Crunchy Granola

As I mentioned last week, my husband and I spent a week at Disney World. The choices of restaurants and the food that they serve are vast and all of them are delicious. So, while we were there, and using a dinning plan, we gained some weight. We decided that when we got back here to California we would start eating a little healthier. We hadn’t been eating that poorly to begin with, but after the holidays and a vacation that include three course meals, we needed to lose a little weight. In an attempt to eat healthy we stopped eating cereal for breakfast and moved to yogurt and homemade granola. This week I have for you our granola recipe.

This recipe is an adaptation of Alton Brown’s granola recipe. You can easily double this recipe.

What You’ll Need…

3 Cups Rolled Oats

1 Cup Slivered Almonds

¾ Shredded Sweet Coconut

¼ Cup + 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

¼ Cup + 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

¼ Vegetable Oil

¾ Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Raisins

1 Cup Dried Cranberries

1 Cup Dried Pineapple

Start out by pre-heating your oven to 250.

Now, in a large bowl combine the oats, almonds, coconut and brown sugar. In a separate bowl combine the maple syrup, oil and salt. Mix both mixtures well.

Next, combine both mixtures; mix well so that all of the ingredients are coated in the oil and syrup. Pour the granola onto two greased sheet pans. 

Bake the granola for an hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes so that it colors evenly. My oven doesn’t heat evenly, so I bake one pan at a time.

Once the granola is baked let it cool for a few minutes and then transfer it to a large bowl. At this point at the raisins, cranberries, and pineapple.  Mix thoroughly so that the fruit is evenly distributed. 

Enjoy by itself or over yogurt.

Store the granola in a Ziploc bag.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Let me start off by saying that I know that I already posted a soup like recipe this week, but soup is delicious. A few weeks ago our oven broke so I was extremely limited when it came to cooking. One night I made chicken noodle soup; I just threw things into a pot and didn’t measure anything. I wasn’t planning on making soup again until we made a whole chicken so that I could use the leftovers in the soup. However, yesterday my husband wasn’t feeling well so I went to the chicken and started on chicken noodle soup. It’s the perfect food to have when you’re sick, isn’t it? So, if you’re feeling sick or just want some comfort food this is the perfect recipe for you.

What You’ll Need….

3 Chicken Breasts (Or leftovers from a whole roasted chicken.)

½ lb. Pasta. (Or half of a homemade pasta recipe.) [Recipe included below.]

6 Cups Chicken Broth (Low Sodium)

6 Cups Water

½ - ¾ Cup Carrots (Chopped) [2 Large carrots or 4 small carrots.]

½ - ¾ Cup Celery (Chopped) [2-3 Stalks of celery.]

½ - ¾ Cup Onions (Chopped) [About ¼ of a large onion.]

1 ½ Cups Mushrooms (Chopped) [Two handfuls of mushrooms.]

1 Cup Corn

½ Teaspoon Dried Parsley

½ Teaspoon Dried Oregano

½ Teaspoon Dried Basil

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

¾ Teaspoon Salt (Sea Salt works great, but regular table salt works just as well.)

Homemade pasta…

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

¼ Teaspoon Salt

½ Cup Water (This could be more or less depending on the temperature and humidity outside.)

If you choose to make the pasta yourself combine the flour, salt, and water in a mixing bowl. Once the dough is partly combined knead it until it comes into a smooth ball. Allow the dough to rest for at least 15 minutes. 

Now, for the soup… If you are using frozen chicken breasts instead of leftovers from a whole chicken cook the chicken fully and set it off to the side to cool so that you can work with it later. I find that the easiest way to cook the chicken is to place the three chicken breasts in a skillet that is lightly coated with olive oil. Brown the chicken on both sides on the stove-top before place it into an oven that has been pre-heated to 400 degrees. Once the chicken is cooked completely remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool. It should take about 25 minutes for the chicken to cook.

Once you have cooked the chicken and made the pasta dough, if you choose to that is, pour the chicken broth and water into a stock pot and bring the liquid to a simmer. This should take about 10-15. You can use the time that it takes for the broth to come to simmer to chop the vegetables. Small pieces for the carrots, celery, onion, and mushrooms work best because of the short cook time for this soup. 

Once the broth comes to a boil add the carrots, celery, onion, and mushrooms. Let the soup cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add this point, if you made your own pasta, you can roll the dough out. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. You can cut the dough into any shape you like, but I like to cut it into small rectangles.

After you have left the soup cook for 15-20 minutes add the chicken, pasta, corn, and spices. Stir thoroughly so that the spices are evenly distributed. Let the soup simmer for 10 minutes so that the noodles and corn have time to cook.   

Let the soup cool for a few minutes before serving. You can serve it right away, but you’ll probably end up with a burnt tongue. Serve the soup by itself or with crackers, saltines are the best.

Once the soup as cooled completely serve the leftovers in airtight containers. This makes a lot of soup, so there will be leftovers.

Enjoy!

Beef Stew

I apologize for not posting a recipe this past Wednesday; my husband and I were at Disney World. Due to the lack of a recipe last week I will be posting two this week. One will be posted today, obviously, and another on Wednesday. In the past week the weather has gotten colder, in most places at least. It was even in the 60’s for a few days while we were in Florida. That was definitely a welcome change from the 85 degree temperatures that we were met with last Saturday. Now, when it is cold outside most people look for a hot meal to warm themselves up. One such meal is stew.

Stew is simple to make, all you need is a crock-pot. Stew is also delicious.

What You’ll Need…

1lb Stew Meat

2-3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

2 Large Carrots (Chopped)

2 Stalks Celery (Chopped)

½ Onion Diced

2 Large Potatoes (Chopped) [Three medium or four-to-five small potatoes would also work.]

1/2 Bell Pepper (Cut in stripes) (Optional)

2 Cups Water

Spices [Any kind you like.] (To taste)

2 Handfuls of frozen Corn [This is about a cup.] (Optional)

½ - 1 Cup of Rice (Optional)

Start out by placing the pound of stew meat in the crock-pot and cover with the Worcestershire sauce. Once the meat and sauce are in the crock-pot turn it on to low and begin chopping the vegetables. 

You can chop the vegetables to whatever size you like. However, I usually cut the carrots into ½ inch pieces, the celery into ¼ - ½ inch pieces, the potatoes into one inch pieces, and dice the onions. If you choose to use bell peppers cut them into stripes. Place the vegetables into the crock-pot as you finish with each type of vegetable.

Next, cover the meat and vegetables with 2 cups of water. Place the lid on the pot and leave it alone. Stir about once every hour.

One hour before you plan to serve the stew add the spices. You can use any kind of herbs and spices that you like. I normally use basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary, garlic powders, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Once you add all of your spices makes sure that you stir well. 

If you want to include the corn and rice add both half an hour before you plan to serve the stew. The corn adds something to the stew. If you like a stew with a lot of broth do not add any rice, the rice will suck all of the water out of the stew. I personally like a thick stew, so the rice brings the stew to the texture I like. If you do not want all of the broth to be taken out of the stew you can sprinkle in flour when you add the spices to thicken it up to your liking. 

On low the stew takes about 6-7 hours to cook completely. If you wish to have the stew more quickly you can use the high setting and this will have you stew completely cooked in about 3-4 hours.

Once it is completely ladle the stew into bowls and enjoy. It is great by itself, or with a slice of homemade, or even store bought bread. I personally like to top it with ketchup.

Let the leftovers cool completely before refrigerating.

Enjoy!

General Tso's Chicken

I want to start off by saying that I have no idea what is going on with the spacing. I'm sorry that it isn't the way that it normally is. 

Foreign food… everyone says that they like some sort of foreign cuisine. A lot of the food that we eat here in the U.S. is something that originally came from a foreign country and became Americanized.  Okay, enough of that… This week’s recipe is another one that was created by my amazing husband. Howard is like me in that he loves to cook; he shies away from the baking side of things though.  This is one of my favorite “Chinese” dishes; General Tso’s chicken. Now, this recipe is not breaded and fried, but it is also not baked. Our take on this deliciously spicy chicken is made on the stovetop in a wok.

What You’ll Need…

2-3 Chicken Breasts (Depending on the size and how many people you are making the dish for.)

1 Bell Pepper (Cut into strips.)

½ Onion (Diced)

1 ½ Handfuls Mushrooms (Chopped)

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

Sauce…

4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons White Sugar

6 Tablespoons Chicken Stock

2 Tablespoons Vinegar

3-4 Squeezes Hot Sauce (Depending on how hot you like it.)

Start out by making the sauce. Add all of the ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Whisk the sauce every once in a while. Once the sauce is cooked set it aside and move on to the chicken.

Cut all of the vegetables to size. Dice the onion, chop the mushrooms, and cut the pepper into strips.  Once the vegetables are cut, cut the chicken into large bite-size chucks and add all of the chicken and vegetables to a wok.

Pour the tablespoon of soy sauce over the chicken and vegetables. Sautee the mixture until the chicken about ten minutes from being fully cooked.  You can always place the wok in the oven to speed this process up.

When the chicken is 5-10 from being cooked pour half of the General Tso’s over the chicken. Cook the chicken for the remaining 5-10 minutes.

Serve the chicken over rice and pour more sauce over the chicken once it is plated. You can always leave the extra sauce off though.

Store the extra chicken and sauce, if there is any, in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!