Granola Bars

Granola bars are great to have on hand when you need a quick or portable snack, but they can get spendy at the store (especially with as many people as we feed here) and have you ever read the back of the box? Gross.

I have spent so long trying to find a granola bar recipe I was happy with. I wanted healthy, but doesn't taste like dirt and something that was soft and chewy, but stayed together in a bar shape. Oh I found it! A no-bake granola bar that is all my dreams and more :) This is a highly adaptable recipe so feel free to substitute with what your family likes and what you have on hand, just be sure to keep the same ratio of wet to dry ingredients.

Some things you might use:

nuts
seeds
protein powder
wheat germ
the dried fruit options are endless.....
almond butter or another nut butter
pureed pumpkin instead of peanut butter....
chocolate chips
mini m&ms (freeze them first!)

These are pretty sweet so feel free to experiment using less sugar or no brown sugar at all, but you need the honey to help it all stick together. Pay attention to if your dried fruit already contains added sugar, most of it does.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup high fiber cereal (we used Fiber One)
1 1/2 cups dried fruit (chopped small)
1/2 cup peanut butter (natural with no added sugar. If you only have some with added sugar leave out the brown sugar.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey (try flavored honey!)
4 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and grease just for good measure.

Mix together your dry ingredients (except for brown sugar and salt) in a large bowl, set aside.

Over medium high heat melt butter, salt, brown sugar, honey and peanut butter until boiling (stirring constantly.) Boil and stir for 2 more minutes, take care not to let it burn.

Pour liquid goodness over your dry ingredients and combine well.

Dump mixture onto your prepared baking sheet and using a rolling pin covered in butter roll it flat. You want to press down hard so it all sticks together well.

Cool in the fridge (faster so you can eat them sooner!) or on the counter (Boo!) and cut into rectangles and wrap individually.

These will make a great treat to bring camping and hiking this Summer.

Orange, Mango, Banana Smoothie

We visit Starbucks at least once a week. I used to laugh at the thought of someone ordering a drink that takes 10 minutes just to order because the name is so long, custom drinks to the extreme. I am now that person... Me and my double tall, one pump, soy white chocolate mocha with no whip. I can't help it, I'm spoiled.

The kids like the Vivianno smoothies; the Orange, Mango, Banana is their favorite.

We've recreated this deliciousness at home to make it cheaper, healthier and tastier because it's made with Love :) I'm drinking one right now... Mmmmmmm. The perfect mid-morning snack.

Having very ripe fruit is essential to a good smoothie; brown spotted bananas, squishy oranges and mangoes are a must!

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

2 very ripe bananas
1 large very ripe orange
2 very ripe mangoes.
1/2 cup yogurt (we used honey Greek)
1 cup almond milk (more or less to achieve desired consistency)
Handful of Ice (unless your fruit is frozen, then you can skip the ice)

Directions:

Throw it all in the blender and blend until smooth. Add more milk to thin it out if needed.

For even more fun, throw it into popsicle molds and freeze!

Last Minute Pinto Bean Dip

I just got the dry blade attachment for my VitaMix so I was searching for flours to make and other recipes where I could grind stuff up :) I'm terrible about remembering to soak my beans overnight so a recipe using dry pinto beans jumped out at me.

After my first attempt it stayed gritty, the beans just wouldn't cook as I thought might happen. The beans were just too old. So I tossed our old beans and went to the store for some new ones. At the store I was attacked by Girl Scouts who forced cookies upon me. Thin Mints and Samoas... there's really no substitute for either, but I'm tempted to try some day.

Second try with fresh beans this time and some changes to the base recipe and we had a great bean dip to go alongside our Quesadilla Casserole.

Last Minute Pinto Bean Dip:

3/4 cup dry (fresh) pinto beans
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock (I actually used chicken because it's what I had & the original recipe called for water)
1/2 cup salsa of desired spiciness

You could always garnish with sliced olives, tomatoes, jalapenos or whatever you'd like.

Directions:

Grind dry ingredients in your food processor (or new VitaMix dry blade container!)

Place in a large saucepan and whisk in stock.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Cook an additional 15 minutes or so. Taste it to be sure the beans are done.

Remove from heat and stir in salsa.

Oatmeal Muffins Your Way

I wanted something similar to eating a bowl of oatmeal, but without the mush... I'm not big on mush for breakfast. We all know oatmeal with a little fruit is a healthy breakfast so I was determined to come up with a fun way to eat it. Muffins. I love muffins. But many muffins can be worse for you than a donut as far as calories, fat and sugar are concerned!

These muffins were so perfect in my mind as I lay there trying to sleep, but unable to because of the NyQuil I knew I shouldn't have taken because it always keeps me up. Lucky me they turned out just as perfect the next morning.

Base muffin ingredients:

* 1 cup Oats
* 1/4 cup Almonds
* 1/4 cup Flax Seed Meal (ground flax)
* 1/4 cup flour
* 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
* 1/2 teaspoon Salt
* 3/4 cup Milk (1%)
* 1 Egg
* 1/4 cup Canola Oil
* 1/4 cup Applesauce, unsweetened
* 1 Banana (very ripe)
* 2 teaspoons Cinnamon

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and grease 24 mini muffin tins or 12 regular.

Mix oil, applesauce, banana, milk and egg in a large bowl.

Put dry ingredients in your food processor and grind to a fine powder.

Fold dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fill muffin tins to the top with batter.

*For the regular muffin tins you can fill them half way, add some of the topping (I'll describe in a minute) and then top with remaining batter and topping. The nutrition information below is for the base muffin recipe (12 regular muffins) and does not include the toppings.

12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		121.8
Total Fat		7.4 g
	Saturated Fat	0.9 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	2.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	4.0 g
Cholesterol		18.5 mg
Sodium		106.8 mg
Potassium		155.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		15.9 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.8 g
	Sugars	2.6 g
Protein		3.2 g

Vitamin A	1.3 %
Vitamin B-12	1.8 %
Vitamin B-6	4.5 %
Vitamin C	1.8 %
Vitamin D	2.5 %
Vitamin E	8.2 %
Calcium	8.6 %
Copper	6.1 %
Folate	4.3 %
Iron	7.1 %
Magnesium	8.6 %
Manganese	39.6 %
Niacin	2.2 %
Pantothenic Acid	3.3 %
Phosphorus	12.1 %
Riboflavin	6.4 %
Selenium	4.1 %
Thiamin	9.0 %
Zinc	4.9 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

The toppings here are what make these muffins what they are. Think about what you like to top your oatmeal with and go from there. These are some of the toppings we tried:

Apple Cinnamon Brown Sugar:

1 Tablespoon butter (melted)
1 apple (chopped into small pieces)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix melted butter into apples and cover well. Mix cinnamon and brown sugar together and then toss with apples.

Top each muffin with some goodness :)

Banana Brown sugar Cinnamon:

1 banana (sliced)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix cinnamon and brown sugar together. Toss in banana slices and coat well.

Top each muffin with some goodness :) This was our favorite version.

Top with Blueberries as they are or any berries for that matter.

We also mixed in some dried cranberries with the apples.

Raisins and brown sugar would also be great!

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

The options are endless! What a fun way to eat your oatmeal in the morning or as a snack! Compared to the almost 450 calories and over 30 grams of sugar in a regular muffin these under 150 calorie with less than 2 grams of sugar muffins are the way to go. Thank you NyQuil.