Brown Sugar Granola

This has been my absolute favorite granola recipe for years. There are lots of different ways to mix it up too, and thats the fun part. I'll post the original recipe, and then I'll post what I did for these pictures. Basically the idea is to have 5-1/2 -6 cups of your *dry* ingredients and you can choose what that is, although the amount of oats (or other type of flaked grain) should stay the same.

Brown Sugar Granola                                  I did

4 cups Oats                                             4 c Oats

1/2 c Sunflower seeds                              1 c Coconut

1/2 c Peanuts                                           1 c Almonds, chopped

1/2 c Coconut                                          1/4 c Wheat Germ

1/3 c Walnuts, chopped                           1/4 c Flaxseed, ground

                                                             (but whole would work great too)

3/4 - 1 c Brown Sugar

1/2 c Oil

3/4 c Water

2 T Vanilla

Mix up the dry ingredients, and then in a separate bowl mix the brown sugar, oil, water, and vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mix and then spread out onto cookie sheet and bake for 45 - 60 minutes at 350, stirring the granola about every 15-20 minutes.

Here are my dry ingredients, other things that are fun to put in granola are, 9 grain flakes, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, whole flaxseed, different types of nuts, cinnamon, etc...

The dry ingredients mixed together

The *wet* ingredients

Everything mixed together.

Spread out on a cookie sheet. Baking times will depend on how full your sheet is, and what kind of oven you have.

All done.

Split Pea Soup

Split peas don't have to be soaked for a long period of time, so you just rinse them off and cook. (and pick through and find the non split pea items) :o)

Split Pea Soup

1-1/2 c Split peas

3 cups Chicken Broth

1 Tomato (chopped)

1 Celery stalk (stalk, not a whole bunch) chopped

1 Onion, chopped

1-2 carrots, chopped

1 c or can V8 juice (optional, you can just add more water instead)

2 c Water

Pepper

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

1/2 package Turkey Bacon (6 oz) or Turkey Ham would probably be better, but the bacon was what I had. (chopped)

Salt to taste

Throw everything in the crockpot and cook

after it's done cooking

I take the wand mixer and puree about 3/4's of the soup

Chicken Fried Rice

This is an adapted Weight Watchers recipe, I just do it the unhealthful way. I've made it before with ground turkey instead of chicken too.

Chicken Fried Rice

2 spray(s) cooking spray

4 large egg white(s) (I just scrambled 2 eggs)

1/2 cup(s) scallion(s), chopped, green and white parts
2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
12 oz uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup(s) carrot(s), diced  (I did 1 cup just to have more veggies)
2 cup(s) cooked brown rice, regular or instant, kept hot
1/2 cup(s) frozen green peas, thawed
3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set pan over medium-high heat. Add egg whites and cook, until scrambled, stirring frequently, about 3 to 5 minutes; remove from pan and set aside.

Offheat, recoat skillet with cooking spray and place back over medium-high heat. Add scallions and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add chicken and carrots; sauté until chicken is golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Stir in reserved cooked egg whites, cooked brown rice, peas and soy sauce; cook until heated through, stirring once or twice, about 1 minute. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

I did things a little different than the recipe...I cook the chicken and carrots first

chop up the chicken

add the scallions, peas, rice, heat up

then add the scrambled egg...

I also like to add extra soy sauce before eating for more flavor. :o)

Tim's Black Bean Chili

This is my uncles recipe and I didn't follow it exactly and I cooked it in the crockpot.

Tim's Black Bean Chili

2-4 lb Roast trimmed of fat

1 lg onion (chopped)
2 red bell peppers (chopped)
3 jalapeno peppers (fine chopped)
3 cloves garlic (fine chopped)
10 mushrooms (sliced)
6 sm tomatoes (lg chunks)
1 cup frozen corn
1 tsp black pepper
0-2 tsp cayenne pepper
1-3 tsp ground cumin
1-3 tbs chili powder
4 cans black beans (rinsed)
1.5 cups chicken broth
1 10 oz pkg chopped spinach
 
Slow barbeque the roast over briquets and water soaked mesquite chips until fully cooked & smoked. Cut the roast into bite sized chunks. Set aside.

Lightly spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add onion, red peppers, jalapenos, garlic, mushroms, tomatoes, corn, pepper, cumin and chili powder.

Cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.

Add beans, meat, chicken broth and boil for 10 minues.

Remove 1.5 cups of mixture from skillet and place in blender or food processor. Blend mixture until pureed. Return to saucepan and add spinach.

Cook 5-6 minutes until spinach is well heated.

Serves 6-8

Crock-pot Buffalo Chicken

There are many ways to do this, but this is what I did. This can go on salads or be used for sandwiches.

Crock-pot Buffalo Chicken

3-4 boneless skinless breasts

1 bottle of Buffalo Wing Sauce (I used Franks)

1 packet Ranch salad dressing mix

 Sprinkle of Garlic Powder

Mix everything in the crockpot, shred chicken when done.

The sauce I used

We like blue cheese, and so I mixed blue cheese and sour cream together to spread over the bread for our sandwich.

Chicken and Rice Soup

Probably one of my favorite soups this winter!

Chicken and Rice Soup

2-3 Chicken Breasts (they can be frozen)

1-2 Carrots, chopped or shredded

1 Celery, chopped

1 small Onion, chopped

Garlic Powder

Pepper

6 c Water

6 tsp Chicken Bouillon

1 box Wild and long grain rice

(If you don't use boxed rice, you'll just want to add more of your own spices)

Throw everything but the rice in the crockpot

Shred the chicken with two forks when it's cooked enough. Add box of rice about an hour before eating.

Blueberry French Toast (baked)

Another Taste of Home recipes. I made this for New Years brunch and it was awesome.

Blueberry French Toast

12 slices day-old white bread, crusts removed (I used whole wheat)

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1/3 cup maple syrup or honey (I just used regular syrup)


SAUCE:

1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice



Cut bread into 1-in. cubes; place half in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Cut cream cheese into 1-in. cubes; place over bread. Top with blueberries and remaining bread cubes.

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add milk and syrup; mix well. Pour over bread mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 25-30 minutes longer or until golden brown and center is set.

In a small saucepan, combine all sauce ingredients except butter. Bring to a boil, boil for a few minutes then simmer for 8-10 minutes or until berries have burst. Stir in butter until melted. Serve with French toast. Yield: 6-8 servings (1-3/4 cups sauce).

16 Bean Soup

(Sorry about the lovely picture, I forgot about taking a picture until we were done eating)

I've had a couple of requests for this recipe. Problem is that I just throw things in and I'm never consistent, but here it is roughly

16 Bean Soup

1-2 cups 16 Bean Mix (dried)

1 can tomatoes (stewed, diced, whatever your preference)

1-2 carrots

2 cans V8 juice or tomato sauce

1 cup Beef bouillon (I put extra beef base in sometimes too)

Onions or Onion powder

Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 package of Turkey Bacon (I've also used Turkey Ham, or Beef Summer sausage)

This recipe made about 3 qts, I think.

Soak the beans overnight, rinse and drain.

Add the Beans, Turkey Bacon, tomatoes, spices, etc...

Shred carrots and add

Top off with V8 juice and cook in crock-pot until done. :o) (If that isn't enough liquid, you can add more bouillon)

When the beans are soft, I puree about half of the soup in the chopper, and add it back in, (or if you have a wand chopper thing, I use that too)

English Toffee

English Toffee

2-1/4 c Sugar

1/4 c Water

1/4 c Corn Syrup

2 c Butter

2 c Chocolate Chips

Slivered/ chopped Almonds (optional)

Mix everything BUT the chocolate chips in saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until soft - hard crack on a candy thermometer or if you don't have a thermometer, boil until it smells burned almost, but it's turned a darker amber color and hardens when dripped in cold water. Pour into a buttered jelly roll pan, spread out, pour chocolate chips over the hot toffee, let melt and spread over the top. Sprinkle the almonds over the top and let harden.

Melting the butter

What it looks like when it first starts boiling

closer to the color it ends up being when it's boiled long enough

Spread into a buttered pan/ sheet

Pour the chocolate chips over on top of the hot toffee and let melt. Sprinkle slivered or chopped almonds over the top

Let cool until hardens

Break up into pieces.