Granola Bars

There are lots of granola recipes out there and I probably should have come up with some sort of snappy name for these to distinguish them apart from the rest, but you’ll just have to try them to see if it’s worth adding to your recipe collection.

What I love about these granola bars is that they are so fast and easy to make, they taste great, and they give you a little burst of energy (not in a buzzed kind of way- sorry).  These are perfect as an after school snack, or in a school lunch, but especially for Number One before he heads off to soccer practice after school.

These can also just be rolled into balls as opposed to shaped and cut into bars. Do what works for you.

1 cup oats

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 T flax seeds*

1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I use mini chips for almost everything – you can use what you like)

1/3 cup honey

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Press into 4×7 pan and refrigerate until ready to cut into bars. Store in fridge.

*I used a crunchy PB with flax seeds in it.

Yield: 8 bars. Recipe can easily be doubled.

Recipe adapted from themarathonmom.com

Valentine’s Day Recipes ♥

Valentine’s Day is almost here and I have been seeing so many great blogs and websites featuring V-Day recipes. Who would have thought of some of these great ideas? Well, these bloggers did and I aim to share

~Raspberry Sweeties!~

by 4 Little Fergusons

Little Cream Cheese Puff Bites

by Foodie Foodie Two Shoes

 

Black Cauldron Chocolate Imperial Stout Cake

by Sumptuous Spoonfuls

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries with Cream Cheese Filling

by Jamie Cooks It Up!

Can you say “YUM”!?

Now that dessert is out of the way how about some main dishes?

For Breakfast….

~Strawberry Crepes~

@ Caprice’s Kitchen

Image borrowed from fortheloveofcooking.net

 I haven’t made these in a long time (it’s high time I did!) but they are SO GOOD! My mom made these for me many times as a special breakfast for Valentine’s Day, birthdays, Christmas mornings, etc. This is her recipe

 Lunch (or Brunch)…

 Cheese Souffle

recipe and image from Taste of Home

 Spinach and Strawberry Salad

recipe and image from WholeFoods Market

And Dinner…

 Valentine Pizza

by Allrecipes.com

 V-Day Menu

Here’s an entire menu from appetizer, main dish, sides, to dessert. Courtesy of The Food Network.

How about some great craft ideas??

Candy Heart Wreath 

Paper Heart Decorations 

by designplusyou

Free Printable Tags and Labels 

from Hello, Good Gravy!

There are so many awesome recipes and craft ideas out there that this blog could go on FOREVER! But it’s not hard to Google and see for yourself Have fun searching for that perfect recipe or idea and I hope you have a fantastic and love-filled Valentine’s Day!

 

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza

There are times when you just really want a fresh from the oven, warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie. Am I right? Of course I am.

This cookie pizza is AWESOME!

Not only does it give you that fresh from the oven, warm, and gooey experience, but it gives it to you FASTER! How about them apples?

Plus it’s got oats in it that are nearly undetectable by taste (though I am an oatmeal cookie kind of girl) yet gives that cookie a bit of a fiber boost. Did you know all the health benefits of oatmeal? It’ll boost your immune system, lowers cholesterol and the risk of diabetes, stabilizes blood sugar, has heart protecting antioxidants, a breast cancer preventative, and is gluten friendly.

AND the oats help keep the middle chewy while the edges are crispy. Bonus!

From the January 2010 issue of Good Housekeeping, I give you:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup old-fashioned oats

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using flour sifter or waxed paper, mix flour, baking soda, and salt until well blended.

2. In saucepan melt butter on low heat. Remove from heat and whisk in both sugars until blended. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Use wooden spoon to stir into flour mixture, then add oats, chocolate chips, and nuts until combined.

3. Spoon batter into center of prepared cookie sheet. With spatula, spread batter to an even 8-inch round. Bake 18 minutes, or until cookie is golden brown. Let cool on cookie sheet on wire rack 15 minutes. Transfer to cutting board lined with waxed paper; cut cookie into 12 wedges and serve warm.

I love magazine cooking instructions: Transfer to cutting board lined with waxed paper… 

So here’s what I did: I didn’t have any nuts, which will be fine with the kiddos since I’m the only one who likes them anyway. I also used milk chocolate chips. My oven cooks hotter than any other oven on the planet- seriously- so I only baked this for 12 minutes or so. After I let the pan sit on a cooling rack for maybe 10 minutes I then transferred the cookie to a cutting board sans waxed paper and promptly cut into it so that Jadon and I could eat it!

Ok, we only had one small wedge each and saved the rest for the others so they could have some, too.

I also want to say that using a spatula to spread the batter into an even 8-inch round was not as easy as Good Housekeeping says it is, therefore I placed a second sheet of parchment paper on top of the batter and pressed it into an even-thickness round-like shape (it came out more oval). The top piece of parchment came off without trouble and my “round” was quite nice.

So why is this FASTER?? Because it literally (yes, I know what literally means) only takes about 10 minutes to whip this batter up. While you’re doing that the oven can be preheating, and then BAM! it’s in the oven. None of that spooning individual cookie drops onto the sheet which seems to take FOREVER when you want a cookie now! Total time is less than 30 minutes plus cooling!

How about a little nutritional information?

240 calories per serving, 4 g. protein, 29 g. carbohydrate, 14 g. total fat (6 g. saturated) 2 g. fiber, 34 mg. cholesterol, 145 mg. sodium.

And if you’re like me and already have these ingredients in the house (seriously, who doesn’t?) then this cookie pizza is FREE! Woot-woot!

What can I say, chocolate makes me happy