Granola

This is a versatile recipe that can be easily added to (or subtracted from), depending on what you have on hand. I love what the coconut oil adds to the flavor, but I’ve wondered how it  would work to sub in apple sauce or pumpkin puree. The kids love to help make this — they stir up the dry ingredients while I mix up the wet ingredients on the stove. 

Ingredients:

• 6 cups uncooked rolled oats
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened (optional)
• 1/2 cup flour (I usually use almond flour, but you could use any kind of flour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (or more) cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ginger (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2/3 cup maple syrup or honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine oats, coconut (if using), flour, spices, and salt. Mix well.
3. In a small saucepan, heat the coconut oil, maple syrup or honey, and vanilla until warm. Pour this mixture over the oats mixture and stir well.
4. Spread granola in a thin layer on ungreased cookie sheet (I often use 2 cookie sheets).
5. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring after 20.
6. Let cool, and store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Pudding

I have added a new category Worth Making from Scratch. Of course, others may have different opinions of what is “worth it” in terms of convenience and cost vs. time/energy, but generally speaking I am finding more and more things that taste better, are more healthful, are simple enough to prepare, and are often cheaper when made from scratch. 

Jason wanted some pudding cups for lunch. It has always kind of bothered me that you can find those in the non-refrigerated  aisle — what do they do to the milk that’s supposedly in there? This pudding, adapted a bit from More with Less, one of my very favorite cookbooks, is cheap, delicious, and, for me, a perfect example of something worth the (minimal) effort.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup (or less) honey or sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 cups milk  (0r almond, soy, or coconut milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon butter or ghee (do not use if using coconut milk)

Directions:

1. Combine honey, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and milk in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat until thickened, stirring (almost) constantly.
2. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter until combined.
3. Serve warm or cold.

Hot Pudding

This chocolate pudding, called simply “hot pudding” at our house is from Deceptively Delicious. Simon asks for it every time he sees an avocado. The texture of the pudding depends on how well you mash the avocado; I sometimes use a blender or food mill (like for baby food) and sometimes just mash it with a fork. 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup margarine (or butter would probably work too)
• 1 cup avocado puree (aka mashed avocado — about 2 ripe avocados)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cornstarch (optional-ish)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the margarine over low heat.
2. Stir in the avocado, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla.
3. Cook until the mixture thickens, 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the cornstarch.
5. Serve warm.

A New Method for Hard-Cooked Eggs + Natural (Easter) Egg Dyes

We have recently become enamored with hard-cooked eggs. I say “hard-cooked” instead of “hard-boiled” because I have had mixed luck trying various methods that promise the perfect hard-boiled egg, but I recently came across a method for cooking eggs in the oven that I was really pleased with. The method is originally from Alton Brown, and you can find the full “recipe” here. But if you don’t want to click through, it’s basically preheat to 325 degrees, put your eggs directly on the middle oven rack with a baking sheet to catch mess if one breaks (I had several break but no dripping), bake for 30 minutes, cool immediately in a bath of ice water.

Easter is coming up, but I also thought the kids might be more interested in eating the eggs if they were colorful any time of year. I pinned a couple of  photos of eggs dyed with natural ingredients, and now I have become pretty much obsessed with finding colorful food and spices to boil. This post and this one have lots of good ideas.

Our favorite so far has been the red wine that was probably past its drinking prime. It left little sparkles on the egg, which does make me wonder what was in it. We haven’t had smashing successes yet, as we are all (me included) a little impatient, and the colors get richer with time.

Raspberry and Nut Smoothie

Another one from Real Simple. This one was a big hit with Simon.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk (we used almond milk)
• 3/4 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tablespoon nut butter (we used almond butter)
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy.

Kale-Apple Smoothie

Simon and I have been making smoothies together. I found several combinations to try in the February issue of Real Simple. I like that these are single-serving recipes, not that I couldn’t experiment or cut them down myself, but I do tend to make about three servings when I’m just throwing things together. This particular one wasn’t a favorite for Simon, but I liked it. You do taste the celery, so if that’s a taste problem, you’ve been warned.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup kale, chopped and hard stems removed (about one leaf of curly kale)
• 1 small stalk celery, chopped
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup ice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

I have been absolutely addicted to this stuff lately. It’s a really easy caramel-corn-like concoction. It does tend to stick all together, so you sometimes end up having to take a bigger chunk than you intended to — then again, who’s complaining about that? And as a happy sidenote, Simon has been pretending to pop popcorn on his play stove.

Ingredients

• popcorn (pop enough to make two quarts)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup or honey
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Cook sugar and corn syrup or honey to a rolling boil.
2. Remove from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla.
3. Pour over popcorn, stirring to coat.

Chicken Tortilla Stack-up

Ingredients

• 8 ounces sour cream
• 1/2 package taco seasoning
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 4 (8-inch) tortillas

Directions

1. Combine sour cream and taco seasoning.
2. Spread 1/4 of this mixture on tortilla in glass pie plate.
3. Top with 1/2 cup chicken, 1/4 cup cheese, and 2 tablespoons green onion.
4. Repeat 2 times.
5. Place tortilla on top, spread with sour cream mix.
6. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and onion.
7. Microwave on high 3 to 4 minutes.
8. Garnish with shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, and salsa.

Seasoned Oyster Crackers

Adapted from several recipes found on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package oyster cracker
• 1/4 cup oil (vegetable or olive)
• 2-1/4 teaspoons dry Ranch-style dressing mix
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
2. In a large bowl or bag, toss together the crackers and oil until completely coated.
3. Add dressing mix, lemon pepper, dill and salt and toss until evenly covered.
4. Bake in a single layer for 12 to 15 minutes
5. Store in a zip lock bag or other air tight container.

Bacon-wrapped dates

I know they sound weird, but I promise you, they are yum-o! So far for us, they’ve been a crowd-pleaser.  And I’d never had dates before eating them like this.. and I don’t think I’ll eat them any other way..

1 Box of dates
1 package of bacon (may not use it all)
toothpicks

1.  Open dates, take bacon, and wrap one whole piece around a date.  Secure the bacon by shoving a toothpick through the date+bacon.
2. Place dates on cookie sheet or in shallow pan.  Bake at 350 for however long (not an exact science, maybe 10mins? I don’t know.. keep checking them and don’t blame me if they burn), making sure to turn them over once (the toothpicks work nicely for this).
3.  Let cool for five minutes, and serve away!