Granola Bars - Attempt #3

These babies....oh....these are SO STINKIN' GOOD!!! Okay, so this is my trail of Mama Pea's bars. These probably aren't technically granola bars, right?! There's NO oats. There's just nuts, coconut, dried fruit, flax, and agave. I actually had to change the recipe a bit because of my dislike of apricots. So, I used half dried dates and half blueberry infused cranberries.

The smell coming out of the oven drove me absolutely wild. I had to channel Alton Brown's mantra of patience being rewarded in order to keep myself from devouring the pan as it came out of the oven.


The parchment was key for this recipe. I was able to pull the sticky mess out of the pan while piping hot. It cooled on that rack for about 20 minutes with the parchment. Then I flipped it out onto a small cutting board and very carefully peeled the parchment off. The bars will still warm. I'm glad I did it at that point. I think it would have stuck if I waited much longer. After they were completely cool, I cut and wrapped each bar in cling wrap.


They're totally awesome people! Make them.

Granola Bars - Attempt #2

Attempts 2 and 3 of my quest to make my own granola bars happened on Monday. I want to make healthy bars with ingredients that I feel good about eating while not paying $2 a bar. That's all. Not too much to ask right?

So, attempt two was found on a recipe sharing site. I can't even remember which one! I was intrigued by it because it used a cup of yogurt as the base. I love cooking with yogurt.

Here's the recipe:

1c whole wheat flour
3/4 c oats
1c dried fruit, chopped (unsweetened cranberries or dried apricots)
1/2c raisins
1/2c wheat bran
1tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda
2 apples, grated
1/2c nuts and seeds (sunflower and pumpkins seeds)
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
1c fat free plain yogourt
1tbs vegetable oil
3 egg whites (or two eggs worth of egg replacer)
***optional: unsweetened coconut, more fruit, more nuts, applesauce,mashed bananas ,different flours, cereal, protein shake mix, whatever you want!

Method:
***optional, toast the oats, nuts and coconut

Set oven to 350F (180C). Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix flour, oats, dried fruit, raisins, bran, baking powder, baking soda and apple (or banana). Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk yogort, oil and eggs. Stir into dry ingredients. Spread mixture into pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and slice into either 12 or 16 bars.

I did used sunflower seeds, pepitas, walnuts, and two tablespoons of sucunat.


The verdict? They're dense! They're like an oatmeal block of chewy goodness. I love the texture. The hubby and I agreed, though, it needs more sweetness. So, I think I'll up the sucunat next time. Also, they were incredibly easy to make! I'll be making these again for certain!

One woman show

Sadly, my husband has to work today. The university considers today a workday since the 4th fell on the weekend. While I think that is personally lame, I can't argue too much because they allow him far, far more days off than most business allow employees. He gets nearly two weeks at Christmas. Anyhow, this means that I have the house to myself today! It's a very rare phenomenon. What to do, what to do?

I think I'll get all domestic and clean things that are long neglected. I do a basic clean every week, but there are those other little things that just don't get done. I always feel refreshed when every surface of the house has had a good scrubbing! Then, I'm off to a few of my biggest luxuries: health food stores. I'd like to stock up on a few things, and sadly, they're so far away that I can't go often. Actually, that's probably a blessing in disguise! We'd be broke if I could go more often! They don't call it Whole Paycheck for nothing. At least my frugal, tightwad self doesn't allow for me blowing the budget. I'm quite the savvy shopper when it comes to those joints.

Yeah, not the most glamorous way to spend a day off, huh? What are you doing with your bonus weekend time?

Happy 4th!

Yesterday, it poured and poured....changing our plans from going out to staying nearby. It was actually a great twist of fate because we really had a relaxing evening instead of a slightly stressful one.

And today, I get to have lunch with my entire family then spend the rest of the time alone with my love. This is the best part of being married!

See you tomorrow.

Long weekend needed

I hope you all are off to a great start on your independent day weekend! We sure are.

We started our Friday evening with a 750ml bottle of Fin du Monde, one of my husband's favorite imported beers, in our Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe commemorative glasses. It was fun seeing those out again! We honestly hadn't used them since obtaining them two years ago. Such a great trip! Good memory. We watched two documentaries over the evening....one so bad it was good recapping the 50 worst movies ever made and the other a really great documentary about movies from the screenwriters point of view. Yep, we watched documentaries to ring in our weekend. We're that kind of exciting! Heh.

This morning started with less than stellar pancakes. I really need to find a better whole wheat recipes. Surely there are some out there. I'll be combing my healthy living blogs later to see what those smart ladies use.

There should be fireworks and barbecue in my future, but that depends on the rain. Honestly, I'd be okay with it if we got rained out. All I care about is chilling with my man this weekend. Everything else is just gravy.

Ohhh.....gravy......

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Food in Review

I thought I'd try sharing a few of our meals each week. Here's the problem: I forget to take photos! I make the food. I eat the food. Oops.....all gone and no photos. I'll try to do better with it, but I only photographed one meal this week.

Sunday and Tuesday, we had homemade turkey slow cooker meatballs on whole wheat hoagies topped in mozzarella. One night, it was accompanied by sweet potato fries. The other, baked "fried" okra.

Monday and Wednesday, we had a total summer favorite: taco salad. This one featured chicken breast instead of ground beef.


Thursday, I used left over homemade marinara from the meatballs to top an oven baked version of eggplant parm with a side of spiced cannelloni beans and caesar salad. I love baking the breaded eggplant because it still gets a crispy crust of breading while allowing the eggplant to get creamy on the inside the way only roasting it slowly can accomplish.

If any of these pique your interest, I'd be glad to tell you how I made them.

Happy Friday!

Big-girl toys!

I'm so excited! I ordered a REAL food processor last night. I have a puny mini-processor. It's been useful, but it's definitely limiting and in no way a finely crafted machine. Oh no. Well, in my efforts to make more things at home so that I can eliminate some of the excess and fillers from our diets, it was becoming apparent that a processor really was necessary.

So, I turned to the person that seems to be the processor queen. Ashley over at the Edible Perspective pointed me in the right direction. Her advice, along with some online reviews, guided me to the Cuisinart Prep 11. Now, this little tight wad really did not want to spend that much on a processor! BUT.....it does oh so much more than chop food! It also has bread dough attachments! Soon, I'll be creating wondrous nut butters, healthy at-home versions of expensive granola bars, and Alton Brown's pizza dough for the grill! SO FREAKIN' EXCITED!!! It's my first piece of truly fine kitchenware.

I cannot wait for it to arrive!