Snickerdoodle Granola

 I could have sworn I posted a granola recipe before, but I can't find it, of course. I had a craving for snickerdoodles and baked apples the other night, but being that DH and I are trying to get back on track with healthier habits (cold weather+ a lot of food holidays+ constant trade off of illness = lazy couple) that wasn't such a great idea. Instead I tossed a chopped apple in the skillet I used to make this with a little bit more cinnamon and made this recipe. A much better decision.

Like my oatmeal, this is a good basic granola. Add some cocoa powder for Mexican hot chocolate oatmeal, add more dried fruit for a trail mix granola, candied  ginger and dried carrot and pineapple for a carrot cake granola (I do have a thing for a good carrot cake.)

You Need:
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 T coconut oil
1 T honey or agave
4 T brown sugar
1 flax egg (or hen's egg)
2 C rolled oats
1/2 C pecans, chopped
1 t salt
1.5 T cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 300 F and line a baking sheet with foil
2. Heat together the vanilla, oil, and sweeteners until the oil is melted and a syrup forms
3. While that is melting, thoroughly mix together the dry ingrediants.
4. Toss all ingrediants, minus the egg together until thoroughly coated
5. Mix in remaining egg and spread mixture on baking sheet
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally until the oats are crisp and toasted
7. Let cool for at least 10 minutes to allow some clumps to form. Toss in 1/2 C dried cranberries, if desired
8. Store in an airtight container, it will keep for at least two weeks.

Breakfast Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Yogurt Icing

I have a soft spot for carrot cake. Growing up I worked at my lesson barn and on Saturdays we would have a pot luck and the barn owner would make her carrot cake. At the time I didn't like pineapple or raisins but like many other things, my preferences changed (up until a year ago I hated pineapple, so another vote for taste buds changing as we age.)

I wanted a smaller snack so made this thin cake. For a more substantial cake, just double the cake ingredients and add five minutes to the bake time. We made this for church along with Oh She Glows' Banana Oat Cake and both were very well received. We simply cut each in half to make two layers each. and served them on one cake carrier.

Breakfast Cake:
1 C whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t all spice
1/4 salt
2 T water
2 T oil
2 T yogurt, unflavored, unsweetened
1/4 C brown sugar, or equivalent
1.5 T ground flax in 4 T lukewarm water
1 heaping C carrots, shredded (we used 2 carrots)
1/4 C walnuts, toasted and chopped
1/4 C golden raisin
1/4 C pineapple, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease/flour a round cake pan, preferably one with a removable bottom. Serving it as a pie would work as well
2. Beat together the yogurt, oil, water, and sugar until smooth
3. Add in the spices, powder, salt, flax egg, and flour and beat until smooth
4. Fold in the remaining ingredients and pour into the prepared pan
5. Bake for 30 minutes, until a tester in the center comes out in.
6. Cool in the pan until the pan is warm but not hot to the touch and carefully remove the cake. Serve hot or cold, but definitely top with the icing

For the Icing:
1 C yogurt
1.5 T maple syrup
1 T cinnamon
pinch ginger

Beat together until smooth, adjust to taste. I wanted it mildly sweet but you might want it sweeter.

To store: Cover tightly with cling wrap. It can sit in the fridge up to two days but it's best fresh. 

Seasoned Kale Chips and Knockoff Whataburger Spicy Ketchup

 After a failed soup left us with a giant bunch of kale, I felt the need to use it up. What better way then trying my hand at kale chips? Now I've never actually had kale chips - homemade or store bought before this adventure so I went in with zero expectations other wanting to use up the green leafy thing taking up the entire bottom shelf of the fridge. I'd say it was a success. DH likes it because it serves as a decent vehicle for ketchup.

I didn't like the spice level with the spicy ketchup (seriously, try it with the kale) but DH wanted more of a bite. It's been reflected in the recipe. DH isn't going back to Texas anytime soon and can't justify the 19+ for ketchup so he came up with a basic knockoff. Whatburger ketchup is noticeably sweeter than Heinz since they use sugar and HFCS. I think honey might be a nice use instead of sugar but that's up to you.

Sweet and Spicy Candied Pecans

I included recipe in my Christmas cookie boxes. I made a test batch for us of course. I upped the heat because I wanted to actually taste it. Maybe I should have changed the name to something more Texan-y. Pecans and peppers are very Texan. Bluebonnet? Mighty Bears? Remember the Alamo? I think Sweet and Spicy is a perfectly descriptive name for a really delicious treat.

Power Pup Petals

After making pumpkin bars for thanksgiving (same recipe as I used for Baby Brother's Birthday Box, but with white chocolate and cranberries instead of mini chips) I had some leftover puree. I hate having ingredients go bad, even if it was around 3/4 cup of it. That coupled with really starting Olive's formal training, I decided to making training treats. She has some Petco Pal cookies that I break up but I wanted something I could break up as I went instead of breaking up ahead of time to prevent a delayed reward, also needed something high value that she only gets while training. After looking at a couple of different dog treat recipes and the nutritional information (yes, I'm concerned about my dog's nutrient intake, she's just as active as I am afterall) I came up with the following treat, which gets Olive super-focused...

Baby Brother's Baked Birthday Box

My "baby" brother turned 22 right around the time I had a really bad need to bake, or at least to accomplish something productive (in college this mood hit right around the time of finals when I was slogging through term papers.) So I came up with a list of things I could make with mostly pantry staples (for us.) The results were delicious (we kept a few of each) and very unhealthy. I felt sort of bad sending it since BB has always been concerned with health. I figure he can share them at his weekly yoga/drum/slack line circle (when I wasn't looking he turned into a 6'+ hipster.)

Fruity Oaty Bars (Almond Butter and Jelly Bars)

DH insists on calling these Fruity Oaty Bars after the commercial in Serenity. I introduced them at church as simply Almond Butter and Jelly Bars. I don't think we have many Browncoats in our class...

 

Based off of Oh She Glows's Raspberry Chia Seed Jam Oat Crumble Squares

This was a slightly panicked creation when a Honey Nut Apple Cake was a spectacular fail. Lesson learned, only make one fundamental change in a recipe at a time, not 5. I made a couple changes here but they were much smaller (premade jam, added a dash of honey, used almond butter and vegan butter instead of brown rice syrup and coconut oil, a few measurements were slightly changed.) I needed something to go right that day - my Bears lost, recipe failed, didn't make either of the Howl-o-ween events we planned on going to, my sinuses starting draining the middle of my run making it impossible to breathe, and my previous go-to trouser pattern has completely the wrong curve for my now-much-fitter body. These bars made the day much better.

Vanilla Bean Maple Applesauce

 Left is purred, Right is left fairly chunky and with a dash ground cinnamon

This is not the kind of applesauce you typically get in the store, for good reason. Now I could have gotten an excellent jarred sauce from the stand where I bought the apples, or the other good apple vendor next to them, but I wanted homemade applesauce. Now that I have it out of my system, I'll pick up a jar or two once these are polished off. That shouldn't take too long. 

Spiced Roasted Chickpea Variations

When I started my diet change I bought a bag of spiced roasted chickpeas. They were okay but it wasn't amazing. A couple of months ago, I decided to give them a second chance. It was worth it. Usually I have a problem of struggling to make sure the chickpeas make the dinner table. Not sure that's a bad problem to have. There are endless variations too. We've only made savory variations but I imagine sweet variations might be a good option (cinnamon sugar, maybe?) I made a list of so-far untested (by me) variations to get you going on thinking of your own.

Pecan Pie Muffins and Apple Pie Bars

These will probably some of the last normal recipes I'll be posting/reviewing for the next few months. I have to go essentially vegan until at least mid-February for my cholesterol (yes, at 23, I won the genetic lottery) so that means a lot creative food planning.

Anyway, these two recipes are not so healthy, but they are delicious. We brought snacks in for church and I wanted two different types of treats (plus fruit). They even got rave reviews from the self-proclaimed foodie in the class.

This is what was left after class.