What's Cooking Wednesday - Homemade Granola

I was on a granola bar kick for a while but I missed my morning calcium and fruit fix.  One day I picked up a container of granola at Costco.  I mixed it with Fat Free Greek Yogurt and Fruit and YUM!  Unfortunately, the granola was REALLY GOOD in a way that told me it was probably REALLY BAD for me.

I decided to look for a recipe for homemade granola to replace the unhealthy Costco granola.  So I did what any internet addicted blogger would do.....I turned to twitter for advice.  My friend Karen (@scatteredmom) from Notes From the Cookie Jar came to my rescue with this great recipe!

Granola
Adapted from this recipe

3 cups oats
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
3 Tbsp packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup agave nectar
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine oats, pecans, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt.

In a small microwave safe bowl, combine the agave nectar and the vegetable oil.  Microwave for ~20 to 30 seconds so that they are easily combined.  Pour mixture into dry ingredients and toss.

Pour oat mixture into prepared pan.  Bake until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes.  I think mine took about 30 minutes.

You can add 1 cup of dried fruit at this point (cranberries, apricots (chopped), cherries, apples, etc are great choices).

Recipe Notes:  This granola is loose granola without clumps.  It is very good over yogurt.  I prefer to mix it with yogurt and fresh fruit so I didn't add dried fruit.  I store my granola in a plastic container in the freezer.  It will keep for a few months using this method.

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Wordless Wednesday - Cooking with Evan

This summer has been super busy so Evan and I haven't gotten to cook together as much as usual.  We made up for it this last week.  We made zucchini muffins & bread, granola, cookies & bread.

This Wordless Wednesday post is linked up at 5 Minutes for Mom, A Lot of Loves, My Organized Chaos and Two of a Kind Working on a Full House!  Check out their blogs for more Wordless Wednesday fun!

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What's Cooking Wednesday - Raspberry Cream Pie

So, I have to admit it....I *heart* The Pioneer Woman.  She totally rocks. I have to stay away from her blog, though, because I don't work on a farm and if I make too many of her recipes I will gain a billion pounds!  I have no problem making her recipes when friends come over.  Extra people insure there won't be too many leftovers for me to inhale!

You can find her recipe here.  I didn't make it exactly to her specs because I used what is available in Canada and to be honest I have NO IDEA if the yogurt I used is the same as the size she used.  I used two individual yogurts out of a multipack of Yoptimal.  Regardless it turned out great and everyone LOVED it.

Definitely check out the recipe and the rest of Pioneer Woman's site.  Just don't say I didn't warn you!

Don't forget to head over to Shan's to see what else is cooking this Wednesday!

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Food Revolution Fridays - An Update

The last few weeks have taught me one thing....being busy makes eating healthy much, much harder!  I am still trying to cook more often than not but the last couple of weeks have been hard.  Work has been really busy and I've had to work a few nights.  Thankfully when Dewey & I have to work Evan stays home with our nanny & eats food from home.

I have been keeping cut up vegetables around the house with dip for all of us to eat.  I really fills in the gaps at meal times and ups our intake of veggies.  I think it is one of the THE easiest ways to eat healthier.  Storing your vegetables already washed & cut up is definitely a must.

Sunday night I needed a quick and healthy meal to fix for supper with the kids.  I flipped open my copy of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution to see what I could find.  Spaghetti & meatballs?  Perfect!

Spaghetti & Meatballs
Adapted from Jaimie Oliver

4 sprigs fresh rosemary
12 cream or plain crackers such as Jacobs
2 heaping teaspoons dijon mustard
1 pound ground beef or pork (or a mixture of both)
1 heaped tablespoon dried oregano
1 egg
salt & pepper
olive oil
small bunch of fresh basil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 of a fresh or dried chili
2 X 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 pound dried spaghetti
Parmesan for grating

Strip rosemary from the stems and finely chop (throw stems away).  Crush crackers.  Mix ground meat, rosemary, cracker crumbs, mustard, oregano, egg and salt and pepper.  Mold meat mixture into a ball.  Divide in quarters.  Divide each quarter into 6 pieces and roll into meatballs.   This will give you 24 meatballs.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat with a glug of olive oil in it.  Put a large pot of salted water on to boil to cook pasta.  Add meatballs to the hot skillet and cook.  Make sure to check the interior of the meatballs to make sure they are cooked through.

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Heat another skillet over medium heat with olive oil in it.  Add onions and cook until soft and translucent.  Add garlic & cook for another minute.  Strip large leaves from basil and add to skillet.  Add diced tomatoes and vinegar.  Bring to a boil.  Turn to a simmer.  Add the meatballs to this sauce once they are cooked.

Drain past but reserve some of the pasta water.  Add a bit of the pasta sauce to the pasta & a bit of the pasta water.  Serve this pasta with the meatballs & sauce on top.

Recipe Note:  I used Jacobs crackers but I think you could use plain saltines.  I did not use the chili because Evan doesn't like things that are too spicy.  Everyone liked this.  Next time I might try to blend the sauce as Will & Nicole REALLY don't like chunks of onion.

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Food Revolution Fridays with Scattered Mom

So have you been watching Jaimie Oliver's new Food Revolution show?  He's already taken on the school lunches in Britain and now he's landed in the US to do the same.  If you haven't been watching it, you should.  It will open your eyes to just how much CRAP is being fed to school children in the US.  It makes me happy that I'm living in Canada now.  Having said that, I can remember the lunches I ate in school as a kid and they weren't much better than the ones served now.  Too much pizza and chicken nuggets!  The demise of real food is the key to the obesity epidemic in my opinion!

Now having said that....I must admit that I use the occasional packaged food or processed food.  I use jarred spaghetti sauce but I add tons of vegetables to it and meat to make sauce.  Is that so wrong?  Being a full time mom and working full time means that I am seriously pressed for time to prepare meals.  So I will sometimes use the occasional "packet" (in Jaimie Oliver speak) but more often that not my meals are from scratch.  Click on over to Jaimie's website to find some quick and easy recipes to try.  I plan to start giving them a try next week.


One of my favorite bloggers, Scattered Mom, decided to start Food Revolution Fridays.  Her challenge to bloggers is to write about healthier eating, trying one of Jaimie's recipes, etc.  You can read more about her blog challenge here.  Oh, and did I mention that there's even a giveaway?

This week I thought I would share a couple of ways that I am trying to sneak "better" nutrition into my life & my family's life.

First - We have switched all our bread to whole grain.  I buy sprouted grain bread for Dewey and I and whole wheat for Evan (the sprouted is too coarse for him).  We also use whole wheat pasta often (though Dewey complains).  If we use non-whole wheat, I buy the high fiber white pasta.

Second - I have started to tweak my recipes to include more whole wheat flour and more fruits and nuts. I've also started experimenting with using different oils.  I am a firm believer that butter is better for you than margarine, though, so that is one substitution I won't make.  An example of this is that the other day I made granola bars using olive oil instead of butter.

Third - I try to use less refined sugars when possible.  I've found that agave nectar is very yummy and can be used when recipes call for corn syrup.  I think I could substitute it more but there are some baking issues when switching out a liquid for granulated sugar.

Fourth - I'm trying to get Evan more involved in cooking.  Last week he helped me bake cookies and tonight he helped me prepare asparagus.

We will never be 100% perfect but I'm hoping that some of the changes we're making will help Evan be a healthier eater long term.  What are some of the things you & your family do to be healthier?  I would also love to hear your thoughts on Jaimie Oliver's Food Revolution.

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What's Cooking Wednesday - Granola Bars

I am always looking for foods that Evan likes that I can make myself instead of buying them.  I LIKE knowing exactly what goes into them.  I'm a bit of a control freak that way.  I also like to have easy breakfast foods for me on hand.  I usually eat breakfast on the way to work or first thing when I get there. Items that are ready to go and easy to eat on the run are high on my list.

Today's recipe comes from the lovely Deb Perelman over at Smitten Kitchen.  If you haven't visited her website before, you don't know what you are missing.  She has awesome recipes and even better pictures (plus her little guy is ADORABLE!).  The recipe below is exactly how I made it.  Deb's recipe write up goes into much more detail around additions/subtractions/options, etc.  Definitely go check her recipe out to see how you can tweak these to make them your own!

Granola Bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup oats processed in a blender until finely ground (or oat flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup Craisins
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup coconut
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup agave nectar (could also use honey or corn syrup)
2 Tbsp corn syrup (b/c I ran out of agave nectar)
1 Tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8X8X2 pan with parchment paper.  Let the ends of the paper hang off two sides (make it too big).  I trimmed my paper so that it didn't go past the top on the other two sides.  Spray the parchment paper with non-stick spray.

Chop your Craisins and pecans into smaller pieces (unless you are okay with big chunks).  Stir together the dry ingredients (oats, sugar, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, Craisins, pecans & coconut).  In a separate bowl stir together the remaining ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until well mixed.  Press into the prepared pan.  You want to press firmly so that the granola bars will have some stability.

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes or until brown around the edges and a little brown on the tops.  The middle will seem to soft but it's okay.

Cool the bars completely in their pan or after 20 minutes use the parchment paper as a sling to pull the bars out to finish cooling.  Warning - this may lead the edge of your granola bars to crack which can lead to a few messy bars.  I ended up putting my bars into the fridge to firm up more for cutting.

Once cool, use a serrated knife to cut into squares or bars.  Store wrapped individually in plastic or in a airtight container.  I kept mine in the refrigerator.  These also freeze well.

Recipe Notes:  OMG these are GOOD!  You will never buy a store bought granola bar again!  Dewey and I both love them.  I haven't really tried to get Evan to eat them (guess I don't really want to share).  This will seem like a really small batch of bars but they are pretty filling so a small one is plenty.  Also, I found these to be a bit on the sweet side so I will cut down on the sugar in the next batch.  All in all, this recipe is a keeper.

Don't forget to head on over to Shan's to see what else is cooking this Wednesday!

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Cooking With Evan

I love trying new recipes and making more things from scratch.  The only issue is that sometimes I don't have much time to cook without feeling like I'm ignoring Evan.  The answer???......Let him help!  We decided to make chocolate cookies the other day and Evan loved helping.  Was it messier?  Yep!  Was it worth it?  Yep!

Licking the beater is the best part!

He looks like a baby bird...

Yummy!

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What's Cooking Wednesday - Cheese Puffs

I've found a new food blog that I'm enjoying lately.....Weelicious! It features kid friendly food recipes. This is the first recipe I have tried but it was a big hit so I will definitely be making more!


Cheese Puffs
Adapted from Weelicious.com

1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter (I used salted)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
6 large eggs (5 for recipe + 1 for eggwash)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix milk, butter and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter is melted and milk is warm.

Add flour to the pot and continuously stir with a spatula until combined & a light golden color (about 3 minutes).

Dump dough into a mixer (with paddle attachment) or a food processor with the cheese. Mix until cheese is incorporated and melted.

Add the 5 eggs one at a time, mixing between each addition.

Spoon onto a silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Brush with egg wash for a shiny crust. I did part of my puffs in my Pampered Chef mini muffin pan.

Cheese Puffs from cookie sheet on left from mini muffin pan on right.

Recipe Notes: The puffs I made on a cookie sheet were a little flat. I think next time I will up the flour content but this may be a high altitude problem so maybe try them with the ingredients above one time.

Don't forget to see what else is cooking over at Shan's!

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