Granola

Brad loves to make yogurt, granola, and fruit parfaits for breakfast. Good granola is really expensive and always seems to have some ingredient I don't like the taste of. I was excited to find this recipe. I was even more excited to try it and find out that it was easy to make and tasted great.

The only downfall was the cost of the ingredients. The agave nectar and coconut oil weren't things I had in my pantry. They were hard to find in the store (finally found in the organic food section) and were expensive - $10 total, I think. I did end up with enough agave nectar for a few more batches of granola; there was lots and lots and lots of coconut oil left, too.

Recipe taken from mcoleman at Tasty Kitchen

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
10 servings

1 C sliced almonds
1/2 C agave nectar
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut
1 C dried cherries
1/2 C chocolate chips
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Toss oats, almonds, agave nectar, coconut oil, and salt in a large bowl. (Do not add dried fruit or chocolate yet.)

Bake for 5 minutes. Pull out of the oven and toss. Put back in the oven and bake for 5 more minutes. Bake until it's just beginning to turn golden but not burned - about 15 minutes total.

Add dried fruit and chocolate chips. Mix and let it cool.

Doesn't it look cute?

Note: Brad and I ate about three-quarters of the batch in a week.

Fancied-Up BLTs

 I am a little notorious for not liking sandwiches; I don't eat lunch meat of any type, really. But, I do love BLTs. Enter Everyday Food, October 2010, p. 49.

Fancied-Up BLTs
(aka Chicken, Avocado, and Bacon Sandwich)

Makes 2 sandwiches

4 slices of bacon
1/3 C shredded chicken, cooked
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced
4 slices bread, toasted
Lettuce
Tomato slices
1 avocado, sliced

Cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and toss shredded chicken in bacon drippings. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix minced garlic into mayonnaise.

Assemble sandwiches. Spread mayonnaise on toasted bread, fill with bacon, chicken, lettuce, tomato, and avocado. Slice. Enjoy.

Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joes of my childhood always had crunched potato chips on top. Sloppy Joes of my recent life are always made with ground turkey. I picked this just because I was looking for something different.

Taken from Pioneer Woman Cooks

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4

1 Tbsp butter
1 lb ground beef
1/4 whole large onion, diced
1/2 large green bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic minced
3/4 C ketchup
1/2 C water
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
1 Tbsp tomato paste
Salt and ground papper, to taste
Rolls, for serving

Add butter to a large skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook until brown. Drain most of the fat and discard.

Add onions, green pepper, and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, or until vegetables begin to get soft.

Add ketchup, brown sugar, chili pepper, and water. Stir to combine and simmer for 15 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. Also add tomato paste and Worcestershire. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Spoon meat mixture over the rolls.

My Notes:
These were really delicious and easy to make. They actually tasted really similar to Manwhich.

Amish Bread

Every now and then a few bags of a strange, creamy liquid will show up in our faculty work room. Each one has a recipe attached to it. 

It is starter for Amish Friendship Bread, and I always look forward to its unexpected appearance.

Until I realized I could just make it myself.

Recipe taken from Jules - a woman Brad works with

Makes 2 loaves and 4 starters

Prep Time: less than 5 minutes per day for 10 days

Prep Time: 20 minutes on Day 10

Bake time: 60 minutes on Day 10

Starter
1 C flour
1 C sugar
1 C milk

Day 1: Mix starter ingredients (listed above) together into a quart size zip-lock bag.
Day 2: Mush bag together to mix contents together twice today.
Day 3: Mush bag together to mix contents together twice today.
Day 4: Mush bag together to mix contents together twice today.
Day 5: Mush bag together to mix contents together twice today.

Day 6:

Add 1 C flour, 1 C sugar, and 1 C milk. Seal bag. Let as much air out as possible. Mush thoroughly.

Day 7: Mush bag together and let air out twice today.
Day 8: Mush bag together and let air out twice today.
Day 9: Mush bag together and let air out twice today.

Day 10:

Squeeze contents out of the bag and into a large bowl. Add 1 C flour, 1 C sugar, and 1 C milk. Stir thoroughly. Measure out into 4 zip-loc bags (about 3/4 to 1 C into each bag). Give these bags to friends and family along with the instructions or freeze extra bags and take out to make the recipe below when needed.

Bread

Starter left in bowl

1 C oil

1/2 C milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large box (5.4 oz) instant pudding or 2 small boxes
Nuts (optional)

To small amount of starter left in bowl (about 3/4 to 1 C) add the oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and pudding and mix well. Spray two large loaf pans and sprinkle generously with sugar. Pour batter into the pans and sinrkle tops with sugar. Bake at 325 degree F oven for one hour or until knife comes out clean.

VARIATIONS:
Use pistachio pudding and top with sugar.
Use chocolate pudding and add chocolate chips, sprinkle with sugar.
Use vanilla pudding. Add 1 tsp cinnamon, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on bottom of pan and on top.
Use lemon pudding and add poppy seeds and spinkle with sugar.
Use butterscotch pudding and add butterscotch chips.

NOTE:

You can use a bundt pan, muffin tins (regular or mini), or mini loaf pans. Baking time will need to be adjusted accordingly.