Homemade Granola

I love this recipe, and when I was teaching a children's cooking class last year, the kids in my class loved it.  Use any dried fruits, apricots, dates, craisins, raisins.  You also can use any type of nut butter, almond, peanut, soy or sunflower, I love almond myself.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons natural nut butter (almond, peanut, soy or sunflower)
4 tablespoons xagave syrup
3 tablespoons orange honey (okay use any type of honey but orange is my favorite)
2 tablespoons stevia (or use a natural raw sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups puffed rice or if you are not gluten intolerant use Kamut
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup puffed millet cereal or if you are not gluten intolerant use Grape Nuts
1/2 cup whole almonds, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dried fruit (I love craisins personally)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. line an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper so that the paper overhangs on opposite sides (to make removing the bars easy).

In a small pan, combine nut butter, honey, xagave syrup, and vanilla. (if you use raw sugar add it here, if you use stevia do not add it now),  Heat over medium-low, stirring frequently until the raw sugar dissolves and the nut butter is evenly distributed into the mixture.

In a large bowl, combine the puffed rice or kamut, oats, puffed millet cereal, chopped almonds, flaxseed meal, sunflower seeds and dried fruit.  Pour 1/2 of the warm honey mixture over the oat mixture and use a rubber spatula to combine.  Pour the remaining honey mixture over the oat mixture and continue stirring with the spatula until the mixture is thoroughly blended.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and use the spatula to press the mixture firmly.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the granola bars are golden brown all over. Remove the pan from the oven and use the rubber spatula to press down on the mixture.  Let the bars cool completely in the pan, then use the overhanging parchment paper to lift them out of the pan.  On a cutting board, use a sharp knife to cut 16 squares. Wrap and keep air-tight for a week.  Granola bars can also be wrapped and stored in a plastic bag in the freezer for several months.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

I love salsa, any type, and if it has mangoes and serrano peppers that is as close to tasting Heaven.  But for the salsa that I use to top everything and any thing (okay maybe not ice cream but then I haven't tried it yet) this recipe is the bomb.  Everything tastes great with this salsa on top.  I love it adding it on top of freshly cooked green beans, carrots, corn or summer squash, grilled onions, or all of them together! Oh and you can eat chips with it too.

Here are the ingredients
1 1/2 pounds fresh tomatillos
5 fresh serrano peppers
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 1/2 ripe avocado

How to prepare
remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse under warm water to remove the stickiness.  Broil the peppers, garlic, and fresh tomatillos in the oven on broil 1 to 2 inches from the heat, turning once, until the tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes.
Peel the garlic and pull off the tops of the peppers.  Put everything in your blendtec (I love my blendtec, remind me to tell you about my funeral plans and my blendtec)
Puree everything and voila you have a great salsa!

Spinach Souffle

Everyone wants an easy, quick meal that doesn't use a lot of pots, pans, bowls, etc for preparing, cooking and serving.  Which is why KFC and McDonald's make bank, let's go out to eat instead of having to slave over a hot stove after a long day at work.  WRONG!

There are so many quick and easy dishes to make, we just need to retrain our brain and not stop for fast food.  You can make quick food at home that is so healthy for you and tastes AWESOME!

For example, yesterday after a 13 hour day with travel time and work time I was beat.  Having to make dinner was not top on my list, I wanted the path of least resistance to food.

BUT I did not go gobble down fast food and call it surrender!

I got my Blendtec out and made Spinach Souffle that was out of this world.

You will love this recipe.

Take 4 cups spinach

1 cup basil leaves fresh

1 cup fresh mushrooms

1 cup soft tofu or 1 cup plain kefir or Greek Yogurt (nonfat please)

1 cup egg whites

2 inches of leek (use the white end, not the dark green part)

1 stem of lemon grass

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon olive oil (I use flax oil)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup feta cheese separated into two 1/2 cups (I use Goat's milk feta)

6 small custard cups

Turn the oven to 375

Take all of the ingredients except 1/2 cup feta cheese and throw into the Blendtec.  Turn it on to #5 and blend thoroughly, increase speed to high or #8 and blend for 1 to 2 minutes.  You want it frothy.

Everything in the blender

Poor into custard cups that have been sprayed with nonstick spray. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup feta cheese onto mixture. 

before cooking

Put in the oven. Cook until the top bounces back at touch, around 20 minutes. 

cooked and fluffy

Take out of the oven.  Now souffles will come out nice and tall and then slowly sink down, so serve it hot and fluffy.

yum!