Homemade Stovetop Granola

As you can see my little sister even enjoyed granola and yogurt while she visited me.
I mixed in a little Elderberry syrup for her, that is why the yogurt is pink. 

For about a month and half now I have been obsessed with eating granola and yogurt with a little fruit and honey on top for breakfast. Everything about it is healthier than a bowl of processed cereal (more fiber, more protein and omega 3s just from the granola, not to mention the benefits of yogurt, fruit and honey), it is just as easy and it actually tastes better.

Since I like cooking and doing things myself I wanted to try my hand at making granola. I read a dozen different recipes and didn't find anything I wanted to try. I can't eat nuts unless I want a migraine and most granola recipes call for nuts. Also, I don't own a suitable baking sheet for making granola in the oven. I decided to go the stovetop route and made up my own recipe.

• 2 cups Rolled Oats
• 1/2 cup Steel Cut Oats
• 1/4 cup Ground Flax Seed
• 2 TBS Coconut Oil  
• 2 Tbs Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbs Honey
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract 
• pinch of salt

The reason my recipe has steel cut oats in it is because I accidently bought 2lbs of steel cut oats only to get home and realize they weren't what I wanted, but I didn't want to waste them and I thought the extra texture would be good. If you don't have steel cut oats just leave them out or add another half cup of rolled oats. Granola isn't an exact science.

Add all the ingredients to a large pot or skillet.

Stir on a medium-low heat for about 10min or until toasted. 

Remove from heat and let cool. I poured mine into a 13x9 pan. 

Enjoy! 

I don't think this was really any more cost effective than buying my granola, but it was easy and I liked it. I finished my last batch so I think I will make some more today! 

Broccoli Casserole

Way better than it sounds! I was a little afraid to make this because I though ManDan might not like it (because duh, it is a CASSEROLE named after a VEGETABLE) but turns out he loves it. And I love it! And it was easy.

I found a recipe pretty close to what I wanted and tweaked it a bit. We are fans of real cheese... not that processed stuff.

I split it between two dishes, cooked one for dinner that night and put the other in the freezer. Having a casserole in the freezer makes me feel so homeschooled! I told that to ManDan and he was all, "Homeschoolers are smart, Babe. You are just being smart." Ok, that made me feel a little better.

Here is what you need:
2 cups rice, uncooked
2 cups chicken, cubed and cooked (optional, but we really like it with the chicken!)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup milk
1 small white onion
2 cups (or a little more) of cheddar cheese, shredded
16-20oz frozen broccoli

And here is what you do:
Cook rice in 4 cups of water.
Mix everything together in a large bowl.
Spread in to a 13x9 dish or separate between two dishes, cook one now. Freeze one for later.
Bake at 350 30-35min.

Done! I love easy recipes. Especially ones that I can cook once and have multiple meals from.

oh! The first time I made it I used a store brand soup and we actually liked that better than the Campbells soup. Also, don't add too much onion or it will just overwhelm all the other flavors.

Oven Fried Chicken

I originally bought these drumsticks because I wanted BBQ chicken... but we don't own a proper grill for that. So I did some reading (reading cookbooks always makes me feel so wifely!) and learned that I could make oven fried chicken. I read several recipes and then made up my own to work with what I had on hand.

This is what I did:
Skinned drumsticks. Eww.
Smeared drumsticks with a healthy dose of mayonnaise.
Rolled in a mixture of about half italian breadcrumbs and half grated parmesan cheese.
Baked at... I think 375... maybe up to 425 for 35min. I can't remember! Every recipe was a bit different and I think I skewed it towards to the higher temps to get crisper finish. They browned alright! I ended up covering them with tin foil about halfway through.

That's it! It was so simple and delicious! I will do this again.

What's for dinner?

Still alive! And I AM still dedicated to this blog. The last month and half was just filled with so much pain and fatigue I could barely function. Thankfully I have finally seen my wonderful Doctor back in Michigan and as of two days ago a new mattress. Feeling much better!

ManDan and I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving yet. We are doing that tomorrow with some friends. Yay! Putting together a menu and going grocery shopping after I get off work tonight. With that... here is a bit about how we ususally do dinner around our house.

Before we got married I was afraid I would be really awful at meal planning. I really wanted to have it all planned out before hand. Yes, before we even moved in to our apartment I wanted to have a two week plan. Well, that never happened.

We moved in. We did a bit of grocery shopping and then bam... we had enough dinners for three weeks straight! I haven't even been to the grocery store this week expect for a gallon of milk.

I am still not exactly sure how that happened, but I am really glad it did and I hope I can keep up the trend.

I wrote down every meal we had and put it up on the fridge. When it is time to make dinner I just check out the list, pick something, make it up and then cross it off the list. It is been working really well!

I don't even have to make lunch because we usually just eat leftovers. Maybe not the same thing the very next day, but everything pretty much get's eaten.

Do you make meal plans or tend to just eat whatever is on hand?

 I'd love to hear how you do dinner around your house!

I didn't read the instructions...

and almost melted dinner.

Apparently I was suppose to place the plastic dish on a baking sheet and then put it in the oven... I guess somehow that helps it not melt. I don't know. 

Banana Pineapple Pancakes

This were somewhat of an experiment, but they turned out really well. I was inspired by two things. One) my cousin posted on facebook that he made banana cinnamon pancakes. Two) Years ago I had peanut butter pineapple pancakes at this first day of a summer job. I didn't have cinnamon in my house and I can no longer eat peanut butter... so the banana pineapple pancakes were born!

I just used regular pancake mix from a box, you know "add water. make pancakes". But I also added an egg and some vanilla. Then add the bananas and pineapples after pouring the mix in the skillet. These were delicious!

Now I gotta run and join my husband on his lunch break. :)

Rice Pilaf

One of my married life goals is to try one new recipe a week. Variety is the spice of life, right!? But of course old favorites are important too. This rice pilaf is one of my Mother-in-law's classic dishes. It is quite tasty, goes with so many different things (especially chicken dishes) and it is easy to make! I have almost memorized the recipe.

ManDan was so happy that I made him fish and rice pilaf he took 

this photo with his phone and uploaded it to his facebook. 

Ingredients:

1 cup spaghetti noodles broken in to 1 inch pieces

2 cups white rice

1/2 cup butter

4 chicken bouillon cubes

4 cups water

Put the noodles, rice and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally. 

Meanwhile heat four cups of water and dissolve bouillon cubes.

Add broth to rice as soon as the noodles are golden brown. 

Top the saucepan with a lid and let the mixture cook for about 15min, until all the broth is soaked up.

*Important to not burn the noodles! Also not add the water too soon and have underdone noodles. It took me a few tries to get this right. *

That is it!

Mmmm. Check out Tasty Tuesday!

Another Blog

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a wife. Well, this summer I am getting married. Yay! I am going to be a wife!

I will use this blog to chronicle my new life as my husband’s wife. I don’t know much about a being a wife, but I am really excited to learn. And I have a lot to learn! I have never really lived on my own before and neither has my future husband. Not only are we going to be moving in together and on our own for the first time ever, but we are also moving thousands of miles away from our families. Whoa! We are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime!

Some categories I think I will be writing about here are:

• Cooking  I am the oldest of a family of nine. It is going to be a challenge to learn to cook for two! Plus, I am going to have to learn to put together tasteful meal plans on a tight budget.

• Cleaning  Cleaning isn’t so bad. I will hopefully come up with a good day to day system to keep my house fresh. It is the tidying that is a problem for me. I never know where to put things!

• Homemaking  I have grown up in house after house of white walls and old worn furniture. Not because we didn’t have the money, but just because we didn’t decorate. I really want my place of living to be a home. I want to paint the walls and I want throw pillows on my couch and artwork on my walls. This is going to be an extra challenge with very little money! 

• Time Management This is probably going to be the most difficult for me. I can cook and clean… but I really like sleeping in and I waste far too much time on the internet.

• Personal Appearance I want to look good for my husband! That might mean a new way to do my hair or make-up, but it most certainly means keeping shape. I am going to have to learn to work out regularly for his benefit as well as my own.

Alright, the wedding is the end of June and then of course we will have a honeymoon. I don’t think I will get much posting in till after then. Anyway, I am not officially a wife yet!