheet of wax paper and press down hard. You aren't going to bake these, so you need to press them into shape so they won't fall apart.
Leave the wax paper on top and set aside to cool and set for 2 hours. Then remove top sheet of paper and use the bottom sheet to pick up the entire giant bar and put it on a cutting board or your counter top.
I make four cuts lengthwise
and three width wise.
I get 2 to 3 weeks of granola bars this way. It depends on how many times a week they take them. It's usually around four times a week for both girls.
They are moist, but not too moist. Chewy, not overly sweet, and I can feel good about giving them to the girls. The first time I gave these to them Tink ate 3 and Goose ate 2.
I wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap. That way I can just drop one in their lunch sack.
I keep them in a Ziploc fresh shield freezer bag in the freezer. They are completely thawed by lunchtime for the kids. On the weekends I'll take out a few and keep them in the cupboard for a quick snack.
Try different nuts, fruit, and grains. You really can't go wrong! And give yourself a pat on the back for giving your kids a granola bar you made from scratch with NO corn syrup.
Growing up I hated meatloaf. But you're supposed to as kid, right? Like on The Christmas Story when Randy says, "Meatloaf, smeatloaf, double-beatloaf. I hate meatloaf." Recently I stumbled on an amazing food blog Bake Me More and saw an idea for making meatloaf fun for kids. You'll need to make some mashed potatoes for the fun part of this idea. But first, the meatloaf recipe: 2 lbs lean ground beef 1 large green pepper 1 large onion 1 egg 1 cup oats (quick or old-fashioned) 3/4 cup ketchup
I use two pounds of meat so that we will have leftovers, but if you want to use one pound of meat just use smaller veggies, 1 egg, 1/2 cup each of ketchup and oats. Also, you can substitute the ketchup with tomato sauce or even tomato soup. I'm allergic to tomatoes. One touch and I look like I have a chemical burn. Thankfully, all of the acids (or whatever tries to kill me when I touch or eat them) has been cooked away in ketchup.
Mix all the ingredients, except the meat, in a large bowl.
Add the meat and mix thoroughly. I use disposable gloves and mix with my hands. Or let Tinker Bell do it. She loves mixing meatloaf! Sometimes I press the meat into an 8x8 pan, other times a loaf pan. Last night I lined a 6-cup muffin tin with aluminum cupcake liners and pressed a spoonful of meatloaf mixture into each one. I put the rest of the meatloaf into a loaf pan. I like to spread a little more ketchup on the top of the meatloaf. It gives it a nice crust and a prettier color than grey cooked meat.
After baking at 400 degrees for 60 minutes for the loaf and 30 minutes for the cupcakes, allow the meatloaf to sit for 10 minutes. If you use lean ground beef the moisture you see in the pan after baking won't contain much fat. I made the mistake once of draining the moisture immediately and the meatloaf was dry, dry, dry.
Now for the fun! Eyeball enough mashed potatoes to cover the 6 meatloaf "cupcakes" and put the potatoes into a small bowl. Add two drops of liquid food coloring, any color, and mix. Then frost your cupcakes! Bake Me More got creative and used a pastry bag and made the prettiest meatloaf cupcakes. I just spread the potatoes like frosting. Either way the kiddies will be tickled with their meal.
I made these muffins this morning for the girls before school. I did not take step-by-step pictures because a.) my camera was under the impression that its batteries were low and b.) it was 5am. I did not feel like fooling with a camera that would take one picture and then shut off. We're out of batteries and it was too early for me to think of stealing the batteries from a remote. I did that this afternoon. I can't tell you how much my husband loves to pick up a remote and find that it has no batteries in it. :)
Banana Oat Muffins
1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup oats 1/2 cup brown sugar (or 1/3 cup honey) 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 egg 3/4 cup milk (I used skim) 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas) 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Did I mention that these are healthy muffins? As healthy as a muffin can be, anyway. The whole wheat flour and applesauce instead of oil makes me feel less guilty about adding the chocolate chips.
Combine the flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl (or mixer) lightly beat the egg and then stir in the milk, applesauce, and vanilla. Add the bananas and mix thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture and stir until just combined. Pour batter into a 12-cup paper lined muffin tin and bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.
These muffins were so tender and moist. Really the only way you could tell that they had whole wheat instead of all white flour was by the way they stuck with you until lunch. Big hit with the munchkins and hubby.
I also liked that they were quick and easy enough to have ready by breakfast time, without having to get up earlier than usual.
I created this food blog when my two girls were young, I was a stay-at-home mom, and I had not yet attended culinary school. Now I'm a classically trained chef with two college-age daughters. This blog will always be so special to me and I hope you enjoy my old recipes.
