Kitchen Sink Granola Bars

In case you were wondering why I dubbed these kitchen sink granola bars :) It's pretty much everything but.

Here's all the dry stuff together: oats, sucanat, dried blueberries, raisins, spelt flour, flax seed, almond meal and salt. And all the wet stuff is together (slightly warmed in the microwave so the honey would whisk in nicely) olive oil, vanilla extract, honey and egg.

After I get it all mixed and put it on my Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan (a glam mom can NEVER have too much stoneware!) I cover it with waxed paper and push it all down nice and pretty and even before I pop it into the oven.

Granola goodness!!! And what do you do with all the little bits that fall off after you've cut them and put them on your plate? Top off a cup of delicious Chobani blueberry, of course :)

 

Kitchen Sink Granola Bars:

3 cups of organic rolled oats

1/4 cup sucanat (they are plenty sweet without this, but I've been craving dessert this entire pregnancy!)

1/2 cup ground flax seeds

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup almond meal/flour

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup dried blueberries

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup raw honey

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup olive (or coconut) oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a large bar pan/cookie sheet with olive or coconut oil.

In a large bowl mix together all your dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl mix together oil, egg, vanilla and honey. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix well using a large wooden spoon. Put mixture into the pan, cover with wax paper and pat out evenly.

Bake for 22 minutes, take out and cut into your desired serving sizes, then put back in the oven for an additional 5 to 15 minutes depending on how chewy/crunchy you like your granola. (I usually only do 5 more minutes as I'm not a huge fan of crunchy or hard granola bars). Take the pan out and let it cool for 5 minutes before removing your granola goodies from the baking sheet! Enjoy!

Curried chicken and sweet potato bake

The weather has gotten cooler. That means it's time for fall comfort food. For us, that is a lot of orange. I LOVE ORANGE!!! Food, that is. Pumpkin, sweet potato, squash, and curry (no, curry is a spice, but work with me :). I had some stuff around and this lovely concoction turned out to be very tasty, so I am sharing. I would love it if you left links with your favorite orange food recipes!

You need:
1 pound of ground chicken
3 cups of baby spinach leaves chopped
3 heaping tablespoons of madras mild curry, divided (or your favorite GF curry powder)
1 can of coconut cream
1 1/2 cups sweet potato soup
1 egg
1 sweet potato, sliced thin
olive oil spray

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take your chicken and brown it with 1 1/2 TBS of the curry powder. As it gets almost done, lower the heat to medium low, stir in the chopped spinach and cover until the spinach is wilted and the chicken is cooked through.

Combine the coconut cream, sweet potato soup, egg and curry and whisk together well. Spray a glass casserole dish with the olive oil spray and add the chicken and spinach mixture in first. I do it with a slotted spoon so I leave the chicken fat in the saute pan. Pour the sweet potato mixture over the chicken, top with the sweet potato slices and give them a light spray to help them crisp up.

Bake this in the oven for 45 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes. While it is finishing uncovered, prepare quinoa with chicken broth  to serve with it. Or you can make rice, we just try to do a lot of whole grains here.

Yum! Top your chosen accompaniment with the bake and enjoy!

Perdue Chicken Spinach Salad with Chobani Pomegranate Dressing

(I'll post a picture soon)

I tweeted my lunch, and found requests for the recipe when I checked in later, so here it is!

Perdue Chicken Spinach Salad with Chobani Pomegranate Dressing

For the chicken:
1 package of Perdue Chicken Breast Tenderloins
3 tablespoons of aged balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of pomegranate juice
5 or 6 grinds of fresh pepper (to taste)

Mix all and marinate chicken for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Grill the chicken tenderloins until done.

For the dressing:
1 cup of Chobani Pomegranate Yogurt
1/2 to 3/4 cups of pomegranate juice (depending on consistency preference)
2-3 tablespoons of organic honey (to taste)
Mix well and allow to set in refrigerator overnight for best flavor. (You will need to shake it together again before dressing your salad)

For the salad:
As much organic baby spinach as you'd like. I add sliced almonds and a very small amount of crumbled Feta cheese, top with the chicken tenderloins and dressing and chow down!

Enjoy!

Recipes: Pumpkin Bread Cupcakes with Greek Yogurt Icing

Every now and again I play around in the kitchen an come up with a new recipe that is too good not to share. So here is my new recipe for Pumpkin Bread cupcakes with Greek yogurt icing.

Pumpkin Bread Cupcakes:

1/2 cup organic unsalted butter at room temp
2/3 cup organic dark brown sugar (not packed)
1 TBS organic vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1/4 cup raw honey (the darker the better)
2 large eggs (I use Eggland's and I really think they give a better flavor)
2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add everything but the flour and mix well. Then add the flour 1/4 cup at a time until it is all mixed together and smooth.

Fill cupcake tins 2/3 full of batter (you can make this recipe as a single loaf or mini cupcakes, too) and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean but the tops are still springy. Allow to cool completely, then eat, store, or ice.

Greek yogurt icing: (This will need to be made ahead of time and refrigerated over night)

6 oz organic cream cheese or tofutti cream cheese
2 TBS fat free or soy sour cream
4 oz Fat free Greek yogurt
1 TBS vanilla
1-2 cups powdered sugar (don't give me grief, this is icing ;)

Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature. Whisk together cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and yogurt until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired sweetness/consistency is reached. Remember that once it gets cold again the cream cheese will also thicken the icing.

I like the cupcakes without icing for a quick and easy breakfast treat on mornings when we are in a hurry. But they make a relatively healthy dessert when iced and are oh so satisfying!

Do you have a favorite pumpkin bread recipe to share?