Granola/ Bars- Favorite Recipes!

This is my first time participating the the MckLinky Blog Hop, but here I am givin' it a try! Seems like a great way to find more great blogs!

So, this week they are asking people to submit their favorite recipe! This one is easy for me. Right now, our favorite as a family, is my granola recipe. And out of the granola recipe, I make granola bars. It is super easy, and SO delicious! SO, here's my recipe:

Granola/ Granola Bars

6 C. Old Fashioned oats

3 C. whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. salt

1 C. olive oil (I have also used 1/2 canola, 1/2 olive oil)

1/2 C. water

1 C. honey

Can add- nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon and vanilla. ( I usually add all of this- walnuts, dried cranberries, cinnamon & Vanilla)

Place on baking sheet & cook for 50 minutes at 250 degrees, turning mixture 4 times during baking. Cool. Keep in ziploc bags.

*** to make Granola Bars:

Use all of the above ingredients, plus add 1 Egg. Mix in. Press the granola mixture into a baking sheet . Cut into desired pieces, but leave in pan. Bake for 50 minute, but don't turn! The after 50 minutes, let cool. After cooled, take each bar and put into individual ziploc baggies.

**Tip: Snack baggies work great for granola bars, but SAVE them each time! This will save money, and create less trash!

This is something ALL of my boys like, and it is super good for you! Enjoy!

EASY Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

Have I ever told you that I love EASY recipes??? Well, in case you haven't heard me say it a thousand times.... I DO! I am all about easy, healthy and frugal. Sometimes it is tough to get all of those into one recipe. Sometimes you get lucky!

I came across this recipe recently, on the back of a "Jiffy" Baking Mix box, funny enough. I saw it, and had to whip something up in a JIFFY (haha). I saw this recipe and I had all of the ingredients, so I thought we would try it.

And it was a hit! After boy#1 got over his "trying new foods" fear, then he even decides he liked it. So, it is now a permanent on our recipe rotation....

Chicken & Broccoli Casserole (with adaptations by ME!)

1 C. "Jiffy" Baking mix, other baking mix, or even pancake mix will work well!
1 large can or 2 small cans (about 4-5 oz) Chicken
3 eggs
1 C. milk
1 1/2 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 pkg. (about 10-12 oz) frozen broccoli or other frozen veggie (we have used corn with success!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray.

Place chicken, veggies & cheese in dish.
In a separate bowl, blend baking mix, milk, eggs, salt & pepper. Blend with whisk, until combined! Pour over chicken mixture in casserole dish.

Bake for 35-45 minutes (until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean). Let cool a few minutes then serve!

Like I said, this is a very easy, cheap and pretty healthy recipe. The total cost of this dinner is probably not over $3. Which is great, and depending on the food in your area, and if you shop coupons and sales, you will PROBABLY be able to get this cheaper!

Enjoy!

Great Summer Sides

It is that time of year again, where your mode of thinking in the kitchen has to go from soups and warm comfort foods, to quick, easy, summer foods. So what do you make when you go to a cook out or grill out at home?

Here are two things I make:

Taco Salad

1 head of lettuce (or salad mix works too)

2-3 tomatoes, cut up

1 lb browned hamburger, rinsed, cooled

1-2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 large bottle Western Dressing

1/2 bag Doritos

Mix all together in a bowl. Done! Everyone loves the Taco Salad!

Pasta Salad

1 bag Wacky Mac

1/2 bottle Ranch Dressing

1 tomato, diced

Parmesan cheese

Cook the Wacky Mac (noodles) until done. Cool. Cover with ranch and mix together. Mix in tomato. Cover with a dusting of Parmesan cheese.

Yum!

$5 Dinners- Tuna Noodle Casserole

First of all, I would not be able to make my family $5 (or less) dinners if it were not for shopping with coupons and sales together, and then stocking up on those great deals. If you would like to read about how I do that, go HERE. And if you have ANY questions feel free to ask!

Second, in making our meals, I MAKE THEM. So, for a super of Chicken and dumplings, I make everything. We don't have a dinner kit or anything. Those are nice if you are on the run, not not as good for you (sodium content is through the roof) and the prices usually aren't that great either. Plus, in making our own, we usually have leftovers! So you can get a bonus meal out of it!

So, I will start with our meal that we had last night, which was Tuna Noodle Casserole. It is a super simple, throw together meal.

Here are the ingredients and the (approx) prices that I paid for them:

1 can tuna ( we like the chunk Albacore tuna, in water. I hate the other stuff. I got this on sale at Walgreen's I think it was 3/$1 and I actually paid nothing for it because I used their RR (Register Rewards) to pay for it.) $0.

2 cans cream of mushroom soup (I have got this on sale several times this winter and spring. I won't pay any more them $.50 for a can because I can get it around that cheap at Aldi's. But I think with coupons and sales I payed around $.30 per can.) $.60

1 bag noodles, cooked. (I think these were about $1.75 for a bag, and I had a coupon that made it about $1.) $1.

All of the above ingredients are mixed together, and we added frozen corn for a side (frozen corn was about $.50 on sale with coupon). $.50

Total for the meal: $2.10!

Feeding our family of 6 for one meal, $2.10!

Now, it's your turn... do you have any meal ideas for under $5??? (Link directly to the $5 meal link)

Easy Recipe- Potato Chips!

On rare occasion do we buy potato chips from the store. And when we do, we are like ravenous creatures, eating every last chip, and then licking out the bag when we are done...

Well, maybe not that bad, but close!

Also, knowing chips aren't THAT great for us, we try to keep them out of our house. SO what happens when you have a pizza night and you want chips? Well, since hubby and I were first married, we would make them! This recipe (if you can even call it that) has evolved a tad over the years. I think I just made it up, I don't ever remember getting it from anywhere. It was definitely before Internet was popular around here...

So, anyways, without further ado, here is the Potato Chip "Recipe":

Potato Chips

3-4 large potatoes

olive oil (any oil will do, I'm sure)

salt

Wash your potatoes well, scrubbing the skins a little with your hands. You can peal the skins off if you'd like, but they are good for you and we can't taste a difference, so we leave them on. I take a large knife (one good for chopping) and I cut the potatoes into thin pieces (if they are see through thin it doesn't matter, just make sure they are all pretty close to being the same. If not, don't sweat it, they all turn out good in the end.). After you cut the potatoes, dip then into olive oil. You can wipe the access off with your fingers or with a paper towel, but this is so they don't stick together. Lay them all single file on a large cookie sheet. Lightly salt them.

Stick them in the oven on about 300 degrees or so. Take a spatula and turn them a time or two (they don't all have to look as perfect after you turn them), so they can get done all over. Then take them out when they look done enough for your family, the browner they are the crunchier they will be.

These are NOT like the store bought potato chips, but they are close! And our family loves them! Hope you enjoy!

Country Scalloped Potatoes & Ham- Crockpot Recipe

This is a super easy recipe, and you can make it in your crock pot! Gotta love that!

Country Scalloped Potatoes & Ham

8 potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
1 onion chopped (I use dried onion about 1 heaping Tbsp.)
1 lb. fully cooked ham
1 pkg. (1 oz) country style gravy
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 C. water
2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

Combine potatoes, onion & ham in lightly greased crock pot. Combine gravy mix, soup & water, whisk until combined. Pour gravy mixture over potatoes. Cover & cook on low 8 hours (high 4 hours). Top with cheese during last 30 minutes.

I would say this feeds 5-7 people, maybe more. I know it feed my 6 (with some leftover).

Enjoy!

Family Favorite, Baked Oatmeal

This is definitely a family favorite, baked oatmeal. I love it because you can prepare it the night before, and cook it in the morning. I have to also tell you, I am not such a fan of regular homemade oatmeal, but I love this. Try it out, it healthy and easy!

Baked Oatmeal

• 1 C. oil (or applesauce, or you can use half and half~ all applesauce seems not enough for this recipe, so I wouldn't do more then half applesauce/half oil)

• 1 1/2 C. sugar

• 4 eggs

• 6 C. Oats (Old Fashioned)

• 4 tsp. baking powder

• 1 tsp. salt

• 1 (heaping) tsp. cinnamon

• 2 C. milk

* we add frozen blueberries that we picked last summer. You can also add any other fruit that you would like.

Combine all ingredients together, in order. Pour into a 9 x 13" pan. (at this point you can put, covered, in your refrigerator to bake in the AM) Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until lightly browned. Can serve topped with butter, brown sugar & milk. We love it topped with milk! (You can also refrigerate left overs, and heat and eat the next morning!)

The total cost of this is less then $2 to make! This feeds my family for 2 breakfasts!

Enjoy!

And if you would like to see what else I am doing this week, I am blogging over HERE at Happy to be at Home~ Kitchen of the Week. So all week long follow me HERE and see what we are doing in the kitchen!

Sweet Muffins- Recipe

This is a recipe for muffins that I always remember my mom making when I was growing up. Then when I got married, it was included in the recipes that she gave me. They are what they say the are, they are a sweet muffin. And this is a very versatile recipe. If you like blueberries, you can add them. If you like apple cinnamon, you can add that. You can even make them a buttermilk muffin.

Sweet Muffins Yields 12 muffins (can double)

1 egg
½ C. Milk
¼ C. Salad dressing (or a heaping ¼ C. Unsweetened Applesauce)
1 ½ C. all-purpose flour (if you wan to add some wheat flour add ¼ C, and 1 ¼ C white)
½ C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Beat egg; stir in milk & oil (applesauce). Mix in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake 20-25 min.

• To make Apple Muffins, stir in 1 C. grated apple with the oil (applesauce) and add ½ tsp cinnamon with the flour. Sprinkle with Nut Crunch topping: Mix ½ C. brown sugar, 1/3 C. broken nut, ½ tsp. cinnamon. Bake 25-30 min.
  


• To make Blueberry Muffins, Fold in 1 C. fresh blueberries or ¾ C. well drained frozen blueberries (thawed into batter).
  


• To make Buttermilk Muffins, Follow the recipe, but for milk- add 1 C. buttermilk, add 2 C. flour (instead of 1 ½), add ¼ C sugar (instead of ½), and add ½ tsp baking soda.
  

Enjoy!

Linked: Scrumptious Sunday Swap & The Grocery Cart Challenge

Homemade Tortilla Shells

It's not like I NEED shells to make tacos with, but tonight's dinner was supposed to be Wet Burritos. Except, I had no soft Tortilla shells. I had come across a recipe, a few days ago, and decided to give it a try.



I revised the ingredients, to fit what I had (the ingredients were pretty minimal anyways), and I thought my tortillas turned out looking better then the ones that this person had pictured that she makes! I thought they were beautiful...



The next test, the boys. They were all like, "are these GOOD for us?", and "what do these TASTE like?". I told them YES, they ARE good for them, and they taste like taco shells...



Well, I didn't have the heart to spring a menu item that we haven't had in a long while on them. Plus, I couldn't bear hiding such a pretty tortilla! So, we made tacos.



Normally, with store bought tortillas, my boys will eat 3-4 tacos. With these homemade tortillas, they are SO filling and delicious, we all had one, well, except for Austin, he had 2. And they did love them. They kept talking about how good they were and how sorry daddy was going to be that he had to work and miss this meal!




So, here is the Soft Tortilla Recipe that we made:



3 C. white flour

1 C. warm water

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 C. oil



Mix all ingredients except the flour in a bowl. Then mix in the flour, you may need to turn the dough onto the counter to knead the dough. You may also need to add a little more flour, I didn't have to add much more. Form it into a ball, and let it sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, cut into 8-10 pieces, and make into balls. Let those sit for another 10 minutes. After that 10 minutes, roll into a circle with a rolling pin, until they are about 10 inches round. Bake them on a lightly greased griddle, until done. I let mine back about 30-45 seconds, and some of them has a little brownness on the bubbles that formed in the dough. Bake on both sides, then I put mine on a paper towel to get off any excess grease.



I don't know how well, these keep yet. But I will find out soon!

Check out more frugal recipes HERE.

Delicious Cake

So, I am going to throw this out there that this is one of the yummiest cakes I have ever had in my life...

I know, it's bold. But, I am willing to go there with this cake...

Chocolate Sheet Cake

Combine in a mixing bowl:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan, melt:

2 sticks butter

Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa.

Stir together.

Add 1 cup boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat.

Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup buttermilk. (if you don't have the 1/2 buttermilk, pour almost 1/2 regular milk, then pour in white vinegar the rest of the way to make a 1/2 C.)

Add:

2 beaten eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture.

Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make icing:

Chop 1/2 cup pecans finely.

Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in a saucepan.

Add 4 heaping tablespoons cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat.

Add:

6 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 lb minus 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Stir together.

Add pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

My boys Love this cake. I could literally eat this whole cake MYSELF, if I wouldn't hate myself in the morning... So, enjoy. And try NOT to eat it all yourself, cake is made for sharin', after all. ***BTW- we're not doing anything tonight, so we can come over if you have cake...

Visit HERE for more recipes...

Recipe Originally from the Pioneer Woman (Thanks, Heather Kay!)

Baking Day- Part 1

So far, so good.


I have started to make Genesa's Oatmeal Bread, and my Pumpkin Dinner Rolls. Genesa was so kind to give me her bread recipe when I made a flop on my last Baking Day. And the Pumpkin Dinner Rolls are one of my families FAVORITES. It makes like 4 doz. rolls. I usually freeze 3 doz. then we eat one! They take some work but they are VERY worth it.


And so far, everything has gone well. I just put the Oatmeal Bread into the oven, and will be soon dividing up the Pumpkin dough into the rolls. I can smell the Oatmeal Bread now, and it smells wonderful!


Here is my Oatmeal Bread beginnings:





Here is my Pumpkin Dinner Rolls beginnings:


Notice the broken spoon? I have a hand mixer, but it doesn't work AT ALL with dough. So, I get to hand mix! That's OK. It's like a good upper body workout!

I will let you know how the rest turns out!

Recipe Sharing

I've had a request for some of the recipes to menu items this week. (Thanks Megan!) And I thought I would also throw in a couple of others, because they are a favorite with my boys and super easy. So here you go!

Country Potato Soup (this probably serves 6-8 adults)
3 C. potatoes, diced
1/2 C. celery, diced
1/2 C. Onion, diced ( I sprinkle in a little dried onion)
1 1/2 C. Water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 C. Milk
1 C. Sour Cream
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. chives (I use dried ones)
2 C. Shredded cheddar cheese

- Combine potatoes, celery, onion, water, bouillon cubes & salt in a large pan, cook until potatoes are tender (NOT soft, or they will get mushy). About 15 minutes. Then, add one cup milk and heat. In a medium bowl, mix sour cream, flour, chives & remaining (1 1/2 C.) milk. Stir this mixture into soup base gradually. Cook on low heat & stir constantly (10- 15 min ?). DO NOT BOIL. Then add cheese. Stir into mixture until all melted. Can also add ham or bacon.

**As A LOT of my recipes are, this Chicken & Dumpling recipe is a revision of a much more difficult one... I like to make stuff easy, and with things I have on-hand. This recipe is just a throw it in kind of recipe, so you amounts will be to your liking!

Chicken & Dumplings (this serves 6 people)
1/2 C. Margarine
1/2 C. Baking Mix (like Bisquik)
1 box of chicken broth (
Chicken (I use the canned chicken from Aldi's)
Veggies (I add in either frozen veggies, or canned mixed veggies, one or two cans)
- melt margarine in your large pan, mixing in baking mix. Stir constantly, until smooth and bubbly. Then remove from heat. Stir in broth, heat to boiling. Stir constantly. Boil & stir 1 minute. Add chicken & veggie. Heat until hot.

Dumplings- Mix 2 C. Baking mix & 2/3 C. Milk until soft dough forms. Drop by spoonfuls onto hot chicken mixture (still in pan). Cook uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes. Then, COVER and cook 10-12 minutes longer. (You can tell it is done, when you can put you finger on one of the dumplings and pull it and it looks done on the inside.)

My Cavaltini (serves 8 adults)
*** Again this recipe is a made-up recipe, nothing fancy about it, but it's easy, and the boys LOVE it.

1 box any noodles
Cook the noodles, according to package directions until soft.
- Throw (yes throw) the noodles in a (sprayed) casserole dish. Add a little water (like 1/8 -1/4 C) to the bottom. Mix in spaghetti sauce, mushrooms & pepperoni (adding however much you like!). Then add cheese, I use mozzarella. I stir some in and leave some to melt on the top. Then, I put it into the oven for about 10 minutes on like 350 degrees, along with some garlic cheese bread.


Here is one I am throwing in, because we LOVE it. It's awesome to put in the crock pot before church, and to come home to the yummy smell!
Country Scalloped Potatoes & Ham (Serves probably 8 or more adults)
8 potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped (again, I use dried onion)
1 lb. fully cooked ham (I use ham steaks, cut-up)
1 pkg. (1 oz) Country Style gravy (in envelopes with taco seasonings & gravies)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
2 C. water
2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

- Combine potatoes, onion & ham in lightly greased crock pot. Combine gravy mix, soup & water; whisk until combined. Pour gravy mixture over potatoes. Cover & cook on low 8 hrs (high 4 hours). Top with cheese during the last 30 minutes.


Also try these Pumpkin Dinner rolls, they are delicious. They require some muscle, but in the end they make 4 doz. You can freeze the extras, and they are well worth it!

Also, this Chocolate Sheet Cake is awesome!!! Again it's from scratch but the ingredients are all that I usually have on-hand and very simple!


So, there you GO!!! If you have any questions, let me know. Also, if you have any recipes you would like to share, please!!! Leave a link on my comments, or leave it as a comment. Thanks!!!