Healthy Homemade Granola
Smoothies
Dry Ingredients:
6 C. oats
(Add more or less of the following, depending on what you like)
1 C. shredded coconut
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. ground flax seed
1 C. slivered almonds, walnuts, pecans, or other nuts
1 package craisins
1 package craisins
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
Wet Ingredients:
1/2 C. honey
2 Tbsp. veggie oil
1 tsp. vanilla
Apple Juice
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. On the stove, bring honey, oil, and vanilla to a soft boil constantly stirring. Turn heat to low soon after boiling.
3. Pour some of the honey mixture over granola, then stir. Continue until all honey mixture has been added.
4. Add apple juice, a little at a time, to make your granola to whatever moisture/consistency you like.
Extra add-ins: Chocolate chips, M&M's, dried cherries, raisins, dried strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, bananas pineapple, or any other dried fruit you like.
Extra ideas: Eat as cold cereal w/ milk, or supplement with yogurt or ice cream.
Bake on cookie sheet on 350 (10-15 min or however long to get where you like it)
Make into granola bars (Add melted butter and flatten out on greased cookie sheet prior to baking)
Candy some apple pieces on the stove with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon to eat with granola.
Or keep it healthy and keep the extra sugars out! :-) It's up to you.
Smoothies
Orange Julius
3/4 cup of orange juice
2 big scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt
1/2 a banana
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of vanilla
A pinch of sugar
Two handfuls of ice
Berry Blast
2 big scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt
2 big scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt
1/2 cup of frozen mixed berries
1 cup of frozen strawberries
1/2 cup of orange juice
A handful of ice
Add water to thin out
Trail Mix
A great counting or measuring activity!
Ingredients:
Preferred nuts (Cashews, almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds)
M&M's
Raisins or Craisins (There are lots of flavors to choose from!)
Kids can be involved in measuring or counting! We did the following proprtions, but it can be altered to fit preference. You can also make a bigger batch to share as a family or safe for later. Great to take ont he run! Don't forget water though, because it can be a little salty.
Single serving:
1/3 cup of cashews
1/4 cup of almonds
2 teaspoons of sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons of M&M's
1/2 of a personal box of raisins
Fruit Kabobs
Learn abuot colors and patterns with fruit kabobs!
What you will need:
Scruers
Any fruits you want!
Examples:
Honeydew
Cantolope
Strawberries
Blueberries
Grapes (green or purple)
Bananas
Apples
Cut up into managable peices and help your children identify colors or patterns. This is a great activity for summer when there are fruits that may be new to them. Look how boring a cantalope looks on the outside, but inside it is bright orange!
German Pancakes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Makes 8 Servings
Ingredients
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons butter
Mix eggs, milk, flour and salt until smooth. Melt butter and pour into the bottom of an ungreased 13-in x 9-in x 2-in. Add batter and bake, uncovered, for 20-minutes at 400 degrees.
Buttermilk Syrup
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3/4 buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
2 Tablespoons of corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon vanilla
In a saucepan combine sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup and baking soda. Bring to a boil and boil for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.
Apple Crisp
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Total Time: 50 Minutes
Makes 6 Servings
4 Medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)
3/4 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. Flour
1/2 C. Oats
1/3 C. Butter, softened
3/4 tsp. cinnamon (if you are a cinnamon lover like me, add a little more!)
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
Cream or ice cream, if desired (of course it's desired! Ya kidding?)
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan.
2. Spread apples in pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients except cream until well mixed; sprinkle over apples.
3. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork. Serve warm with cream!
GYOZA
Japanese Gyoza
Just in case you missed cooking hour last Thursday and want to try something fun, new, and tasty:
Gyoza
1 pound ground pork
Japanese cabbage (12 leaves minced)
green onions (1 bunch minced)
3 T. ginger (minced)
3 T. garlic (minced)
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. sesame seed oil
salt
2 packages Gyoza wrappers
Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix with hands until sticky. Place 1/2 a spoonful of mixture onto Gyoza wrapper. Wet one edge of wrapper with water, fold over, and crease. Place on floured surface. To cook: (1) pan fry both sides of gyozas in small amount of oil on med-hi, add 3/4 cup of water, cover and steam until water is evaporated (2) Place in boiling water and cook until the gyoza float to the top then remove (3) deep fry in oil until golden brown, about 3.5 minutes.
Serve with rice and gyoza sauce (soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil).
DELICIOUS!!!
Peppermint Sugar Cookie Bars
These will change your life.
Cookies:
1 C. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 C. granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
5 C. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 C. crushed or chopped after-dinner butter mints
Frosting
1 C. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
pinch of salt
4 C. powdered sugar
2 to 4 Tbsp. milk
food coloring, if desired
1/2 C. crushed peppermints or candy canes
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a large 11x17 inch rimmed baking sheet. Line with parchment paper and grease paper as well; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in vanilla. Add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in butter mints.
4. Spread batter evenly onto prepared baking sheet, smoothing top. Bake until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
5. While cookie is cooling, make forsting; In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add peppermint extract and slat. Add confectioners' sugar, a little at a time, beating until well combines. Add milk, a tablespoon at a time, until frosting is smooth and fluffy. Add a few drops of food coloring if desired.
6. Spread frosting over cooled cookie, sprinkle with crushed peppermints, then cut into bars.
THIS IS HEAVEN.
Sicilian Deep Dish Pizza
This dish was such a hit! Homemade pizza is always a healthier option.
Pizza crust-
(With love from a lucky leprechaun)
Ingredients:
• White cake mix (we used an 18-1/4-ounce box)
• Food coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)
• Baking cups
• Whipped cream (optional)
1. Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly among six small bowls. Following the chart below, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color.
RAINBOW COLOR DROPS OF FOOD COLORING
Purple 9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue 12 drops
Green 12 drops
Yellow 12 drops
Orange 12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red 18 drops
2. Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order shown. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of a spoon to cover the color underneath.
3. Bake the cupcakes according to your recipe directions. Before serving, remove the paper wrapping, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipped-cream cloud.
1/2 c. cocoa
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
12 oz. chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)
MINT ICING
5 Tbsp. margarine
dash of salt
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. mint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring
1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.
2. Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.
3. Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.
Ingredients:
1 (14.25 oz) box cake mix, any flavor
1 (16 oz) tub frosting, any flavor (you will not need all of it) - Sara used cream cheese flavor
OR 1/2-3/4 cup homemade frosting
1 (24 oz) package of almond bark/candy coating (white or chocolate)
Sprinkles
Lollipop sticks
Directions:
Bake the cake mix according to package directions. Once it’s cool, crumble the cake into a large bowl. I prefer to process mine in the food processor to fine crumbs. Place in a large bowl and stir in half of the frosting container or 1/2 cup of your homemade frosting. Mix with your hands until thoroughly combined and thick like a truffle center. Mix in additional frosting if necessary.
Roll mixture into 1″ balls and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour
Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the flat end of the cake balls.
Carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered, remove and softly tap and rotate the stick on the edge of the bowl until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too. Immediately cover with sprinkles before the chocolate has a chance to set, then insert in a styrofoam block to harden. Continue with remaining cake balls.
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 package Almond Bark (white chocolate candy coating)
1 square of the Chocolate Bark for drizzling
1. Mix ground oreos and cream cheese until well combined. Roll into 1 inch balls and place onto baking sheet or tray. Refrigerate overnight or until very firm.
2. Melt white chocolate according to package directions. Using 2 little spoons, dip balls into chocolate and place onto parchment paper to harden. Once dry, melt chocolate bark and spoon into the corner of a ziplock baggie. Snip a small corner and drizzle back and forth over the truffles. Let dry.
3. I enjoyed mine chilled in the refrigerator, but may be room temperature as well! Enjoy! Thanks for the great recipe Bakerella!
About 30 truffles each recipe
1 1/2 C Warm Water
3 C flour
1/4 C Olive Oil
Package/2 Tbsp Yeast
1 Tsp Salt
Add yeast to water, let sit 5 minutes
add flour and salt, olive oil. Add enough flour for a soft dough (maybe more, maybe less)
Let rise
Plop it all in a baking pan (0r two, depending on their size and how much you make-you probably don't want to make it in anything less than an 8 1/2 X 11 pan, bigger is better :) round deep dish pans work too.
Other ingredients:
1 lb Mozzerella Cheese, Sliced
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
1 Can whole peeled tomatoes (or 3-6 fresh tomatoes-it tastes even better!)
Meats/Vegetables, whatever you'd like-I prefer
Italian Sausage
Green/red/yellow Peppers
Onions
Mushrooms
Use cheese to spread dough to edges of pan, leaving enough dough on the sides to make it rise and actually be deep dish pizza. Cover the whole middle with as much cheese as possible. (you're getting rid of the grease factor, so the extra calories from that much cheese won't hurt :) Place meat/veggies on top of the cheese to taste. Squeeze tomatoes onto the pizza one by one, making sure you get them pretty evenly spread out along the pizza. If you want, pour the leftover tomato Juice onto the pizza. Cover in seasoning to taste.
Bake 1 Hour-1.5 Hours at 400*
Eat with a fork.
Rainbow Cupcakes
(With love from a lucky leprechaun)
Ingredients:
• White cake mix (we used an 18-1/4-ounce box)
• Food coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)
• Baking cups
• Whipped cream (optional)
1. Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly among six small bowls. Following the chart below, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color.
RAINBOW COLOR DROPS OF FOOD COLORING
Purple 9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue 12 drops
Green 12 drops
Yellow 12 drops
Orange 12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red 18 drops
2. Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order shown. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of a spoon to cover the color underneath.
3. Bake the cupcakes according to your recipe directions. Before serving, remove the paper wrapping, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipped-cream cloud.
BYU Mint Brownies
(Alright!)
1 c. margarine
1/2 c. cocoa
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
12 oz. chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)
MINT ICING
5 Tbsp. margarine
dash of salt
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. mint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring
1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.
2. Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.
3. Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.
Cake Pops!
(Your kids will LOVE these)
1 (14.25 oz) box cake mix, any flavor
1 (16 oz) tub frosting, any flavor (you will not need all of it) - Sara used cream cheese flavor
OR 1/2-3/4 cup homemade frosting
1 (24 oz) package of almond bark/candy coating (white or chocolate)
Sprinkles
Lollipop sticks
Directions:
Bake the cake mix according to package directions. Once it’s cool, crumble the cake into a large bowl. I prefer to process mine in the food processor to fine crumbs. Place in a large bowl and stir in half of the frosting container or 1/2 cup of your homemade frosting. Mix with your hands until thoroughly combined and thick like a truffle center. Mix in additional frosting if necessary.
Roll mixture into 1″ balls and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour
Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the flat end of the cake balls.
Carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered, remove and softly tap and rotate the stick on the edge of the bowl until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too. Immediately cover with sprinkles before the chocolate has a chance to set, then insert in a styrofoam block to harden. Continue with remaining cake balls.
Oreo Truffles
1 bag Oreo Cookies, ground in blender or food processor (filling and all)
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 package Almond Bark (white chocolate candy coating)
1 square of the Chocolate Bark for drizzling
1. Mix ground oreos and cream cheese until well combined. Roll into 1 inch balls and place onto baking sheet or tray. Refrigerate overnight or until very firm.
2. Melt white chocolate according to package directions. Using 2 little spoons, dip balls into chocolate and place onto parchment paper to harden. Once dry, melt chocolate bark and spoon into the corner of a ziplock baggie. Snip a small corner and drizzle back and forth over the truffles. Let dry.
3. I enjoyed mine chilled in the refrigerator, but may be room temperature as well! Enjoy! Thanks for the great recipe Bakerella!
About 30 truffles each recipe
