Home Made Granola Recipe (plus a skinny secret)

Winter is great for getting the baking bug.

As opposed to the other bugs you can catch in the winter.

Of course there are only so many loaves and muffins you can make.

So I present to you:

GRANOLA!

Here is the yummy recipe that I made basically using up all of the

items I bought to make a baked brie with dried fruit and nuts over the holidays.

Recipe

I found this recipe on Yummly.com

You do have to register...it is free.

Then you have to click on a link to the original poster's blog.

Its kinda troublesome...all those extra steps...but trust me, its worth it.

This granola features dates, sweetened coconut, dried cranberries, pecans, walnuts and honey.

FYI.  I omitted the wheat germ and the sunflower seeds.

I didn't have any wheat germ on hand and the sunflower seeds I had were not shelled.

************************

Now here is my trick!

I've always been told that granola is "too high in fats".

So I start with a cubed apple...then sprinkle granola on top.

Add milk and you have a delicious and satisfying skinny treat.

You're welcome.

PS.  By the time you are drinking the milk from the bottom of the bowl...it's sweet cinnamon milk!!!!

BONUS:  Your house smells wonderful when its baking!

What is your favorite winter smell?

SPECIAL NOTE TO MY READERS:

This post is my 200th blog post since starting this blog in 2010.

I wanted to thank each and every one of you who reads it.

I appreciate you every day.

You drive me to create interesting content and 

life in the woods stories that leave an impression.

Stay with me folks...the ride is about to get a lot more fun!

Granola Bars...sort of...

This post started with a huge hawl from the Bulk Barn.

I had grabbed all of my favorite items, along with a few new treats.

The Bulk Barn is a favorite destination for the kids as well as myself.

I was mentioning my trail mix on my facebook page for this blog...

...when somebody mentioned GRANOLA BARS.

I have never made granola bars, but thought I'm confident enough to make those things! 

(I'd only been talking about doing it for years...just never gotten around to it.)

I got all of the ingredients out (grabbed a recipe of allrecipes.com) and started to work...

Turns out I didn't have any granola though....but why would I let that stop me?

Here's what I used:

2 cups flour (gluten free if you want to!)

1 1/2 cups hulled hemp seeds (a perfect and natural blend of easily digested proteins, essential fats (Omega 3 & 6), amino acids, fiber, iron, vitamins, calcium and enzymes.)

1/2 cup slivered almonds (rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids like oleic and palmitoleic acids that help to lower LDL or "bad cholesterol" and a good source of vitamin E)

1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds (good protein and amino acids!)

1/2 cup walnut pieces (walnuts have highest levels of popyphenolic antioxidants than any other common edible nuts.)

1 cup golden raisins (have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, blood cholesterol lowering activities)

2 tbsps whole flax seeds (numerous health-benefiting nutrients, dietary fiber, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins)

 1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup liquid local honey (The vitamins are B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and certain amino acids. The minerals are calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc.)

2/3 cups butter, softened

1/3 cup packed brown or yellow sugar

(all nutrional facts and info derived from http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/ and http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/)

Mix all of the dry ingredients then pour on the wet (or moist) ingredients.

Moisten the whole mixture evenly, then spoon into a baking dish.

Baking dish should be sprayed or lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 mins or until golden brown.

Let sit for 20 mins or if you want fast results...put baking dish in the fridge for 10 mins or freezer for 5 mins.

Cut into squares and serve or wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper and place in ziploc bags for healthy, high protein snacks on the go.

EASY!

ENJOY!!! 

Although you can't always confirm that the items at the Bulk Barn have a small carbon footprint...you'll be skipping the preservatives in commercially processed foods.  (Meaning you'll be able to pronounce everything that went into your food)

Chicken and Swiss Chard Noodle Pesto

Our gardening season for 2011 may be coming to a close....but the garden itself is still kicking out all sorts of yummy things.  Most days we have a hard time keeping up with eating all of it!  That's when we're fortunate to have lots of friends who are willing to take these free vegetables off our hands...tee hee!

The other day, Hubbie asked me if I could make those swiss chard pesto noodles.  I was a little surprised...as I wasn't sure how good they were the first time I made them.  I guess they were a hit, when they are getting a second request!

I thought I would go over that recipe in more detail...as I think I glossed over it largely in the the 3 recipe post a while back.  First you need an enormous pile of swiss chard.  I'm not even kidding here.  The bigger the better!!!  This stuff wilts down to almost nothing....and I almost always underestimate.

Fortunately this time we had prepared pesto on hand.  Hubbie made it with basil from our herb tub.  He used walnuts instead of pinenuts...as that was all we had on hand.  Now is actually a good time to be collecting walnuts...if anyone has a walnut tree and would like to get rid of their pesky walnuts...LET ME KNOW!!!

Originally with the pesto chard noodles...I used garlic, oil, walnuts, parmesan cheese and basil directly on the noodles...this time I just spooned the mixture over the chard liberally...which was not necessarily a good thing...

Here is a shot of the chard cut into "noodles".  I wash the leaves, rinsed them, then shake off most of the excess moisture (or you could use a salad spinner).  I remove the ribs of the chard...Hubbie always reminds me I can leave them in...but I only do that when I want the water chestnut texture in my dish....not this time though....

Next we took all the meat off of a whole roasted chicken from Costco...the in-laws buy them for us now and again...and it's always a welcome treat!

Here I wish I owned a wok...as the biggest frying pan we own doesn't quite seem to do it.  Swiss chard was spilling everywhere.  I added a touch of pesto sauce to the bottom of the pan and started warming it up.

At some point the chard wilts down enough to fit into the pan.  I then realize how this dish is lacking in colour...so I dice up a yellow zucchini and throw it in too!  It is also at this point that I start to notice how much liquid is in the pan.  It occurs to me that by spooning on the pesto...I've added too much oil to this dish...next time I'll use more restraint when adding the pesto mixture!

I started heating up the pulled chicken pieces in another frying pan with lemon juice, S & P.

I layer the swiss chard noodles and zucchini on the bottom of the plate, next the chicken, then chopped up parsley on top.  I also halved some cherry tomatoes and threw them at the plate after all was said and done.

The cherry tomatoes added more colour and were nicely warmed by the hot meal.  (I had trouble taking pics of this dish....the steam kept fogging up my camera lens!) 

This dish is EASY, healthy, colourful and warming.  I feel healthier after eating all of that dark, rich, green matter.  I understand this to be a very low carb meal...but kept wondering if a piece of toast or crusty bread would have gone nicely with this dish.  

What is the healthiest meal you've ever made fresh out of the garden?

Recipe Feature...3 meals in one post!

I've been away all week again...so I find the post ideas have been piling up...

I was about to make 3 posts with a lot of details about each meal.  Instead...I want my readers to get the most bang for their buck.  Here is a post that features 3 hit meals from the past week.  All were delicious.  Some were planned, some were accidental...some used recipes, some were made up on the spot.

Here are the delectible servings of seasonal, easy and CHEAP meals (they all required at least ONE ingredient that DIDN'T come from the backyard).



Dinner last Sunday, some for family and some for friends



Aubergine & Courgette Bake

1 large eggplant

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion (chopped)

2 garlic cloves (crushed)

2 lbs tomatoes (peeled and chopped)

a handful of fresh basil leaves (chopped)

1 Tbsp fresh parsley (chopped)

2 zucchinis (sliced lengthwise)

whole wheat flour for coating

shredded mozzarella

parmesan cheese

1.  Slice the eggplant, sprinkle with salt and set aside for 45-60  min.

2.  Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan.  Fry the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes until softened.  Stir in the tomatoes, half the basil and the parsley.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and cook, stirring, for 25-35 minutes until sauce has thickened.  Mash the tomatoe to a pulp.

3.  Rinse and dry the eggplant.  Dust the eggplant and zucchinis with the flour.

4.  Heat more olive oil in another frying pan and fry the eggplant slices and zucchini slices until golden brown.  Set aside.

5.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter an overproof dish.  Put a layer of eggplant, the zucchini in the dish, pour a layer of sauce and scatter with some mozzarella.  Sprinkle over most of the remaining basil and parsley.  Repeat the layers, ending with mozzarella.  Sprinkle with the parmesan and remaining herbs on top and bake for 30-35 minutes.  Serve at once.

(REF:  The Complete Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking, by Roz Denny & Christine Ingram, 1997)



Saturday Lunch at Home



Swiss chard noodles with Pesto sauce

a dozen large leaves of Swiss chard, sliced in long lenths

walnuts

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion cut in lengths

2 cloves garlic crushed

handful of basil leaves

a tsp of parmesan

handful of cherry tomatoes as topping

whole wheat bagels toasted with butter & a dash of parmesan

S & P

Fry up the onions and walnuts in some of the oil.  Add garlic and chard and simmer.  Grind salt over the whole mess.  Add basil and some of the parmesan.  Heat and serve in bowls with cherry tomatoes and toasted bagels.  Top greens with more parmesan.  



Dinner on Saturday night



Squash and Tomatoes on noodles

1 Flying saucer squash

1 pit red and black cherry tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1 1/2 cups chopped chicken breast

2 tbsp fresh oregano and parsley

2 tbsp olive oil

spaghetti noodles

shredded cheddar

S & P

Microwave the chopped flying saucers for 2 minutes.  Fry up the heated squashes in olive oil until browned.  Add garlic and chicken and simmer for 5 min.  Add sliced cherry tomatoes, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper.  Simmer a 5 more minutes.  Serve over noodles and top with shredded cheddar. 

REVIEW:

These meals were a hit each time.  Each dish hit a different flavour of the season.  The first recipe was wonderful but WAY too much oven and frying for a hot summer day.  I could see me making that dish and freezing it for a fresh taste of summer in the mid-winter season (not sure how these ingredients would stand up to freezing...but worth a shot!).  The second two recipes were completely made up from stuff we needed to eat up.  Both required a minimal amount of frying and served up hot and fresh.  

If you wonderful readers make this dish, let me know, post a pic of your creation on my facebook page!  Lets all share our accomplishments.  

That's me...saving the planet one low carbon footprint meal at a time...