Chewy Peanut Butter Cup Granola Bars

I’ve always wanted to try making chewy granola bars so when I saw this recipe at Allrecipes.com I had to give it a try. Naturally, I had to modify it a bit to make it my own and they turned out great! You can make this recipe your own as well by using mix-ins that are your favorites. I used miniature peanut butter cups I’d bought at Trader Joe’s. If you like white chocolate chips and cranberries or raisins and walnuts add those. I think you get the drift of this. Just keep the total amount of your mix-ins to about 3/4 to 1 cup.

Ingredients
2 C. rolled oats
1/3 C. packed brown sugar
1/2 C. wheat germ or wheat bran
1 C. flour
3/4 your favorite mix-in (chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, etc.)
3/4 t. salt
1/2 C. honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C. vegetable oil
2 t. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ or bran, flour, mix-in, and salt.
3. Mix the honey, egg, oil, and vanilla together. Make a well in the center of the oatmeal mixture and pour in the honey mixture.Mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands.
4. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan using a flexible spatula sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
5. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes in preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Remove from oven.
6. Cool for 5 mintues, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting or they will be too hard to cut.

Makes 24 bars.

Honey Mustard Beet Salad

This is a great winter salad that is very colorful and tasty. It makes a lot but is the kind of salad that gets better the longer the beets marinate in the dressing. My friend with all the food allergies was able to enjoy this because there are no additives in any of the ingredients. I served this with roasted chicken that was cooked in the crockpot.

Ingredients
5 cans sliced beets, drained
1/2 C. honey
4 t. balsamic vinegar
1-2 T. yellow mustard (depending how mustardy you like it)
1 shallots, finely minced or 1/4 C. onion, finely minced
1/2 C. toasted, chopped walnuts
1 – 10 oz. bag baby spinach

1. Drain the beets and place them in a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl whisk together the honey, balsamic vinegar, and yellow mustard. Stir in the shallot and pour over the beets. Toss to coat the beets with the dressing. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to blend.
3. To serve, place a handful of baby spinach on a salad plate and top with the beet mixture. Sprinkle with walnuts. Serves 8

This is a wonderfully unusual salad. It’s a blend of savory spices, crunchy nuts, chewy raisins, rice, and beans with a hint of lemon and mint. The blend of rice, beans, and nuts makes it appropriate for a vegetarian main dish and it makes a great side with roasted chicken for the carnivores among us. Kudos go to my friend, Charmaine, who shared this recipe with me after bringing it to our Dining for Women group. I made a few adaptations but the spice blend remained the same as the original recipe.

Ingredients
2 T. olive oil
1 C. rice
3 1/2 C. water

4 T. olive oil
6 T. vinegar
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. honey
2 t. garam masala (a blend of spices)
2 t. ground coriander
1 t. dry mustard

1 – 15 oz. can small red beans (or kidney)
1 – 15 oz. can cannellini beans (or garbanzo)
4 shallots, chopped
8 green onions, trimmed and sliced
1 1/2 C. golden raisins
1 1/2 C. walnuts, coarsely chopped (or pine nuts)
1 T. chopped fresh mint

Chopped fresh mint to garnish
Lemon wedges, to serve

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium sauce pan with a lid. Add the rice and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, over low heat. Pour in the water and bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover, and simmer on low for 25-35 minutes until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and pour the cooked rice into a strainer. Rinse under cold running water, drain well, and set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 4 tablespoons of olive oil and honey until emulsified. Mix in the vinegar, lemon juice, garam masala, coriander, and dry mustard and stir well.
3. Add the rice and mix well.
4. Drain and rinse both cans of beans and add them to the rice along with the shallots, green onions, walnuts, golden raisins, and mint. Mix well. Garnish with fresh mint and serve with lemon wedges. Serves 8

Chai Tea Latte with Jan Hagels

What’s better on a cool winter night than something hot to drink? My version of a chai tea latte is perfect for such evenings!! I like to make my own rather than use a mix because I can make it just the way I want it. Commercial mixes are just too sweet for my taste and it’s hard to find caffeine free versions as well . . . I just can’t do caffeine at night anymore and still get a good nights sleep. It only takes a few minutes to make this and I can use decaf tea bags so I don’t lose any sleep and skim milk to save on calories!! This recipe makes 4 regular coffee cup size servings or two large mugs. I cut the recipe in half to make myself one large latte and it works out just fine as you can see from the picture.

I use a battery operated frother but you can simply use a wire whisk to achieve the same results and I prefer fresh grated nutmeg to ground nutmeg in a can. If your not as picky as I just use the ground variety in a can. A nutmeg grater is pictured with the frother in case you don’t know what one looks like.

Battery Operated Frother & Nutmeg Grater

Ingredients
2 C. water
4 tea bags (I use decaf)
2 C. milk (I use skim)
2 T. honey or more if you like it sweeter
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cinnamon

1. Heat the water to boiling in a two-quart saucepan. Add the tea bags, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove tea bags.
2. Stir the remaining ingredients into the tea. Heat to boiling.

Milk & Spices Added to Tea

3. Stir with a wire whisk or electric frother to foam the milk. Pour into mugs. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with additional mutmeg.

Frothed Chai Tea

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread Toast w/ Pumpkin Custard

My favorite bread from Great Harvest Bread Company was their whole wheat oatmeal bread with flaxseeds in it. I was so sad when they closed on our side of town! I thought I’d experiment to see what I could come up with. My experiment turned out great so here it is! I love it toasted and had some with pumpkin custard for breakfast the other day. This recipe makes one loaf.

Ingredients
1 T. active dry yeast
1 1/2 C. warm water
3 T. honey
1 T. olive oil
1 t. salt
1/2 C. flaxseed meal
3/4 C. oatmeal
3 C. whole wheat flour
1 T flaxseeds (optional)

Dissolve the yeast in warm water and stir in honey. Let sit until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Mix in the oil, salt, flaxseed meal, oatmeal, flaxseeds and half the flour. Mix well. Stir in the rest of the flour a half cup at a time until it makes a soft, kneadable dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, working in more flour if needed, until it is smooth and elastic. You have kneaded enough when the dough springs back after poking it with your finger. Shape the loaf and place in a greased 9 X 5 inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk (30 – 60 minutes).

Dough before rising

Ready to go in the oven

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cool for ten minutes and remove from pan. Brush the top of the loaf with a little olive oil or butter to make it shiny.

Whole Wheat/Flaxseed Bread

Cool weather is coming so it’s time to break out the bread and soup recipes!! A big thank you to Vera, one of my Facebook “Friends of the Faithful Foodie” group members. She generously shared this recipe with me and it is fantastic!! It’s light, moist flavorful bread that because of the addition of flaxseed meal is very heart healthy as well. I doubled the recipe to make the two loaves shown.

Ingredients
1 T. active dry yeast
1 3/4 C. warm water
3 T. honey
1 T. olive oil
1/2 t. salt
1 C. flaxseed meal
3 C. fresh ground whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur brand)

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. I also stirred in the honey at this point. Set aside until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Mix in the oil, salt, flaxseed meal, and half the flour. Mix well.

Stir in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time until it makes a soft, kneadable dough. (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook but because I doubled the recipe couldn’t fit it all in the bowl so had to knead it by hand the last five minutes with the last cup of flour.) Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. (When you poke the dough with your finger it should spring back.) Work in more flour if needed.

Mixing the dough

Shape into loaf and place in a greased 9 X 5 inch loaf pan (since I doubled the recipe I made the other loaf in a round casserole dish). Cover; let rise in a warm place for about an hour, until doubled in bulk. (It only took 30 minutes for mine to double so keep an eye on it.) Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan. Brush the top of the loaf with a little olive oil to make it shiny.

YUMMY!