Granola

I love granola and just about everything I can put granola on. I DON'T love how high in calories it is. I make my own in an effort to limit the calorie intake (and to ease the strain on my wallet from eating so much granola!).

Granola (adapted from 100daysofrealfood.com)

5 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup raw walnuts
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Cover a rectangular baking sheet with parchment paper (or use a baking stone).

Mix half of the oats, nuts, coconut, and spices together in a large mixing bowl. Process in the food processor until coarsely ground. Add in the remaining oats. Heat the butter and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat. Once the butter melts stir in the vanilla. Pour the hot liquids over the dry ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly coated.

Spread mixture onto prepared pan in one even layer. Bake for 75 minutes, stirring halfway through.

The granola will be soft still, but will become crisp as it cools. Store in air tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Makes approx. 10 cups.

Tara's Pancake Mix

Growing up in an LDS ward in Utah, there were a lot of Pancake Breakfasts at the church. I mean a LOT. For many years, I had to choke down the nastiness that is Krusteaz pancakes. (ugh I still shudder). Luckily, one of my parent's friends hated them as much as I did and set out to create a large bulk mix that wound up being used at every church breakfast since (that was over a decade ago). I have since modified his recipe to my own personal taste (the original used just plain white flour and sugar) and scaled the recipe from it's original 5 gallon bucket size, to one that fits perfectly in a Tupperware container in my cupboard.

Tara's Pancake Mix (adapted from Jon Buxton's Pickle Barrel Pancakes)

5 c white wheat flour
2 1/2 c red wheat flour
1 c oat flour
1/2 c flaxseed meal
4 T baking powder

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and store in an air tight container in a cool, dark place.

To make pancakes:
to 1 c mix, add:

1 egg
1 T oil
1 c milk
2 1/.2 T honey

makes approx. 12 pancakes and serves 3-4

My kids love to top these with unsweetened applesauce. Sometimes I add a scoop of vanilla protein powder and they are good enough to eat plain. We have added chocolate chips, cocoa powder, fruit, and/or nuts. This is an incredibly adaptable mix.

Homemade Peanut Butter

I have a confession to make: I LOVE Alton Brown. I think he is funny and he has so many great food tips. If you don't know who he is, you should definitely watch this (or at least the first 2:22):

I have yet to have a single AB recipe let me down. The best thing about Alton is that he heavily promotes making everything yourself. And I mean everything! In fact, my mayo recipe is based off of his recipe. Now, I am going to share with you my adaptation of his peanut butter recipe.

• 16 ounces shelled and skinned peanuts, raw or roasted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey

Place the peanuts into the bowl of a food processor. Process for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Place the lid back on and continue to processuntil the mixture is smooth, 2-4 minutes. Stir in honey. Place the peanut butter in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. 

The best part about making your own peanut butter, you can flavor it however you'd like. Plus, you can use this same method to make almond butter.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

I came across this blog post one day that really opened my eyes to the ickyness that is microwave popcorn. I have never really cared for microwave popcorn (especially that nasty "butter" crap) and really liked using the air popper I had, until my ex made off with it in the divorce (in his defense, it was a present for him). I considered getting a new one, but didn't want to store yet another appliance. Pinterest to the rescue! Now I know that I can just make my kid's obsessive popcorn dreams come true, in the microwave, without a bunch of artificial crap, in a PAPER BAG! Now, you can too!

Go to the grocery store and locate a package of cheap brown lunch bags and a bag of plain ol' kernels:

I have purchased Jolly Time, Great Value and no-name bulk with great success with all of them. You COULD buy name brand (Orville Redenbacher, etc) if you want, but I find that the cheaper generics work just as well.  You only need 1/2 c per bag, so this bag will last you for a while!

Here comes the magical part:

Put the 1/2 c popcorn inside the paper bag and fold the top over twice. Don't seal it with anything, it will be just fine on it's own. Now set it UPRIGHT in your microwave and run it for 3 minutes on high.

Ta-da!
 
Perfectly naked popcorn. Just the way I like it! If your kids insist on butter, just melt a couple of tablespoons and drizzle over the top. Or, if you like it seasoned, try a few of these ideas:

• Mexican: Add chili powder, hot sauce, and salt.
• Garlic and Onion: Shake in onion powder and garlic powder — hold the kiss.
• Cheesy: Mix in Parmesan cheese with a little salt.
• Sweet Tooth: A dash of cinnamon, a sprinkle of sugar, and a topper of honey. Now that’s money.

Homemade Mayo

 
When I was in college, I had the opportunity to go to Paris for an exchange program. The first time I ordered a turkey sandwich, I was a little weirded out by this light yellow stuff they were slathering on my precious Parisian bread. I was so worried that it was some weird mayo/mustard mixture (I hate mustard!) but I really wanted my sandwich so I decided I would choke it down anyway. Little did I know that it was actually MAYONNAISE! They made it fresh every morning. None of this pre-packaged, white, flavorless nonsense. I should have known better, being in France and all, but I had no idea that making mayo was that easy!

 If you have never made your own mayonnaise, you are seriously missing out. The stuff you get on the shelf just doesn't hold a candle to it. 

1 large egg yolk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mustard powder

2 tsp lemon juice

1 T white vinegar

1 c olive oil

Place egg and lemon juice into a food processor. Cover,and blend until frothy; keep food processor running. Drizzle in olive oil drop by drop, through the drip hole in the top until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate mayo in a sealed container for up to 1 week.

The best part about making your own mayo (other than the obvious taste difference) is that you can flavor it however you want. My favorite way is to dump some chipotle powder in it and let it sit overnight before using it. It is our favorite stand-by mayo for sandwiches.

Menu Recipes- Homemade Ranch Dressing

My kids cannot get enough Ranch Dressing. (Seriously, they'd eat it on everything if I let them). The problem is that it is not terribly healthy and is PACKED with preservatives, including MSG and a whole bunch of disodium whatsitcalled. See for yourself:

Luckily, I found a couple of recipes to make it myself at $5 Dollar Dinners and another one at One Good Thing. So much better for my kidlets and easier to control what I feed them. Not to mention that 2 Tablespoons of Ranch has 140 calories and 2 Tablespoons of full-fat sour cream only has 60!! Plus, the fat to calorie ratio drops from 93% to 75% just by using sour cream and spices instead of ranch. Switch to light sour cream and you cut your calories down to 40 (100 calories LESS than regular Ranch and still half of the light ranch) and fat percentage to 63%. You could even switch out the sour cream for mayo for relatively the same calorie content (but the fat percentage of mayo is 100% since it is essentially straight oil).

Anyway, on to the amazing recipe!


Ranch Spice Mix
 
2 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon pepper

Mix together the first six ingredients down to the pepper. Store in an airtight container.
When you are ready to make the dip stir 1 tablespoon of the spice mixture with:

3/4 c cup sour cream
1 c mayo 
1 c milk.