High Protein Granola

I have been working on my own granola recipe.  Most granola you find in the store is high carb and almost no protein.  If I eat carbs, I make sure to have enough protein first.  However, I like a little something with my yogurt now that I eat so much.  I have two recipes for now.  I will add more as I create and play around with the recipe.  This is a good base and easy to change up to your own tastes... Don't like pistachios? Use another type of nut.  Don't like nuts much?  Take some of the nuts out and add more oats and rice cereal.  Just remember, if you add more of those, you add more carbs back into the granola.

Vanilla Cinnamon Granola
Ingredients:
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup rice cereal
1 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (you could use any seed but I prefer sunflower)
1/2 cup pistachios
1-2 scoops vanilla protein powder
2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sea salt
Handful dried cranberries (optional)
2-3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
3 Tbsp. maple syrup (optional, you can change up sources of sweetness)
1 Tbsp. sugar substitute (I use in the raw stevia if possible, or sometimes I leave out.  You could use more of this and less syrup if you would like.)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 
In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: oats, cereal, almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds, protein powder, cinnamon, sweetener, cranberries, and salt.
Make a well in the center of the bowl and add wet ingredients to the well: butter, applesauce, eggs, and syrup.
Fold over until well combined. 
Spread the mixture on the parchment lined baking sheet and place in the preheated oven for approximately 24 minutes.  I turn the tray halfway to make sure it bakes evenly.  If you have a thicker batch, you may want to flip the granola before you turn.  I haven't noticed that flipping makes much difference.
Let the granola cool completely. 
I go ahead and cut this into bars and dip them in the yogurt.  I have not been able to get it crunchy enough to pour into yogurt but I love it dipped in or just as a bar. 
I keep this on the cabinet in a glass jar for a few days to about a week.  You can put it in the fridge but this definitely changes the texture and adds moisture.

Peanut Butter Granola
Ingredients:
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup rice cereal
1 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (you could use any seed but I prefer sunflower)
1/2 cup pistachios
1-2 scoops unflavored protein powder
4 Tbsp. powdered peanut butter
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
3 Tbsp. maple syrup (optional, you can change up sources of sweetness)
1 Tbsp. sugar substitute (I use in the raw stevia if possible, or sometimes I leave out.  You could use more of this and less syrup if you would like.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 
In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: oats, cereal, almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds, protein powder, peanut butter powder, sweetener, and salt.
Make a well in the center of the bowl and add wet ingredients to the well: butter, applesauce, eggs, and syrup.
Fold over until well combined. 
Spread the mixture on the parchment lined baking sheet and place in the preheated oven for approximately 24 minutes.  I turn the tray halfway to make sure it bakes evenly.  If you have a thicker batch, you may want to flip the granola before you turn.  I haven't noticed that flipping makes much difference.
Let the granola cool completely. 
I go ahead and cut this into bars and dip them in the yogurt.  I have not been able to get it crunchy enough to pour into yogurt but I love it dipped in or just as a bar. 
I keep this on the cabinet in a glass jar for a few days to about a week.  You can put it in the fridge but this definitely changes the texture and adds moisture.

Protein Pancakes

There are so many versions of protein pancakes out there.  So as usual, I combined a few and made it my own. 

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 scoop of protein powder**
1 tsp. baking powder
6 Tbsp. milk***
oil/spray for the pan

Directions:
Prepare skillet on medium heat.  Mix eggs, protein powder, baking powder, and milk in a bowl.  Use a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop out the batter onto the skillet.  When the pancake bubbles, flip it.  You can also add other ingredients to the mix, such as fruit or cinnamon.  I made some with blueberries.  You can serve with butter, syrup, jam, or my favorite... cream cheese.

Using this recipe, I get about 5-6 pancakes. 

** The amount of protein powder depends on the type of protein powder you use.  I use Jay Robb.  It is one of the few that do not hurt my stomach, tastes decent, and has the best ingredients.  One serving is one scoop in this kind.  Some protein powders require two scoops.  Use the amount for one serving.

*** You can use water or any type of milk for this.  I use Fairlife Skim Milk.  It is lactose free, high protein, and does not bother my sensitive to milk stomach.  I also use almond milk at times but it is not as high in protein.

Banana Pancakes and Blueberry Mash

I made this recipe for breakfast hoping that my daughter would try something different.  She is still very afraid of different foods and has latched onto about 4 foods she will eat.  She is also a child who will starve herself until she is very sick.  We've been there, done that.  She obviously takes after me because she is INCREDIBLY stubborn.  I, being her worrisome mom, am very worried about her health at this point.  She is almost seven and is still very afraid of expanding her food choices.  I still get very angry at her previous doctors when I think about it.  She did not eat this either though, despite my pleading, manipulating, and yummy noises.

My husband, however, did eat some.  He normally hates pancakes but loves waffles.  He says, next time, I should pour it into the waffle iron. I will consider that a win!

I did not pull this recipe from anywhere in particular.  I looked through a lot of recipes, posts, and blogs and this recipe, and small variations thereof, is fairly popular.

Pancakes:

Ingredients:
3 bananas
4 eggs
cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
Mash or blend bananas.  (I used my Ninja blender.  It's awesome!  If you don't have one, you should check them out.)  Then, mix in the eggs.  It should be looking a bit like a batter now.  Sprinkle in cinnamon to taste or personal preference. Spoon into heated pan or griddle and flip as needed.  My griddle was otherwise occupied so I used a pan on my stove.  Cook low and slow...

HINT: Make the pancakes smaller.  I learned very quickly that this type of pancake cooks much easier and more even if you make them smaller.

Blueberry Mash

Ingredients:
Blueberries
Sugar (optional)

Directions:
In blender, blend up the blueberries.  Add sugar to taste, if desired.  Spoon over pancakes.  I prefer something like this instead of syrup.

Strawberry Bread

I know it has been so long since I have posted regularly on my blog.  Life has been crazy.  And not very nice.  Plus, I got a new computer.  Normally this would make me very happy but I absolutely despise Windows 8!  But it's summer break again so I am back to experimenting with food.  Although I don't really feel like it is an actual 'break' this year.

Since L had so much trouble this year, I now can or freeze almost everything we eat at home because everything has preservatives and dishonest labeling. This way, I know exactly what she is eating.  The health benefits, of course, are for all of us but this all started because she is so important.  So, this summer, since I don't have a full garden at home yet, we have been raiding the farmer's markets and fruit and vegetable stands for fresh and organic products.  We also found a local source for grass fed beef.

Anyway, with the last batch of strawberries I had, I made this wonderful bread.  The original recipe came from another blog which you can find HERE.

But I changed it up a little.  This bread is VERY moist.  And don't be fooled by the toothpick coming out clean when you check the bread.  My toothpick came out clean but it was still more like a crumble instead of bread in parts.  It was still really good though.  Nobody complained about how gooey it was.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups strawberries, chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour (I'm positive this could be changed for a gluten free.  We went with a corn-free.)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cup grapeseed oil (original recipe said vegetable oil but in this house, we only use grapeseed, olive or coconut.)
Olive oil to grease loaf pans
1 tsp. vanilla (working on this to be corn-free)

Directions:
Mix chopped strawberries with the 2 Tbsp. sugar in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease loaf pans.  Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Then combine remaining ingredients but don't over stir.  Fold in the strawberries.

Divide evenly between the two greased loaf pans.  Bake for 50-55 minutes.

Note:  Pictures to come.  I'm still working on moving my pictures over after changing computers.

Smoothies

I have been missing from the blogger world for awhile now.  We've had some major issues with my daughter.  She has been very ill off and on.  As I've stated before, we believed she had a food allergy, mainly to corn.  Well, in recent months, she has started reacting to almost every food she eats.  We have had so much trouble getting any pediatricians to help us so we are now trying a naturopath.  Basically, we have started over completely.  She was at the point she wasn't eating or drinking anything.  It was getting very scary.  After two and a half months with this naturopath, she now eats a few things and always drinks water and tea.  And she is finally gaining a little weight.  But her diet is very strict.  We started out only offering the following foods:  sweet potatoes, avocado, chicken, salmon, peas, spinach, apple, pear, banana, white beans and a nitrate free bacon.  On these, we put salt, olive oil and coconut oil.  At first, she wouldn't eat any and even stopped drinking for two whole days.  She lost a few pounds.  Since that wasn't working we had to take a different approach.  We still used that list as our base but I went ahead and let her eat a few of her fruit squeezers.  You know the ones you can buy and they can suck out through the top while squeezing.  I finally found one she would eat.  Then she started drinking water and tea.  Then she started eating the bacon.  And now she eats baked or grilled chicken and sometimes a regular potato.  She has finally slept through the night for several nights in a row.  She has never slept through the night before and she is two and a half years old.

With all of that, I just haven't had the time, energy or heart to work on blogging, cooking, crafting or job searching.  I hope we are on our way to a healthy child so we can all get back to life.  I still have blogs started from Christmas time that I haven't finished and posted.  But I do have a few smoothie recipes for you today.

Spinach and Fruit Smoothie:
2 handfuls baby spinach
1 apple, cored (you can peel too if you prefer but I like the peel)
1 banana
1 cup almond milk (I use almond but you could just as easily use any kind of milk)
5 whole strawberries
1/2 orange
2 scoops protein powder (optional, I use whey protein powder)

Blend all together.  This can be frozen for use through the week.  This actually made 2-3 servings.

Breakfast Smoothie:
1 cup peaches
1/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup almond milk
1 scoop protein powder

Blend all together.  This one is also good to freeze if needed.  This one is enough for 2 small smoothies or 1 large.  I doubled the recipe and made 3 smoothies.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cinnamon Muffins

I have a bunch of chocolate chips left over after Christmas.  Yes, they keep well in the freezer, but I thought I would go ahead and use some.  I get sugar cravings sometimes, as most women do, but I've tried to start making something semi-healthy to satisfy the cravings.  Even if there is sugar in it, the recipe is mostly unprocessed.  All of my guinea pigs raved about this recipe.  It was our New Year's Eve treat.  We taste tested these muffins, various teas my sister bought to try and a bottle of Yellow Tail Moscato.  It was a great night!  

Ingredients:

1½ cups old fashioned oats

2 and 2/3 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

4 tsp. baking powder (corn free)

½ tsp. salt 

1-2 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

1½ cups canned coconut milk

1 stick (½ cup) butter, melted

1 cup chocolate chips (I am still looking for chocolate chips with acceptable ingredients)

Directions:

Combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix in the eggs, milk, and butter.  Stir until the flour is moistened. Mix the chocolate chips in.  Fix greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full with the batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until tops are light golden.  Makes approximately 18 muffins.

Note:  I have a picture of the muffins but it is on my phone at the moment.  I will update with the picture when I can.

Freezer Meals 1

I have started trying to cook once every two to four weeks and freeze meals.  We have a food saver to vacuum seal for freezing.  The vacuum saver has already paid for itself in food saved from freezer burn. The meals are ready to go in the slow cooker or oven. We eat off of these meals for ALL meals ALL week.I cook one meal on Saturday and one meal on Sunday and we usually eat out for one meal per week.  We also make breakfast and tacos once a week.  This fills in the holes when we don't want to eat leftovers.  Plus, breakfast and tacos are always quick and easy to make.  Below is a week of recipes I used in my experiment.  I will continue to blog about my cooking and freezing ventures.  To see the recipe, click on the name of the dish underneath the picture.  They link to the blog posts with the the recipes.

NOTE:  I typically buy frozen chicken.  I can get a ten pound bag from Sam's for a great price and we eat mostly chicken for our lean protein source.  This means, if the recipe calls for chopped chicken, the chopping doesn't happen until it thaws or cooks.  (NEVER refreeze and meat after it thaws!)

There are two meals without a picture.  I'll add more later.

Instant Oatmeal Packets

Slow Cooker Chicken Stew

Mac and Beef


Healthy Slow Cooker Chicken

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Here are pictures of all of the frozen meals, ready for the freezer or fridge.  These pictures show 10 meals going in the freezer or fridge.  One went right into the fridge to cook the next day.  The rest went into the freezer and were laid out to thaw the night before or just dumped frozen into the slow cooker.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets

Don't ever buy pre-made instant oatmeal packets again!  Have you read the ingredients?  Not to mention the price.  And they are so easy to make at home.  Mix the ingredients below in little snack baggies.  Pour them in a bowl and add hot water in the morning.  Good to go!  For the price of 2 boxes of 8 instant oatmeal packets you can make about 30 packets for adults and about 60 packets for the littles.

Adult Packets:
½ cup quick cooking oats
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp. dried fruit or other favorite topping (optional)

Littles Packets:
¼ cup quick cooking oats
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
½-1 Tbsp. dried fruit or other favorite topping (optional)

Strawberry Muffins

I believe this is the third muffin recipe I've tried and blogged.  Obviously, I LOVE MUFFINS!!!  Anyway, these are delicious and, as with the others, versatile.  You can use any fruit in them.  I love strawberries and always have a bag of frozen ones on hand.  Of course, you can use fresh also.  It is just hard to find good, fresh strawberries for more than maybe a month out of the year.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
½ cup and 6 tsp. sugar, divided
2 tsp. baking powder (corn-free)
½ tsp. salt
1 cup canned coconut milk (I ended up using just a splash more than this because my batter was too dry)
1 egg
¼ cup butter, melted
sliced strawberries (I used about 2½ cups of thawed strawberries)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.  Grease or line 12 muffin cups.  Combine flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk in the milk, egg and butter.  Fold in the strawberry slices.  Spoon into the prepared muffin cups.  Sprinkle each muffin with ½ tsp. sugar.  Bake approximately 15 minutes, until golden.

This recipe was modified from HERE.

Banana Oat Muffins

I love these muffins.  I made them for something quick and healthy for breakfast.  They are very dense but tasty and filling.  I got the recipe HERE but mine didn't turn out as pretty as hers.  I think I should have blended it longer.  You will need a really good blender to do this.

Ingredients:
18 oz. container old fashioned oats (this can be gluten free if certified gluten free oats are used)
1 cup plain greek yogurt (very few of these are corn-free but they are out there; coconut yogurt can also be used for dairy free)
2 eggs
3/4 cup sweetener of choice (I used raw organic sugar but I'm sure honey would work)
1½ tsp. baking powder (corn free)
½ tsp. baking soda
2 bananas
Non stick spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.  Spray 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.  (NOTE:  Do not use paper liners.  Without flour, these stick to paper.)  Place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  (I had to blend a little at a time to get it smooth and even.)  Divide batter into muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes.  When done, toothpick comes out clean.  Remove the muffins from the pan immediately. Eat warm.  I tried them warm and cold and they are much better warm.

Blueberry Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce

NOTE:  This is not guaranteed corn-free as is.  I am working on a recipe for the pancakes to be corn-free.

I don't really have any explanation for this one.  I wanted something easy for dinner and I had leftover blueberries.  Oh, and I don't like syrup.  It's just too sweet for me.  But I love fruit and I always have at least some frozen fruit on hand.

Ingredients:

Pancakes:

1 cup gluten free bisquik

1 cup milk (could be made dairy free with almond or coconut milk)

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 egg

blueberries

Syrup:

strawberries

sugar (optional)

Directions:

Mix pancake ingredients together in a bowl.  Add blueberries last.  I didn't measure the blueberries.  Meanwhile, in another bowl, mash strawberries.  I used a potato masher this time but you could use a blender or food processor for a smoother topping.  I like the syrup just like that but if you need a little more sweetness, you can add sugar to taste.  I use a flat pan or a griddle and ladle out the pancake mix.  Cook on both sides until golden.