Homemade Larabars!

In this world of prepackaged snacks and sweets and other garbage, I'm forever searching for "from scratch" snack recipes that are quick, easy and portable. These bars are an excellent solution.

Do you know what a Larabar is? If you don't, you've been missing out. Basically a Larabar is yummy prepackaged real food bar that contains just a few simple (and real!) ingredients. Just nuts, fruits and spices. They come in yummy flavors like Pecan Pie, Cashew Cookie, and Peanut Butter Cookie (and dozens more.) Bottom line, Larabars rock. Downside? They are expensive. Fear not, for I have found the solution!

Homemade Larabars! I tried two varieties today and have a few more to try. But so far, they are delish. Even better than the originals. I got the basis for these recipes from this girls awesome blog. http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/

**Be aware people. These are delicious. But they are NOT sugar and fat free. They are healthy because they contain real ingredients including protien from the nuts and natural sugars from the fruit and no preservatives. But don't be fooled. Don't eat them all at once. **

For each recipe, put all the ingredients in a food processor and process until it all comes together. Nuts should be very tiny pieces, but don't let it go until it's totally smooth. You want some texture. Divide into bars and wrap in wax paper. Keep in the fridge.

Cashew Cookie Bars (makes 4)

60 grams unsalted raw cashews (about 1/2 cups)
160 grams dates, pitted (about 1 1/2 cups)
drop of vanilla
good pinch of salt


Elvis Bars (makes 4 or 5)

60 grams unsalted raw peanuts (about 1/2 cup)
160 grams dates, pitted (about 1 1/2 cups)
60 grams dried bananas
drop of vanilla
good pinch of salt

Meatball Subs!

I was doing some meal planning one weekend and mentioned this recipe to my husband. He got so excited! I suppose he thought I was making it for dinner that night... Alas, no, I was adding to my list of future meals. Needless to say, he was very upset with me for even mentioning it. I guess it sounded good?

This is a crazy yummy dinner and definitly a step up from those mystery meatball subs from that you get from Subway. (Not that I've ever tried one of those, cause I can promise you I never will...) Fear not, my husband does agree that these ones are much better.

I've really have never seen a meatball look prettier. And that's gotta count for something!

Chicken Meatball Sub
(adapted from bevcooks.com)

1 lb ground chicken
1/2 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach, finely chopped
1.5 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 (28 oz) can tomatoes, pureed in a blender
Handful of basil leaves, chopped
1 loaf ciabatta bread, cut into 4 equal sizes and sliced lengthwise
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic salt or garlic bread seasoning
4 slices provolone cheese
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degres

1) Combine first 8 ingrediants in a large bowl.

2) Roll chicken mixture into small-medium sized meatballs. Place on parchment lined baking sheet.

3) Bake for 30 min until browned.

4) Put pureed tomoatos in a large put with a tight fitting lid. Add browned meatballs to pot. Simmer for 25 min. Remove lid and simmer another 10 min until sauce thickens slightly.

5) Remove from heat. Add chopped basil and salt & pepper.

6) Turn oven to broil. Brush ciabatta with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Place on baking sheet and broil for 3 min until starting to brown. (Watch closely!)

7) Remove ciabatta from oven, top with meatballs and sauce. Lay a slice of cheese on top. Broil another 2 min until cheese melts.

8) Serve with fresh basil leaves.

Super Simple Springtime Soup

Say that 4 times fast!

It's spring! Sorta. Well let us pretend it's spring and make a super fast, super yummy spring time soup. Before long the local asparagus should be flooding the markets and I've got the perfect recipe to use it all up.

This makes a ton of soup. Enough for a couple meals and some extra for the freezer. Done in 30 min flat. Or less if you're a quick chopper. (And don't make a fuss about the chopping, it's all getting wizzed up in the end anyways.)

Creamy Asparagus Soup
(adapted from simplerecipes.com)

1 large onion, chopped
3 tbsp butter
2 lbs asparagus (about 3 bunches, ends discarded, chopped
6 cups chicken or veg stock
2 springs of fresh thyme, leaves removed
4 tbsp fresh italian parsley, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

1. In a large pot, heat butter over med high heat. Add onion. Saute 5 min until translucent.
2. Add asparagus and thyme. Add some salt and pepper. Saute 5 min.
3. Add chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Cover. Simmer 15 min.
4. Remove from heat. Add parsley. Puree until smooth with a hand blender or in a blender.
5. Return to pot. Stir in cream and lemon juice. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.

That's it folks. Super simple. Super delicious.

Enjoy!

Butterscotch Pecan Banana Muffins

As if life isn't already glorious enough, I got up this morning and looked at the 12 frozen bananas in the freezer and decided that breakfast was in order. (Alright so I made a triple batch. I have a feeling these will be a welcomed treat once the baby arrives.)

Simple banana muffins rock my world. Add pecans. Yep. Search the cupboard for chocolate chips and instead find butterscotch chips. Ok. A little recipe tweaking and we have a winner people.

Butterscotch Pecan Banana Muffins
(make about 12)


2 cups mashed bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butterscotch chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1) In one bowl, combine mashed bananas, melted butter, the egg and vanilla. Mix well.

2) In another bowl combine flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Toss in chopped pecans and butterscotch chips.

3) Dump banana mixture into flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until it's just mixed. Do not overmix.

4) Grease a muffin tin. Divide batter into tin. Should make about 12 muffins.

5) Bake for 15-18 min until slightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

6) Keeps in a closed container for 3 or 4 days. Or cool completely and freeze for 3 months in ziplocs.

You should probably just double this to begin with. Share them with others, you will make them love you.

Chickity China, the Chinese Chicken...

Orange Cashew Chicken

This is a fantastic recipe I first tried years ago after seeing it on Rachel Ray. I've made a few adjustments and I think it's better then ever. If you're thinking of ordering Chinese Take-Out, try this instead. It's a quick recipe, definitely comes together in less than 30 minutes. Plus, who needs all that MSG and mystery meat?

2 Chicken breast, cut into thing strips
1/2 cup Cashews (unsalted)
2 Red Pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
1 Onion, diced
3 clove garlic, grated or minced
1 tsp tsp grated ginger root
1 tbsp Canola or Peanut Oil
3 green onions, sliced
salt and pepper

Sauce:
1/4 cup Orange Marmalade
1 tsp Sriracha sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp soya sauce,
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp corn starch

1. Heat up a medium skillet on high heat. Add oil. Add sliced chicken breast to skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 8 min, until cooked through. Remove to a plate.

2. In the same skillet (on med heat) add in onion, garlic, and ginger. Saute for about 5 minutes until tender.

3. Add red peppers and cashews to skillet. Saute 3 more minutes.

4. Prepare the sauce by whisking together all the sauce ingredients (including the cornstarch.)

5.Return the cooked chicken to the skillet.

6. Pour over the sauce and let simmer for 3 minutes.

7. Remove from heat and toss in the green onions.

Serve with rice.

Tart (not for the faint of heart)

If you've never made a quiche or a french savory tart, you're missing out. It's one of the easiest and most delicious meals. If you've got no time, you can buy premade pie shells, they work fine. I prefer the homemade cause I'm crazy like that. But whatever floats your boat.This particular tart is a little different. Walnuts, blue cheese, onions. Come on. How good does that sound? It's not for the faint of heart and it's full of strong flavors.

IT. SERIOUSLY. ROCKS.

Blue Cheese, Walnut and Onion Tart (from Laura Calder 'Dinner Chez Moi')Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Pastry
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
pinch salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
3 tbsp cold water

1. Add the flours, salt and butter to a food processor. Pulse until it forms fine crumbs.
2. Add the water a tbsp at a time until the dough just comes together. Should still be a little crumbly.
3. Roll out to size of pie pan on a lightly floured surface. Press into pie pan and refridgerate until ready to use.

Filling
1 tbsp butter
1tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
salt and pepper
2/3 cup lightly toasted walnuts
handful of chopped parsley
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
3 eggs
1 cup milk

1. Melt the butter and olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add the onions and slowly cook until soft about 10 minutes.
2. Spread the cooked onions in the prepared pie shell. Spread in walnuts, parsley and blue cheese.
3. Mix together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the prepared ingredients in the pie shell.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes until set.

** If you find your shell gets to soggy, you can bake it with out the filling for about 10 minnutes before moving onto step 2.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

What the heck is Chicken Tortilla Soup you ask? Apparently we've been missing out on an American staple. I've never ever had Tortilla Soup before, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen it on a menu. I follow many food blogs from people in the Southern US, and recipes like this one keep popping up. Well. LET. ME. TELL. YOU. It's glorious. Pretty spicy and pretty much like a taco in bowl.

If you've got left over roast chicken it's the perfect alternative to the same old chicken noodle.

Chicken Tortilla Soup (adapted from browneyedbaker.com)

Takes about 30 min if you've already got some roast chicken. Makes about 6 servings.


4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, minced
1 Serrano Pepper, seeded and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons cornstarch
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups Roast Chicken meat, shredded or chopped
2 cups mild cheddar cheese, shredded
6 (6-inch)tortillas, minced
4 tablespoons lime juice
3/4 cup canned diced tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt


1. In a large pot heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion, pepper and garlic. Stir and cook slowly until translucent. About 8 min.

2. Whisk the cornstarch into the (cool) chicken broth, then add the broth mixture to the pot. Add the lime juice, diced tomatoes, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, and salt. Increase the heat to medium and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken, cheddar cheese, minced tortilla Give it a good stir. Let it simmer on med-low heat for about 15 min to let the flavors mingle.

3 Ingredient Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

I love pasta. Love it. When I tried this new sauce recipe I totally flipped! It's so simple and it's neither cream based nor tomato based. What could it be you ask? Roasted Red Pepper. Unreal. Seriously, unreal. It's basically 3 ingredients. You'll need a food processor or blender. I made my own fresh pasta for this, because I have too much time on my hands. Feel free to pair this with whatever pasta your heart desires!










5 Roasted Red Peppers (** see instructions below)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground good quality Italian sausage (Just the meat, if you're sausage is in casings, you'll have to squeeze it out. Lovely job.) Get good sausage for this that is well seasoned. If your sausage is bland, add some extra seasonings to the meat such as oregano, fennel seeds or Italian seasoning.
1/2 cup water or chicken stock
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp Olive oil

1. Heat olive oil in a large high sided skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add in sausage meat, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Let the meat cook about 3 minutes, making sure to keep breaking it up with your spoon.
3. Add in your garlic, stir.
4. Keep cooking another 10 minutes or so until the meat has browned.
5. Meanwhile, throw your roasted red peppers in the food processor or blender. Process until smooth.
6. Once the meat is browned, add the pepper puree to the skillet, along with the water/chicken stock. Stir well. Add some salt and pepper. Simmer for about 20 min, covered.
7. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

Toss with hot pasta and top with fresh grated Parmesan.

Watch out. It's amazing.


** To Roast a Red Pepper:
1. Crank up your oven to 450 degrees
2. Rinse the peppers. Throw your red peppers on a baking sheet.
3. Bake for 20 min or so (until soft and blackened.)
4. Remove from oven and IMMEDIATELY place in large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.
5. Let the peppers cool for at least 20 min until you can handle the. The skin will have steamed off so you can easily peel them with your fingers and remove the stem and seeds.
6. That's it! Easy peasy and way cheaper than the jarred ones.

Monkey Bread Muffins for little monkey's!

These days I have a little monkey bouncing around in my tummy almost constantly. I've learned that with a little sugar boost, the bouncing can turn into full on acrobatics. In honor of the little monkey's (or big ones!) in your life, make these pull-apart cinnamon bread muffins. Everyone will love them, they are fun to eat and your house will smell AMAZING!

Monkey Bread Muffins (12 muffins) (adapted from cookingclassy.blogspot.com)

2 cups + 2 tbsp Flour
3 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled slightly)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon


Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1 tbsp milk (adjust to reach desired consistency)


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin.

2. In a bowl mix the flour, 3 tbsp white sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Pour in the buttermilk, milk and 1/3 cup of melted butter into flour mixture. Stir with a fork or your hands just until mixture comes together (don't overmix!)

4. In a separate bowl add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon and mix together.

5. Scoop dough out a teaspoon at a time and drop into the bowl. Toss dough balls to coat.

6. Put 6 cinnamon/sugar coated dough balls into each muffin cup. Repeat this process until all muffin cups are filled.

7. Mix together the 6 Tbsp of melted butter with the rest of the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour a tablespoon or so of this brown sugar mixture evenly over each muffin.

8. Bake 17-19 minutes until golden. Cool 5 minutes then remove the muffins with a fork and place on plate.

9. In a bowl whisk together powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp milk until smooth. Pour mixture into Ziploc bag, cut off the tip (to make a "piping bag) drizzle glaze over each muffin.

I find these are best eaten immediately or reheated for 30 seconds in the microwave.

Southwestern Cream of Chicken Soup

I admit it. I'm a soup girl. There is something so satisfying and convienient about a bowl of homemade soup. A small part of me is very sad every May when soups take the back shelf in lieu of salads and grilled fish. But for now. It's February, so Soup's On!

Another great soup coming from my kitchen. I'm continually suprised by many of the soups I make. I track down the recipes and choose them because I like the ingredients and I think they will add up to something great. In this soup I don't know what ingrediant takes it over the edge, but let me tell you, it's delicious.

Southwestern Cream of Chicken Soup (adapted from fortheloveofcooking.net)

1 tbsp oilve oil
1 tbsp butter
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced very fine
1/2 cup onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp corriander powder
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
6 tbsp flour, divided
3 cups milk
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry rice
1 cup Montary Jack cheese, shredded
2 cups roasted chicken, shredded or diced
4 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tbsp of sriracha hot sauce (adjust depending on the heat you want)

1. Melt butter and olive oil in a large pot. Add in the bell pepper, jalepeno, onion, chili powder, cumin, corriander, salt and pepper. Sweat for 5 min.

2. Add in garlic, cook 1 min.

3. Whisk in 3 tbsp flour and cook 3 min.

4. Add in broth and milk, whisk until smooth.

5. Add rice, simmer while covered for 20 min.

6. Toss shredded cheese in the remaining 3 tbsp of flour. Add the cheese a bit at a time to the soup while whisking.

7. Add in chicken, sriracha and cilantro. Cook 3 min. Check your salt and pepper and the spiciness of the soup. Adjust if nessasary.