Deconstructed Chicken Pot Pie

I stumbled upon this recipe in a 1970s copy of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. I have tweaked it over time to suit my family's tastes and my busy schedule. It is hearty and filling and, most importantly, gives you control over the amount of pie crust in each bite! I purchase fresh puff pastry from a local bakery to make that step super easy.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 Tablespoon oil
500g chicken breast, cubed
1/2 cup onion, chopped
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups hot water
1 1/2 large chicken stock cubes (or 3 small)
2 tablespoons cream (optional)
3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1 cup carrots, diced
1/4 cup red or green pepper, chopped finely
1 small spring fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 kg puff pastry dough

Preheat oven to 200C. Heat oil in a pot over medium heat and add chicken. Generously season with salt and pepper. Cook chicken through, and allow it to lightly brown. Transfer chicken to a plate and keep warm. Add butter to the same pan used to brown the chicken. Add all the vegetables together at once and cook over medium-low heat covered for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. 

While the vegetables are softening, roll out the puff pastry dough on a floured board into relatively thin pieces. Cut into whatever shape is desired and place on a baking pan. Pop into the oven until puffed and golden brown. 

Returning to the softened vegetables, add flour to the pan and stir until all the flour is evenly coating the vegetables. Cook, stirring regularly, for 2-3 minutes on low heat. Add hot water and chicken cubes to the pan and stir until all the flour dissipates into the liquid. Add cream here if you want the extra richness. Turn the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Add the chicken back to the pan along with the rosemary sprig and dried thyme, and allow the pie filling to thicken over low heat. Taste the filling at this point for seasoning and add any additional salt to taste. Remove from heat and remove the rosemary sprig before serving.

Pour filling into bowls and top with puff pastry. If you love pastry crust, put a piece in the bottom of the bowl and one on top of the filling as well!

Kesari Bath

When we lived in South India, this was a favorite treat at tea shops for breakfast or as a sweet served after a spicy meal at large gatherings. It is super easy to make in under 20 minutes. Sooji is sold in the same section with flours in local shops and comes in small packets. It is very similar to cream of wheat. 

 

Kesari Bath

1/2 cup sooji
1 Tablespoon ghee (for frying)
Palmful of cashews
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1 saffron thread or a pinch of turmeric*
Palmful of golden raisins
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1-2 Tablespoons ghee

Begin with a hot dry pan. Add sooji and switch heat to low. Stirring frequently over 5-6 minutes of low heat, you should begin to smell the toasted smell of the sooji. Remove from heat onto a plate. In the same pan, heat 1 Tbs ghee over low heat and fry cashews until golden. If you use the fruit variation below, you can fry the fruit here as well. Remove from heat into a small bowl. Into the pan add 1+1/2 cups water, sugar, saffron or the turmeric for color, and raisins. Once the sugar is dissolved, begin adding the toasted sooji into the water in batches, stirring while you pour to prevent lumps forming. Keeping the heat low, add the cashews, cardamom powder, and ghee. Stir well and cover on low for 2-3 minutes. You will know it is cooked when the sooji begins to look translucent. Serve warm. 

Fruit variation: This recipe tastes even better with finely chopped pineapple pieces. You can caramelize the pieces a little when you are frying the cashews, and then add them back into the mixture at the end. You can even use pineapple juice from canned pineapple in place of the water. 

*The turmeric is just for color and will not give the same taste as saffron. It is such a small amount that it does not impart any flavor. I don't have saffron in my pantry so this works just fine. 

One Pot Chicken Pot Pie Noodles

We've been trying lots of one-pot dishes lately to minimize clean up. My kids love this one! It's a win for the whole family, super easy, and hearty. It has the flavors of chicken pot pie without the extra work. You can check out the Life Made Simple blog for the original recipe.

Chicken Pot Pie Noodles

500g chicken breast

2 Tbsp butter

1 medium onion, diced

4-6 local celery stalks, diced with leaves

2 carrots, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups water

2 chicken stock cubes

1 cup milk

1 cup cream

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp ground sage*

1/4 tsp chili flakes

1/4 tsp paprika

250g pasta (small shapes)

1-2 cups frozen peas, thawed**

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Pie crust crumbles (optional)

Heat butter over medium heat in a large pot or Dutch oven. Fillet and season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Cook the chicken pieces in the pan until browned on both sides and cooked through. Remove from heat and allow the meat to rest 5 minutes before cutting into small pieces. Meanwhile, add the onion, carrots, and celery to the pan. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the water, stock cubes, milk, and cream and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium, then add the cut chicken pieces, garlic powder, thyme, sage, chili flakes, paprika, and pasta. Cook for 12-18 minutes on medium to low (you don't want an aggressive boil, but enough to cook the pasta). Add the peas and parsley to the pasta and cook until the pasta is tender. The sauce should be getting thicker, but not dry so you may need to cover it from time to time. As it cools, it will thicken a bit more. Top bowls of hot noodles with pie crust crumbles.

*You can substitute rosemary or extra thyme here if you don't have sage. I used 4 fresh sage leaves.

**The original recipe calls for 1 cup peas and 1 cup corn, but that's too starchy for my taste so I use double the peas.

Note: The first time I made this I didn't have any cream so I used all milk. It didn't adversely affect the flavor, but it just wasn't as creamy so you can definitely just use milk in a pinch.

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

I don't know what my hankering for peanut butter and chocolate is all about lately, but I have to make half recipes so I don't keep a crazy amount of sweets around waiting to be eaten. I found this recipe on Joy Food Sunshine, and it's amazing! It has all the flavors of a classic no bake cookie. It's dense, rich, and perfect with a cup of coffee. This half recipe makes 8 hearty bars.

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

Oat Layer:

85 grams butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

Chocolate Layer:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter (natural unsweetened works great)

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and salt over low heat. Once the butter is melted, stir to make sure the sugar dissolves. Allow this to bubble for about 30 seconds before you add the vanilla and oats. Stir to combine and allow to cook for about 2 minutes on low heat.

Using a double boiler or microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter together.

Prepare a loaf pan by lining it with parchment or foil. Add half of the cooked oat mixture into the bottom of the pan. Press it down firmly to create a bottom crust. Pour the melted chocolate/peanut butter mixture over the oat layer. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the top and gently press it down into the chocolate.

Chill the bars for about 2 hours in the fridge. Take them out for about 10 minutes before you cut them apart into 8 squares.

Note: Truth be told, I took the super easy route and used leftover frosting from the Peanut Butter Sheet Cake combined with unsweetened peanut butter to make the chocolate layer--because you can't waste chocolate! It tasted awesome!

One Pot Goulash

I love dishes that can be prepared in one pot. This one comes together really easily and tastes great!

Easy One Pot Goulash

One Pot Goulash

500 g ground beef, pork, or chicken

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups water

1 can tomato puree (standard can--not the big one)

1 can tomatoes*

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

250g uncooked pasta (macaroni or spirals)

1 cup cheese, shredded

In a large pot, brown meat over medium heat, breaking it into small pieces. Stir in onions and garlic and cook until translucent. Add water, tomato puree, tomatoes, soy sauce, oregano, basil, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Stir together just to mix. Bring up to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover with lid, and cook 20 minutes**, stirring occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom. Add in pasta, cover, and cook on low until pasta is soft. Remove from heat, throw away the bay leaf, sprinkle with cheese, and stir everything together.

Notes:

* With canned tomatoes, I just stick scissors into the can to quickly chop them a bit smaller, nothing fancy. Cans with large tomatoes are the easiest to find and cheapest so this is an easy workaround. 

** If you are in a hurry, you can just dump your pasta in here and cook for 25 minutes. The only difference in the final dish is the richness of the sauce. If you have really hungry people, just fast track it!

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake with Chocolate Frosting

This weekend I really wanted something with peanut butter and chocolate. All the peanut butter pies I saw required ingredients I don't have such as cream cheese. Peanut butter cake with peanut butter frosting seems a bit much. Making a pie crust for a peanut butter dessert sounds like a lot of work. The result of my exploration is this awesome cake that combines two recipes, Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and One-Minute Easy Chocolate Frosting from Spend with Pennies. I scaled down the sheet cake recipe to fit a quarter sheet pan (9x13) in a smaller oven. A jelly roll pan works best so the cake doesn't climb over the edges.

What's the best part of this? The cake is thin so you can eat a big piece, but it's a small pan so you get it out of your house quickly! Win-win!

Gooey, buttery peanut butter cake

What happens when you don't sift!

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Cake:

1 cup sugar

1 cup maida (flour)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup plain yogurt (thick like sour cream)

1/3 cup peanut butter (if you use natural peanut butter, you'll need more sweetener)

125 g butter

1/2  cup water

Frosting:

1/3 cup milk

75 g butter

1 cup chocolate chips or chopped baking chocolate

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if you want yours to be pretty

Preheat oven to 205 C (400 F). In a medium bowl, combine sugar and flour. In a larger bowl, combine egg, baking soda, and yogurt, mixing well and allowing to rest. In a small saucepan, combine peanut butter, butter, and water. Bring to a rolling boil for about 30 seconds, stirring to combine evenly. Remove from heat. Add the flour and sugar to the peanut butter mixture. Allow the mixture to cool a few minutes. While you wait, grease the sheet pan. Once slightly cooled, pour the peanut butter mixture into the yogurt mixture and stir until it looks uniform. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for ~20 minutes. A toothpick inserted inside should come out clean and the cake should be pulling away from the sides of the pan.

While the cake cools, prepare the frosting. You could do this on the stove top, but I took the lazy microwave route. In a microwaveable bowl, combine the milk, butter, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Melt everything together. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and silky. This creates a frosting that cracks on top of the cake.

Pour the frosting over the top of the cake while the cake is still a bit warm and smooth it out. Allow it to cool completely before eating it along with a tall glass of milk! If you're really adventurous, you could poke small holes with a toothpick before pouring the frosting over.

Note: You will have extra frosting left over for another awesome dessert. Just pop it into an airtight container in the fridge.

Cinnamon Sugar Blondies

I originally saw these blondies from Buns in My Oven on Pinterest and wondered if they were legit--they are. These blondies are mixed and baked in under 30 minutes! They are a super quick and delicious dessert that doesn't require any special ingredients. The first time we made them they were delicious but flat. When we used more precise measurements the second time, they turned out chewy and flavorful. One big thing to be mindful of is egg sizes. A standard "large" egg is about 57 grams. I weighed a local egg (all of which are different in size), and it weighed only 30 grams. The difference is significant in a recipe so I doubled the eggs. Also my 9-year-old loved that he could do most of the work on these!

Must remember to take photos before we eat things! 

Cinnamon Sugar Blondies
113g or 1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 large egg, beaten (check the weight if possible)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
5 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and flour an 8x8 baking pan. In a bowl mix together brown sugar and melted butter. Add the vanilla. Stir in the beaten egg. Add the flour and salt and stir until you have a smooth batter. It will look a lot like caramel.

Smooth the batter into the square pan. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle the mixture over the top of the batter. Bake in a preheated oven for 22 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes before cutting into these delicious little bars.

Note: The base recipe (minus sugar and cinnamon) makes a perfect chewy blondie. You could mix in chocolate chips, a little peanut butter, or other toppings to make different varieties. 

Ham and Cheese Sliders

The slider craze is everywhere in the US now. They are mini-burgers and sandwiches with various fillings and toppings. When I was last in the US, I had these delicious Ham and Cheese Sliders and recreated them here very easily. This recipe is based on this one from Dinner at the Zoo.

Ham and Cheese Sliders
1-2 long baguettes, cut into small sandwich sizes of your choice*
300 grams ham or enough to stuff each small sandwich
Thin cheese slices**, enough to stuff each small sandwich
2 teaspoons mustard (Dijon, Honey, or Spicy Brown)
2 teaspoons poppy seeds (optional)
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
6 Tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 170C. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients from mustard through melted butter and stir until well blended. Lay the bottoms of each sandwich across the bottom of a greased baking dish. Add ham and cheese to each sandwich, and then top with the remaining bread tops. Using a brush or spoon, apply the glaze over the top of each sandwich. It will also drip down the sides. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil from the top and put the pan back into the oven for 3-5 more minutes until the tops of the sandwiches are brown and toasty.

Enjoy your delicious sliders warm!

* You could also cut the bread in a few long lengths that go all the way across your baking pan and slice them into smaller sandwiches after baking.

** I think any cheese that pairs well with mustard would work here. I used sliced processed cheese, but I think the local cheese or something like brie would also work beautifully.

Also, I'm not sure what the point of poppy seeds is other than looks, and don't think the recipe would be missing anything if you didn't have them.

Quick and Easy Mac and Cheese - Like Velveeta Shells and Cheese

Full disclosure...this one is not a health food by any stretch. It's pure comfort food that I discovered by accident. Really, it's not much of a recipe, but a quick how to if you're single parenting and have hungry children. I think it might also appeal to singles who don't have the energy to prepare dinner and have some cooked pasta around. I don't have bigger scaled quantities worked out, but this will make a single serving bowlful.

Tastes very similar to Velveeta Shells and Cheese...the totally fake mac and cheese

Quick and Easy Mac and Cheese
1-1.5 cups cooked macaroni noodles or small pasta shells
2 slices Amul processed cheese, torn into smaller pieces (the kind in the plastic sheets)
1-2 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a microwave-safe bowl, add all the ingredients except the salt and pepper. Microwave in 1 minute bursts, stirring between each minute until the cheese is melted and you have a relatively creamy white base. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

You can tweak the amounts a bit, but the key thing is to have enough milk to work as the sauce base without having so much milk you thin the cheese too much. You could probably also do this on the stove top if you work over low heat and keep a close eye on the milk.

This was a HUGE hit with my 10-year-old mac and cheese lover!

Breakfast So Easy a 5-Year-Old Can Do It!

The title of this post is not an exaggeration, and this recipe has become one of my 5-year-old's weeknight chores a couple days a week. He loves that he can contribute a meal all by himself.

Both of my kids love oatmeal, but this time of year it just feels wrong to eat hot cereal for breakfast. Enter this easy, cold oatmeal breakfast that you can make in under 5 minutes. I have been using the Finish rolled oats that are being packaged locally, and they work great for this recipe. The quantity here is enough to feed my two kids breakfast for two mornings.

Overnight Oatmeal
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt (sweetened variety)
2 mashed bananas
Other flavorings to taste: 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp cinnamon, or 1-2 Tbs chocolate milk powder

Pour all the ingredients into a plastic tub and mix together. Add optional flavorings according to what you like. Refrigerate overnight and serve cold in the morning.

Now enjoy a little less stress in your morning!

Morning Sanity Saver: Oatmeal/Porridge Cakes

My kids (and I) love these things. I found them while perusing Eating Well’s quick, healthy breakfast round up. Trying to get off to school in the morning with no major hiccups is an obstacle in our house. It can often make or break our day. I think breakfast can also be an indicator of how the day will go for homeschooling families. If things start off well, it can set a positive tone for the day. We all know what can happen if the day starts off rotten… These are a great change from boxed cereals and work well for children who aren’t into traditional oatmeal/porridge breakfasts. I make 2 batches of these to keep in the freezer. On school mornings when I have power, I pop them in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. When I don’t have power, I take them out the night before and then heat them up in the Miracle Oven on the stove top in morning.

Oatmeal/Porridge Cakes

2½ cups oats

1½ cups milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup honey, maple syrup, or brown sugar

2 Tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup fresh fruit, chopped (apples, bananas, strawberries, blueberries)

Combine the oats and milk in a large bowl. Once mixed, allow to rest 20-30 minutes so the oats can soak up the milk. After the milk has mostly soaked into the oats, add the remaining ingredients and gently stir to combine. You could also opt to put a tablespoon of the fruit on top if you don’t want to mix it in. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with papers if you’re lazy like me. Pour ¼ cup of mixture into each muffin cup. Bake in a 190C oven for 25 to 30 minutes until they spring back like a cake when you poke them. Cool and freeze or refrigerate for future use.

Note: Use porridge specifically labeled as "gluten free" if you need that option. Regular oats cannot be assumed to be gluten-free.

Lunchbox Love: Pancakes or Waffles

This one is not so much a recipe as an idea. My kids love pancakes. We recently bought a waffle iron, and they love waffles equally as much. While I'm still experimenting to find the perfect waffle recipe, any waffle or pancake recipe will do for a kid's lunch. You can send 2 pancakes with syrup, peanut butter, hazelnut spread, applesauce, or anything you come up with. My daughter loves cinnamon-spiced waffles with applesauce for lunch.

Pancakes/Waffles
1 1/4 cups flour (I mix 50/50 white and wheat)
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons oil
1 cup milk + extra for thinning pancake batter
1 egg (2 for waffles)

Mix all the dry ingredients well. Add all the liquid ingredients. If making pancakes, add up to 1/2 cup extra milk to thin the batter. Then, stir just to combine (10-15 times around bowl) and leave it to rest 10 minutes. Cook pancakes on griddle or waffles in waffle iron.

For the lunchbox, freeze individual pancakes or waffles on a cookie sheet for 1-2 hours. Then package in a ziptop bag all together. Place in the lunchbox in the morning, and they will thaw by lunchtime.

Lunchbox Love: Corn Dog Bites

While making lunches in developed countries can still be a challenge or at least annoying, those challenges are much more complex in the undeveloped world because, unless you always want to fill a lunchbox with junk or spend a ton of money, you really have to work at it. My daughter recently started going to a school rather than homeschooling, and I knew she wasn't always going to like the options the cafeteria offered. These corn dog bites are a huge hit with her! They were inspired by the easier, packaged mix version at Renee's Kitchen Adventures.

Corn Dog Bites
1/2 package hot dogs/sausage, cut into smaller pieces
1 egg
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons oil

Preheat oven to 200C/400F, and line a muffin tin with papers. In a mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients, using only 1/3 cup of milk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir just to combine. If the mixture looks too dry, add a little more milk. Fill each muffin tin just shy of 1/2 full. Top each muffin with several pieces of hot dog. Pop into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool. Freeze on a cookie sheet for 2 hours, place in a ziptop bag in the freezer, and take out in the morning while you're packing lunch. It will thaw by lunchtime.

Note: If you omit the sausage, this is a recipe for 1 Jiffy corn muffin box mix. Substitute sugar for the honey and leave out the wet ingredients for long-term storage of the mix.

Healthy Homemade Crackers

Good multigrain or multiseed crackers are something I miss whenever I'm trying to be more healthy here. The choices are quite limited in the whole grain, unsweetened biscuit department, and sometimes we get delicious choices that seem to disappear for good. My body's current blood sugar instability means I have been needing more high protein snacks to feel decent during the day, and let's be honest, you can only eat so much peanut butter or nuts before you feel like loosing your mind. I remembered making crackers when my children were babies, and decided to give that a go again. The beauty of these crackers is that you can make them with just about any grain, add-in, and oil you'd like so you can make them different every time and avoid any allergens your family might steer clear of. These are delicious with cheese, hummus, peanut butter, or just on their own.

Pardon some of the burned ones!

Basic Homemade Crackers
3 cups flour (white, wheat, oat, buckwheat, whatever)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
1/4 cup oil
1 cup water

Add-ins (aim for a 1-2 Tablespoons total):
Flax seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, rosemary, thyme, whole oats, cheese

Combine your dry ingredients into a bowl, making sure they are uniformly combined. If you want the add-ins in the crackers, add them now. Otherwise save them until the end. Mix together the water and oil just before pouring into the flour. Add a little at a time until you get a dough that you can knead without sticky fingers. Roll out the dough (on a floured surface) in small batches to about 1/8 to 1/16 of an inch. Place in a pan. If your dough is gluten-free, it may be easier to just press into the pan directly. Score the crackers into the size you want and dot the tops with a fork. If you want add-ins on top, brush with the crackers with water and sprinkle them over. Bake at 225C/450F until crisp (12-15 minutes). Cool and store in an airtight container.

Note: The crackers at the edges may brown more quickly. I remove those and let the rest of the pan cook longer to ensure all the crackers get browned and crisped. Also, to make oat flour (one of my favorite grains for these), just put quick cooking oats in your blender's grinder jar and blend until you have something resembling a flour. To keep them from sticking, use a good non-stick pan or line with parchment paper before you put the crackers on the pan.

Granola Bars

Keeping healthy snack foods around is one of my challenges.  There are seasons when fresh fruit and vegetable options are pretty limited, and there certainly aren't many healthy ready-made snack options to purchase.  I was looking for a low-sugar snack to make when I had a group coming over this week, and I found a great recipe for Grab'n'Go Granola Bars at Southern Distinction.  I tweaked them a bit based on what I had around and what is available here, and I was really excited with how they turned out, so I thought I'd share.

Granola Bars
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans from my stash I had from the States, but I think almonds would also work nicely in these. Any kind of nut you enjoy would work but would just change the flavor a bit.)
1 cup oats (I used the quick-cooking ones, as those are all that is available here.)
1/4 cup flaxseeds (These can be hard to find here but are available.)
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
2/3 cup unrefined sugar (I used a brand of "mineral sugar" that is sometimes available here, and I've included a photo below. Demerrara or even the local brown sugar would work. Really, regular brown sugar would work as well. I was just trying to go for as unrefined of an option as possible to maximize the "healthiness.")
1/2 cup honey
3 Tablespoons molasses (I kind of just dumped a bit in, but I think around 3-4 T.)
50-60 grams butter (3-4 Tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used Himalayan pink salt because it is easily available here and much healthier than regular table salt.)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups puffed rice cereal (This is sometimes available here but there is also a local puffed rice that would easily work.)
1/2 cup dried fruit (I had planned to use some apricots which are available here now, but they were bad when I took them out, so I ended up subbing dried blueberries that I had on hand. Many options could work well for this, even raisins.)
1/4 cup shredded coconut



(Mainly from Southern Distinction but edited slightly for what I did.)
 
Preheat oven to 350°F/175C. In a large bowl mix together nuts, oats, pumpkin seeds and flaxseeds. Spread mixture onto a baking sheet and bake until fragrant - about 5 minutes. (The quick-cooking oats start to burn if left much longer, but if you are using regular rolled oats, you could leave it a couple extra minutes to give the nuts and seeds a more toasted flavor.) Transfer the mixture back to the large bowl. If you don't have an oven, you can put the mix in a large pan over low heat on the stovetop and shake occasionally until it starts to become fragrant.

In a medium sauce pan combine sugar, butter, honey, molasses, and salt. Slowly bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Simmer until sugar has dissolved and a light brown caramel forms - about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour caramel all over oat-and-nut mixture. Stir in puffed rice, dried fruit, and coconut and mix until evenly coated.

Line an 9x13 baking pan with foil, extending a bit over the sides. Lightly oil the foil with a bit of cooking oil so that the mixture doesn't stick. Scrape granola mixture into the baking pan in an even layer. Use a second sheet of lightly oiled foil (or waxed paper would work well, I think, but I didn't have any), and press down to compress the mixture. Let it stand for 2 hours or until firm. Using the overhanging foil, lift out the cereal square and transfer it to your counter top or work surface. Cut into bars or squares. Store in an airtight container.

Slice and Bake Cookies

Years ago, I stumbled upon this recipe in a list collected by a group of women I had met. It has been my "go to" sugar cookie recipe since then. What inspired me to try these the first time was a little note with the recipe explaining that it came from a woman who always kept these in her freezer so that she could make a few fresh out of the oven cookies if a guest stopped by. She must have been an amazing hostess! You could roll and decorate these, but if you're looking for something super simple, these are great to just slice off and bake.

Slice and Bake Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. This works best with your hands so you can really work it into a uniform dough. Once you have a dough that is not crumbly, slowly roll the dough to form a log shape and place in plastic wrap. I find it easier to get a rough roll first and then smooth it once it's wrapped in plastic. Place the roll in the freezer overnight if you plan on slicing them or in the fridge if you want to roll them out the next day.

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Slice cookies with a sharp knife into 1/4 to 1/2 inch rounds. Sprinkle with chunky sugar or other decorations if desired and bake for 8-10 minutes. If you slice thicker, you'll get a more chewy soft sugar cookie, and if you slice thinner, you'll get a more crisp "biscuit" type cookie. You can also opt to roll them out and use cookie cutters, but let the dough rest about 15 minutes after removing from the fridge first.

Hot Cocoa Mix

I'm feeling festive. Can you tell? I've been transforming my house into a haven of all things fall and cool weather. One of the things my children--not to mention the adults of the house--love this time of year is hot chocolate. While I don't mind making hot chocolate from the local "drinking chocolate", it involves heating milk, not just adding some hot water. Since it's so easy to whip up a batch of your own that is the "just add water" variety, I'd much rather have that on hand for warming up guests or squirmy kiddos on the fly than having to fiddle with milk I may or may not have. Hopefully, you'll enjoy this convenience, too. Plus, you can use some of the mix to make the upcoming Fireside Coffee recipe. Now to earn yourself the parent of the year award, get some wonderful relative to send you a container of those teeny tiny cocoa marshmallows to add to the mix. Or just plop in some big weird pink ones like we did!

Hot Cocoa Mix
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1 cup cocoa powder (100gm local bag)
2 1/2 cups powdered whitener (like Everyday)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornflour

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and carefully stir with a whisk until uniformly combined. Keep in an airtight storage container. Use two heaping spoonfuls for 1 standard sized mug of hot cocoa.

Recipe adapted from here.

Energy Bites

Always on a quest for healthy snacks that will interest my kids, I stumbled upon these from Super Healthy Kids. Verdict = Super kid love. Seriously, they ask for these all the time, maybe because the name makes them think they’ll get super powers. They’re also 100% no cook so the kids can be involved in making them. What’s not to love? And speaking of love, if you have kids, you need to have a peak at all the great things the wonderful ladies at Super Healthy Kids have on their website--all of which are aimed at increasing kids' intake of fruits and veggies along with more vegetarian protein sources. Some of their snack ideas are soo cute and creative! We have made these bites in balls and bars, both of which seem to work equally as well. 

Energy Bites with Chocolate Chips

Energy Bites
1 cup uncooked oats
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut butter (chunky or creamy)
1 Tbsp chia seeds (not available locally) or flax seed (local)
1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix all the ingredients into a bowl. Add up to a cup of any extra add-ins you want to make them special. You can use M&Ms or Smarties, dried coconut, dried fruit, chopped nuts, etc. Mix everything, form into balls or bars (between waxed paper), and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Notes: I just noticed that on Super Healthy Kids they form the bites after the 20 minutes of refrigeration. It seems to work fine either way, but might be easier to work with once chilled. 

Also, if you're concerned about pesticides, look for a honey variety like rudilo (in beekeeping/honey shops) that is cultivated away from other commercial crops like mustard. There would be a much higher chance of having better quality, uncontaminated honey.