Granola Yum!

Sometimes I am really bad at eating breakfast. Not that we do not have a lot of choices always cereal on hand for the little ones. Pancakes, waffles and french toast in the freezer. Eggs are always an option in this house, having 30 chickens helps,and I have an arsenal of egg recipes. Yet some morning more often than not I just have 2 or 3 cups of coffee. We can talk about the negative effects of that later.
This morning though I made a conscious effort to eat something healthier. So a 1/2 c of vanilla yogurt topped with 1/4 c granola I whipped up last week. It is so good!
This recipe is not mine it's called Lizzie's Granola from Chef Michael Symon of Lolas in Ohio and also know as a IRON CHEF on Food Network. Give it a whirl I am sure you will not be disappointed. Kids love it too.

Two hints use sliced or slivered almonds the whole ones can be kinda tough on your jaw. Second if you do not have kosher salt use on 3/4 tsp you do not want it to be to salty a mistake I have made but it was still edible.

Lizzie's Granola

Ingredients:
4 cups rolled oats
2 cups unsweetened coconut
2 cups almonds
1 cup cashews
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt

Toss together to coat and bake on sheetray at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden stirring half way. Let cool completely in pan. Add 2 cups of dates and dried cherries & serve or store in airtight container and add dried fruit to order.

Better Choices

So last night I whipped up this tasty smoothie to curb my sweet tooth. My lil guy loved it too. Is it the healthiest smoothie ever? Probably not but it was a healthier choice the eating an entire bag of oreos. Not that I am anti oreo in fact I love them! Maybe a little too much. Give it a whirl or tweak it your own way.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie
1/2c vanilla yogurt
1/4c milk
1/4c frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana pre cut in to smaller pieces
1 tbl honey or less
In a blender add milk yogurt blueberries and banana. Top with cover and whip on high or smoothie setting if you have one until all is mixed. Turn off remove lid and taste add honey if needed. Serve immediately

Blueberry Peach Baked Oatmeal

When I was visiting family in Texas last November my awsome sister-in-law made me a banana baked oatmeal. Since then I have been a quest to make a great baked oatmeal base and I think that I have found one. I have made it with apples and rasins then yesterday I thought to combine two of my favorites blueberries and peachs. YUM YUM YUM!
I used the peaches that I canned last season but I canned peached diced or maybe even frozen would work just as well. I kept the blueberries frozen so they would not get all mushy dye the whole this purple but I am sure defrosted are ok too. I can not wait to get a pint from the farmers market in the summer.
If you do not have unsweetened applesauce I am sure that regular would be great. Also if you do not have nutmeg just replace with more cinnamon.

If you want to try with apples and rasins increase the milk to 1/2c

2c Old fashion Oats
¼ c flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¾ tsp salt
¼ c brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
½ c unsweetened applesauce
¼c milk
1 tsp vanilla
½ c frozen blueberries
1 c diced peaches
Preheat oven to 325 grease 11x8 pan
In a large bowl combine oats flour baking powder cinnamon nutmeg salt and brown sugar
In a medium bowl wisk eggs applesauce milk and vanilla stir into dry ingrediants fold in frozen blueberries and peaches pour into baking pan place in oven and bake for 35 min until lightly brown and cooked thru

Cheddar Chowder

1c water
1c chicken stock
2c diced potatoes
1/2c diced celery
1/4c diced onion
1/2c diced carrots
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4c butter
1/4c flour
2 c milk
2 c cheddar cheese shredded

You will need a large and med sauce pan

In the large pot over med heat combine potatoes, celery, onion, carrots, salt, pepper, water and chicken stock. Bring to a small boil continue to boil for 12 min.
While the veggies are cooking in the med pot over med heat melt the butter stiring in the flour cook 3-5 min until the flour is dark blonde slowly whisk in milk keep whisking until warm and bubbly stir in cheese until melted completly. Remove from heat.
When the veggies are done cooking DO NOT drain stir in the cheese sauce taste and adjust salt and pepper to liking.

If you do not have chicken stock use 2c water and 1 bullion cube.
If you wan to make a fuller meal add 2c diced cooked ham or smoked sausage.

10 min Meal

The other night I needed to make a healthy dinner from scratch and I was abel to pull it off in 10 min.




First you have to take it out of the freezer containers and put it into a larger container


Microwave for 5 min



Sprinkle some cheese over the top of the casserole and Bake at 400 for 5 min



Serve with fresh homemade bread



Or like me semi homemade fresh bread (I did not receive payment to endorse for Tastefully Simple it is just what I have {But if they would like to pay me please message me and we can work something out})



Viola a great family dinner! Now in my defense this spaghetti casserole dinner was made from scratch last month and these are the frozen leftovers. I just was not in the mood to cook dinner and wanted to spend my time making Graham Cracker Cookie Bars by margaretha on Tasty Kitchen.com Which are AMAZING!!!!

Anyone who recognizes this yes it is a spoof on a 16 min recipe post from Pioneer Woman Ree. I only spoof the ones I love, and I do love the Pioneer Woman my husband tells me if he catches me spending anymore copious amounts of time on the website he will take my computer away. Don’t look now dear I have to figure what’s for dinner.

Open letter to my 1 yr old

Please for the love of all things good in this world let me pee in peace. Just because you can not see me for 45 seconds ( yes it only takes this long I have timed it) dose not mean the world is comming to an end and you must scream. I love you lots and lots but sometimes mommy needs mommy time.
K Thanks Bye
Kisses

Small for some but BIG for me.

I am an emotional eater that is my number one problem and then portion control. When I get stressed or upset I can easily polish off a whole cake or brownies or a dozen cookies. Last night I had a support meeting for suicide surviors talking about the friends I lost. Obviously this was a very stressful and emotionally painful evening but still good for my soul. On the way home I just wanted to make a big pan of brownies to help ease my pain with a shot of adrenial I get from eating a whole pan. But I knew that was a bad idea so I decided that I would make a pan and only have one big brownie take the rest and put them in the garage freezer (just for the record the garage is detached and is about 50 ft from the house so it was a good distance between me and them.) I kept thinking about this plan the whole way home rationalizing all the reasons why this is ok. I ate well the last two days having quite a few points left over each day. I have lost this week. My plan was a good idea only eating one and freezing the rest. But deep down a voice told me no this is the time to be strong and resist the temptaion. I need to learn to control my impulses and not binge when things get rough and this was a perfect time to begin my fight. So I came home and got busy with my kids, did not make brownies and feel proud of myself for fighting the good fight.