Applesauce Granola

not very much oil, the only sugar is honey or agave! Now, I followed this recipe exact, and it was not sweet enough to just eat with milk. if I was to make it to eat with milk, I would do more honey. maybe not quite double. I love tasting the oats/nuts etc, and you know my sweetness meter, so you can gauge based on that. BUT, all that said, it was PERFECT sweetness for on top of yogurt with just the granola or with some strawberries or other fresh fruit. then I wouldn't want it any sweeter. anyway, try if you want! I liked it! **I'm not sure the time becasue of our humidity here it took a lot longer to crisp up!!


6 c large flake oats
1/4 c flax meal
1/2 c wheat germ
1 T cinnamon
large pinch of nutmeg
1/2 t kosher salt
3 c whole almonds
1 c unsweetened shredded coconut
3 T olive oil
2 c applesauce
1/3 c honey or agave syrup (increase if you like a sweeter granola)
2 c dried cranberries or raisins or dried apple bits

Preheat oven to 300F. In a large bowl, mix together the first 8 ingredients. Add in the oil, applesauce and honey or agave syrup and mix well using your hands until everything is well coated. Spread mixture between two baking sheets lined with silpat or parchment paper and bake, turning mixture frequently and rotating pans until the mixture is dry and golden. For me, this took about 1 hour or a bit more. Add the dried fruit as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let cool and then store in a sealed container.

OAT CAKES

**So I got this recipe from a blog that I absolutely love called tiny-morsels, and she actually got it from one of my other favorite blogs called the happy foody. I made these yesterday and absolutely love them! They are yummy and way easy. Anything is good on top of them although I really like sour cream, brown sugar, and blackberries or blueberries. They are also good with just butter and syrup or butter and powdered sugar. The tiny-morsel lady said that her daughters favorite is almond butter and syrup, sounds yummy to me but i am out of almond butter!

Just a heads up: these ARE NOT like the fluffy pancakes you get at IHOP. These are dense little cakes, with more texture. And they taste like a bowl of oatmeal. Also, since they don't contain any flour, they don't knock-you-out and drag-you-down like traditional pancakes do (Nobody needs that, especially first thing in the morning).

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups milk
2 large eggs
2 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 tsp. fine grain sea salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
coconut oil (for cooking) (I just used butter)

*the recipe doesnt call for it but i put in about 1/4 tsp. of vanilla**

• Use a food processor (I used my blender) to grind the oats to a flour-like consistency.
• Mix the ground oats with the milk, cover, and let the mixture soak
  overnight (12-24 hours).
• Stir in the eggs, butter, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix well.
• Cook over medium/low heat. Oat cakes take longer to cook than regular pancakes, and burn easily, so go slow.

black bean burger with mango avacado salsa

* from cookinglight.com

Burger:

2 cans black beans
1 large green onion finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic chopped
2 eggs (I only did one, and it was a bit crumbly, I added a splash of orange juice too but was still a bit crumbly)
1/4 c. panko bread crumbs (comments said that reg worked too)
1/2 c.(ish) finely chopped cilantro
2 t. cumin (with this much cumin it was a strong flavor, I'd probably only do 1 next time when serving to kids)
1 t. salt
1 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
handful of Monterrey jack cheese (I only had colby jack)

Pulse black beans in food processor for a few seconds. leave some whole. Or mash with potato masher. add chopped cilantro and rest of ing. make into patties, and let rest in fridge for 10 min or so. Once set up, heat fry pan and add a bit of olive oil (or dry works too) and fry 5-8 min per side. (or until it will fip in one piece)

Makes about 4-6 burgers. *remember, these don't shrink like meat patties!!

Mango Salsa:

1 mango peeled and diced
1 avocado peeled and diced
cilantro finely chopped (1/4 cup ish)
1 T. finely chopped red onion
1 clove garlic minced
1 lime juiced (only had bottled, just splashed it around)
salt and pepper

* To Serve: put salsa on burger and top with lettuce!! you can put a bit of mayo on one side if you want to.

grilled chicken panini with apricot sauce

this is from pioneer woman and it was delicious!

Chicken breasts, butterflied
sour dough bread
spinach
red onion
white cheddar
apricot jam
dijon mustard
mayo

Grill chicken seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder
Mix equal portions of mayo, mustard and apricot jam and mix together
asemble sandwich by spreading apricot sauce on one side of bread, and add chicken, spinach, red onion and cheese and spread the other slice with sauce too! grill on fry pan to perfection!! (squish down as you cook it!!)

feta mayo

feta
mayo
italian seasoning
lemon juice
crushed red pepper
garlic powder
salt
pepper

bubble bread aka monkey business

24 rohds rolls
1 box instant butterscotch pudding
cinnamon
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar

thaw out rolls enough to be a little soft. dump pudding powder into a bowl and a few shakes of cinnamon. mix. roll each dough ball in powder and put into sprayed bunt pan. Melt together the butter and brown sugar and pour over rolls. let rise over night or for 5-6 hours. Bake at 350 for 35 min. cover with foil for last 15 min.

Blueberry syrup

1 1/2 c. frozen blueberries
4 T. sugar
1/2 lemon juiced (or I didn't have fresh lemons so I used just bottled and eye balled it)

Bring to boil and squish some of the blue berries with a fork.

*it's not a thick syrup so if you want it thick, you will have to play with it. you could a bit of honey instead of sugar to add some thickness.