granola bars and beet cake

I have always wanted to make granola bars, but for some reason, they really intimidated me. But, recently, we have started Jackson going gluten free and with g-free granola bars at $5.00 a box, I figured I would try anything. I found a recipe online, but manipulated it a bit. These bars are so healthy. Full of protein and healthy fats. Kids love them! I love them! It was hard to stop eating them. And I think once you get the basic recipe down, than you can play with it and substitute ingrediants to your liking. Here is what I did:

2 cups oats
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 cup puffed rice
3/4 cup crushed peanuts
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
mix together and heat on a cookie sheet for 5 minutes in a 400 degree oven...
just until they get toasty, not burned.
combine with 1 cup raisins or any dried fruit and 2 small fun size packs of m and ms
Set this aside

combine in a pan:
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup honey or 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tsp. almond extract
Heat until bubbly, stirring constantly
When hot, add to dry mix and press combined mixture into a 9 X 13 cake pan lined with waxed paper
Let cool. Cut when chewy..they will dry more, but are easier to cut after an hour. I cut in half vertically and than 10 rows horizontally. It made 20 bars! Way better than the 6 I get in my $5.00 box.

My other unbelievable recipe of the week was my chocolate beet cake. I was unsure of this one. With a whole cup of beets and 2 cups of carrots in it. But, my God...best chocolate cake ever. So moist and tasty. We all loved this one. Wish I could take credit for it, but cannot. It's a pinterest find. It's also gluten free:) Here's the link:
http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Gluten-Free-Carrot-Beet-Cake-_with-Or-Without-Chocolate_-Recipezaar


Happy Eating!

Comfort Food Sunday

I had a weird day on Sunday. Actually all weekend. I was craving something, but I wasn't sure what it was that I was craving. I needed comfort food but, for me, that isn't mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese. So, here is what I ended up with....apple cider donuts and Grandma Kartos' pizza buns. 
The kids were so excited about the afternoon donuts. I got the recipe off of pinerest. Here is the link:
http://seeminglygreek.com/2011/09/apple-fritters/
So good. I also put pears in the batter along with the apples. The possibilities of these are endless...pineapple/coconut, cherry/chocolate... I dipped mine in sugar or glaze. I prefer sugar, kids prefer glaze...either way, they are so good!

The second comfort food I made was pizza buns. My grandma started making these when I was little. The recipe was quickly learned by my mom and all my aunts. It was always the "special" food I chose for sleepovers. The name is very deceiving...they taste nothing like pizza and have no pizza ingrediants in them. So, who knows? I don't wanna freak everyone out, but these have spam in them! As a child
of the 80s I have had my fair share of spam sandwiches and I actually don't mind the taste of it. If it freaks you out, don't worry...with all the ingrediants, you don't even taste the spam.

Grandma Kartos' Pizza Buns
(my version)

1 lb. ground turkey thigh
1 can of low fat/low sodium spam shredded
1 can of tomato soup
1/2 bag of cheddar cheese
1 package of hamburger buns

Fry turkey, after it is cooked and grease is drained, add the rest of the ingrediants to the bowl. Put
in fridge until you are ready to assemble buns. For assembly, open hamburger bun, so you have a top and a bottom. Spread a generous portion of hamburger mixture on one side of each bun. Assemble until
you have a sheet pan full of buns.  Put them in over on 375 for 15 minutes or until bubbly. I can't even
explain how good these are. They are a childhood favorite and they sure were a good comfort food for me. My fam loves them and I hope someday my kids will make them for their kids to carry on the
recipe.

Chocolate Fix

Today seems to be one of those days when I am craving chocolate. I don't crave it alot, so when I do
I need to give in. I seen that we had some leftover decaf coffee from yesterday, so I thought maybe a
coffee drink would be good. However, every time when I try to make a cold coffee drink, it usually turns into coffee slush. So, I took to the internet and actually found a good one....minus the sugar.

- 1 cup coconut milk (any type is fine, but coconut milk 
is a little sweet anyways and it is full of healthy fats)
- 2-3 shots of leftover coffee or 1 shot espresso
- 1 to 2 packets of stevia
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder

Put all ingrediants in blender and process until combined. 
And actually minus the coffee this is a healthy chocolate drink for kids.

Fall Breakfast Idea

Now that it is fall, the weather is gonna get cooler...especially the mornings. This recipe is a yummy "fall" take on plain oatmeal. My kids loved it. Not only is it good, but the pumpkin gives you an extra boost of beta-carotene.

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

1 c. milk ( I prefer plain coconut milk)
1 c. oats
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. canned pumpkin
1/8 c. brown sugar

In a saucepan, put milk, cinnamon, vanilla, pumpkin, and brown sugar. Heat to a low boil and add oatmeal. Cover and simmer until oatmeal is done (10 minutes or so). Once in the bowl,  I add a few dark chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut, and apple pieces. You can add whatever "extras" you would like to add as well.

Forks Over Knives

I haven't posted in so long because, honestly, I have not been so excited about cooking...like I have in the past. I was sick of making and eating the same things and I needed something to get my excited again. My first late summer love was the inspiration of freezer meals. I stocked my freezer full of homemade meatloafs, beef, chicken, stocks, muffins, etc. and than I saw the greatest documentary...Forks over Knives (thanks to my neighbor Lee). This documentary makes a strong case for vegetarianism. It is based on alot of scientific evidence and it very convincing. It made me want to try it, at least for a week. So, this was my week of being a vegan. No meat, poultry, fish, or dairy. Pretty hard, but definately doable. My week of food consisted of "eggless"egg salad, mushroom and lentil stroganoff, squash, quinoa with vegetables, homemade pea soup, green smoothies, mexican corn and bean salad, and oatmeal. Sounds kinda gross to the average person, but I really liked the food. Ok, the stroganoff was questionable, but that was the only meal that I didn't enjoy so much. It was a departure from my normal low carb eating style and I kinda liked not eating eggs for a week and having whole grain cereals with fruit instead. I encourage anyone who cares about where their food come from and who cares about their health to watch this doc. Is vegetarianism for everyone? No, but personally, I can see my family having 3 meatless meals a week. 

Happy 4th of July

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I have such great memories of 4th of July parties at my house growing up with the family. Mom's potato salad, Uncle Jeff's beans, dad's brats, Aunt Candy kicking instead of hitting the volleyball, Uncle Tony's fireworks, and grandma and grandpa.


This 4th we are having neighbors over and I made a slew of all american sweets. First, I attempted to make an apple pie. I bought the crust, but I made the apple filling. It was a recipe from Bobby Flay:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/apple-pie-recipe/index.html
Kids loved taking the extra crust and making cinnamon sugar pie babies in the oven. I made a festive star pattern on top. I also made some white chocolate treats. I did red, white, and blue strawberries. This recipe is all over the internet now. I always have a problem dipping into chocolate. I have a hard time getting the excess off. They are cute, but probably will not make them next year. But, my little chocolate hang up created a whole new idea.....Chocolate Fireworks. In the leftover chocolate i mixed in a few handfuls of pretzels, and colored jimmies. Than, I spooned them onto waxed paper to dry, Voila.....fireworks!


I cannot ever recreate mom's potato salad or Jeff's bean, but I can make this holiday my own now and create memories for the kids and new memories for myself based around great neighbors, independance, and (of course) food!

Catch of the Day Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for Father's Day this year. They were adorable, but  too labor intensive. I will probably never make them again. I got the idea from a blog and it really did not look like it would have been that much work. I made 24 cupcakes from a standard box of cake mix. I used carrot cake and topped with a blue tie dyed cream cheese frosting. I also used a frosting tip to pipe it on. Now the labor intensive portion....I cut wood skewers into 2 pieces and threaded a needle with thin white thread. I poked the threaded needle through a gummy fish (from a shark fruit snack pack). Then, I tied the threaded fish onto the wooded skewer and put it on the cupcake. They looked really cute, but just too much work for one day:) A fun idea though if you have someone who likes to fish in the family.