Bringing Good Home

Or is it just me?

For more pictures, visit his website. I watched the re-match competition, which also had a lot of neat pieces in it.

I really didn’t intend to write a diet-related Works for Me Wednesday post. Honest. My life does not revolve around my new healthy diet. Really!

But when we made these granola bars Sunday afternoon and they were sooo easy and sooo yummy (so yummy that I since cut the recipe in half so that I couldn’t eat the whole pan in one sitting!) and they were ready to eat in about 15 minutes start-to-finish…

And when we made them again last night and I actually calculated the calorie count verses that of a snickers bar (because these granola bars are just as satisfying as a candy bar, I think) and the numbers totally blew me away…

Well.. you do the math.

So here it is. These granola bars are what is working to help satisfy my sweet tooth while I’m changing my diet and exercise for a healthier lifestyle. I adapted this recipe from THIS recipe on allrecipes.com.

Low-Cal Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

• 1 1/4 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
• 1 serving chocolate chips (look on the back of the bag, mine read 30 pieces for 70 calories)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• greased 8X8 or 9X9 glass dish.

1. In a mixing bowl, mix the oats, rice cereal, and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
2. In a microwaveable dish, heat the corn syrup and brown sugar (about a minute or two) until melted and mix together well. Stir in the vanilla and peanut butter. This will also serve to cool the mixture enough before you add it to the cereal.
3. With a spatula or spoon, scoop the mixture into the cereal and fold in until everything is coated evenly.
4. With the spatula or the back of the spoon, press the granola mixture into the greased pan until packed firmly. How well you pack it in determines how well the granola bar holds together later.
5. Let the pan sit about ten minutes until cooled and then cut into 8 pieces.

When cut into 8 pieces, your granola bar will be a reasonable and satisfying size - larger than most granola bars on the market. With the crunch and the chocolate it will also be as satisfying as most candy bars. However, this granola bar only packs a punch of 164 calories.

Oh, and those candy bars?

Regular Snickers = 273 calories

King Size Snickers = 541 calories

Milky Way = 260 calories

Nestle Crunch Bar = 230 calories

Again, do the math, right? So if you’ve got a chocolate craving skip the Snickers (though I do love me some Snickers!) and whip up a pan of these instead. Just, uh… don’t eat the whole pan in one sitting. It kinda defeats the purpose. Oh, and don’t make a pan everyday, either, cuz, well, that kinda defeats the purpose, too, right?

Works For Me Wednesday is brought to us by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer. Stop on by!

Today is Backward Day at Rocks In  My Dryer. It’s a chance for us to ASK for tips instead of doling them out like sweet chocolate-filled little candies. Which is ideal, really, since I have a question that I just KNOW y’all can answer.

I want to make biscuits. Not-out-of-a-can, from scratch, good ol’ fashioned, southern, REAL biscuits.

Sure, I could go online and find tons of recipes to try. But why would I do that when I can just ask YOU for your FAV-O-RITE, tried and true, never-fail, just-the-way-grandma-made-them, biscuit recipe?

And since I’m new to this whole dough-makin’, bread-bakin’ thing (I made cinnamon rolls from scratch last week and it wasn’t pretty,) don’t forget to include important tips like “you have to let it sit at this step for at least this long,” or “it’s really important to do this first,” etc.

In case you’re wondering why in the world I would want to make biscuits from scratch when they so conveniently come in a can from the refrigerated section of any local grocery store..let me just say this: Biscuits and gravy is Big Daddy’s “most favoritest” breakfast. Ever. Period. End of story.

And since Saturday is Big Daddy’s birthday… I’d like to make his favorite breakfast.. from scratch.

Cuz’ he’d like it.

And he’s worth it.

So wouldn’t you do the same thing?

Oh, one more thing! It would be really cool if I could make these the night before and keep them in the fridge until I bake them the next morning.

So off you go! Pull out those recipe cards stained from years of use and share, share, share! Unless of course it’s a family secret. (In which case you can just email it and I promise not to tell!)

Don’t hesitate to leave your own recipe if someone else has already left one, or add comments to what other people have said. I’ll pick one to try based on available ingredients, perceived level of ease, mood, whim, or just plain randomness.

And since I know that y’all are just going to crawl out of the woodwork (or the computer screens and keyboards) to help me in my time of need, I just want to say, well, THANK YOU! Y’all are just so gosh-darn thoughtful.

(Backward)  Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer. Run off and help someone in need today!

And if you don’t believe me, then why did I get one of these for Christmas?

See? My momma is just the bestest! Oh yeah, and my dad, too, I suppose. I have wanted a bread machine for A WHILE so imagine my surprise and delight when I found this under my tree on Christmas morning. To: us, From: my parents. Cool!

It’s a gorgeous day outside here at our house… pull up a chair. Sit and chat a while.

October is a month of getting back to the basics for us. You can’t get more basic than a good home-cooked meal, right? My mom gave me a bottle of Raspberry Chipotle Sauce by Fischer and Wieser about a month ago and in the last couple of weeks I’ve had the opportunity to try it. MM-mmm!!! I give this two thumbs up! I baked some chicken in it once and I basted some turkey breast in it a second time and cooked it in a skillet. Both times it was just delicious. I believe she bought this jar at Costco, but it’s also available here. If sweet and spicy is your thing, this is it.

In school, math is a very basic and essential skill. This past week I gave Princess a Saxon placement test in preparation for switching curriculum. Big Daddy wants me to use Saxon math. Initially I started her on Math-U-See because she was having trouble grasping the concept. Now that she’s got the hang of it, I think moving to Saxon will be just fine. And since it will make Big Daddy feel better, I think it would be wise. She did well on the placement test except for two things: telling time (she only missed one but they have to get them all right to get the point for that section) and money math (she missed most of those.) All curriculum are structured differently, so it’s just a switching-curriculum issue. Her first grade MUS book hasn’t addressed time or money. I’ve been teaching her a little outside of class and I’ve printed several free worksheets to help her work on this while she finishes up her first grade book so she can start with the Saxon two book. For free counting worksheets look here and here and here and here. For free telling time worksheets, see here and here and here.

When you think of chores, you probably think of laundry and dishes, don’t you? And then you probably cringe. I know that those are my two least favorite chores. What I hate most are season changes. I love that the weather is cooler, but that means we need more clothes out in circulation and that means more laundry to keep up with. I never seem to pull out the “old” clothes fast enough either. I’m committing to doing that this time though. I know we could still have some hot days, but I’m going to go ahead and pull out 80% of the summer clothes and pull out the fall clothes. I’ll probably have to do that again in about six or 8 weeks and pull out all the summer clothes and add in the thicker winter clothes. Here, we don’t really have separate fall and winter wardrobes. Our winter wardrobe is our fall stuff with some sweatshirts, sweaters, and jackets added to it. Today and tomorrow I need to go through ALL of the kids’ clothes and purge as much as I can. Some of them will be stored for later, but many of them can go in the yard sale I’m participating in on Saturday. I’m praying it goes well and I’m able to make some money for more school books. That’s two birds with one stone. More books, less clothes to keep up with.

Well, today I’m fighting off a sinus infection. So today is all about basics, too. Food, water, sleep and the bare minimum of school and chores. Sometimes you gotta just stick to the basics.

WE LOVE PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE SANDWICHES.

Yes, you read that right. CHOCOLATE. Go ahead and cringe, but then go compare the sugar content on your jelly jar and your chocolate syrup bottle and I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

So it happened one day when Princess asked, “Mommy, can I put chocolate syrup on my peanut butter sandwich instead of jelly?” (I think she was about 5 at the time.)

“No,” I replied (I mean, of course I did - what kind of mother am I?)

“Please?”

“No, I’m sorry, honey. You probably won’t like it and I don’t want to waste a sandwich, and it just doesn’t seem right anyway.”

And then Big Daddy adds: “Why not? You just don’t want to let her try it because YOU don’t think it will taste good. She might like it.”

Grrr, well when you put it that way… And then, between gritted teeth. “Okay, then, fine.” Besides, I rationalized to myself, it probably has less sugar anyway. (And in most cases, it does, since you don’t have to use very much.)

So about five minutes later I heard, “Mommy this is delicious!” And it’s been a favorite ever since. And for a girl who didn’t initially like peanut butter at all (or most other sources of protein besides chicken), well, hey - she’s eating peanut butter!

So now we have peanut butter and chocolate sandwiches quite often! And hey, guess what? … They’re REALLY good.

Note: To add the chocolate, squirt about a tablespoon of syrup on the slice of bread and slowly smooth it around with a butter knife. If you add too much too fast or spread too fast it will spill over the sides and that’s just a waste of perfectly good chocolate. The bread does soak it up to some extent so you could add too much chocolate if you aren’t careful. Unless you want yours extra chocolately, in which case, go right ahead.

2nd Note: Yes, they do make a chocolate spread, Nutella, which we heard about after we started making these. However, for some reason, my kids didn’t like it. I will say this, it was thicker and harder to spread and much, much sweeter. I prefer the syrup too.

So I know that isn’t all that incredible but if you need your kids to eat more protein, it’s worth a shot! I’ve also used chocolate syrup to get my kids to drink more milk (just don’t add TOO much), eat more fruit (dip apple or banana slices in it - just limit the amount) and as an alternative to syrup on waffles - okay there is absolutely NOTHING healthy about that, but hey we were out of syrup! (My mom is cringing.) I’ve used peanut butter and chocolate mixed together on graham crackers, again to dip fruit in and shucks, I think the kids have even licked it off the spoon. My favorite? Chocolate syrup in my coffee.

So there it is. The power of chocolate. It works for me!

• Works for me Wednesday is hosted by the coolest - Rocks in My Dryer! Check her out.

Menu? What Menu??

Okay, so I don’t know where my brain is but this week kinda snuck up me and I don’t have a thing planned! Fortunately for us I have a few things leftover from last week. I guess, though, it’s not always about having things planned and sometimes it’s about being flexible, right? Yeah, that’s it.

So, for this week, we’ll use the things we have left, add a few other tried and true ones and ride the wave. Breakfast will include goodies like oatmeal, cereal, eggs and bacon, and biscuits and gravy. Lunch: Sandwiches, Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, Breakfast Burritos, Pot Pies and leftovers. Supper: Chipotle Burritos, Tuna Helper & Salad, Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas, Rice and Beans and Cornbread, and Chili Cheese Burgers.

And now a recipe that I definitely recommend: Kraft Smarter Fettuccine Alfredo! I made it while my parents and brother were here and they all ate it and liked it. It took a little more work, but it was very tasty. Yum!

Menu Plan Monday is, as always, hosted by the Org Junkie!

Monday:

• Eggs, Turkey Bacon, Whole Wheat Toast
• Leftovers (Grilled Chicken and Kraft Smarter Fettuccine Alfredo)
• Popcorn & Granola Bars
• 3 Bean Tacos

Tuesday:

• Whole Wheat French Toast
• Breakfast Burritos
• Yogurt & Fruit Smoothies
• Super Nachos

Wednesday:

• Cereal
• (Babysitting through lunch and snack.)
• Baked Potatoes

Thursday

• Skillet Breakfast Casserole
• PBJ on Whole Wheat, Popcorn
• Carrots & Ranch dressing
• Turkey Spaghetti, Salad

Friday:

• Oatmeal & Fruit
• Homemade Chicken Soup and Grilled Cheese on Wheat
• Graham Crackers & Peanut Butter
• Rice, Beans, Cornbread

Saturday:

• Biscuits, Gravy, Turkey Bacon,
• Tacos, Spanish Rice
• Fruit & Jello
• Lower Fat Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

Sunday:

• Cereal
• Chicken & Pasta Salad
• Sugar Free Pudding
• Breakfast for Dinner

For More Menu Plan Monday, check out I’m an Organizing Junkie!

This last weekend we tried a great new recipe - and we loved it! As a family that needs better eating habits, I’ve been on the prowl for healthier, but tasty and palatable to my oh-so-picky family, lower fat and lower carb recipes. This Chili Lime Chicken (modified) was an instant keeper! It was oh-so-good! Saturday I served it on top of rice with a side of spicy ranch beans. That may seem like an odd combination but it was very delish. Sunday I wrapped it in a large tortilla with rice, black beans, cheese, onions, and salsa. The result - YUM! I can see so many options for this. And since it is kinda hard to get Big Daddy to eat chicken, any chicken recipe that goes down without a fight gets two thumbs up.

For the record, I modified this recipe a little. I left out the flouring part and just grilled it on an electric grill. First, I quartered a lime and squeezed every single last drop of juice and pulp into a bowl. I added a half teaspoon of chili powder and a dash of salt. I tossed two thinly sliced chicken breasts in the lime mix and let it sit for about 10 minutes before I put it on the hot grill. Before closing the lid on the electric grill, I liberally sprinkled chopped cilantro on top. Cook through, turning only once if necessary. Half way through I drizzled the remaining lime juice from the bowl on top of the chicken (make sure you do this at the halfway point to the juice can cook for several minutes since the raw chicken was in it.) When the chicken is done, (careful not to overcook!) it will be the juiciest, tangiest, limiest, absolutely yummy flavor! Have fun with it!

For this week’s healthy(er!) menu, check my sidebar! I have links for a lot of these recipes, so if you want one:  just ask! =)

One last thing: if you like to cook, you might watch the food network (like I do.) If you watch the food network, you might have caught a few episodes of the Next Food Network Star (like I did,) and you might have been cheering for Amy (like I have.) You might even have voted (like I did.) Now, I know Rory is from Texas and all, but there is just something about Amy that I really enjoy and I’d really like to see her on Food Network in the future. If you do, too, then go here. I hope she gets a show and I can get some new recipes.

Don’t forget to check out Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie!

My kids love cherry limeades. But I don’t like to drive six miles into town or spend the money at Sonic to get one. Instead, we make them at home. The kids have fun making them, and they really enjoy drinking them!

To one glass of ice, add two lime quarters (squeezed), 3 or four maraschino cherries, two teaspoons of the maraschino syrup, and fill with Sprite (or Diet Sprite) -YUM!!

We’re having cherry limeades this week and the kids don’t know it yet. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces.

Works For Me Wednesday is hosted by Rocks In My Dryer.