Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Easy, Cheap, Good Granola

This is taken from the More With Less Cookbook (p. 89), for those who have it or want it. It's my version of their recipe, because they're recipe allows for lots of variation.

Granola

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
2 cups coconut
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups dried cranberries

Mix the first seven ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. Heat and stir the next three ingredients, using the microwave, until smooth. Then pour over the dry mixture and mix well. Pour mixture into large baking pans and bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. When done, let it cool and then stir in the cranberries. Store in a tightly sealed container.

We had this for breakfast this morning and the kids loved it. It makes quite a bit of granola.

Easy Kid-Friendly Meal

Either Family Fun or Cookie suggested a variation of this idea in last month's issue... I can't remember which one, but my kids were very excited about dinner tonight. They begged to put the different plates on the table and asked for thirds, which usually only happens with meatloaf. I think we'll make this a regular meal.

Do-It-Yourself Salad Dinner

Large Bowl of cut, washed lettuce (red lettuce, romaine, or spinach, or all of them)
Any Salad Dressings you have in the fridge
A variety of Salad toppings (the ones listed below are what we put out tonight, but apples, left over meat, croutons, and anything else you like on salad would work well)
edamame
carrots, cut into bits
green onion, diced
tomatoes, diced
shredded cheddar cheese
almonds, sliced
raisins
two hard boiled eggs, diced

Place the bowl of lettuce on the table and set plates with the different toppings around the bowl. Place some lettuce on everyone's plate and then let everyone at the table put a bit of everything they like on their salad. Then, allow them to pick their favorite dressing and there you have it. My kids were very proud of their creations. It also just so happened that the bread came out of the oven right as we finished dinner, so we also had a slice or two of bread with butter on it. Also, a lot of the toppings I put out were leftovers from something else I made this week, or things I have sitting around in bits. I didn't really buy anything extra for this other than the lettuce and edamame. This was a cheap meal for us. ;)

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Presidents' Day Fun

Presidents' Day Hike to Glen Falls w/ fam


We hiked to Glen Falls yesterday, which turned out to be a great family hike. Both Jane and Dana made it the whole way and really enjoyed it.