HOMEMADE GRANOLA BARS

Easy No-Bake homemade Granola Bars. They are SO good and way better for you than the store bought ones.

No Bake No Hassle. And the kids will LOVE them! 

Ingredients:

- 3 Cups Old Fashion Oats
- 3 Cups Rice Krispies Cereal
- 1/2 Cup Ground Flax Seed
- 6 Tablespoons Butter
- 1/4 Cup + 1/4 Cup Honey (Divided)
- 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Cup Peanut Butter
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1-2 Tablespoons mini Chocolate Chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine oats, rice krispies, and flax seed in a large mixing bowl.

2. Combine butter, 1/4 cup honey, brown sugar, and peanut butter in a small saucepan. Bring to a light boil stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt.

3. Pour peanut butter mixture into oat mixture. Stir to blend. Add the remaining 1/4 cup honey and stir well. (This will help it stick together a little better.)

4. Line a large jelly roll pan with parchment paper, with extra paper on each end. Dump mixture onto pan and press firmly with mixing spoon or extra parchment paper until flat and even. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press in oats with parchment paper.

5. Place in fridge for 1 - 2 hours. Use excess parchment paper to remove from pan. Use a sharp knife to cute into bars. Wrap in plastic wrap or snack zip lock bags and store in airtight container.
*Best if stored in fridge.

Notes:

~ You may use coconut oil instead of butter if you want it a bit healthier.
~ This recipe is not perfect but its good. Not all the bars will stay together. I keep mine in individual zip lock bags so any crumble will be in the bag. You can also use the crumble for granola on yogurt and other yummy things.
~ If you are making these for a special occasion and need them to stick together better, I recommend Quick Oats instead of Old Fashion. Or, you can add 1/2 honey in sauce pan and 2 Tbls - 1/4 cup honey when mixing into the oats. It would just depend how sweet you want to go.


Feel free to comment with any changes you made to the recipe that worked or did not work so we know <3.

Don't forget to pack some in the kids lunches. Enjoy! 

Chicken Noodle Soup

With homemade noodles

Serving size 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrot sticks, peeled and chopped (or buy carrot chips a put about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 celery sticks, chopped 
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 cups reduced sodium chicken broth (if you do not use reduced sodium it may be too salty) 
• 1 pound cooked chicken breast, diced (Rotisserie chicken is easy and delicious)
• Homemade egg noodles (recipe below)
• Fresh or dried parsley

Homemade Egg Noodles (Make this first to give noodles time to dry)

• 3 egg yolks 
• 1 whole egg
• 6 tablespoons cold water
• 2 teaspoons salt 
• 2 cups flour

Directions for Noodles

1. Beat eggs until well mixed
2. Beat in water and salt
3. Stir in flour until combined and separate dough into 3 balls 
4. Flour surface well and roll each ball out thin and cut into small stripes with pizza cutter
5. Place parchment paper and let dry while cooking the soup

Directions

1. Place a large pot over medium heat and add olive oil. Add vegetables, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. 
2. Add chicken broth and raise heat to bring liquid to a boil. 
3. Add dices chicken and return soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook chicken for two minutes. Add egg noodles. 
4. Cook soup an additional 5 minutes or until noodles are tender and floating. 
5. Remove from heat. Stir in Parsley and serve hot. 

Lemon Chicken Pasta

This is probably my favorite pasta, in the world. 

Tangy-and-Sweet

Serving size 4

Ingredients

- 8 ounces angel hair pasta, cooked according to package directions (half of a 1-pound box)

- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized pieces (about 1 1/2 pounds)

- 1/2  C honey

- 1/4 C lemon juice

- 2 T olive oil for sauce + 1 tablespoon for cooking chicken

- 1 T apple cider vinegar

- 1 T lemon pepper seasoning blend for sauce + more for sprinkling over chicken

- 1/2 t salt, or to taste

- 1/2 t black pepper, or to taste (If your are not a huge pepper fan I would skip this or just add 1/4 t)

- Thyme leaves from 2 or 3 sprigs, to taste (Optional) 

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to directions on box, drain, and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, add the honey, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon pepper seasoning, salt, pepper, optional thyme, and stir to combine; set sauce aside.

3. In a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, add chicken, generously sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning, and cook chicken over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, flipping intermittently so all sides cook evenly. Cooking time will vary based on thickness of chicken breasts and sizes of pieces. Chicken should be about 90% cooked through.

4. Turn heat to medium-low, and carefully add the sauce noting that it may bubble up in the first few seconds.

5. Allow sauce to bubble at a low boil for about 5 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and reduced some, and chicken is cooked through. Stir sauce and flip chicken intermittently throughout.

6. Add pasta to skillet with the chicken and toss to combine and coat. Serve immediately. 

Chicken and pasta are best warm and fresh, but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat gently prior to serving.

Enjoy!

Monte Cristo Sandwich

The perfect Brunch

Serving size 4

Ingredients  

- 8 slices white bread (I used Texas Toast)

- 4 slices Swiss cheese (Colby Jack tastes great too)

- 4 slices turkey

- 4 slices ham

- 1 quart oil for frying, or as needed

- 2/3 cup water

- 1 egg

- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

- 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper (Optional) 

- 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar for dusting (Optional)

Directions

1. Heat half of the oil in a deep-fryer to 365 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and water.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.
4. Whisk into the egg mixture until smooth. Set aside in the refrigerator.
5. Put sandwiches together by placing one slice of turkey, cheese in the middle, and then ham.
6.Cut sandwiches into halves or quarters, and secure with toothpicks.
7. Dip each sandwich quarter in the batter so that all sides are coated.
8.Deep fry in the hot oil until golden brown on all sides.
9. Remove toothpicks and arrange on a serving tray.
10. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Flour Tortillas

                                                                           

Serving size 

Approx. 6 - 8 Tortillas

Ingredient

- 2 C Flour

- 1 1/2 t Baking powder

- 1 t Salt 

- 2 t Vegetable Oil

- 3/4 C Warm Milk (Heat up in microwave until warm. About 1 - 2 minutes)

- Extra Flour for rolling

If dough is to sticky add 1 T flour at a time. (Do not over flour else they will just taste like flour). 

Directions  

1. Mix all ingredients together and kneed.

2. Damp a kitchen towel with warm water and cover bowl letting it rise for 10 - 20 minute. 

3. Make individual balls about 1.5 inch for small tortillas or 2.5 inch for large tortillas. 

4. Use a rolling pin and roll each tortilla flat on a floured surface (it will rise when cooking).

5. Cook on skillet 

6. Serve with your favorite meat and toppings.

Tips:

• If it is too hard to roll out or dough keeps shrinking put the skillet to warm and place slightly rolled dough on it just until dough is warm (Do not leave on skillet too long or have skillet to high. You do not want tortillas to cook at this point.) After warming on skillet begin again to roll tortillas out. 
• If you start to see bubbles forming in tortilla as they are cooking on the skillet you did a great job with the dough. If not, its ok, just practice making tortillas more often. 

Tortilla making is one of those things you have to perfect. It takes time. My husband and I started doing "tortilla night" every Sunday with our friends. It became a tradition and that is how we perfected our tortillas. We are great tortilla making partners :)

Practice makes perfect!

Have fun and Enjoy!