Easy Granola

Started making this simple recipe for granola a while ago.  It is perfect for our camping trips.  Easy to store.  Easy solution for a quick breakfast.  Easy to carry while hiking.   Just plain easy.  🙂

You can add anything extra to this recipe before baking.  I added about 1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins.  Nuts, craisins (all natural kind), shredded coconut is good too.

Simple Granola
Source:  Breadbeckers

• 1/2 cup cocount oil (all natural, unrefined)
• 1/2 cup honey (local if you can get it)
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups rolled oats

Melt together the coconut and honey.  Add salt and stir.  Pour over oats and stir well to coat.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes until slightly golden.  Stir twice during baking.

You may have to adjust the time for baking.  We found it takes us up to 25 minutes to bake, but the original recipe says to bake 10 minutes.

Yummy with milk, yogurt, or right out of the hand.

3 out of 6 family members will eat this, which means 3 out of 6 family members will go hungry if this is all we have, which means 2 out of 2 parents don’t care.

I will take a small jar with me when I am out doing errands to munch on between meals.  It fills me up and I won’t make that quick trip through a fast food joint.

This is good stuff people!

Gifts for the Camper

Our neighbor’s were so excited we bought a camper, they came bearing gifts!  I like gifts.

OH BOY!!  A trash can!  Now you want one; I just know it.   This was such an exciting gift, the neighbor’s wife had come along to help present this supreme offering.

I am really excited to get this can.  It isn’t just an ordinary can.  It is so much more.  It’s a turkey oven.  Everyone say Woot!!   What?  You’ve never cooked a turkey in  a trash can before? Where have you been?  Oh with me, because I’ve never done it either.

The neighbors swear this is the best way to cook a turkey.  Especially while camping, since our camper oven will only hold a small cookie sheet.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a 2″ turkey that will fit in that oven.  Photo coming later.

So, how do you cook in a trash can?  Good question.  You can find excellent instructions at TheTrashCanTurkey.

I am so looking forward to giving this a try.  If we don’t get to go camping for Thanksgiving this year, we will be making this in our backyard.   Now go get yourself a nice clean aluminum trash can, bake your turkey, and report back to me. 😀

THANK YOU NEIGHBOR PEOPLE!  I love it.

I also bought myself a gift for the camper.  Lights.  Yep, you have to have patio lights.  It’s a hidden law among  RV campers.  The neighbors bought grapes.  I wanted grapes, but apparently the neighbors have the all because I cant’ find any.  However; I found a better set of lights.

You have to admit, these are me. Right?

A Tuesday Meal

I bought a huge turkey breast just for this recipe.  It looked so yummy in the photo and so easy to make.

Source:  allrecipes.com

One problem.   It calls for one envelope dry onion soup mix, which we cannot have.  It didn’t take me long to find a recipe to make my own.  Again, one problem.  Calls for beef bouillon powder.  We cannot have that either.  Sooo, what to do…

I make the Onion Soup Mix minus the beef bouillon.  Source:  Food.com

• 3/4 cup instant minced onion
• 1/3 cup beef bouillon powder
• 4 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed celery seed
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.
About 5 tablespoons of mix are equal to 1 1¼-ounce package.

Then I prepared the turkey breast according to the recipe.  Easy-peasy!

Crockpot Turkey

Ingredients

• 1 (6 pound) bone-in turkey breast
• 6 TB of the above onion soup mix
• 1 TB of beef broth (all natural)

Rinse the turkey breast and pat dry (I didn’t pat dry). Cut off any excess skin, but leave the skin covering the breast. Rub onion soup mix all over outside of the turkey and under the skin. Place in a slow cooker. Cover, and cook on High for 1 hour, then set to Low, and cook for 7 hours.

Served with:  Left over rice, gravy from the turkey, and raw veggies.

Verdict:

• Me:  Way easy to make.  We got home later than expected so the turkey breast was a little dry.  I liked it and will make again.
• Husband:  He liked it and wants it again, but served on time.  lol
• The Violinist and Pea #1 liked it served with BBQ sauce.
• Pea #2 liked it a little.
• The Son:  Never touched it.

There was plenty left over for another meal, but no one ate it and I threw it out. Next time I’ll be better prepared for a second meal.  Turkey pot pie, or turkey salad.  Neither of which the kids will eat.  Oh, who cares. 

I want this for my kitchen.  You can find it at ARTworks.

Cupcakes for Science

Lately I have been looking around the web for halloween food for my science classes.  I don’t like having to search “halloween”, we as a family do not celebrate it.  So…I started searching for “gross food ideas”.   I’m not going to tell you what I found.  Let’s just say I quickly went back to halloween food.

Actually, I’m no longer going to call it halloween food.  It is now Science Food.  Yeah, that’s better.

Last year I made these cute little bats for my class.

And to make them more Science Food, I added bat guts.

Cute!!

As I am looking around for ideas this year, I came across Scrumptious Skeletons !  Since we were studying bones in Anatomy, I decided it was the perfect time to make them.

I threw these bones to my elementary class at 7:45 am.  Yep, the parents love me!  I used a boxed (gasp!!) cake mix and used milk instead of water and butter instead of oil.  Yummy!

Here are a few more things that I found that would be great science food.  Just click on the photo and it will take you to the site with the know-how. 🙂

Pearly Whites – Elementary Anatomy class.  Who wouldn’t smile over this and it is healthy!

Another great healthy treat for my Elementary class.   I might make this one at the end of the year.

Yummy Skeleton!

This next one I am looking forward to making for my Biology class.  When?  I’m not sure.  Maybe during the study of Biomes?

Swamp Juice!

Why wait for halloween when you can enjoy some gross food all year long?

The possibilities are endless!

Gummy worms for Biology during Earth Worm dissection.

You’ll be seeing more Science food on  here soon!

A Tuesday Meal

From yesterday’s post, you know I have made meatball.  These freeze really well, but I just saved them for the next night.

To have A Tuesday Meal ready, place in a bread machine:

• 1 1/3 cup of flat beer
• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 TB sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 1/2 TB Butter
• 1 1/2 tsp yeast

Set on dough cycle and set the timer for the dough to be ready when you get home.    

Remove dough.  Cut into fourths, cut each piece into sixths.  Roll each piece into round/flat pieces.  Place on slightly oiled cookie sheet.  Let rise for 30 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.   And wah-lah ,  you have cute little rolls that are slightly crunchy on the outside.

Now onto the meatballs!

Sir Husband made a gravy with beef, onions, and mushrooms (dried from last year).  Smothered the meatballs with the gravy.   We served the meatballs with the gravy over wide egg noodles.

I took one of the rolls and dug out the center.  Then placed one meatball with some gravy in it.

It fit perfectly and was sooo cute!

 

It was also so yummy!!

We had left over sauteed squash for a veggie.

So that was the easy meal I came up with for  A Tuesday Meal.

Verdict:

• Me:  Loved the meatballs, gravy, and noodles.  Loved the meatball mini sandwich.  I was the only one who would even try it.
• Husband:  He loved everything, including the rolls.  He just didn’t put them together.
• The girls:  Ate a few meatballs and noodles.  No gravy.  Several rolls.  They love bread.
• Sir Son:  He ate one meatball, no gravy, and one noodle.  He’s hungry.

Muffin Tin Meatloaf

This was actually made Friday and Saturday this past week, but it would work for a Tuesday Meal.

Amish Muffin Tin Meatloaves  (I double the recipe.)

Source:  In the Kitchen with  Jessica   Go buy it.  It’s for a good cause.

• 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 c. soft bread crumbs
• 1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I use onion powder because all of my children have a gag reflex when it comes to micro amounts of onion chunk in their food)
• dash of dried thyme
• 1/4 cup ketchup  (we use only  Publix organic ketchup due to food allergies.  It is SO GOOD)

Combine ground beef, bread crumbs, tomato sauce,eggs, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, onion, and thyme. Mix well.  Place about 1/3 cup of mixgture in a lined muffin tin.  Top each with loaf with ketchup and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

I use a large cookie scoop to make the meatloaves and I do not use lined muffins.   After filling the muffins I make a dent in each with the back of the scooper, which makes a nice place for the ketchup.  🙂

With the left over meat, I make a batch of meatballs.  These are saved for the next day, (A Tuesday Meal).

Come back tomorrow for A Tuesday Meal and find out what I did with the meatballs.

Enjoy!!

A Tuesday Meal

My neighbor read my post explaining I needed to find quick meals for Tuesdays.   She suggested I make this recipe, because her kids love it.  Well, her kids are not as weird as mine, so they eat everything.  But I like a good roast, so thought I’d give it a try.

Some notes:  A year ago we looked high and low for a bottled liquid smoke that was not filled with “stuff”.  Ok, we didn’t have to look high and low, Sir Husband found it at the grocery store, but did have to read three or four bottles to find one.  He purchased Colgin Liquid Smoke: nufin’ in it. 🙂    Don’t leave it out.

Coffee was made by my sugar coffee addicted ten year old.  Don’t leave out the coffee.

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes, steamed veggies.

Verdict:  This was really easy to put together.  I’ll will be making it again.
Husband:  What was that flavor in there?  It was good.   Me:  coffee.  Husband: Really?
The Peas:  loved it and ate a lot.
The Violinist:  Ate some
Sir Son:  “I don’t like dried out things from the crockpot”   Me:  It was swimming in liquid! Go hungry.

For the next few days we had this on buns with BBQ sauce. Yum.  Buns were homemade using the dough cycle in my Zo bread machine.

Thanks Carol for the recipe!

Slow Cooked Coffee Beef Roast

• 1 ½ lbs. boneless beef sirloin tip roast, cut in half
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 ½ cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• ½ cups sliced green onions
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 ½ cups brewed coffee
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke, optional
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ½ cup cold water

1. In a large non-stick skillet, brown roast over medium-high heat on all sides in oil. Transfer roast to slow cooker.
2. In the same skillet, sauté mushrooms, onions and garlic until tender.
3. Stir the coffee, liquid smoke if desired, salt, chili powder, and pepper into the vegetables. Pour over roast.
4. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until meat is tender.
5. Remove roast and keep warm.
6. Pour cooking juices into a 2-cup measuring cup; skim fat.
7. Combine cornstarch and water in a saucepan until smooth. Gradually stir in 2 cups of cooking juices.
8. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with sliced beef.

The Hot Dog War

We haven’t had hot dogs in our home for many years, because of food allergies.  So when I found an all natural, all beef, no preservatives, hot dog we jumped all over it.

Parents happy.  Kids happy, until….

Sir Husband decided it was time for the kids to beg for their hot dog.

ALL they had to say was, “Dad is WONDERFUL!”

Did they? NO!  They tried to steal the hot dogs instead.

Sir Husband was able to stop them for a little while.

But not for long.  While fending off one child, the other one grabbed the hot dogs and ran.

It isn’t good when the kids work together to get what they want.  lol

 

Peach Tart

Our neighbor went to the Farmer’s Market today and gave us a 1/2 bushel of peaches.  Yum-yum!!  Thank you neighbor!

After we ate about ten of them, I made a Peach Tart and put two bags in the freezer.  This leaves a bunch more for tomorrow!

Peach Tart

Source:  Better Homes and Garden Cookbook
Serves:  8

• 1 single pie crust (store bought because I can’t make it)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tsp all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 cups sliced peaches fresh from the Farmer’s Market
• 1 TB lemon juice
• 1 TB sliced almonds (I didn’t use)
• Milk (I didn’t bother)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll pastry on stone pizza pan.  Toss peaches in lemon juice.  Mix together the sugar, flour, and nutmeg.   Toss in peaches.  Spoon the peaches onto the pie crust, in the center.  Leave a 2-inch border around the peaches.  Carefully fold put the pie crust around the peaches.

Brush sides and top lightly with milk.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes.

When slightly cool devour.

How to Poach an Egg

Step One:  Find a good looking husband.  (always step one)

Step Two:  While looking at a recipe for Poached Eggs, casually ask the good looking husband, “How do you poach an egg?”  IF he does not give the right instructions, you’ll need to find another good looking husband.  Mine gave the right answer, so I get to keep him.

Step Three:  Whine Ask the husband to make some poached eggs.  Of course he will say yes, because you are so worth it!

Step Four:  Bring water in a skillet to a boil.  Not a rolling boil.

Step Five:  Crack one egg in a measuring cup and gently slip the egg into the boiling water.

Step Six:  Do the same with all the other eggs your good looking husband is going to cook.  Then let it poach for three minutes.  This one was a little messy, but I like the husband and decided to keep him.  I know he can improve with my help.

Step Seven:  Place cooked eggs in a bowl, because they slide right off the plate. Ask me how I know.

Step Eight:  Watch this video.  It’s one of those edge-of-the-seat type movies.  Makes you anxious and want to see more.   Spoiler:  You won’t see the good looking husband in it.  Sorry.