Yummy Chocolate Coconut Treats

I saw these Chocolate Coconut Bar Cookies on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen recently and knew I was going to have to try these. She got the recipe from the Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book. The recipe can be found on her blog if you click on the Cookbook Queen's link above. It uses chocolate chip cookie dough and premade coconut & pecan frosting.

They were very easy to make and the family thought they were delicious!

Homemade Granola

This summer, I stopped buying cereal and many other processed foods and encouraged the family to eat more fruits, veggies, and proteins. To add a little something to their yogurt, I made homemade granola for them to sprinkle on top. I tried a few different recipes with Alton Brown's granola recipe being our favorite.

I made a few changes to come up with my own version. I use sliced almonds instead of slivered. I don't put in cashews. I use half maple syrup and half agave nectar. The main reason for doing this is that real maple syrup is expensive! I just paid nearly $8 for a 12 oz jar of store brand maple syrup!The first time I used both was because I ran out of real maple syrup and didn't want to ruin things by using regular syrup.   I use a mix of dried berries (cranberries, cherries, and blueberries) instead of raisins. And I add flax seeds.

Ingredients:
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried berries
1 tablespoon flax seeds


Combine oats, almonds, coconut, flax seeds, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine syrup, nectar, oil and salt.
Combine both mixtures.

Spread out onto 2 jelly roll pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

 

 Remove from oven and pour into an air tight container. Add dried berries and mix.Using dark brown sugar makes the granola a nice, golden color.

I usually double or triple the recipe. The kids love to eat it straight out of the container!

Our Favorite Summer Dinner - Asian Lettuce Wraps

This summer our favorite dinner has become Asian Lettuce Wraps. For the last month and half or so, we have eaten them about once a week. In fact, my 13 year old son often requests it. I don't follow a recipe, I just wing it.

I start with some chicken breast. Trim & cut into bite sized pieces. Then I cook them with a little bit of olive oil.



I follow the same procedure for Hannah's soy chicken.

After the chicken is cooked, I drain it or blot up the excess liquid with paper towels.

Then I add some Thai Peanut sauce - I've used the 365 brand from Whole Foods and this time I had Target's Archer Farms brand. I usually get about 3 or 4 meals out of a jar - but I don't measure. I just add enough to cover all the chicken. I add a spoon full or two of peanut butter. I usually buy natural peanut butter now, but it still has sugar. One time, I had some that didn't have sugar and I didn't like that batch as well. I prefer it a sweet & spicy. I also sprinkle some crushed red pepper, but not in Hannah's though. She thinks it's spicy enough without.


I add a can of drained water chestnuts. I have the kids cut them into halves for me. It's so nice that they are old enough to help out with some of the "real" cooking tasks, not just "bring mommy a can of black beans, please". Though I still ask them do that, too.



Clean the lettuce leaves. This time I used Romaine lettuce. It really depends on what I can find at the store.


We top ours with shredded carrots. I put out all the individual components and let everyone assemble their own wrap.

Yum!

Blueberry Peach Crisp

Hannah and I were picking up a few things at Publix today. I always spend more money when I take her to the store! She noticed that blueberries were on sale, 2 pints for $5, so she asked if we could get some. Since she was asking for fresh fruit and not candy (she asked for the candy later), I smiled and said "sure". Then we passed by some more fruit. It was a display of the most fragrant Georgia peaches. They were on sale, too, so we selected a few peaches, too.

Later, when we got home, I started thinking about what I could do with those peaches and blueberries. We only eat dessert twice a week, on Fridays and Sundays, and today was Sunday, so I started looking for blueberry/peach recipes. I personally prefer crisps to cobblers, so I gravitated toward those recipes.

I found one on The Sisters Dish blog which sounded good. Click on the link for the recipe.


You start with blueberries.


Peel the peaches and chop into small, bite sized pieces.


Add cornstarch & sugar.


Add some lemon juice & lemon zest. I didn't add the zest - I was in a hurry and I have never zested before and I didn't want to take the time to learn how. Mix ingredients together.



Spread the mixture into a baking dish.


For the topping, combine brown sugar, sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped walnuts, and butter.

Cover the fruit mixture with the oat/flour mixture.





Bake.




Eat. This was absolutely delicious! We ate it while it was still nice & warm. Yum!


I added the The Sisters Dish to my Google Reader. They won me over with this Blueberry Peach Crisp recipe!

Roasted Cauliflower

After the success of our roasted Brussells Sprouts, I decided to try roasting another vegetable. I selected cauliflower this time. Usually, we microwave/steam cauliflower and it is "okay", not great, just okay.

I found a recipe for Roasted Cauliflower on SimplyRecipes.com. The main reason for selecting this recipe over the others that I found, was that I had all the ingredients. It also looked easier than some of the others I read.


I started with a head of cauliflower.

I cut the cauliflower into pieces and put in a bowl. I poured lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, pepper, and kosher salt over it and stirred. I spread it into a baking dish, then sprinkled parmesan cheese over it.


Before baking for 25-30 minutes at 400.

After baking.

We were in hurry - we were hungry! I didn't do a very good job of timing our dishes. I only roasted it for 25 minutes. If I had planned better, I would have roasted a little bit longer until it was more golden in color.

The final results, the family liked it. It was better than "okay". We liked the roasted Brussells Sprouts more, but it was definitely an improvement over our usual microwaved cauliflower.


When Chris and I were in California (after typing the word cauliflower, I really had difficulties spelling California!), we drove past several cauliflower fields. Many of them had recently been harvested and you could smell the raw cauliflower scent very strongly. Here is a picture of a cauliflower field for those of you who don't get to see them in that stage.



Now I need to think of another vegetable that needs rescuing from my usual methods of preparation!

Another Blueberry Pie

I tried a new recipe for blueberry pie this afternoon. This recipe was from Betty Crocker. I used frozen blueberries since that's what I had on hand. The recipe used flour as the thickening agent instead of tapioca or cornstarch. I used a refrigerated pie crust that I had, too, rather than making the crust from scratch. Maybe one of these days I'll give homemade crust a try.



The filling leaked out a bit on one side. As I mentioned before, I am not a big fan of blueberry pie, but this one was pretty good. I even ate my small piece without vanilla ice cream or whipped cream! It was still nice & warm. Yummy!

Brussels Sprouts

I have never been a fan of brussels sprouts and I never thought I would become one either. But they have quickly become a favorite of mine.

Recently I picked up some fresh brussels sprouts at the store because my husband really likes them. I don't cook them very often, so I looked on the internet for an easy recipe.

The first one that I found was for roasted brussels sprouts on allrecipes.com. I had all the ingredients so I gave it a try.

Start with fresh brussels sprouts. Wash them.


Trim the ends off .

Add olive oil, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Combine all ingredients in a large plastic bag and shake.


Spread onto baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Stir every 5-7 minutes.
They are best when they are brownish/black. The loose leaves are the best! They taste like slightly burnt homemade potato chips. Hannah & I just stood there and ate all the loose ones! They are nice and crunchy.

The day after I made these, I went back to the store to buy some more. They are that good!

Here is a picture of a brussels sprouts plant. I had no idea that's what they looked like. Maybe you grew up on a brussels sprouts farm, but this is new to me. I have never seen a plant like this before. I wonder if they are easy to grow in the backyard??? Though it looks like one plant will only give you enough sprouts for one or two meals.

Cake Balls

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I have recently become a huge fan of the Pioneer Woman. Through her blog, she has introduced me to Bakerella and the world of cake balls & cake pops. I picked up a copy of Bakerella's book during my weekly trip to Target.


The items in the book are so darn cute! and so out of my league! Oh well....I decided that I would attempt just basic cake balls. They didn't look too intimidating.

The directions are on Bakerella's her website, (Just click on the link) so I won't go into too much detail here.

One thing I really like about her book and website (same goes with the pioneer woman), they show step by step pictures for those of us who are visual learners.

You start with making a plain 'ole 9x13 cake from a mix. I chose a milk chocolate one. Then crumble up the cake. It crumbled very easily.

(I really should have straightened up the kitchen before taking the pictures. Oops!)


Once it is all crumbled up, mix in 3/4 of a can of ready made frosting. I used milk chocolate icing for a double chocolate effect. It's really important not to use the whole can.

Then roll into balls. I'm obviously not very good about making mine the same size. Then I put them in the refrigerator overnight. You only have to refrigerate them for a couple of hours, but it was getting late, so I went on to bed.


Dip the chilled cake balls into melted chocolate. I used Wilton Candy Melts since I had plenty left from my covered Oreo treats that I made yesterday.

One of my favorite tips from Bakerella was to take a toothpick and cut around any excess chocolate that ends up on the wax paper before it dries. Then when it has dried, it will just break off easily. I am going to have to remember that next Christmas when I make Buckeyes!

I made some pink ones, too. I drizzled white over the tops.

Finished items, photographed with poor lighting.

I had purchased supplies to make the cake pops, too, but I didn't have any styrofoam, etc. to put the pops in while they dried. I'll try that on another day.

The World's Best Blueberry Pie

I am more of a cake person, myself, but my husband LOVES fruit pies.He especially loves blueberry pies. Fruit pies are okay in my opinion, but they really need to be served a la mode and warm.


This afternoon I had the brilliant idea to make a blueberry pie for dessert tonight. We have the ritual of eating dessert two times a week -Friday nights to mark the end of the week and Sunday nights to mark the start of the new week. We started that years ago when the kids were younger. They were always asking if they could have dessert after dinner. We don't always have something special for dessert. Sometimes it's just a matter of selecting a frozen Weight Watchers treat or having a couple of Girl Scout cookies. But every now and then, we'll make something special.

I don't have a favorite blueberry pie recipe. Usually my husband is the one who makes the pies at our house. So I turned to the internet and specifically Google to help me out. I searched for "Easy Blueberry Pie". The first recipe I found was called "How to Make the World's Best Blueberry Pie" from the PickYourOwn.org website. I quickly scanned through the recipe to make sure we had all of the right ingredients and we did! I can't tell you how frustrating it is to start baking something only to realize that you don't have something! I also liked the fact that this recipe gave the option of using a dough crust or a graham cracker crust. I don't think I've ever had a blueberry pie made with a graham crust, so that cinched that. Maybe this will be to pie that makes me switch to "team pie"???


My 13 year-old was called down to the kitchen to assist me. It was really an easy pie to make. (Click on the links above to go directly to the recipe.)

Here is the pie right before going in the oven.


And here is the final product.

I cooked it as directed, but it was a little too brown around the edges. I think that was my fault. The directions called for a deep dish pie plate, but I used a standard pie plate and I didn't adjust the length of time accordingly. As for taste, the family enjoyed it, and that's what counts. Since it was a bit over done, the graham cracker crust was slightly chewing which I personally liked. I really enjoyed the graham crust and the crumbled topping better than traditional dough crusts. Maybe that's because I don't make homemade pie crusts, I use the pre-made refrigerated ones. I may try it again sometime and watch the timing a bit. I am not a convert, I still prefer cake.




Mmm....cake!