Homemade Granola and Granola Cookies

I needed to make some homemade granola for the kids since they were out of homemade instant oatmeal.  So, I made two different batches of granola and double both of them.  I then made some highly addictive cookies from one of the granola's.  Here are the recipes and some pics!

 

First double batch...peanut butter granola!

 

Here is the peanut butter granola recipe:  http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2010/10/peanut-butter-granola.html

 

 

Peanut Butter Granola finished!  Yummy!  It is addictive!

 

 

Both double batches of granola done!  :)   The other kind I made is called Lazy Granola and the

recipe is as follows:  http://amysfinerthings.com/crystals-lazy-granola

 

Granola cookies, oh my these are addictive!

 

And the recipe for the cookies is:  http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2010/10/granola-cookies.html

 

 

Potato Crocquettes

Lots of leftover mashed potatoes from Christmas dinner so I made potato crocquettes with them.  So yummy and super easy. Here are some pictures and recipe to follow:

The "dough"

The "dough" and bread crumbs to dip.

The crocquettes ready to cook.

Cooking them up.

The finished product.  So yummy!

**  2 pounds or whatever you  have  left potatoes
**  2 eggs, whipped a bit
**  some herbs, whatever you have
**  a dash of pepper
**  a couple Tablespoons flour
** 1/4-1/2 cup cheese, whatever you have on hand

Mix it all up, if it seems to runny add a bit more flour.  Form into patties as above or logs.  Spray a frying pan with olive oil or cooking spray.  Fry each side for 3-4 minutes until golden.  Serve with ketchup or a dip of your choice.  These are really yummy and a great way to use up the leftover mashed potatoes!

Food we have made recently

Here are a few pictures of some food we have made recently.

Making Rice Krispie Squares.

Potato Soup.

Cupcakes for our Dress-up Party.

Apple Loaf.

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza

Decided to make homemade pizza again.  It was so yummy!  Made a big, rectangle one this time.  :)

Yeast proofing.

The dough after it rose.

Rolling, rolling, rolling.

Ready for toppings.

Veggie pizza today.

Almost finished.

Banana Muffins

So, my friend Traci made Banana Bread and wouldn't send me any.  :(  So I decided to take  matters into my own hands and ended up making a double batch of Banana Muffins!  These are so good!  The kids are eating them for Breakfast.  :)

This is the recipe I used :  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/banana-muffins-ii/detail.aspx

And here they are:

Mixing up the ingredients, Wet and Dry. 

Ready for the oven.

All done cooking.

All the muffins cooling and being put in containers.

Strawberry Granola

Ok, so I decided to try my hand at granola again.  I love granola and love making it, it just seems like it goes far to quickly in my family.  Two large cookie sheets is only have a cereal container full!  So we eat it sparingly on yogurt.  :)

Here is what I made this time:  http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2011/05/homemade-strawberry-granola.html.  So yummy!

Stirring up the ingredients.

Getting ready for the oven.

The finished granola -- see only half a container!  :(

Iced Coffee and Iced Tea

It has been awhile since I posted, been pretty busy.  Will post more later but thought I would post about the ICED Coffee and ICED Tea I am making.  I can't wait to try it but it takes 12 hours in the fridge!

Here is the link to what I am making.  :)

http://www.simplebites.net/keeping-cool-with-cold-brewed-iced-coffee-and-tea/

I am making iced coffee and three different kinds of iced tea!  The teas are regular ; Cranberry/Green and Lemon Ginger.  I am looking forward to them.  Hopefully this sunny, hot weather stays around so I can enjoy them.

And there it is, 1st Jar is regular tea, 2nd jar is Cranberry Green Tea, 3rd is Lemon Ginger Tea and the 4th Jar is Iced Coffee Concentrate.

All of them are very yummy!!!!

The last two days

Here is our cooking for the last couple of days.  We have been mostly at home due to Thunder and Lightening storms.   

We started off with Yogurt Cheese/Greek Yogurt, you take plain yogurt and let it drain over a colander in a cheesecloth or coffee filter that is on top of a bowl.  You let it drip from 2-24 hours depending on how thick you want it.  You can use this as a spread for sandwiches instead of mayonnaise or butter.  Or you can use it as a dip starter, or mix it with fruit for a yummy dessert.  The options are endless.

Yogurt Cheese or "Greek" Yogurt

The we moved on the Cinnamon Pull-Aparts and Whole Wheat Bread.  Instead of making two loaves of bread, we made one loaf and some Cinnamon Pull-Aparts (which were amazing!)

Cinnamon Pull-Aparts, so yummy!!!

Finished Cinnamon pull-aparts and WW Bread!

Here is the link for the bread http://articles.urbanhomemaker.com/index.php?article=83 and on the bottom of the page is another link for the bread dough variations.  This is another super easy recipe for bread like the one I post a couple days ago.  Enjoy!!!

Then we made Granola this afternoon!     And YUM!

Just out of the oven

After the fruit was added.

The Granola recipe was taken from the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook 2.  It is called :  Jump Start Granola.   We doubled the recipe in the picture above, we need lots for our family!  Here are the ingredients:

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup roughly chopped unsalted almonds

1/4 cup roughly chopped unsalted cashews

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

2 Tbsp Flax seed

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 heaping Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup raw coconut butter or oil, melted

1 tsp real vanilla

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 cup of your favorite unsweetened dried fruit, such as raisins, currents, cranberries, cherries or blueberries.

Just mix everything together.  First bowl, first 8 ingredients; second bowl the rest of the ingredients, except the dried fruit, which goes in after it is baked.  Mix both bowls together and bake at 250 degrees for 75-90 minutes. 

Let cool and store in an airtight container.

Eat Clean Diet Cookcook 2 -- By Tosca Reno

That is it for now.  Will post more after convention on the fun I had and the curriculum I acquired!

Homeschooling/learning and more food

Hello again all, this is what we have been up to the past couple months.  We made Granola at Community Kitchen a few weeks ago.  Haven't been there in awhile, trying to get school finished up for the year.

Homemade Granola!

Vegetarian Lasagna with homemade noodles, so yummy!!!

Easter Egg Hunt in our town, my littlest man.

Same Easter Egg hunt, my little lady.

Son #2 after the Easter Egg Hunt.

The oldest after the Easter Egg Hunt,not wanting his picture taken.

Littlest man enjoying a sunny day.

Homemade Turkey soup.

Chocolate Chip cookies.

Homemade oven Fries, so yummy!!!

Littlest man in his Let's Go Chipper Shirt, an outdoor adventure company, promoting getting outdoors and doing fun stuff.

Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas, yumminess!

My Let's Go Chipper backpack.  I received this for FREE because I became an Ambassador for the company and am trying to help promote being outdoors.

Yummy, Homemade Pizza!  Woohoo!

Beef Stirfry, this was amazing!

May 29th, 2011, Teepee at the Bird and Botany walk we attended this morning.  So cool!

Horse Lake, so pretty.  This is the Community Farm where we attended the Bird and Botany walk.  Was a great, enjoyable walk.  My son #2 found a skull and wanted to take it home, we decided (I decided this wasn't a great idea!)  And then realized halfway home that I forgot to take a picture of him with it.  :(  Darn!!

Well, that has been our last couple months in a nutshell.  Will post again soon.  Probably after my HS Convention and the Buffalo Tour Fieldtrip we have coming up in the beginning of June.  Those will be some great pictures.

Lots and lots of cooking

Well, have been doing lots of cooking and baking lately and just haven't had time to post. I did try a while back but blogger was down.

Cheese buns!

Spaghetti Sauce.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies!

An Eagle Ethan Spotted on the way to a friends house!

Ethan's Birdhouse he got for his birthday.

A deer we saw on the way to Williams Lake.

Lots of great cooking, baking, schooling and fun going on lately.  We are nearly at the end of our homelearning year.  One more week and we are done.  Then it is off to conference next weekend to see what is new and exciting for curriculum!  Will post again soon with recipes and such.