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Brunch

Brunch/ RECIPES

Homemade Granola Bars

I have wanted to make homemade granola bars for quite awhile now.  I just can’t stand how expensive they are at the stores, and so full of hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup or sugar!  I’ve seen several recipes for granola bars, but I am not sure I will need to try any others out after tasting these! They were very easy to make, made a big batch, and tasted super yummy.  They are great for the lunch box or an after school snack!

I found the recipe at Kitchen Stewardship.  I will need to continue to look around and find more recipes on her blog, she earned my trust with this one recipe!

Homemade Granola Bars
41/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened* (I did 1/4 c butter and 1/4 c peanut butter. YUM! I’d like to try coconut oil instead of butter in my next batch)
1 cup honey (I used 3/4 cup, +1/4 cup water, then added 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 cup chocolate chips for more sweetness)

Add-ins: 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped walnuts, dried fruit, sunflower seeds, coconut etc)

Lightly butter a 9×13 inch pan.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and honey together first, then add all ingredients except add-ins.  Beat hard until combined.  Stir in add-ins.  Press mixture into the pan, really press so the bars don’t fall apart. (I used my hands).
Bake 325 degrees for 25 minutes until golden brown.  Let it cool at least 10 minutes before cutting into bars.  Let it cool completely in the pan before removing and serving.
This recipe makes at least 20 good-sized bars, which as Kitchen Stewardship said, “might be equivalent of 3 boxes of Quaker chewy bars.  Even though butter and honey are on the pricey side, it still works out to be nicely frugal”

More thoughts from Kitchen Stewardship below:

Transformations:

  • Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder and skip the chocolate chips
  • Use 1/2 cup natural peanut butter in place of 1/2 cup of butter (tried this today – it is divine!)
  • The honey flavor is very distinct in this recipe, but when using peanut butter, it almost disappears.  I’m wondering if PB is sweet enough that I can cut out some honey and just use water instead.  ??
  • Crumbs in the bottom of the storage bag?  So yummy over homemade yogurt with fresh fruit.

this post is linked to:
Tasty Tuesday Parade Of Foods @ Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Show and Tell Wednesdays @ Blue Cricket Designs
Real Food Wednesdays @ Cheeseslave

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Brunch/ RECIPES

Mabel’s Corncakes

One of my favorite recipe books was a gift from my mom years ago.  It is called “The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook.”  It is full of comfort food, brunch recipes, and soup recipes, many that have been passed down through generations.  I love that there are recipes with simple food such as these corncakes, but also plenty of elegant foods.  It takes you all over the States, with a little story about each Inn/Bed & Breakfast.  I love it, and I love my mom for knowing how much I would love it!

The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook, Vol. 1: More Than 1,700 Crowd-Pleasing Recipes from 500 American Inns

This recipe comes from The Lemon Bay Bed and Breakfast in Englewood, Florida.  I’m assuming it is from Mabel:), as it is called “Mabel’s Corncakes.”

I made breakfast for dinner this weekend, and I wanted something a bit different from my normal Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancake recipe.  This recipe caught my eye, it only had 7 ingredients and one of them was buttermilk, which we all know I use often.  My girls liked them so much that they only saved ONE for me!  Guess I will have to double the recipe next time!

Mabel’s Corncakes
11/3 c. buttermilk
1 tbls. oil (I used coconut oil)
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3/4 c. corn meal
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda

Combine the ingredients and mix well.  Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a got griddle.  Cook until golden on each side.  Serve with homemade jam or 100% maple syrup.  (add a bit more flour if batter is too runny, I had to add about 1/8 of a cup). Serves 4,

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Brunch/ Healthy Eating/ RECIPES

Healthy Buttermilk Coffee Cake

We had company from out of town this weekend.  I love having company, especially when it is dear, dear friends who are coming to visit.  I have a post on “anti-procrastination” coming up, where I will talk more about our company, as I think everyone should meet them-yes, they are THAT great.

While they were here, I made coffee cake.

Our friends are coffee snobs, so I knew I would need coffee cake to go with our coffee snobbery.  I left it up to them to make the coffee, and boy was it GOOD, they know coffee!
I made the coffee cake, and was really happy with it! I had never made it before, and it was on the healthy side, so I was not sure how it would turn out.  I knew if it bombed, I would still be loved, because coffee is the only thing they are snobby about. 🙂

I found the recipe at Passionate Homemaking.  It uses many wholesome ingredients including buttermilk, and if you read this blog regularly, you know I have a thing for buttermilk.  It is part of my every week shopping trip, it is great for the gut and cheap!  You can read more about the benefits of buttermilk here. (scroll down when you get to the post)

Healthy Buttermilk Coffee Cake

2 1/4 cup flour (I used 11/4 cups whole wheat flour & 1 cup white flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup rapadura (or sucanant  (whole cane sugar))
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup walnuts, optional (I left these out)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
Combine flour, salt, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon into a large bowl. Add sweeteners and oils. Mix till well blended. Take out 3/4 cup for topping and add chopped nuts, and 1 tsp. cinnamon and mix. Set aside. To the original batter, add soda, baking powder, egg and buttermilk. DO NOT OVERMIX. If you do so, it will not rise well. Place in oiled 8×8 pan or pie pan. Sprinkle topping. Bake at 300 degrees for approx. 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. (I had to bake mine for about 55-60 minutes)

My friends liked it, my kids liked it, and it complimented our coffee just perfectly.  I will for sure be making this again!  Thanks for the recipe, Lindsey at Passionate Homemaking!

This post linked to:
Made By You Monday @ Skip To My Lou
Market Yourself Monday @ Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Mouth Watering Monday @ A Southern Fairytale
Tasty Tuesdays @ Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Tuesdays At The Table @ All The Small Stuff
Foodie Friday @ Designs By Gollum
Real Food Wednesdays @ Kelly The Kitchen Kop

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Brunch/ RECIPES

Homemade Granola

Are you officially granola if you make homemade granola?  My friends and family joke, calling me granola because we are eating more ‘traditionally’ now.  I don’t think I am, I think I am a ‘sorta’ granola.  Kinda, sorta- like this great blog “Sorta Crunchy.”  She wrote a post about the ‘sorta’ part, and I ‘ditto’ the post.

Back to the recipe, its a keeper!
I found it on my friends blog “the_uncomplication_project.”  Her blog is just a couple months old, but she is off to a great start!  I have learned from her already and look forward to her future posts.
Like she says on her blog, it is not a crunchy granola, it is a bit chewy, which I like!  It was very easy to make and my 2 younger girls devoured it.

Chunky Granola

Preheat oven to 350F
Place in ungreased 9×13″ pan:
6 c rolled oats
Bake 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and stir in:
1/2 c. sunflower seeds or nuts (I used pumpkin seeds)
1/2 c. coconut (I didn’t have any, used dried cranberries instead)
1/2 c. wheat germ (I forgot this ingredient, oops!)
1/2 c. powdered milk

Add to dry mixture:
2/3 c. honey
2/3 c. oil (I used coconut oil)
1 t. vanilla

Stir until toroughly coated. Bake 10-15 minutes, stirring every 3-5 minutes until uniformly golden (I do 4min-4min-3min). Do notoverbake. Let cool in pan undisturbed, then break into chunks. 


Click on over to “the_uncomplication_project” to see her notes on the recipe, and while you are there, check out the blog she’s got going on so far.

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Brunch/ RECIPES

Easy Yogurt Fruit Salad

I’ve made this many times, with all types of different fruit.  Usually, I’m cooking dinner and decide we need a colorful, healthy side (we even call this dessert at our house, see this post).  I gather whatever fruit we have in the house (fresh or frozen), chop it up, and add whatever yogurt we have in the house.  If we only have plain yogurt, I will add honey and sometimes cinnamon, depending on the type of fruit we have.

It’s a no recipe, recipe.  Fruit. Yogurt. Toss. Done!
*I just made granola for the first time.  Watch for the recipe…it would be great sprinkled on top of this!

Brunch/ RECIPES

Beautiful Bowl Of Blueberries

At least a couple times a week my family eat blueberries for dessert.

I am usually too cheap to buy the fresh ones, plus they seem to get soft and moldy on me so quickly, so we buy them frozen.

While I am cooking dinner, I will fill a bowl with frozen blueberries and let it sit. By the time we are finished eating, they are half thawed and perfect for munching on. I bring them to the table with the rest of our meal. The first few times I did it, I made a big deal about it… like “look everyone, blueberries for dessert tonight! or “make sure you eat your food so you can have blueberries (or clementines, or frozen grapes) when you are done.” I have tried to make fruit a special thing around here by talking about it in very positive (sometimes over the top:)) ways. It works for my girls. They see fruit as a treat and a sweet ending to many of our meals. I keep frozen blueberries, strawberries and a mixed fruit bag in my freezer most of the time. When my girls ask for a snack, many times they choose to get a bowl of frozen fruit to munch on. Gotta love it! The key for us was to get all the “Little Debbie Snacks” and “Fruit Snacks and “Oreas” completely OUT of the house. When the kids see that fruit is one of the sweetest things in the house, they choose it.

Back to blueberries–
Blueberries are literally bursting with nutrients and flavor, yet very low in calories. Recently, researchers at Tufts University analyzed 60 fruits and vegetables for their antioxidant capability. Blueberries came out on top, rating highest in their capacity to destroy free radicals. (Antioxidants and Free Radical post coming up) Click here for additional information on the health benefits of blueberries.
Here are some ways we eat blueberries:
  • Sprinkle some on top of yogurt.
  • Make homemade blueberry syrup for pancakes or ice cream. Heat them up with a bit of sugar (or rapudura or honey or maple syrup) in a pan on low-med heat. As they turn liquid-y smush them with a potato masher to break them up. Some people strain this, we don’t.
  • Add them to pancake batter for blueberry pancakes
  • Throw them in smoothies.
  • Make muffins/breads/coffecake
  • Toss them in oatmeal.
  • Use fresh blueberries on cereal.
  • Bake ’em in a pie.
  • Dip in chocolate and refrigerate until hardened. (have not tried this one but I want to-yum!
**This post is linked to Moms’ 30-Minute Blog Challenge
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Brunch/ RECIPES

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

I have searched high and low for the perfect pancake recipe that was easy, healthy and just the right texture, and–YIPEE!!!  I have finally found it!

My girls are as happy as I am.  They have been the ones that have to eat all the pancake recipes I have tried, and my oldest daughter expressed relief when I told her that I was going to stick with this one.
She said, “Oh Mom, I am so glad you didn’t choose the ones with orange juice in them because they were too sweet, and the pumpkin ones were not my favorite, and the white ones were good but didn’t fill me up, and those thin ones were just eww…” I was surprised that she remembered all of the different recipes I have tried, although I was NOT surprised that she had an opinion about each one of them!:)

I had found a mix that I love, Bob Mills 10 Grain Pancake Mix, but as much as we eat pancakes around here, it just was too expensive to justify buying every week.  Now I don’t have to, which makes me very happy!

Top with butter and pure maple syrup, and you will be in healthy pancake heaven!

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar (or plain sugar)
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbls butter

Whisk dry ingredients together.  Make a well, add buttermilk and lightly beaten eggs.  Stir just until combined, leaving some lumps (if you over mix, your pancakes will be tough instead of light and fluffy)
Melt butter in skillet or pan.  Pour about a 1/4 cup batter into pan, wait until bottom is golden brown, then flip and cook until golden on other side. Continue to add bits of butter to pan to prevent sticking as you make more pancakes.
Makes about 16 four inch pancakes.

I double it, make a bunch of pancakes and freeze them in gallon ziplock bags.  My girls help themselves in the morning by microwaving for a few seconds.

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