Granola Bar - take 2

Here is the recipe for the second granola bar recipe I tried. I'm not sure if I like this one more, or the first recipe. They are both pretty tasty. This one smelled sooo yummy while it was cooking, but I think next time I'll cook it at a lower temperature and/or less time, because the edges got a little burned.

2 c. granola cereal (I just used the granola I used in the first recipe, I don't know if it matters if it's 'cereal' or not)
4 egg whites
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. walnuts
1/4 c. cranberries
1/4 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. ground flax seeds
1 Tbl. cinnamon

1. Mix all ingredients together and press into 8"x8" baking pan.
2. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees (or until golden brown, don't over-brown).

Granola Bites

The other week I got the urge to look up recipes for granola bars. We love them, but unfortunately, a lot of the ones on the market have a lot of palm/coconut oil and other unhealthy (but delicious) things. I looked for a long time and came across two recipes that sounded good.

I made this recipe last week and to a good degree of success. The few notes I have for next time include thinking of something to get the bars to stick together better (they tended to be very crumbly) and cooking it perhaps on a lower heat and/or less time. Other than that, they are very good and I will most likely make them again! I'll post the other recipe once we've tried them and determined their taste validity.

Oh, and since we have Winco nearby, this whole things cost something like $5 total to make because of their plethora of bulk food items. I probably wouldn't have made it if I had to buy individual boxes, bags of the items.

1 1/2 c. granola (I used a combination of three that we picked out-french vanilla, honey almond, apple cinnamon)
1 c. old fashioned oats
1/2 c. dried cranberries (we thought cran-raspberries would be most tasty)
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. slivered almonds
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 egg whites
1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tbl. vegetable oil

1. Spray 8"x8" baking pan, preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine granola, oatmeal, cranberries, raisins, flour, almonds, and cinnamon in large mixing bowl.
3. In smaller bowl, lightly beat egg whites. Stir in honey, brown sugar, and oil.
4. Stir in honey mixture into dry ingredients until all is coated.
5. Press evenly into pan.
6. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown (less is more, in my opinion).
7. Let cool fully, then cut into bars and wrap up in plastic wrap or foil.

yum!

another close-up

Nutritional Facts

servings per recipe: 16

amount per serving

Calories: 185.5

Total Fat: 4.8 g

Saturated Fat: 0.5 g

Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.1 g

Monounsaturated Fat: 2.7 g

Cholesterol: --

Sodium: 79 mg

Potassium: 127.3 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 37.4 g

Dietary Fiber: 2.3 g

Sugar: 25.2 g

Protein: 3.5 g

Vitamin A: 5.4 %

Vitamin C: 0.4 %

Calcium: 5.1 %

Iron: 9.9 %

Watermelon Berry Sorbet

Ok, so when Zak's family came to visit for a day or so, we had our delicious chicken kabobs, corn and watermelon. However, we did not consume most of the watermelon, and I decided to find some kind of recipe that would use up our leftovers. I found this great one on recipezaar, and tweaked it a little. It's easy, healthy and delicious!

1 c. water
1/2 c. water
2 c. cubed seedless watermelon (I must have used 4-6 cups, basically filled the blender)
2 c. fresh strawberries, hulled (I only used 1 c., I wanted the watermelon to be the star)
1 Tbl. minced fresh mint (Next time, I'll use maybe 1/2 Tbl.--we have spearmint & peppermint in our mint garden, so it was really fun to go outside and pick it!)

1. In a small saucepan, boil water. Add sugar to boiling water, stir until dissolved. Remove from heat, cool slightly.
2. Put watermelon, strawberries, and sugar syrup in blender. Cover and process for 2-3 minutes, or until smooth.
3. Transfer mixture to a 9"x13" dish. Freeze for 1 hour or until edges begin to firm.
4. Stir in mint, freeze another hour.
5. Transfer to blender, cover and process 2-3 minutes or until smooth.
6. Freeze another 2 hours, or until it is firm.

I tweaked the freezer times a bit; it originally said to freeze the mint in for 2 hours, then transfer it all into a blender just before serving. But then it was all slushy, so we ended up freezing it again for another hour or so. The only picture I have is of the sorbet being a little more on the liquid side, but it's still very yummy and refreshing!

Delicious Fruit Cobbler

I modified this recipe I found in a cookbook. Well, we had peaches, strawberries, bananas and some frozen blueberries, and no cherries. Besides, doesn't the combination of that fruit sound better than just cherries? Yes. Yes it does. This cobbler was so good (both cold and warm) that Zak ended up licking the bowl. He loved it and I will be surely making this again this summer. It's a homerun.

1 c. flour
2 Tbl. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/4 c. butter
5 c. fresh (or frozen, but it's summer, go for fresh!) fruit [I used three peaches, several larger strawberries, one banana, and it was about 1/2 c. frozen blueberries. I just tried to get at least 5 cups of fruit]
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
1 Tbl. cornstarch
1 egg
1/4 c. milk
whipped cream (we make our own with whipping cream and a few Tbl. of sugar and a dash of vanilla, way better than store-bought stuff) OR vanilla ice cream

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. For topping, stir together (in medium bowl) flour, 2 Tbl. sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon (if desired). Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside.
3. For filling, in large saucepan, combine the fruit, 2/3 c. sugar, water, cornstarch. Cook over medium heat until it starts to bubble and thicken.
4. In a small bowl, stir together egg and milk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened.
5. Pour fruit mixture in 2-quart square pan (I used my 8x8"). Using a spoon, drop topping into six mounds on top of the filling.
6. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until topping is golden brown (18 was the magic number for me). Let cool in pan on a wire rack about 1 hour. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

before adding the topping

cooling

super delicious!

Apple Crisp

Last week we discovered our apples weren't so delicious eaten plain, they were a bit mealy. So on my day off, I decided to make apple crisp and ooh baby did it turn out perfect! It was the best apple crisp I've made (& I've made a fair amount, it is one of my favorite (& easiest) desserts) so far. The trick was...not burning the crumbles! This is my mom's recipe below.

4 medium apples (Gravenstein, Braeburn, Jonathan)
1/4 c. sugar
sprinkles of cinnamon
about 1/4 c. butter, cut up into small squares
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

1. Grease square pan and preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Peel and thinly slice apples, fill up pan. Cover apples with sugar and sprinkles of cinnamon, mix well. Add the butter throughout the pan.
3. Mix together the sugar, flour, egg, baking powder and salt in a small bowl until finely mixed. Sprinkle on top of the apples.
4. Bake until apples are cooked & the topping is slightly golden brown, probably about 25-35 minutes. The trick is to just keep checking & to pull it out when you think it looks done.

Mmm! We had ours with fresh homemade whipped cream. :)

Blueberry and Sour Cream Crumb Coffee Cake

Last week I made delicious blueberry muffins, but still had a ton of blueberries left over. So I went on a search to find a recipe to use them with. I know Zak likes sour cream-blueberry pie, but that option was eliminated once I discovered we didn't have enough graham crackers to make a pie crust, and I didn't have the car to go grab a pie crust. Instead, I found this wonderful recipe on recipezaar, one of my favorite cooking websites. This recipe was absolutely delectable and will be a keeper!

Filling
1/2 lb. blueberries (I probably used a bit more than 1/2 lb.)
2 Tbl. sugar
2 Tbl. cornstarch

Crumbs
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 3/4 c. flour

Cake
1/3 c. sour cream
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbl. butter, softened, cut into 6 - 8 pieces

1. Preheat oven to 325-degrees.
2. Toss together the filling ingredients.
3. Whisk together all of the crumb ingredients, except the flour (brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, salt, melted butter) until smooth.
4. Add the flour in--the dough will look solid.
5. In a small bowl, mix together sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla.
6. In mixer, add flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
7. Add butter and one spoonful of sour cream mixture until moist-mix for about 30 seconds.
8. Add remaining sour cream mixture, in two batches, mixing for 20 seconds each time.
9. Reserve 1/2 c. of entire cake batter mixture.
10. Pour the rest of batter into an 8x8-inch pan.
11. Add blueberries, then 1/2 c. of reserved mixture.
12. Sprinkle crumbs over top-should be about 1/2" - 3/4" in size.
13. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes. Cool completely.