Peanut butter chocolate chip granola

Yesterday I made granola for my sons 3rd birthday party. It was a hit so I thought I would pass on the recipe! I use organic ingredients but you can use regular.




Ingredients:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup oil (sunflower or coconut oil is best, but you can use any) 

1/4 cup honey

4 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 Tsp vanilla 

1/2 Tsp sea salt

1/2 cup organic raisins

1/2 cup organic dark chocolate chips

1/2 Tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup organic peanut butter

1/2 cup organic peanut butter chips

1 cup organic chocolate rice crispy cereal (I use koala crunch cereal from sprouts, they have chocolate or regular and its all natural ingredients) 

Directions:

Mix rice cereal, oats, raisins and salt in a large bowl, set to side.

In a saucepan add peanut butter, cinnamon, honey,brown sugar and oil and heat until melted and creamy, turn off heat, add vinilla extract and give it a good stir.

Now pour liquid mixture over oat mixture and stir with a spatula until mixed well and coats all the oats. Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 15mins, stirring occasionally. Take out of oven and let cool COMPLETELY.

Now (after its cooled) add the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. You can also add almonds or any other kind of nut(I would add the nuts before you cook it). I've also added sunflower seeds to mine and it tasted great! 

Enjoy! 

Cinnamon Raisin Granola Cookies

Cinnamon Raisin Granola Cookies

2 sticks Butter (salted) Softened

1/2 cup Sugar

1-1/2 cup Brown Sugar

2 whole Eggs

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1-1/2 cup All-purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

2 Tsp cinnamon 

1 teaspoons Sea Salt

1-1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup organic California raisins 

1/2 cups  organic Chocolate Chips (I used mini organic semi-sweet)

2 cups organic Krispy rice cereal (or Rice Krispies)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter with sugars until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix until blended.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt. Add to mixing bowl and mix till combined. 

After that, add in remaining ingredients in whatever quantity you prefer. Add more chocolate chips and raisins if you want, or you can add nuts if you would like(mine are nut free)

last add Krispy rice cereal(rice Krispies) mixing until just combined.

scoop balls of dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown, then allow to cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

Freezer tip!

After you make your dough, save some for the freezer! Line a baking sheet with wax paper, scoop balls out onto pan and place another sheet of wax paper over top. Put into freezer until frozen, then pop them out into ziplock bags and save for another day! When you are ready to bake them, just place the frozen cookie dough onto a baking sheet and bake at 375 until golden brown :) 

My baby is growing up!

I cannot believe my little, sweet baby girl is already nine months old!! With every child it seems like time is going by more quickly. It makes me sad and happy at the same time. Sad because my babies are growing up, but happy because they are growing and healthy!

The other day my sweet baby girl hailey started Really trying to crawl on all fours. She does a cute little scoot, gets frustrated because she cant crawl very fast without falling, so she then rolls in a circle until she positions herself to where she can roll to what she is going after. It is hilarious and amazes me at how fast she can do all that!
She is starting to show her personality quite a bit also. I will say I can already see a lot of stubbornness( which of course she gets from her father ;) and I have NEVER seen a nine month old baby throw such a temper fit in my life. I don't know if its a third child thing or if its just her personality (I'm leaning more towards the fact that she watches her older siblings do this) but when she has found a little "treasure" in the floor (aka a small piece of paper, Barbie shoe, dog toy, anything or everything she is NOT suppose to have) and I notice and say, "hailey, no no", she literally jumps and as fast as she can she attempts to hide the "treasure" under her tummy so that mommy won't swipe it out of her hands(or mouth) It's like she already knows she is in trouble and not suppose to have it. Then when I take it from her, she throws her head back, kicks her little chubby legs and grunts really loudly, she also has quite a strong grip! Is it just me or does it seem like each child learns these things earlier and earlier?

With all that said, she is still the sweetest baby ever! She has a big smile that just melts your heart! She loves to hum and "sing" itsy bitsy spider, she likes to clap her hands and say "yaaaa", and her favorite word is Mama. I cannot help but laugh at her temper fits because she is SO stinkin cute! I mean, look at this face and tell me it doesn't make you smile!



She is a sweetie pie! Big temper and all :)

Homemade cinnamon swirl bread

We love to eat cinnamon toast for breakfast. I have tried a few recipes for cinnamon bread, but didnt care for them, then I came across this recipe. I have made it three times now and it is wonderful! My husband almost ate the whole loaf the first day I made it! If you can be patient and give it plenty of rising time, then it turns out fluffy and delicious! Just thought I would pass along the recipe :)

(I also made French toast with this bread and it was Amazing!)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/08/homemade-cinnamon-bread/


I made a loaf for my freezer, I just let it cool and slice it, wrap it in Reynolds wrap, then place
It in a old bread bag I keep. Freeze it and when you are ready to eat it just take a couple slices
Out and pop them in the toaster!

Enjoy!

Bowtie pasta

This is our favorite pasta! My mom makes it all the time, she started making this recipe because she loved the Bowtie festival at Johnny Carinos. I like this version better though :) 


Ingredients:

1 pkg Bacon (diced into bits and cooked)

1 cup half and half (or milk)

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 egg

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese(or more if desired) 

1 bag of fajita chicken (or 4 chicken tenderloins)

Bowtie pasta (1 box)

Salt & pepper 

Dice your bacon into bits and cook. Set to side

Heat your chicken in a skillet ( if you use tenderloins then put a little olive oil in the pan and cook on med heat until done, or I also cook the chicken in the bacon grease) 

While your chicken is cooking boil your Bowtie noodles.

When your chicken is done set to side (cut up tenderloins into chunks)

Next start your sauce: place your half and half, butter and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, and egg in a sauce pan on low heat,  stir well with a whisk and heat until sauce thickens and becomes creamy(stirring continually, IMPORTANT: DO NOT LET SAUCE BOIL) I heat mine in between medium and low heat. 

Next in a very large bowl place the noodles, bacon, chicken and the rest of the cheese, pour the sauce ver top and mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste, you can also add garlic salt if you would like.

The sauce is a little tricky, but the key is to cook it slowly so it doesn't get too hot and get lumpy, but it needs to heat long enough to thicken. I have learned not to leave the sauce at all, I stand there and stir it with a metal whisk for a while, then take a metal spoon and stir until it feels creamy and it will coat the spoon (if you pull the spoon out and the sauce slides right off and is watery then its not done)

You can add green onions and diced tomatoes to the pasta if you want (I don't ever do this but Johnny Carinos Bowtie festival has green onions and diced tomatoes, its really good. So I've always wanted to try it)

I serve this with home made garlic bread sticks, or Italian herb and cheese biscuits!  

Enjoy!