Frozen Yogurt

Last week well getting groceries I happen to stumble on a great deal. These mini yogurts (6 pack) were on sale for $1! I never bought them before but thought they would be a good treat for the babe!

Because the date was fast approaching I decided to make Popsicles out of them. So I stuck the Popsicle sticks right into the mini containers and put them in the freezer.

Eben got to enjoy this yummy treat for dessert after supper that day. He really loved them! Now I have been washing out the mini containers to keep; to make baby size Popsicles for him this summer.


For more works for me ideas check out we are that family

Easter Treats

Hey readers, so I haven't posted this week but the little guy has been sick and we have been in the hospital with him. He is doing much better now and we are praying that he starts to get some energy back.

I wanted to re-post about my Easter treats. I think I will make them again this year for our family Easter supper on Saturday (mom you can pick up the Rice Krispie ingredients?).

Have a great Resurrection weekend!!! Thank you God for sending Jesus and that the grave couldn't hold him!!!




Here is a great way to decorate your table for this weekends Easter Feast! They are little "egg nest"
They are your basic Rice Krispie square recipe but instead of making them into squares you shape them into little nest. This can be done but using your hand to make the nest or you can just mold the Rice Krispie mixture into a muffin tin. Once they have sat you can take them out , place them on the table and fill up the little nest with some Easter eggs!! Also I cool idea I saw was you can substitute the rice krispies for crispy Chow mien noodles to make them look just like a bird nest.

Here are some more Fun Easter treats you can make with the kids. They are cup cake Easter basket treats and flowers. All I did was make a basic chocolate cake recipe and made it into cup cakes. Then I made some green frosting for the topping. I used coconut that I dyed green with food coloring for the grass and then put some jelly beans on the tops to make tasty Easter basket treats. To make the flowers I used a big marshmallow and cut it into 6 piece (using kitchen scissors) and I used a yellow jelly bean for the center.




Let me know of other fun Easter treats you make!!

Sweet and Salty granola bars

As some of you may know I have been working on my granola bar recipe (there are lots of tips here for how to make the perfect crispy granola bar) these days. While whipping up a batch last week I had a brain wave to try and make a sweet and salty granola bar. So I made some alterations to the recipe to come up with a delicious bar that I have been enjoying snacking on all week.



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Snackin Granola Bars

3 1/2 cups *toasted oats (remember if you are using large flake; grind)
1 cup Dried fruit (craisins, raisins, chocolate chips, coconut)
1 cup chopped nuts (sunflower seeds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds)
2/3 cups  melted Margarine (or I like 1/3 melted margarine, 1/3 melted peanut butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey, corn syrup or molasses
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients, mix well. Press firmly into a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in pre heated oven 350 for20 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

* to toast oats place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for ~10-15 minutes or until oats are turning a golden brown

I love how the recipe can be altered and changed to your own personal preference. What I did to make it more of a sweet and salty bar was instead of using 3 1/2 cups of rolled oats I only used 3 cups and added ~ 1/2 cup of crushed pretzels. Also instead of adding chocolate chips (because I didn't have many left) to the top like usual I melted them down and spread it all over the top. Oh my are these bars so good. I think I have finally nailed the recipe!!

For more kitchen tips head on over here.

Crispy Granola Bars

I love making my own granola bars. Not only is it cheaper but you get a granola bar that has all your favorites in it. Lately I have been making these once every two weeks and experimenting with different ingredients. Right now I am enjoying lots of crushed peanuts and shredded coconut.

I have been making this recipe for a while and just recently revised it after figuring out a few tips to help the recipe be a crispy granola bar instead of granola. Here are a few tips for making a crispy granola bar.

1. Instant oats work the best because they are nice and small. However if you buy large flake oatmeal you will need to grind it up. I use my mini food processor or my coffee grinder.

2. Grinding large ingredients such as peanuts, almonds and large chunks of fruit.

3. Greasing the pan does not work as well as lining it with greased parchment paper. The paper makes it easy to slide off the cookie sheet and it peels right off the granola bar.

4. I was trying to cut them well they were hot. Not a good idea; its better to let them cool completely.



Snackin Granola Bars

3 1/2 cups *toasted oats (remember if you are using large flake; grind)
1 cup Dried fruit (craisins, raisins, chocolate chips, coconut)
1 cup chopped nuts (sunflower seeds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds)
2/3 melted Margarine (or I like 1/3 melted margarine, 1/3 melted peanut butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey, corn syrup or molasses
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients, mix well. Press firmly into well greased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in pre heated oven 350 for20 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

* to toast oats place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for ~10-15 minutes or until oats are turning a golden brown

For more cool kitchen tips head on over to Tammy's site.

Cinnamon Hearts

This week I was signed up to bring the "healthy snack" to our moms club. Even being a dietitian I still am unsure what "healthy snack" is. So I put my creative mind to work and came up with a little twist on one of our favorite treats.


Cinnamon sugar tortilla crisp are a big hit around here in the summer time. We really love them dipped in strawberry salsa, flavored cream cheese or just by themselves. I also like making different flavors, such as spicy, to go with our Mexican dishes or Parmesan to dip in soups. But this valentines day here is a "healthy snack" you can send with the kids for their school party, take to work or serve the family at home.

Homemade Cinnamon hearts


10 tortillas
melted butter
Cinnamon sugar mixture
red sugar (optional)
Heart shaped cookie cutter

1. Cut out heart shapes from the tortillas.
2. Melt butter and brush onto hearts
3. Combine 1/4 cup of sugar with 1-2 tsp cinnamon (for these I wanted them to have the same hot cinnamon flavor as the little candy's so I added more cinnamon)
4. Sprinkle mixture over hearts
5. Bake at 350 for 4-5 minutes or just until brown

~ Enjoy them with a dip or by themselves.

Jump on over to Shannon's site for my great ideas.

The best mom at the bake sale!!

This weekend I went away to spend the weekend with my bestest friend and her family. It was her birthday so her wonderful sister decided she would through her a birthday party. Krissy, who is a faithful reader, was hard at work in the kitchen preparing for the party.

She whipped up a great little treat that I just had to post about. These little treats will definitely earn you the "best mom at the bake sale" award.

They are so delicious and so easy to make.

Ingredients

Pretzels
Hersey Kisses
Smarties or M& M's

1. Place pretzels in a signal layer on a cookie sheet. (don't try to make too many in one batch, you need to be able to place the smarties or M& M on them before they cool down.)

2. Place Hersey kiss on the middle of the pretzels.

3. Bake at 200 for about 3 minutes or until chocolate is soft.

4. Moving as quickly as possible place your smarties or M& M's on the chocolate. Cool and ENJOY!!

~ These can be stored in the fridge in an air tight container if you have any left to store!



A frugal idea for this snack is to watch for when kisses and hard candies such as smarties and M &M's go on sale after a holiday, check out my friend Niki's post about it. You can keep these chocolate pieces in the freezer until needed. Look for festive colors to make for when you kids need to take a treat to school for a special party!!

For more cool ideas check out Rocks in the dryer

Quick Salsa

This is a delicious recipe that I had laying around my recipe box. I don't really know where it came from or how I got it but I tried it out this week because we had a lot of tomatoes given to us. Its easy to make and taste so yummy.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

2/3 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 Tbsp mint leave (didn't have one so I didn't put this in)
2 tsp lime juice (used fresh lime but don't have to)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp lime zest
Sprinkle of Sesame seeds

mix all together and enjoy with some Nacho chips.

Granola Bars

My brother in law sent me this recipe early this week because I wanted to make some for our family camping trip. They are so easy to make and they turned out wonderful. This is a recipe that can go in a lunch box as it can be made without nuts plus it will probably cost you less to make these and freeze them then to buy granola bars for the lunch box.


Its one of the only granola bar recipes that I have made and they turned out (that means they didn't crumble and have to be used as granola cereal). I think that the reason these ones are so good is because I ground the ingredients in a coffee grinder first. This helps the consistency and stay in shape better. The recipe is an add your own favorites...so don't be afraid to try!

I did look on line for some recipes that called for the same ingredients and I found out that if you use a 14 oz can of sweet and condensed milk you can use ~ 6 1/2 cups of dry ingredients. However I only had a 10 oz can so I used ~ 4 cups of dry ingredients. Here is what I did...


Granola bars

2 cups of oat meal (grind)
1/2 cup wheat germ
pumpkin seeds (grind)
Cream of wheat
sunflower seeds
coconut

All the dry equaled 4 cups

Then add one can of sweet and condensed milk and 2 Tbsp melted butter. Its suppose to have the consistency of muffin mix. Mine was a little thick. Next you pat this into a 9*13 pan. You can either line it with parchment paper or grease it. Cook on 350 for 20 minutes. Then this is the KEY...let cool completely before trying to cut it. If you wanted to you could cool in the fridge overnight. Cut into bar and then wrap individually for storage so it doesn't dry out.


***I should mention that I didn't add the chocolate chips into the batter but decided to sprinkle them on the top and then pat them into the top of the bar. ****

This would be easy to make peanut free. Just choose your dry ingredients carefully. Here are some thing you could make them with in addition to the oat meal and wheat germ, which you could add more of it you wanted.

- ground flax
- cranberries
- raisins
- chocolate chips
- coconut
- dried fruit pieces (kiwi, mango, pineapple, banana chips)
- corn meal
- cream of wheat
- any ground up cereal

For more tips about how to be frugal check out biblical womenhood

Simple Granola

Hey...sorry I have been so long since the last post. Life is pretty busy with a teething 3 month old and my Dietitian exam is coming up next month. Every spare moment I have these days I have been spending it with my nose in my books.

I do want to share with you a recipe that a friend of mine shared with me. She makes this Granola monthly and gave me the recipe. Its from the cook book more with less. It has a delicious flavor that goes great with your morning cereal, is a lovely topping on yogurt and even is a great snack on its own.

Simple Granola

2 cups flour (I used 1 whole wheat and 1 white)
6 cups Large flake rolled oats
1 cup Coconut
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp salt
* I also added cinnamon, nutmeg, sesame seeds, cornmeal, ground flax, and sunflower seeds.
1 cup oil
1 cup honey or corn syrup ( I used all corn syrup but my friend does 1/2 cup of each)
1/2 cup water
2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 250.
2. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl
3. Blend wet ingredients into a 4 cup meauring cup
4. Add wet to dry and mix.
5. Spread onto greased 2 greased cookie sheets
6. Bake for 23 minutes then switch sheets and bake for 23 min or until dry and golden. ( I left mine a bit longer cause I like a harder granola)

7. Cool and then add
Raisins
Dried Cranberries
Nuts (almonds)
8. Store in air tight container





Granola is such a wonderful super food because the ingredients in it provide the body with essential vitamins and minerals it needs to function. Also many of the ingredients in it provide other GREAT benefits that will help you get through your day. Just to name a few; wheat germ is a delicious source of zinc, vitamin E, folate, and other B-complex vitamins. It helps the body maintain energy levels, enhances fat metabolism and helps to protect against heart disease. Oats are a great food because they help to lower levels of cholesterol while providing you with a great source of iron, fiber, protein, carbohydrates and folic acid. We all know that almonds have many healthy benefits and should be incorporated into your daily diet as they help maintain healthy body fat levels and strengthen the cardiovascular system.

Making Yogurt

Last week Eben and I spent the day with a friend of ours from the church. While making bread we got talking about making yogurt. She told me that her family use to do it as well and they had a yogurt maker. They don't make it much anymore so she let me borrow it to try to make our own yogurt. All it takes to make yogurt is 1 L of milk and 1 Tbsp of yogurt. Its nice to have the machine but if you don't you can leave it in the oven with just the oven light on for the same amount of time.

To make the yogurt you begin by bringing 1 L of milk to a boil. I used homogenized milk so I would have a nice and creamy yogurt, however 2%,1% and skim works just as well. Once the milk is boiling you let it cool. Now this is the tricky part because the machine I used had a thermometer with it that didn't have any numbers on it just an "add starter" line. If anyone makes their own yogurt and knows the temperature please let me know. Once it reaches that temperature you add 1 heaping Tbsp of plain yogurt, this can be yogurt you purchased from the grocery store . Then you pour the milk mixture into these glasses and then place them into the machine that is plugged in and let it stand for 10 hours.



After 10 hours the yogurt looks like this


You can eat the yogurt just as is. The plain yogurt is a good substitute to use in baking and we have found that it is an excellent substitute for sour cream!! You can also make different flavors of yogurt just by adding different fruits to it. Jams are great to add to it as well as frozen or pureed fruits. This is blueberry yogurt topped with flax seed!!!




I wanted to start making yogurt because its a great quick snack that is full of calcium and protein. However I have found that its getting expensive so I wanted to see if it would be cheaper to make it my self (since we buy plain yogurt most of the time and flavor it ourself). To start making yogurt you need to buy 1 L of milk and a small container of plain yogurt for the starter. This is the initial cost; however once you make one batch of your own yogurt you can use yours as a starter instead of going out and buying yogurt every time you want to make yogurt. Also the machine makes 1 L of yogurt which is more then you can buy in the store, the containers are about 750 grams. So I believe that it will be cheaper for me to make the yogurt for $1. 99 instead of buying it! Now I know from being a very good sale shopper that you can buy yogurt for this price when it goes on sale; which isn't too often! Making your own also helps you know what is in the yogurt because you don't need to use store bought yogurt as a starter you can go to a Natural food store and find yogurt starter. I am going to check that out sometime this week!!!

Christmas Goodies

So now that it's December its time to post some Christmas Goodies that our family loves to make and eat during the holiday season. With the expectation of a new baby we have been doing some early Christmas baking to be sure that we will be ready for company over the holidays.

First the classic sugar cookie. This is a recipe that the Peterson's use and I find it's my favorite. You can decorate the cookies as much or as little as you like and they still taste yummy. It's been a tradition over the past couple of years to have people over to the house to decorate these cookies with us. Its so much fun to see different peoples creativity. This is also very fun to do as a family as kids usually love getting creative.



Sugar Cookies

1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

1. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl.

2. Blend together the dry ingredients and mix into first mixture.

3. With hands form dough into 2-3 dough balls and chill in the fridge (15- 30 minutes). This makes the dough easier to roll out.

4. Roll the dough out on a well floured surface ( wax paper also works well but make sure it's well floured). Cut the dough with cookie cutters and place onto a cookie sheet.

5. Bake in Pre-heated oven (350) for 7-8 minutes.

Cookie Icing

2 Tbsp margarine
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp canned milk
Coconut extract

Blend together butter and icing sugar. Then slowly add a little bit of canned milk at a time until you have a desired consistency.

Also this frosting taste so yummy when you add just a little drop of coconut extract to it. To make the different colors just put the icing into different bowls and add food coloring.

To top the cookies I love going to the bulk barn and picking up the sliver balls and sprinkles of every color.


The best part about these cookies is once the icing is on you can chill them in the fridge for a 10-15 minutes then you can store them in the freezer. When you have guest coming over just pull them out over the Christmas holidays, put them onto a plate and there you go...cookies in no time!


Hot Apple Cider

During our cookie making parties I usually always have a pot of hot apple cider going. I found this great recipe last year that is so quick and easy to make. I usually just throw all the ingredients into my crock pot and put it on high for a couple hours. Once the drink is nice and hot I just turn the crock pot down to low or even warm.

When selecting apple juice make sure you choose the unsweetened kind to keep the calories of this drink low.



Hot Apple Cider

8 cups apple juice or apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole cloves
2 allspice berries
1 whole nutmeg
1/2 orange peel, cut into strips
1/2 lemon peel, cut into strips

1. Pour apple juice into a large pot or crock pot.
2. Place spice into pot along with orange and lemon peels.
3. If cooking on the stove top bring to a boil and then reduce heat, or put into a crock pot on low or warm, to low to keep drink warm. If you are making in the crock pot, put on high for 2 hours to allow it to get hot. Then reduce heat to warm or low.


Chocolate Pretzels

Another favorite of ours around this time are chocolate pretzels. The past couple of years we have been making our own...because they are soooo easy to make.



Chocolate Pretzels

1-2 bags of pretzel sticks (try to get the long ones)
Any flavor chocolate chips! We usually use the dark chocolate and white chocolate

Toppings for Chocolate
Crushed candy canes
Crushed peanuts

1. Using a double boiler (or a pot with a metal bowl in it) melt the chocolate. Most chocolate melts fairly well but to get a nice dipping consistency try adding just a tsp-tbsp of shortening. I know that many of us think that adding water or milk will do the trick but trust me it doesn't work. It will only make the chocolate go lumpy instead of runny and smooth.

2. Dip the pretzels into the chocolate then roll in whatever toppings you would like. Because I am a huge mint chocolate lover I love the crushed candy canes on the top of my pretzels while others enjoy the sweet and salt taste of theirs coated with peanuts.

These can be placed in the fridge or freezer to allow to set and then brought out and enjoyed at any time.



Being the peanut butter addict I am you better believe that peanut butter balls are my all time Christmas favorite treat!

Last year my friend Maria and I got together to make these treats. We both used the same recipe, however she decided to make hers with all natural peanut butter instead of the Kraft. They turned out soooo yummy. So feel free to try to make some this year with the 100% just peanuts, it will cut down on the amount of saturated and trans fats are in the recipe. Also a lot of recipes for peanut butter balls call to use wax in the melted chocolate but just like for the pretzels shortening works much better but remember you only need a little bit to get the chocolate the right consistency. We found that the easiest way to dip these is by using chop sticks.


Peanut Butter Balls
1/4 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup icing sugar
2 cups Rice Krisipies

1. Blend together butter and peanut butter.

2. Add in icing sugar and Rice Krispies.

3. With hands form into small balls (or whatever size you would like) and place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with wax paper.

4. Place in freezer for 20 minutes (we have found that this makes them easier to dip).

5. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler adding shortening as needed.

6. Dip and place on lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer to allow to settle.

These are also another treat that can be left in the freezer in a air tight container.