Homemade Granola

Recipe from Shari Goodman

 We have been enjoying this recipe for a while! We love it with a splash of almond milk or with yogurt and berries. It is my kind of recipe where you can add a bit more or a bit less and eyeball what you're adding in. I usually add extra almonds because I love the crunch.

Ingredients

5 cups rolled oats

1 cup slivered almonds

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup millet

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 Tbsp. chia seeds

1 cup honey

3/4 cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

Directions

Mix the dry ingredients (rolled oats through chia seeds) together in a large bowl. Melt together honey and oil, then add vanilla and almond extract. Stir honey mixture into the dry ingredients. Bake  for 25-30 minutes at 325 on jelly roll pans lined with parchment paper, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Remove from oven and allow to cool. (Granola will continue to harden as it cools.) Store in airtight container. 

Citrus Green Smoothie

The oranges on our trees are starting to beckon to me! Truthfully I don't love oranges straight up-too much pulp. But, I love freshly squeezed orange juice (thankfully Santa gave us a juicer last Christmas) and I love incorporating oranges into our smoothies. This isn't a recipe so much as an idea, but we all love it! Just eyeball the amounts and play with the flavors until you find your favorite ratio. All of the citrus pictured above was from either our yard or family/friend...one very nice perk of Arizona living.

Citrus Green Smoothie

fresh orange juice
spinach
orange segments, seeds removed
fresh pineapple
frozen banana

Mix well in a blender and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

We made these festive pancakes for breakfast on Halloween- I even added a couple of chocolate chips for Siena. I know, crazy. On Halloween I tried the recipe as written, but for regular non-holiday mornings I'll use the modifications below- omitting oil, using all whole wheat flour, using a whole egg instead of egg whites (b/c I can crack an egg one-handed with a baby on my hip, but I am not talented enough to separate egg whites from yoke with only one hand) and adding a little extra pumpkin. Calvin Boy wasn't a huge fan of dinner last night and ended up eating 5 pancakes this morning (plus fruit!). This recipe makes a decent amount too, so we have extra for tomorrow and a couple to throw in the freezer.

Ingredients

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbsp applesauce (in place of oil)
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 Tbsp sweetener (honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, etc.)


Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and cinnamon.

2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine egg, milk, applesauce, pumpkin, and sweetener. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until just moistened. If batter seems too thick, add a bit of milk to thin it to the desired consistency.

3. Heat griddle on medium heat. Pour batter by 1/4 cup onto greased griddle. Flip pancake when bubbles appear at the top.

adapted from The Recipe Critic

Whole Grain Pancake Mix

Well, here I am trying to play catch up and post some of the recipes that have been floating around on my computer. I'll admit, I haven't been trying many new recipes. The past year of residency was a loooong one. It was Nick's busiest year and having a new baby didn't leave me much motivation to be adventurous in the kitchen. I was ever grateful for this little spot where I could quickly find recipes that we've tried and enjoyed-making my grocery shopping and meal planning so much easier.

I saw this recipe for pancake mix a few months ago and immediately tried it out. I made a double batch and froze it and had great results. As always, I adapted it to what is usually in my fridge (i.e. probably no buttermilk, maybe no eggs- other eggless recipes are already drafted.) It is simple and great on it's own (or drizzled with something extra delicious) and my kids absolutely love it. Win win.


Ingredients
Mix
 3 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
4 cups white whole-wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. salt
3/4 cup canola oil*

Pancakes
1 cup mix (above)
3/4 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup greek yogurt + 1/4 cup milk)
1 large egg, lightly beaten (or a few Tbsp. of applesauce)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. lemon zest, optional

Directions
Mix
 Pulse oats in a food processor until finely ground (but not a powder). Transfer oats to an electric mixer and add in flours, sugar, baking power, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low speed to combine. Drizzle oil in bowl slowly while mixer is still running. Continue to mix until evenly combined and mixture clumps slightly.

Transfer to an air-tight container and store up to 1 week at room temperature or long term in the freezer.

Pancakes
 Combine 1 cup of pancake mix with buttermilk (I always use the yogurt/milk mixture), egg (or applesauce), vanilla extract, and optional lemon zest.  Allow to sit for about 15 mintues while the whole grains absorb liquid.

Heat skillet over medium heat and pour 1/3 cup batter onto greased skillet. Cook until bubbles form and flip over, allowing other side to cook until lightly golden brown.

Notes:
-For my two kids who LOVE pancakes, I prepare 2 cups of mix at a time. We usually have a few pancakes left over for the following morning.

*I put way less than 3/4 cup of oil, just a drizzle to get it to stick together a bit. I may try coconut oil next time.

slightly adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

Ingredients

streusel topping


4 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp flour


2 tsp melted butter

large pinch of cinnamon

 muffins

2 cups all purpose flour


1 1/2 tsp baking powder


1/2 tsp salt


1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened


1 cup sugar


2 large eggs


2 tsp vanilla extract


1/2 cup buttermilk


2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
 

Directions

 

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper muffin liners. Prepare streusel topping by whisking together sugar and flour. Add butter and mix together until texture is crumbly, and butter is fully mixed in.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.
 Gently stir in blueberries.

3. Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle muffins with streusel topping. Bake at 350º for 20 to 25 min, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool slightly before eating.

 adapted from Barbara Bakes via The Baker Chick

Zucchini Bread/Muffins

 A few weeks ago my mother-in-law went to farmers market deal where you pay $10 and get 60 lbs of veggies. Yes, that's right. She shared a lot with us: tomatoes, green bell peppers, tomatillos, and lots of zucchini. We successfully used all our veggies, and tripled this recipe to use all the zucchini. Our freezer is well stocked with muffins!

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup applesauce
2 cups grated zucchini
3 tsp. vanilla
3 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups flour ( I used 1 cup whole wheat & 2 cups all-purpose)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
optional: 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour 2  9x5 or 2 muffin pans.

2. In a medium bowl, combine sugars, eggs, and applesauce. Beat well. Add vanilla and zucchini. In a separate bowl combine cinnamon, flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Add optional chopped nuts.

3. Pour into prepared pans and bake loaves for 1 hour or muffins for 18-23 minutes (mine were done right at 20 min).

Multi-Grain Waffles

These are my new favorite waffles. The oatmeal makes them so, so soft and fluffy. I was eating them straight out of the waffle iron (carefully, of course). I didn't add wheat germ as it isn't something I normally have in my pantry, but I do think it would add a nice nutty flavor. I actually don't think I've had wheat germ since I was younger and I used to put it on ice cream- is that normal? I also think buttermilk would be great, but again- not something I normally have in stock. I tried the substitute of regular milk plus cream of tartar and it seemed to work well. I am all about using what I have on hand!

 I paired this with a blueberry sauce similar to this one- but scaled down with less sugar and thinned out a bit more.

Ingredients

2 cups buttermilk, or 2 cups milk + 3 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all-purpose four
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ, or cornmeal (I had neither, so I added another 1/4 cup whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. canola oil (I used applesauce)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Mix buttermilk (milk) and oats in a medium bowl; let stand for 15 minutes.

2. Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, wheat germ (or cornmeal), baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

3. Stir eggs, sugar, applesauce and vanilla into the oat mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix with a rubber spatula just until moistened.

4. Preheat a waffle iron and coat a waffle iron with cooking spray. Spoon in enough batter to cover three-fourths of the surface (about 2/3 cup for an 8-by-8-inch waffle iron). Cook until waffles are crisp and golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter.

*The original recipe states that it can also be used for pancakes.

adapted from Eating Well

Peanut Butter Oatmeal: Afternoon Delight

I got some steel cut oats last week (my first time trying them, loved them) and was playing around with different things to accompany them. As someone who adds peanut butter to lots of things (brownies, ice cream, granola bars, etc.), I am kinda surprised I hadn't considered adding peanut butter to oatmeal. Not exactly something to eat every morning, I'll still only let Siena eat it with applesauce mixed in, but certainly there are worse things you could eat. I enjoyed it this afternoon and it was delightful.

Ingredients

1/2 cup steel cut oats
1 1/2 cup water (if using regular oatmeal,  it is a 1:2 ratio instead of 1:3)
1 Tbsp. natural peanut butter (or more!)
a handful of chocolate chips, if desired

Directions
 
Bring water to a boil. Add oatmeal and stir. Reduce heat to medium low and allow oatmeal to cook, stirring occasionally. Oatmeal is done with most of the water has evaporated. Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter and chocolate chips- adding a few on top, of course.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. white sugar

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ cup and 2 Tbsp. butter room temperature

1 ½ cup white sugar

2 eggs

3 ripe bananas, mashed

8 oz sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

dash nutmeg

dash ground cloves

¼ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

optional topping
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 or 3 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 2 bread pans. In a small bowl stir together 2 Tbsp. white sugar and ½ tsp. ground cinnamon. Dust greased pans lightly with mixture.

2.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until combined. Add mashed bananas,  sour cream, and vanilla, beat until combined.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture with a wooden spoon until just incorporated. Add walnuts if desired.

{If using optional topping- prepare by combining brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon and using pastry blender to cut in the butter until crumbly. Add chopped nuts and sprinkle over the batter in the pans.}

4. Divide mixture into prepared pans at bake at  325 for 60-70 minutes. Allow to cool in pan on rack.

Impromptu Quiche

   We had tons of eggs that needed using so quiche seemed to be in order. I was at the store and wanted to make the quiche lorraine, but could only remember it needed leeks. When I got home I realized  that I didn't have most of the ingredients. Luckily quiche is a pretty flexible food and allows a bit of this or that. So this quiche was made with a little scavenging of the fridge and turned out to be just lovely. Really I think you could make quiche out of just about anything if there is good cheese involved.

2-3 tsp. olive oil

3 leeks, diced (white and light green only)

1 cup onion, diced

½ cup sour cream

½ cup half and half

4-5 eggs

salt and pepper

crumbled bacon

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Direction

1. Heat a large sauté pan over low heat. Sauté the leeks and onions in the olive oil 35 to 40 minutes until caramelized, occasionally stirring. Remove from heat and cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch pie pan (I use spray). Mix the half and half and sour cream in a medium bowl. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Add salt and freshly ground pepper.

3. In the greased pan spread the leek and onion mixture evenly over the base. Sprinkle the bacon and then the cheese over the leeks and onions. Pour in the egg batter and place the quiche in the oven.

4. Bake until puffed and golden, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

 

Intrigued?

   

Just wait til you unwrap it

  

and discover a little treat inside.

 

 slightly adapted from Annie's Eats

   Despite not really liking pumpkin pie, I do in fact love pumpkin breads and muffins. This is a tasty little treat- but beware, it is easy to eat several in one sitting. No, really.


Ingredients

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree--- I used 1 15 oz can
1¼ cups vegetable oil

For the topping:
½ cup sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions

1. To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix on low well until blended and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1½-inches in diameter. Smooth the plastic wrap tightly around the log. Transfer to the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, 1-2 hours or up to overnight.


2. To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

3. Using your 'dry ingredients bowl' - make the topping by combining the sugar, flour and cinnamon; whisk to blend. Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.

4. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner-about 1 Tbsp. Slice the log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces. Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely. Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

Makes 24 muffins

quiche lorraine

slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

2 cups diced leeks, white and light green only (from 2 large leeks)
1 cup diced onion
3 tsp. olive oil
1 1/4 cups flour
1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. cornstarch
Salt
6 tablespoons butter, diced
4 eggs, divided
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. heavy cream
1 1/4 cup sour cream
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch pepper
1 1/2 cups diced ham (1/4 -inch dice; I used about 1/2-3/4 pound)
5 oz, 1 cup grated Swiss cheese

Directions

1. Heat a large sauté pan over low heat. Sauté the leeks and onions in the olive oil 35 to 40 minutes until caramelized, occasionally stirring. Remove from heat and cool.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch and one-fourth teaspoon salt. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender until it is in very tiny bits. Add one egg (a fork works great for this) and mix it until a dough forms.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie plate and press to remove any air bubbles. Crimp the edges, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

4. While the quiche shell chills, mix the heavy cream and sour cream in a medium bowl. Whisk in the remaining three eggs, one at a time. Add a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper and combine to form a batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5. Remove the quiche shell from the refrigerator and spread the leek and onion mixture evenly over the base. Sprinkle the ham and then the cheese over the leeks and onions. Pour in the batter and place the quiche in the oven.

6. Bake until puffed and golden, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Crepes

 from Courty, scribbled on notebook paper in high school
 

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup unsifted all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water

Directions

1. Beat eggs with fork. Pour into a blender. Add flour and salt, beating until smooth.  Add milk and water, blend.
2. Grease preheated crepe pan (Pam). Apply a small amount of batter to lightly coat the pan. When it begins to bubble, flip over. Repeat, spray crepe pan between every few crepes.

Goes great with fresh fruit, yogurt, Nutella, peanut butter, syrup, powdered sugar or just about anything else you can imagine.

(My favorite- Nutella, banana, peanut butter, and cream.)