Homemade Granola Bars

Recipe From: Joyful Abode Website

Blake and I are obsessed with granola bars lately. Here is my attempt at copying Nature Valley's Dark Chocolate & Nut Chewy Granola Bars. I modified this from a billion websites, but mostly A Joyful Abode.

Ingredients:
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup rice krispies
1/2 cup almonds (or walnuts)
1/2 cup golden raisins (or craisins)
2 TBSP chocolate chunks (or white chocolate)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup splenda
1/2 cup honey
4 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Mix together 1st four ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Combine sugar, salt & wet ingredients and simmer in a saucepan. Mix everything together and spread evenly into a 9x13 pan (wax paper spray with pam). Press down hard to set in. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. When cooled add chocolate chunks to the top and press in. Cool completely before cutting.

Baked Chicken Nuggets

Recipe From: 30 Day Gourmet
We made these today to have a supply in the freezer.

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken (cut into bite size pieces)
1 box stuffing
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs

Cut chicken into small bite-sized pieces. Blend stuffing mix (include spice packet if one is included) and Parmesan cheese in blender until fine. Beat eggs in shallow bowl. Dip chicken into egg and then into dry mix. Bake at 425 degrees on greased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes. Turn nuggets and cook an additional 5 minutes. Freezing and Cooking Directions: Cool chicken and freeze in bags. To serve: Thaw and heat in microwave or oven.

Baked Corn Dogs

Recipe From: Martha Stewart Everyday Food Blog
Sam loves hot dogs. She practically eats one everyday, so when I came across this recipe...it was a must try. We doubled it so we could freeze the extras. It was big, sticky mess making them...but worth it! Turned out a little dry...but Sam will never notice or complain.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2/3 cup milk
2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
2 tsp vegetable oil
4 (13 oz) precooked smoked chicken sausages (we used 1 pkg of chicken franks (10) when doubling recipe)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Make a well in center; add milk, eggs, and oil. Mix just until combined.

Insert an ice-pop stick into one end of each sausage, leaving a 1 1/2-inch handle. Dust with flour. Tap off excess. :)Using handle, rotate each sausage over bowl as you spoon batter to coat evenly. I used my hands a lot and coated them about 1/2" thick.Place on sheet; bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Using a spatula, reapply batter that has slipped onto sheet. Return to oven; bake until golden, 20 minutes. Serve with ketchup and mustard, if desired.

Freezer Meals - Bean & Cheese Burritos

Recipe From: 30daygourmet.com

I joined a freezer meal group. We each take a recipe and make it 8x. 4 hours (start to finish + clean up) and $47 later, I have 96+ burritos chillin' in the freezer. The recipe called for corn tortillas, but they are so small and always break, so I made the executive decision to use flour tortillas. My overall opinion is whether or not it is worth $5-6 for a bag of frozen burritos...or not. I made a bunch of comments to the original recipe in smaller text.Ingredients:

8 cups onion (chopped) I used 5 yellow onions
2 tbsp + 2 tsp garlic (minced) 5 huge cloves
120oz cans kidney beans (drained & rinsed) (8) 15oz cans
120oz cans pinto beans (drained & rinsed) (8) 15oz cans
32oz diced green chilies (4) 7oz & (1) 4oz
2 tbsp + 2 tsp cumin
2 tbsp + 2 tsp oregano
96 tortillas I used Guerrero flour tortillas (fajita size)
8-10 cups cheddar cheese I used (6) 8oz bars of reduced fat
6 cups taco sauce Only used about 3 cupsHave on Hand Ingredients:
Salsa
Sour Cream
Shredded Lettuce

Assembly Directions:
In a medium saucepan, cook onion in water until tender. *I assumed this meant the garlic too...and I sauteed (instead of cooking in water) all garlic and onions in 1 tbsp butter for about 10-15 minutes. Drain & rinse all the beans and process in a food processor and/or hand mixer. Add onions, green chilies, cumin and oregano. Mix together. Soften tortillas in microwave or oven. *I cooked mine on a skillet because the Guerrero flour tortillas need a little cooking. Take a tortilla and evenly divide the mixture between all of them. Pour 1 tbsp of taco sauce on each and sprinkler with cheese. Wrap them burrito style. These came out a little smaller than I imagined. The tortilla can only hold so much before it is an unraveled mess. At the end, I had about 3 cups of mixture left and had a few leftover corn tortillas laying around, so I gave them a try. The first few were a disaster and fell apart. So, I grilled them on one side so they would hold their shape and the inside was still soft. They turned out well...but even smaller. I will put one corn in each bag so you can taste them and decide what you like better for next time.

Freezer Directions:
Place on a baking sheet seam side down. Freeze until solid. Place 12 burritos in a gallon freezer bag.

Serving Directions:
Thaw burritos. They can be warmed in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes or in the oven at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not bake too long or the tortillas will dry out. Serve on top of shredded lettuce with salsa and sour cream on top.

Bow Tie Pasta Salad

Recipe From: ??

Found it on someone's food blog, can't printed it off months ago and now can't find it. I served this at Samantha's Birthday Party and was able to make it the night before. Turned out great!

Ingredients:
1 box (16 oz) bow tie pasta
2 chicken breasts (cooked, cooled & cubed)
1/2 cup craisins
1 cup red grapes (cut in half)
3 green onions (chopped)
3/4 cup sunflower seed kernels

Dressing Ingredients:
1 cup mayonnaise (I used light)
2/3 cup sugar (I used half splenda)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ginger powder

Mix all dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk them together and cover. Refrigerate. Mix the pasta salad ingredients together (except sunflower seeds) in a large bowl. Toss and refrigerate. Just before serving, mix in the sunflower seeds and dressing.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

My Original Recipe

This is my fruity version of most chicken salad sandwiches. Instead of celery, green onions and water chestnuts...I use apples and grapes (and sometimes pineapple). I typically just make this for lunch, but we had it for dinner last night. I don't think Blake appreciated it much since he eats peanut butter & honey everyday for lunch. He ended up eating all of my pasta/mozzerella/turkey reserves that I give to Sam when she won't eat anything else.

Ingredients:

Chicken (I use canned to keep it super easy)

Lemon juice

Red grapes (cut into quarters) - I put in green grapes too

Gala apple (peeled and diced)

Low fat mayonnaise (this stuff is great - only 1 gram fat per tbsp)

Salt & Pepper

Lettuce & Tomato

Whole Wheat Pita - OR - Fresh Croissants

I don't usually measure anything with this recipe. It is all to taste. Drain the chicken and soak it in about 2 tsp lemon juice. The grapes must be firm or they will be gross in the salad. Cut them into quarters. Peel, core and dice the apple. I love gala because it is so sweet and crunchy. Add 2 big spoonfuls of mayo (I used to use fat free miracle whip...but it doesn't have very much flavor). Mix it all up and add salt/pepper to taste. I serve this with either croissants or pita bread and chips/salsa, carrots/celery with ranch and peach pie.

Sam was quite a challenge yesterday (no nap) and didn't want to sit down to eat. So, she would walk by every few minutes and I would give her a bite. She loves tomatoes (one of her first foods). She was interested, but messy.