Granola Bars

I've been happy with the all-natural granola bar selections at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, but thought I might be able to save a little money by making them myself. There are several different, but very similar, recipes floating around Pinterest, so I decided to try one. 

The first picture shows all the ingredients...every one all-natural, except the crispy rice cereal, because I couldn't find all-natural crispy rice.


They didn't turn out quite like I expected...they did not stay together at all. Don't get me wrong, they tasted delicious but definitely did not stay in bar form. I had substituted agave for the honey, which probably didn't help. The honey would have helped them stick together better I assume.

So, I am going to try a few more recipes, but I may be sticking to store-bought. 
To be continued.... :)

No Bake Chewy Granola Bars

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cups plain granola (I used 1 cup granola and 1 cup oats)
• 1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, etc.)
• 1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Process

1. Line two 9×5 loaf pans or one 11×7 inch baking pan (see tip #4 above if you want to use 9×13) with foil or parchment. Lightly butter or spray the foil. Set aside.
2. Combine butter, honey and brown sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter is melted.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
4. Add the granola and rice cereal into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated.
5. Spread the mixture into the prepared pans and press firmly with a spatula to evenly fill. Sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the top of the granola and gently press them down with the spatula.
6. Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes or until mostly cooled and set; lift out of the pan and cut into bars.

Pesto Baked Chicken

Pesto Baked Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chickenn breasts
salt and fresh ground black pepper for seasoning chicken
1/2 cup basil pesto
2 oz. (1/2 cup) grated low-fat mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Trim all visible fat and tendons from chicken pieces, then cut each chicken breast lengthwise into 2 or 3 pieces.

Spray a 9" x 12" (or 8.5" X 12.5") baking dish with non-stick spray, then spread 1/4 cup basil pesto over the bottom of the dish. Lay chicken strips over the pesto, then spread 1/4 cup more basil pesto over the chicken.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil (or use a baking dish with a tight-fitting lid) and bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes, just until chicken is barely firm and cooked through. (Don't cook too much at this point, or the chicken will be overcooked by the time the cheese is melted and browned.)

When chicken is barely cooked through, remove foil and sprinkle chicken with 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese. Put dish back into the oven without foil and cook 5 minutes more, just until cheese is melted. (If your broiler is separate from the oven, start preheating it when you take the chicken out.) After I melted the cheese for 5 minutes I switched my oven to broil and broiled for 5 minutes more, just long enough to get the cheese lightly browned

Wonderful Waffles

My family loves doing breakfast for dinner and I had previously posted a clean-eating waffle recipe. Tonight we tried a different one and it was amazing! The batter was perfectly sweet and the waffles came out light and fluffy. Once again, we tripled the recipe and made the extras to freeze.

Wonderful Waffles
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 egg yolks
2 cups buttermilk
3 egg whites

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Blend in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk.
3. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.
4. Spray waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray, or lightly brush with oil. Ladle the batter onto preheated waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately.

Roast Chicken Breasts with Garbanzo Beans, Tomatoes, and Paprika

Another thing I have enjoyed about clean eating is that it has forced me to try new foods I never would have tried before. Case in point, I didn't think I liked garbanzo beans, but after trying this recipe, I realized I do! Thanks to my friend, Melissa, for sharing this recipe with me.

Roast Chicken Breasts with Garbanzo Beans, Tomatoes, and Paprika
From Epicurious

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/2 cup plain yogurt or Greek yogurt
4 chicken breast halves with bones (I used regular boneless chicken breasts)
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
1 12-ounce container cherry tomatoes
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided

Preheat oven to 450°. Mix first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Pour 1 teaspoon spiced oil mixture into small bowl; whisk in yogurt and set aside for sauce. Place chicken on large rimmed baking sheet. Rub 2 tablespoons spiced oil mixture over chicken. Add beans, tomatoes, and 1/2 cup cilantro to remaining spiced oil mixture; toss to coat. Pour bean mixture around chicken. Sprinkle everything generously with salt and pepper.

Roast until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cilantro. Transfer chicken to plates. Spoon bean mixture over. Serve with yogurt sauce.

Happy Birthday - Part Duex

Tonight was the continuation of our birthday celebration dinners and I cooked my hubby his birthday dinner. I made maple-glazed salmon, twice-baked potatoes and grilled asparagus. For dessert, we had bourbon brown butter brownies. Yummo!!! And, every single thing we had was all-natural, except for the hollandaise sauce. I've made my own hollandaise sauce before and it's just not worth it time and price-wise. 

Maple-Glazed Salmon
1 teaspoons paprika
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
2 tablespoon maple syrup

Prepare grill, heating to medium. Combine first 5 ingredients. Sprinkle fish with salt; rub with paprika mixture. Place fish on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 7 minutes. Drizzle fish with syrup; grill 1 minute or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. 




Bourbon & Brown Butter Brownies
(makes 16 brownies)
250g good quality bittersweet chocolate (if you want them to be less gooey/fudgy then only use 175g)
100g butter
120ml (about 1/2 cup) bourbon
2 eggs
3 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
75g (about 1/2 cup) plain flour
190g (about 3/4 cup) sugar

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease very well and line the bottom and two long sides of a 20x30cm slice/brownie tin (can be substituted with a 20cm square cake tin but you may have to bake it slightly longer as it will be thicker). Let the baking paper hang over the long edges, it will make it easier to lift brownie out later. Prepare the brown butter; place butter in a small saucepan on low heat until it melts, continue to stir over low heat but keep a close eye on it, as it begins to bubble and the milk solids separate and settle at the bottom of the pan. Stir it frequently at this point, so that the milk solids do not settle at the bottom of the pan for too long and burn. Continue until the mixture turns brown and smells nutty but take care not to leave it for too long or it will taste burnt. Remove from the heat.

Break up chocolate into small pieces place in a heatproof bowl. Heat over a saucepan of boiling water, or very carefully in 30 sec bursts in the microwave. Stir and set aside to cool for a few minutes, then add the brown butter and stir to combine. Sift cocoa powder, sugar and flour into a large mixing bowl. Add melted ingredients, bourbon and eggs to the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Take care not to overmix or the brownies will be tough. Pour into prepared tin.

Bake for about 25 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs attached (start checking on it from the 20 minute mark, it is better to undercook it and have to return it to the oven later than to overcook it and let it go dry). Remove from the oven and place tin on a wire rack. Cool completely in tin before removing and cutting into 16 pieces. Can be stored overnight in an airtight container (they actually taste best the day after).

Happy Birthday - Part 1

Sorry for the lack of blogging in the last few days...my hubby and I both celebrated our 30th birthdays this weekend. Our birthday celebrations were a good combination of all-natural and definitely not-so-natural fare. We treated ourselves to many of our favorite foods and overall had a great time. 

The morning started out right (but not so natural!) with Krispy Kremes and a Starbucks hot chocolate. Yummo!

For dinner, my DH made me some of my favorite foods, including Juicy Lucy hamburgers, cheesy hashbrowns and sangria. And for dessert, oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies :) All-natural and oh-so-good! Just goes to prove that clean doesn't = healthy, but again, it's all about moderation!







 
I did manage to find some excellent all-natural salad dressing at Kroger yesterday. It's Marzetti's Simply Dressed and not only is it all-natural, it's also a great price! The dressing was on sale 2 for $5 and I had two $1 off coupons, so they ended up being $1.50 each. Great deal!!

Natural Teething Remedies

Our family's clean eating habits have been so successful, I am looking to expand our clean eating habits into other areas of our lives as well. 
Right now, my son G is teething and his teething for some reason is way worse than it was for his sister L. Two friends suggested Hyland's Teething Tablets (thanks Sarah and Karie!) so I looked into them...they contain all-natural ingredients and they worked wonders on G! He loved them so much in fact, he get asking for more after I gave him the first dose!
Here's the link for Hyland's...I got mine at Kroger.  
http://hylands.com/products/teething.php

Another blogger I follow also had a recent post on other natural teething remedies...
http://www.stacymakescents.com/natural-teething-remedies