Homemade granola bars

These are so good! A great alternative to the junk filled granola bars you buy at the store. I have made quite a few granola bar recipes, and finally found one I like. So I have to share it!

The idea for these came from Sisters Cafe. I adapted it just a bit. They turned out so great. We are going to double the recipe and make a big batch tomorrow.

1/2 cup butter, softened (I had to add a few extra TBS to make it all stick together)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups rolled 9 grain cereal

1/2 cup rice krispy cereal

1/4 cup coconut

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup ground flax or wheat germ (can omit if you dont have)

Cream butter, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add rest of ingredients to bowl and mix well.

Press into an 8 x 8 pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Cool completely at cut into bars. YUMMMM!

THE BEST dinner rolls

Whoa doggie! These rolls are delicious! I found a recipe on line and adjusted and adjust and changed until they were finally perfect (in my opinion). I could eat 5 of these for dinner and forget everything else on my plate.

Dinner Rolls

1 1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbs. yeast
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbs. butter, softened
3 eggs
1/3 cup powdered milk
About 6 cups flour

Combine water and yeast, set aside.

In mixer combine sugar, butter, eggs, powdered milk, and about 4 cups of flour. Slowly pour in yeast mixture. Mix until incorporated. Then add enough flour til dough pulls from the sides and the bowl is clean. The dough will be soft and a little sticky. Knead for about 4 minutes. Cover and let raise in bowl til doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. (this is important, if you dont let them raise long enough they will be dense and crumbly) Punch down and shape into rolls. Let raise another hour or so. Bake 350 for 14 minutes or until brown. Brush with melted butter when they are fresh out of the oven.

Eat 10 of them and enjoy every bite! If you shaped these into traditional rolls, they would be yummy with homemade jam on them or even used for a little turkey sandwich!

*If I make these rolls in the winter, I turn my oven on to 350 and set the dough in a bowl on top the stove while it raises. Its just enough warmth to encourage the raising process. I know this means I have to leave my oven on for more than 3 hours, but I dont mind in the cold months. If the dough does not get a little warm, it will not raise, so just setting the dough on the counter does not work for me. Its important to get it warm, but NOT HOT so dont stick it in the oven even at a low temperature.

Sloppy Lentils

I know -it is meatless and those that are married to Hymas boys might have a hard time convincing them that it can still be good without meat. When I told Mark what we were having I was sure he was serious about stopping at IN n Out on the way home from work. But believe it or not - Mark really enjoyed it!

2 cups water (the original recipe uses 3 cups, so notice the change for crockpot preparation!)
1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
salt to taste (optional)
1 cup chopped onion
15 oz can diced tomatoes (drained), tomato sauce or 2 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste, optional (as needed to thicken – especially if using tomato sauce)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons rapadura, molasses, or honey
1 Tbsp white vinegar
salt and ground black pepper to taste
4 whole wheat hamburger buns, split
cheddar cheese, grated (to top your lentils when serving)

Combine all your ingredients in the crockpot (besides the buns and cheese!). Turn on low and cook for approximately 5 hours, until lentils are tender and the mixture has thickened and absorbed most of the liquids. Serve on open faced hamburger buns and top with melted cheese, as desired.

Pumpkin pizza

I used regular pizza dough (cooked and cooled) and topped it with the following layers:
base layer
whip together:
6 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
top layer
whip together:
1/2 cup milk
1 small package vanilla pudding
1/8 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup pureed pumpkin

Spread layers over crust and top with white chocolate chips, whipped cream, ice cream, cream cheese frosting, or nothing at all. DELICIOUS!!

Old Fashion Soft Pumpkin Cookies

SOFT is the key word in this recipe. These cookies are like a mini piece of cake. They are yuuuumy!
2 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 1/2 cups fresh ground red wheat and 1 cup white)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Beat sugar and butter until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet

Bake 350 15 minutes (a little longer for larger cookies)

Cool and glaze with:

1 cup powdered sugar 3 TBS milk, 1 tsp melted butter

Bean Quesadillas

I subbed for the dinner club this month and this is one of the dinners we got. I have eaten it for 3 days in a row. It is yummy! And now that avocado dont cost $25 each, it tastes even better with a mashed avacado on top. I should have gotten a better picture, but I was too excited to eat!


1 cup sliced onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
15 oz can black beans, drained (or bust out the beans from your food storage, that is what I will do when I repeat this recipe!)
15 oz can pinto beans, drained (same thing, think food storage!)
1 cup chopped tomato
cilantro to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, garlic, and cumin in a skillet with 2 Tbs. oil until crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Add beans to skillet and mix. Add tomatoes and cilantro and stir.

warm one tortilla on stove top. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and put a heap of the bean mixture on top. Let warm thru a bit and toast the tortilla. Top with another tortilla and flip, crisping up the other side as well. Cut in wedges and serve with salsa, sour cream, or avocado.

If you double the recipe the filling freezes well and thaws out quick.

Orange rolls

I got this recipe from my talented friend Heather. These are some yummy rolls! I especially liked the dough I am going to use it and make cinnamon rolls this Sunday with it.

1 1/4c milk
1/3c butter (not margarine, BUTTER!)

1t salt
1 package of yeast
1/3c sugar
1 egg
1/2t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
3 1/4c. flour

Scald the milk and butter, until butter is melted- do not boil. Let cool on counter about 10 min then add yeast, salt & sugar. Mix well and let sit about 10-15min, until yeast is all bubbly.

Add egg and beat well. Mix in remaining ingredients- you may need to add a few more tablespoons of flour until the consistency is right. Knead dough two or three times and let rest in bowl for about 15min.

Roll dough into a rectangle about 1/4″thick. Spread with 3-4Tablespoons of softened butter, zest from a whole orange, and sprinkle with 1/2c sugar. Roll and cut like cinnamon rolls (you should have about 12 rolls). Place in pans and set into a warm oven (I preheat mine to 170, then turn it off) to rise for about 15-20min.

Bake at 425 for 12 min, or until slightly brown on the edges. For the frosting I blended 3-4Tablespoons of butter with 2 cups or so of powdered sugar and about 2 teaspoons of orange juice.