Granola Bars

I am always on the look out for a new granola bar recipe.  Here's the latest based on the recipe from a friend at church.

Melt together:
1 cup honey
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup dates, finely chopped

Take off heat and add:
2 tsp vanilla
1½ tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

Mix together:
3 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup coconut
2 cups dried cranberries
2/3 cup total sunflower and / or pumpkin seeds
2/3 cups chopped pecans or almonds

Stir the wet and dry together and press onto a large, greased cookie sheet.

I love this recipe because you can sub whatever you have on hand.  This time, some crushed Vector supplemented the krispies.  The original recipe called for an additional cup of dried apricots.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Rice Krispie Treats

I don't make normal Rice Krispie treats for the girls often.  I like my snacks to have a little nutritional value.

I do not claim that these are nutritious, of course they aren't - but they do have a leg up on the original so I pretend :)

Melt together in a sauce pan:

½ cup peanut butter
½ cup honey

take off the heat and add 1 tsp vanilla

now, if you are patient, you will wait until the mixture has cooled and add chocolate chips.  If you are me, you will add them in right away and they will half way melt and become part of the sauce.

Pour over 3 cups of Rice Krispies mix well.  Press into greased 9x9 pan and allow to cool.  I put mine in the freezer and forgot about them until the next day.  They were yummy as an after school snack today.

This is my jumping off point - my base.  Now I want to try things like less honey and adding puffed what into the mix.  I wonder if Craisins would taste good in them . . .

Turkey

My turkey procedure comes from Chef John at Food Wishes - see link to side.  He's got a couple videos on how to do the most amazing turkey.  This is point form for my future reference, pretty much directly from his instructions.

The turkey will probably need 4-5 days to thaw depending on size.
Clean thoroughly.  Rip out excess fat.
Save neck, gizzard, heart for gravy stock.
Toss liver
Season bird inside with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning.
Toss carrots, celery, onions in 9x13 pan
Toss same inside turkey with sage and rosemary
Prepare sage / rosemary / garlic butter and rub under skin
Rub same all over the outside of the bird.
Season outside of bird with more salt, pepper and poultry seasoning
Put a little water in the pan
Loosely cover the top with foil
325F

For a 20lb turkey to be served by 5:30:

1:00 turkey in oven
2:00 start simmering stock for gravy with a bayleaf
3:00 saute veggies for stuffing
4:00 take foil off turkey
4:00 start with stuffing and potato prep
5:00 take bird out, start making gravy with pan drippings
5:00 start carrots to steam
5:00 put stuffing / potatoes (if appropriate) / pie in oven.
5:20 prepare salad / warm corn

No Knead Bread

This recipe comes from Alexandra's Kitchen with my own modifications because I can't seem to follow a recipe to save my life.

In a bowl, wisk together:

1 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour
1 T sugar
1 t salt
2 t yeast I'm using breadmaker yeast.  If you're using the stuff you need to put into water, you'll have to mix it into the water before adding it.

Mix in:

2 cups water (a little warm)  The dough is going to be very sticky and moist.  This is NOT your normal bread dough.

Grease up whatever dish you're gonna bake it in.  I chose a 9 x 13ish oval baking dish.  Tht was too large, next time I'll use a smaller casserole so it rises up the sides more.  Alexandra uses two pyrex mixing bowls.

Pour / dump the dough into your greased up pan and let it rise in a warm spot until it's doubled.  At least one - two hours.

Use a utensil to beat it down and pull it away from the edge of the baking dish.  Alexandra suggests forks.  One seemed to work for me.

Let rise for another 30 minutes.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425F.  Lower the heat to 375F and bake for 20 more minutes.

If your pan was greased well enough, the loaf should fall right out.  Mine didn't but I mentioned my inability to follow directions, right?

This took up so little of my time and it was so super good with the soup I made.  The outside was so crispy and the inside was wonderful.  I don't know what it tastes like next day yet, but I'm very optimistic.

Honey Mustard Chicken

This is my mother's recipe and I have happy mouth memories when I eat this now!  I'll write her recipe and then add my comments in another colour.

8 chicken pieces, skinned
1 tsp curry powder
½ cup orange juice I used Orange Rasberry juice 'cuz all I had in the house was Veggie Juice
2 tbsp melted butter
½ cup liquid honey
2 tbsp prepared mustard  Oooooh - 'prepared' mustard.  I used dried.  This is probably why mine wasn't as yellow as I remember Mum's
salt

Rub chicken pieces with curry powder and arrange in a baking dish.  I just sprinkled it over top.  I'm lazy like that.
In a small glass measuring cup, mix together the rest of the ingredients until smooth.
Pour over chicken pieces and bake at 375F for about 1 hour, turning once and basting often.  I covered mine in foil for the first 45 minutes because I didn't feel like turning and basting.  I'm lazy like that.

Baked Oatmeal

I only had baked oatmeal for the first time this summer when my mum cooked at camp.  Just recently I went searching for a recipe that might be similar and found an amazing recipe on food.com.  Here it is with some Lisa mods.

3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant) 
1 cup brown sugar 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 cup milk 
½ cup butter or margarine, melted 
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 handful of almonds (perhaps ½ cup)
¾ cup blueberries


I mixed this all up in a 9 x 9 glass dish (yay for less cleaning) and baked it for 30 minutes at 350F


Serve with more brown sugar and milk. 

Orange Balsamic Chicken

I discovered a YUMMY chicken recipe in a Rachel Ray cookbook.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs orbreasts or any combination of light and dark meat
• Salt and coarse black pepper
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves chopped
• 1/3 cup orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 scallions, whites and greens, finely chopped

PREPARATION

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high to high heat.

Season the chicken liberally with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. When the olive oil ripples, add the chicken and brown for 5 minutes, then turn and sprinkle with rosemary. Cook until the chicken is tender and cooked through, about 5 minutes more.

In a small bowl, stir together the marmalade, vinegar and stock and pour over the chicken. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and becomes a thin glaze. Arrange the chicken on a serving platter and serve topped with the glaze, and scallions.