Granola bars

It's no secret that I love granola.  Crunchy, crumbled, bars, nutty, fruity, spicy....I love it all.  My favorite granola recipes are here and here.  I was super excited to try this recipe that I saw on pinterest.

Granola Bars

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups quick cooking oats {not rolled oats!}
• 1 cup crispy rice cereal
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

1.  In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside. 

2.  In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes. Pour in vanilla and stir. 

3.  Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients. 

4.  Pour into lightly greased small jelly roll pan {about 12x8x1} and press out to be about 3/4 inch in thickness. {If your pan isn't small enough, pack the mixture into one side. You really want to press them down so they stick together.} 

5.  Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly. Cool on a countertop to room temperature for two hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

Recipe Notes: If your granola bars don't seem to be staying together when you cut them, you may have not boiled the mixture long enough...you want it to make it just past the softball stage. OR you made them too thin or you didn't pack them in tight enough. Stick them in the fridge for 20 minutes and that should help keep them together. {Be sure not to keep them in there too long or else they'll become super hard!} The next time you make them, try boiling for an extra 15 seconds or so.

Get your honey/sugar/butter mixture warm and bubbly.  

Add the wet and dry ingredients.

Put the mixture in your dish.  Make sure you press down and pack it tight.  I used a spatula sprayed with coconut oil to pack it in.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips and flatten again.

Delish.  I love these and the minis did too.  I think adding the rice crispy cereal gives these the texture of store bought granola bars, which I know most kids prefer.

Puppy Mama Drama

So we've been taking our puppy to puppy preschool.  She's been learning lots of really important things like how to walk on a balance beam and jump through hula hoops.  And we are patiently waiting for them to start covering the lesser important things like how to stop jumping, biting, and peeing everywhere.  For now, we are overlooking all of these things and enjoying our puppy for what she is....a jumping, biting, peeing, sweet little ball of love.

My tiny mini loves her puppy.  We told her she is the puppy's mommy and she is owning that role.  And, like most new mommies, she worries constantly that her puppy is hungry and not eating enough.  So, she sneaks into the garage and gets handfuls of puppy food and puppy treats and hides in the corner and hand feeds her baby.  

Mr. McGhee and our tiny mini took her baby to the vet last week.  And guess what?  Our puppy is overweight.  And puppy's mommy (AKA tiny mini) did not take the news well because her baby is perfect just the way she is.  And since we let our 3 year old mini call the shots, we decided.....we're going to have an overfed puppy.  Because how can you say no to a mommy that does this.....

If you're wondering what my puppy drama has to do with my unprocessed cooking blog, I apologize.  The two are pretty much unrelated except for the fact that I was worrying about my fat dog yesterday while I was cooking these granola bars for my skinny minis.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
• 1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
• 3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
• 1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup
• 6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
• 1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
• 1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

1.  Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan (I added some ground flaxseed as well). Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.  In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved (and mixture starts to get foamy).

4.  Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Use a buttered spatula to push down the mixture. 

I added some dark chocolate chips as well.  These are tasty and a great snack option for parents and minis.  Just keep them away from chubby puppies.  

triathletes and recovery food

I am a triathlete.

OK, here's the fine print on that statement.  The triathalon was at the local YMCA and some of our competitors were old enough to be great-grandparents.  My great-grandparent.  Also, I did not do the swim portion of the triathalon and I got lost during the 5k run and ended up crossing the finish line from the wrong direction.  


That being said, in my mind, I am a triathlete.  Here's the details, in pictures.

1/4 mile swim.

5 mile bike.

5k (+1/3 mile to find the finish line) run

This is something my oldest mini has been begging me to do with him.  And even though I felt like barfing for my 36-minute portion of the race and the only part I actually enjoyed was watching him swim, I have been talked into doing it again.  He's kind of hard to say no to.

Speaking of my oldest mini, I took him to the pediatrician last week for a physical.  She expressed some concern because my oldest mini had fallen off his growth curve.  He has always been in the 50%ile for height and weight.  He dropped slightly off his height curve, this didn't surprise me, as he has spinal deformities that are progressively worsening, so as he grows, he doesn't grow straight.  Over time, we would expect him to fall off his vertical height growth curve.  However, he really dropped off his weight curve, from the 50%ile to the 30%ile.  Of course, the over-paranoid mother that I am, I initially started doubting my decision to change our eating habit as drastically has we have this year.  But, logically, I couldn't accept that he would be better off eating processed food and weighing a bit more than following the diet we eat now.  I decided to try not to worry about it.  Then, the other day, my oldest mini told me he wanted to make lunch for himself.  As he sat down with a heaping plate of food, I realized this.....if we all ate like him, we'd all be in the 30%ile!  And ever since then, my mind has been at ease.

For the sake of honesty, I did make one huge concession.  My oldest mini has swim team practice every night from 6-7:30.  That is 90 minutes of swimming laps, which is a huge calorie burner!  Unfortunately, he has no appetite after practice, so I have decided to let him drink one of these each night.  Over the last few years I have read that chocolate milk is the ideal post-workout recovery drink and my oldest mini is thrilled with that!

Another post recovery food that I enjoy is Larabars.  I have never actually bought a Larabar, but I have had plenty of them as freebies given to me.  Larabars are tasty and are actually made of real ingredients.  For instance, the peanut butter cookie Larabar has peanuts, dates, and salt.  So, actually, Larabars are an acceptable convenience food item for the McGhee family.  The downside to Larabars is that they are really expensive....like, I'm talking nearly $2 a bar. So, I set myself a goal to find a way to make my own Larabars.    What I discovered is that making my own is fast, easy, and delish!!!

Larabars

• 1 cupe packed dates
• 1 cup peanuts
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1-2 pinches of salt

1.  Add dates to a food processor and run it until the dates become sticky and well-chopped.

2.  Add peanuts to the food processor.  Run in bursts until the peanuts are chopped to the desired consistency.

3.  Add chocolate to the processor and run in bursts.
4.  Add salt to the processor and run another burst or two.

5.  Put the mixture in a glass pan and press down.  Let it chill for a bit before eating.  Go for a run while bars are chilling.  Recover with your bars.  And perhaps some chocolate milk.

Here is what dates look like before.....

...and after.....

With Peanuts, chocolate, and salt added.

Pressed into a pan.  Ready to chill.  

I urge you to try these!!!!  If you're cutting calories, fat, carbs....leave out the chocolate chips.  For a few dollars, I made about 8-10 Larabars, which would cost me about $20.  Score!

Snacks for middle schoolers

I've been asked to speak to a classroom of middle schoolers tomorrow about the way our family eats.  I am way excited about this, mainly because, well.....I really like to talk!  And these kids pretty much have no choice, they have to listen to me.  In fact, if I catch one of them not listening, I am going to point and yell DETENTION as loud as I can. 

I am trying to figure out what to talk with them about, in hopes of inspiring them to rethink what they eat.  I think the biggest point I want to make is that our family believes that processing food compromises it's nutritional value.  There is no processing that can improve a food or make it healthier.  I also want to talk a bit about the environmental impact that eating processed food leaves, mainly from the consumption of fossil fuels in both the processing and the transport of the food.  And finally, I thought it would be fun to talk about labels and how the manufacturer hopes we interpret them compared to what they really mean.

I also want to prove to them that by giving up processed foods, we are not giving up tasty food that is fun to eat!  So I am going to bring them granola bars, muffins, homemade cheese-itz, and poptarts!  And, before you get all, "Heids McGhee, that isn't exactly health food" on me.  I know!  That's my plan.  I'm going to sucker them in with cheese-itz and poptarts and then force the beet salad on them.

Homemade Granola bars (recipe from marathonmom)

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/3 cup local honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 cups oats (not quick oats)

2 tablespoons wheat germ or ground flax seed

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Melt the butter, peanut butter and honey in a pot over medium to low heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the burner when melted.

2. Pour in the cup of oats and the wheat germ/flaxseed. Stir til combined.

3. Wait til it cools and stir in the coconut and chocolate chips. Or, if you’re impatient with things like this, like I am, go ahead and dump it all right in. The result will be a more uniform chocolate taste.
4. Pour into foil-lined 8 X 8 pan and stick in the fridge.

5. Once cooled, flip out onto cutting board and cut to the size you like.

I have had several people ask me what natural peanut butter is.  Not Skippy.  Not JIF, either.  You want the ingredients of your peanut butter be peanuts.  No sugar.  No hydrogenated anything.  No salt.  If you buy a jar of natural peanut butter, the oil may separate from the peanut butter, so stir it a bit each time.  We grind our own peanut butter at our local organic market.  Most small organic markets and Whole Foods have a peanut butter grinder.  Not sure how to operate it?  Just stand next to the machine with a dumb look on your face and eventually a cute little salesgirl will come over to show you how to use it.  Once you start eating fresh-ground peanut butter, you will never settle for JIF again.

I also changed this recipe to use dark chocolate chips.  I found some the other day and embarassed myself by doing a happy dance in the store.  Use dark chocolate chips with the highest percentage of cacao, or if you're a real badass....use raw cacao nibs.  Probably not a shocker, but I prefer the dark chocolate chips. 

If you can find it, use LOCAL HONEY!  When you buy honey in the store, it's been processed and pasteurized, which means all the good enzymatic qualities of the honey have been zapped!  Local honey is an antioxidant, contains vitamins and minerals, and can be used to treat allergies, digestive issues, cough syrup, or as a topical salve.  Support your local farmers and buy local honey!  I get my honey from Miz Bee Haven.  Seriously.  Miz Bee Haven.  How cute is that?!?! 

Since my minis love my pumpkin muffins, I thought I would bring some of those to share with the middle schoolers as well.  I think we will talk a bit about processing flours and how we should strive to only use whole grain flours.

 Pumpkin Muffins

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1.5-2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil)
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted slightly)
• 1 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl mix flours, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, pumpkin, oil, applesauce, coconut oil, and honey.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into well. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. DO NOT OVERMIX.
5. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.I've had a few people ask me about coconut oil.  I try to use coconut oil whenever possible.  Recent studies have shown that the health benefits of coconut include improving hair & skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, lowers risk of heart diseases, manages high blood pressure, manages diabetes, prevents cancer,  and improves bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc.  (source of information)  So, try to use coconut oil.  If I were making these muffins for myself, I would eliminate the vegetable oil and use 2/3 cup coconut oil. However, my minis don't like any coconut taste in their pumpkin muffins, so I use grapeseed oil as well in addition to the coconut oil.

I am also bringing my homemade cheese-itz.  The shocking thing about the homemade version is that they are chock-full of CHEESE!  These are really tasty and always a big hit, so I think the students will really like them.

Homemade Cheez-itz (from New Nostalgia)

• 1 cup flour
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small squares
• 1 (8-ounce) bag grated extra-sharp 2% Cheddar cheese (preferably orange)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Combine all ingredients.  If you are fancy and have a food processor, pulse until crumbly.  If you are like me and think you are fancy but really aren't, combine with your hands.

2. Add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together. I needed a lot more water than 4 tablespoons, I used probably more like a full cup of water.

3.  Form into ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

4. Place dough between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper, and roll out to 1/8 inch thickness. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet, and, using pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut into 1 inch squares. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

4. Bake for at 350F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven when crisp and just starting to brown. Let cool and serve.

Look at all that CHEESE!!!!!  And do not even think about using pre-shredded cheese.  Get your cheese shredder out and start shredding.  It's good for the biceps!

And, I plan on sealing the deal with these kids with my homemade poptarts.  These are so good, they'll never settle for a store-bought poptart again.

Poptarts

• 2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pats
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) milk
• 1 additional large egg (to brush on pastry)

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
2. Work in the butter with your fingers, pastry blender or food processor until pea-sized lumps of butter are still visible, and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. If you’ve used a food processor, transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
3. Whisk the first egg and milk together and stir them into the dough, mixing just until everything is cohesive, kneading briefly on a well-floured counter if necessary.
4. Divide the dough in half (approximately 8 1/4 ounces each), shape each half into a smooth rectangle, about 3×5 inches. You can roll this out immediately or wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Assembly

1. If the dough has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes.
2. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even 9″ x 12″. [You can use a 9" x 13" pan, laid on top, as guidance.] Repeat with the second piece of dough. Set trimmings aside. Cut each piece of dough into thirds – you’ll form nine 3″ x 4″ rectangles.
3. Beat the additional egg and brush it over the entire surface of the first dough. This will be the “inside” of the tart; the egg is to help glue the lid on.
4. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, keeping a bare 1/2-inch perimeter around it. Place a second rectangle of dough atop the first, using your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Press the tines of a fork all around the edge of the rectangle. Repeat with remaining tarts.
5. Gently place the tarts on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick the top of each tart multiple times with a fork; you want to make sure steam can escape, or the tarts will become billowy pillows rather than flat toaster pastries. Refrigerate the tarts (they don’t need to be covered) for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes until lightly browned.

Here is what they look like rolled out....

....with the filling added.

Ready to bake.

Adorable.  And tasty. 

Wish me luck!  I am hoping middle school isn't as traumatizing for me as it was the first time around!

A weekend's worth of snack food!

The response from my last post has been overwhelming.  I am finding myself having the same conversation over and over again through text, email, and face-to-face.  The gist of the conversation is this, if you are tired of waking up every morning on a diet and going to bed every night having failed your diet, then dieting isn't working for you.  And your weight issues probably aren't about food, right?  Be real and figure out what it is that is driving you to overeat.  Is it stress, boredom, exhaustion, loneliness, feeling on edge?  Pay attention to that moment in your day when you go from "I am dieting and eating healthy today" to "screw it, I'll start tomorrow."  Acknowledge what you are really feeling and try to figure out why your head things that eating is the solution to fixing that emotion. 

I had a reader write me saying, "Heids, thank you so much for making me realize that who I am is not what I look like.  Who I am is who I am.  And, I realized, I really like myself a lot, but what I don't like is the way my body looks.  So, as a favor to myself, this person I really like, I am going to work hard to make my body look and feel great.  From now on, eating healthy and exercising is a treat I am doing for someone I love.  Myself."

Someone got that message from me?  Well, hot damn!  Let's keep this conversation going, so keep emailing me! 

One thing that helps me to eat healthy is to only keep healthy foods in the house.  Giving up all processed foods is a solution to my "reaching for junk food at 3:00" habit.  Try it for a week, I promise it is easier than you think!  I have a recipe to share that I got from a friend of mine, Mr. Handsome Physical Trainer (Mr. HPT, for short).  For years, Mr. HPT has spent his day working with clients, both through exercise and nutritional counseling, so when Mr. HPT tells me to do something......I listen!  And, lucky for all of you, he's agreed to be a guest blogger for me.  He's got recipes and workouts that he is giving me to share with you, score!  The key to these recipes and exercises though is....we have to actually do them, right?  I am trying this smoothie tomorrow for breakfast.

Mr. HPT priceless smoothie

1/4 c choc. Almond milk
2 glugs of kefir
4 dashes of cinnamon
1/4 c kale, blackberries (6)
(8) blueberries
3tbsp. Protein powder
1/3 banana
2tbsp avocado
4 tbsp Greek yogurt
1/4 c raw oatMeal
3 or 4 ice cubes

1.  Blend until smooth.

I don't know about you, but I feel like a better woman just having read that recipe!

I've got a few recipes I wanted to share with you.  If some of you remember, we had company this weekend.  I was really excited about the chai tea latte I had made for my bestie.  I am happy to say it was a huge hit, she loved it.  And, she is a total chai tea latte expert, so I am confident in saying that recipe is a keeper!

On Saturday, our company was running a little late.  And, by a little late I mean I was expecting them for breakfast but they weren't going to make it until after lunch.  Now, this isn't a surprise because my bestie was traveling with her five four children, of which her oldest is 31 6.  So, the fact that she even braves a 7 hour drive with all those traveling companions is impressive.  However, I now found myself with about 5 spare hours on my hand.  And I realized quickly my options were to either join Mr. McGhee in cleaning the house, or keep myself busy in order to avoid having to help Mr. McGhee.  I went for option #2.  I realized with 7 minis in the house we were going to need some serious snack food.  I whipped up a batch of homemade graham crackers, homemade cheez-itz, banana muffins, and homemade granola bars. 

Homemade Granola bars (recipe from marathonmom)

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/3 cup local honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1.5-2 cup oats (not quick oats)

2 tablespoons wheat germ (I used ground flax seed)

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips (Mini work best, but it doesn’t really matter.)
What to do:
1. Melt the butter, peanut butter and honey in a pot over medium to low heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the burner when melted.
2. Pour in the cup of oats and the wheat germ. Stir til combined.
3. Wait til it cools and stir in the coconut and chocolate chips. Or, if you’re impatient with things like this, like I am, go ahead and dump it all right in. The result will be a more uniform chocolate taste.
4. Pour into foil-lined 8 X 8 pan and stick in the fridge.
5. Once cooled, flip out onto cutting board and cut to the size you like.

Homemade Graham Crackers (recipe from kitchn.com)

• 1/2 cup white flour
• 2 cups cup graham flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1/4 cup water
• cinnamon/sugar mixture

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in the butter until the texture is dry and crumbly. (Also, you can do this in a food processor; just blend the butter in short bursts.)

2. In a small bowl, mix the honey, molasses, and water. Toss this with the dry ingredients until well blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl with your fingers and form the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll the dough out on a counter or on wax paper, sprinkled with whole wheat flour. Use a pastry scraper or an index card as a guide to cut the dough into small rectangles.

4.  Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture and gently roll rolling pin over to press cinnamon/sugar into the crackers. 

5.  Poke each cracker with a fork, then place them on an ungreased baking sheet.

6.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy. If stored in an airtight container these will keep for a couple weeks.

**sidenote** My dough was really crumbly so I drizzled a couple more tablespoons of water in it. And my pastry scraper was a pizza cutter, worked perfectly.

 

 

Homemade Cheez-itz (from New Nostalgia) 

• 1 cup flour
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small squares
• 1 (8-ounce) bag grated extra-sharp 2% Cheddar cheese (preferably orange)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Combine all ingredients in food processor, and pulse until crumbly. (I do not have a food processor, I combined with my hands.  Messy, but works!)

3.  Add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together. Form into ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

4.  Place dough between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper, and roll out to 1/8 inch thickness. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet, and, using pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut into 1 inch squares. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

5.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven when crisp and just starting to brown. Let cool and serve.

 

You can see here that I rolled my dough to different heights to experiment.  I think we liked both the puffy and the flat crackers. 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how I store my crackers, although they usually don't last more than a day.

 

 

 

Banana Muffins

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1-1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 5-6 bananas, mashed (use old, brown bananas)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted slightly)
• 1 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl mix flours, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, bananas, oil, applesauce, coconut oil, and honey.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into well. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. DO NOT OVERMIX.
5. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

The granola bars, crackers, and muffins along with fresh fruit, hardboiled eggs, and string cheese was snacktime for the kids all weekend long.  I am SO proud to say we ate every meal at home with our company.  The only time we cheated was a trip for ice cream after we took the minis swimming.  We had steak/chicken with spinach and strawberry salad for dinner one night and burgers on homemade hamburger buns another night.  Mr. McGhee ordered some grass-fed beef a few weeks ago, and I know we won't ever eat non-grass-fed again.  Here's the recipe for the hamburger buns, which were so easy and really delish.....not one complaint from any of the minis!

 

Hamburger buns

• 1 tablespoon active-dry yeast
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) warm water
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) milk (whole, 2%, or skim)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter

1.  In the bowl of a standing mixer (or a large bowl, if mixing by hand), stir the yeast into the warm water and let it sit until dissolved.
2.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil, sugar, and salt. Add this to the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Add all the flour and stir until it forms a shaggy dough. Knead at low speed, or by hand on the counter, for 10 minutes. The finished dough should be smooth, feel slightly tacky, and spring back when poked.
3.  Return the dough to the mixing bowl and cover. Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about an hour.
4.  Dust your work surface with a little flour and turn out the risen dough on top. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each into a tight ball. Transfer the balls to a baking sheet and let rise until they look puffy and hamburger-sized, roughly 30-40 minutes.
5.  Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
6.  Melt the butter and brush it over the risen hamburger buns. This helps the tops to brown and keeps the crust soft. Bake the buns until golden, 15-18 minutes.
7.  Let the buns cool to room temperature before slicing and using. They are best if eaten within the next day or two, but will keep in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.

Breakfast each day was pancakes, eggs, grass-fed sausage, and honey wheat toast.  Delish. 

I am hoping this post doesn't overwhelm you.  Each of these recipes is very simple to do, with a short prep time.  Give them a shot, I promise you will never buy cheez-itz again!

 

Cookies and Chard

Yesterday's bread is ah-may-zing.  So, if a little bit of bread flour and shortening is wrong, then I don't want to be right.  I still plan on trying to replace the shortening with coconut oil, but I've gotta say....I am over my shortening shame.  Yesterday's bread is yum-o, delish.

Do your minis love granola bars?  I'm hearing from a lot of people that granola bars are a staple in their minis' lives.  Well, the mini McGhees are missing their granola bars, and I have this recipe from marathon mom that I have been dying to try.  Marathon mom is the homeschooling mom to 7 boys and pregnant with an 8th baby.  From now on, I will refer to myself as 5k mom.  Maybe even kids fun run mom.  Here's her recipe.

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/3 cup local honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup oats (not quick oats)

2 tablespoons wheat germ

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips (Mini work best, but it doesn’t really matter.)

What to do:
1. Melt the butter, peanut butter and honey in a pot over medium to low heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the burner when melted.
2. Pour in the cup of oats and the wheat germ. Stir til combined.
3. Wait til it cools and stir in the coconut and chocolate chips. Or, if you’re impatient with things like this, like I am, go ahead and dump it all right in. The result will be a more uniform chocolate taste.
4. Pour into foil-lined 8 X 8 pan and stick in the fridge.
5. Once cooled, flip out (the bars….not you) onto cutting board and cut to the size you like.

OK, so I'm the type of girl that calls a spade a spade.  And this, folks, is a cookie, not a granola bar.  It's a damn good tasting cookie that the McGhee family snarfed down as if we hadn't seen food in real food in weeks (there's a joke in there somewhere, I know it).  However, I struggle to say that this is a healthy, nutritional snack to give your minis.  BUT, because this recipe is delicious and the minis loved it, I am going to tweak it, maybe add a few things to see if I can increase the nutritional value of it.  And, I will say....it is a HUGE improvement over the HFCS-filled store-bought granola bars.  Give it a try....the McGhee family gave this a huge, sticky, chocoately double thumbs up.

Tonight's dinner was a spinoff on chicken pot pie.  I made the "stuffing" of the pie, following this this recipe from allrecipes. 

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1 cup frozen diced carrots
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken meat

1. In a large saucepan, saute chopped onion in the butter.
2. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat and slowly add chicken broth and milk. Stir well. 
4. Return to heat.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes.
5. Season with salt and pepper. Add frozen peas and carrots and cooked chicken.  Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring often.

Instead of using a pie crust, I made biscuits using a previously posted recipe.  This time I made some tweaks.  I used a very small amount of all-purpose flour.  And, no, I am not proud of it...but just the tiniest amount of all-purpose flour gives whole wheat baked goods a much more desireable texture. 

• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Mix well with whisk or fork.
4. Cut the ½ stick butter into little pea sized pieces and then mix the pieces into the flour mixture. Using a fork, try to mash the butter pieces as you mix it together with the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. It is okay if the outcome just looks like the same pea sized pieces of butter covered with flour.
5. Then pour in the milk and mix it all together.
6. Knead the dough with your hands 8 to 10 times and then turn out onto a counter or cutting board.
7. Pat it out flat with your hands until the dough is a somewhat even ¾-inch thickness (sprinkle with a little flour if necessary). Turn a drinking glass upside down and cut out biscuit rounds.
8. Then put them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned.


I served the chicken biscuits with swiss chard.  Never heard of swiss chard?  I hadn't until our CSA started giving it to us every.single.week.  This is what it you want to look for in the grocery store.

Remove the stalks and chop the leaves.

Sauteed Swiss Chard

• olive oil
• chopped/minced garlic
• swiss chard
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
• parmesan cheese

1.  Saute the garlic in the olive oil for 2 minutes.
2.  Add swiss chard and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.  While cooking drizzle balsamic vinegar over swiss chard.
3.  Season with salt and pepper.  Grate fresh parmesan over the swiss chard.

OK, so I know you're looking at this picture and thinking, "Heids McGhee, there is no way that my minis are eating that."  Well, I say, do what I do.  Set the plate in front of them and when they start to protest, shoot them your best mama-means-business stank eye.  Don't have a mama-means-business stank eye?  You've got bigger problems than swiss chard!