Easy Peasy Oatmeal Bars

I like shortcuts.

When I know a good shortcut I like to share it with my friends.

This recipe is one of those good shortcuts.

It's really easy peasy.

Oatmeal bars remind me of school lunches when I was a kid. In those days the lunch ladies served dessert with every lunch. My favorites either had peanut butter or oatmeal. I really liked oatmeal bars. Sometimes they were filled with fruit. Sometimes they had chocolate or butterscotch in them. Whichever way they made them, I always liked them. This recipe reminds me so much of those oatmeal bars and they can be changed up a number of ways, just like the lunch ladies did it so many years ago.

Over the years I've filled these bars with dates, chocolate, added nuts, lemon, butterscotch, and of course fruits. The neat thing about this recipe is the oatmeal crust stays basically the same. You can change up the filling and then drizzle a glaze on top or leave the glaze off. This time I decided to make oatmeal raspberry almond  bars.

Here is how I made this batch.

 For the bars I gathered these ingredients: 2 1/2 cups quick oats, 1 box of yellow cake mix, 1 1/2 sticks butter, 1 teaspoon almond extract, and 1 cup of raspberry jam.

I prepared a 9x13 glass pan by lining it with parchment paper and then sprayed the paper with PAM for baking. I preheated the oven to 375 degrees.

I put the oats and cake mix in a big bowl, then melted the butter in the microwave and added it  and the almond extract to the mixture.

 I combined all the ingredients until they looked like small pebbles.

 I patted half of the oatmeal mixture in the pan, then I warmed the jam in the microwave and then spread it over the oatmeal mixture. You can use more jam, according to your tastes.

Then I covered the fruit with the remainder of the oat mixture and patted it down slightly. Then I put it in the oven and cooked it for about 25 minutes until the edges started to turn golden.

This doesn't look much different ~ except for the slightly golden edges. I let the bars cool in the pan.

I decided to make an almond glaze, so I got 1 cup of powdered sugar, a teaspoon of softened butter, about 1/4 teaspoon of almond flavor and mixed them in a small bowl. Then I added milk until it became the consistency I wanted.

When the bars cooled, I pulled them out of the pan by the edges of the paper and cut them into bars. I separated the bars a little bit so the yummy glaze could drizzle down the sides of the bars.

And this was my end result. I really like the combination of raspberry, almond, and oats. Each time I make this recipe I think about ways I'd like to change it up for the next time.  I think the next time I might mix some sliced almonds into the oat mixture and then drizzle white chocolate over the top so it looks more opaque.


What was the taste tester's bottom line?
This is always a favorite. It is different each time so sometimes one person likes it better than another. This time it was GoodMan's favorite. People are always surprised with how easy peasy this recipe is.


The bottom line: It's always fun to share shortcuts with my friends. This one gets shared at family dinners, church potlucks, and bake sales.

Grammy's Granola

  It's a long and winding road to homemade granola. My granola making destiny began with the crummy veins in my legs...actually my "insufficient" veins...stay with me here...my venous insufficiency causes me to have recurrent infections, the infections require incredibly strong antibiotics, and the incredibly strong antibiotics wreck havoc on my body's "delicate balance of healthy bacteria". In an effort to invite those healthy bacteria to take up residence in a body intent on destroying it, I've started eating yogurt. I don't like yogurt. I thought perhaps if I invested way too much money on a yogurt maker and made my own yogurt I would somehow miraculously begin to enjoy the taste of sour milk yogurt. Oddly though, boiling milk and mixing a starter yogurt into it and then setting it in a warm yogurt incubator, then leaving it out on the counter for multiple hours provides a semi-solid milk product which looks and tastes way too much like milk left out on the counter for too long.
  Enter the granola. I've seen people eat yogurt and granola mixtures and I thought I might possibly be able to mask the taste of the yogurt by adding some sugar substitute and a healthy dose of granola. This brought me to a desire to make my own granola. I searched the internet and found a recipe that looked good to me. The Food Network's Alton Brown has a 5-star-rated recipe for granola with most of the ingredients I like in it. I changed his recipe up a bit, but I used it as a great starting point. Let me show you how I did it.

 The first time I made the granola I purchased regular size packages of the ingredients. After the first batch GoodMan and I decided to buy the ingredients in bulk from Sam's Club. We knew we'd go through a lot of it! I bought quick oats, dark brown sugar, sliced almonds, pecans, cashews, canola oil, real maple syrup, raisins, and craisins. I also bought shredded sweetened coconut although it didn't make it into this picture. I sometimes buy dried blueberries if I can find them at Sam's.

 I started by measuring the oats and sliced almonds and put them in a large bowl.

 I gave the pecans a rough chop. I don't like to use the food processor for this because it chops some pieces to dust before it chops the remainder to the size I want.

 I did the same thing with the cashews, then I added both the pecans and the cashews to the bowl with the oats and almonds.

 I added the coconut and the dark brown sugar.

 Then I used my hands to mix everything together. Hands are best because you want to feel for any lumps of brown sugar before you put in the wet ingredients.

Next I added the canola oil, salt, and the maple syrup. This I stirred with a big spoon, not my hands!

I spread this out on two baking sheets and then put it in a preheated 250 degree oven. I set my timer for 15 minutes and then took it out and gave it a good stir. Then I put it back in the oven and reset the timer for 15 minutes...I did this for an hour and 15 minutes.

When the mixture was baked and crunchy I poured it into a large bowl and added the raisins and craisins. I gave it a good stir and then put it in an airtight container. I weighed this batch. It made 3 pounds of granola. I haven't done the figuring...I know store-bought granola is expensive and comes in ridiculously small packages, but I can't honestly say I think I saved any money. All of the ingredients in my granola (except perhaps for the oats) are expensive. But even knowing I didn't save any money, I like this granola so much better than anything I've ever bought in the store it is well worth it to me!

This is the recipe for Grammy's Granola 
(liberally adapted from Alton Brown's recipe)

3 cups quick oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped cashews
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1  teaspoon sea salt
1 cup raisins
1 cup craisins
1 cup dried blueberries

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, almonds, pecans, cashews, coconut, and brown sugar.
Add syrup, oil, and salt. Stir to combine.
Spread mixture out on two baking sheets.
Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes stirring every 15 minutes.
Add dried fruit and stir to combine.
Store in an airtight container.

What was the taste tester's bottom line?
The granola was a huge hit! GoodMan adds it to his favorite cereal mixture. My grandson, Kyle, asked me to make a batch just for him. My 3 year-old granddaughter, Ava, asked for yogurt and 'nola for breakfast and bedtime snack every morning and evening when we watched her on a recent weekend. 

I made a batch of 'Nola for Ava, and some Grammy's Granola for Kyle. I'll be seeing them in the next few days...it makes me happy to bring a little piece of me into their everyday lives.


The bottom line: Granola makes eating yogurt a possibility for me. Eating yogurt helps my "delicate balance of good bacteria". Having my good bacteria in balance helps me be able to take the powerful antibiotics necessary to fight recurrent infections, and fighting the recurrent infections lessens the effect of the insufficiency of my veins...its a long road to granola, but it's worth the trip.

Chicky Nuggets with Honey Pie Sauce

   I usually do not like chicken nuggets. Most of the time they are made with chicken that's been minced and then formed into identical little chicken pucks. I am anti-chicken-puck. 
  Over the years I've had good chicken fingers or nuggets in just a few places. One of those places is Chick-Fil-A. Unfortunately, I don't live anywhere near a Chick-Fil-A restaurant. I'm not addicted to their nuggets like some people I've read about on the internet, but when I thought about making chicken nuggets for my grandkids who were coming to stay for the weekend, I decided to see if I could find a copy cat recipe for Chick-Fil-A's nuggets. Truthfully, I've only had theirs a few times and its been a while, so I can't promise they taste just like theirs, but I will say these tasted really good. I made a really big batch so we could munch on them throughout the weekend.
   I also made some homemade honey mustard sauce. Since the littlest taste testers don't like mustard I decided to call it "Honey Pie Sauce" If you take nothing else from this post, you should try the Honey Pie Sauce! If I had known I could make my own sauce this good I'd have avoided all the bottled sauces I've been disappointed with over the years.

Let me show you how I made the Chicky Nuggets.

 I got the ingredients together for the marinade. I quadrupled this recipe, but for one recipe you use one egg, one cup milk, and 2 chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces.

 For my quadruple recipe it looked like this ~ a large bowl filled with egg, milk, and raw chicken chunks. I covered this with saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator for about 6 hours. You could probably let this marinate for as little as 4 hours or as long as overnight. You don't want to miss this step because it helps the meat stay moist.

 After they had marinated I got ready to fry them...yes, I FRIED them...oh, the horror! So they are not low-cal friendly. But they taste good, and there's something to be said for that. I put flour, salt, pepper, and the magic ingredient...powdered sugar in a large zip lock bag.

I put about 2 inches of peanut oil in a deep fry pan and heated it to 375 degrees. I highly recommend peanut oil because it imparts a unique flavor, but if you can't use peanut oil, canola oil is the next best choice. The oil needs to have a high smoke point, so olive oil is not a good choice. I used a thermometer because it is important the temperature be hot enough to brown the coating, but not too hot so the coating gets brown but the center of the meat doesn't cook through. If you don't own a thermometer test the oil by putting a drop of water in. If it is hot enough it will sizzle, if it sputters and pops a lot it is too hot.

 I shook the chicken in the bag of coating mix and then put them in the hot oil. I had to do it in batches because I had so much to do. As they browned I took one out and cut into it to make sure they were cooked through. I had my oven warm so I put the finished ones on a baking sheet lined with paper towel to soak up any excess oil

These nuggets were sooooo good! They were really great even the next day. We warmed them in the oven to keep them crisp, but on the third day we decided not to wait for the oven and they were wonderful even warmed in the microwave. I am considering making a large batch of these and freezing them to use for lunches and snacks when the grandkids come over.




Part of the enjoyment of these chicken nuggets was the awesome Honey Pie Sauce. Since making this tasty sauce we've decided we need to try it on chicken breast sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, dipping pretzels, ...you get the idea.


This is how I made the Honey Pie sauce:

I used mayo,

 honey,

 mustard,

garlic powder,

 and cider vinegar.

When I was finished I had this lovely, smooth, delicious Honey Pie Sauce.

I know you'll want the recipes...so here you go ~

Chicky Nuggets
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground pepper
peanut oil for frying

Cut chicken into bite size pieces. 
In a bowl or large zip lock bag, mix milk and egg. Add chicken pieces and put in the refrigerator to marinate for 4 or more hours.
In a large zip lock bag, mix flour, powdered sugar, salt, and pepper. 
Place drained chicken pieces in the bag and shake to coat.
Heat about 2 inches of oil to 375 degrees.
Put coated chicken pieces in the oil and fry until browned and cooked through, approximately 5 minutes. 
Drain on paper towel.
    (barely adapted from My Name is Snickerdoodle Blog)

Honey Pie Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard (like French's)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon honey 

Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate until use.
      (barely adapted from Table for Two Blog)

What was the taste tester's bottom line?
AWESOME! Everyone liked them. This is an A+ recipe.

The bottom line: Buy the ingredients, schedule time to make a large batch, and freeze for snacks and lunches.

Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan

   I love, love, love my crock pot. I used my crock pot almost daily when I was working, and now that I'm retired I still use it ~ even if I'm not planning to be out all day. Recently I made Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan for a Saturday dinner when we were having family over. Although I was home all day it was nice to be able to set up the crock pot and spend the day with my family. 
   Usually, when I make a spaghetti dish I use ground beef in the sauce. I've heard of using chicken breast and even tuna, but I never tried anything other than beef ~ until now. The recipe calls for chicken breasts, but I wanted to use what I had in the freezer so I used boneless skinless chicken thighs. I thought this dish might appeal to the littlest taste testers and I was right ~ but then, pasta is always a good choice with kids. I served this with garlic toast and a side salad to appeal to the grown ups.

This is how I did it.

 I gathered the ingredients: chicken thighs, eggs, bread crumbs, panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Mozzarella cheese, and spaghetti sauce (our favorite is Ragu Chunky Garden Style).

 I started by trimming all the visible fat off the chicken ~ it's a yucky job, but I'd rather trim it than eat it!

 I mixed the two breadcrumbs, the Parmesan cheese, and some salt and pepper in a glass pie plate.

 I beat the two eggs in a separate dish and dipped the chicken in the beaten egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture. 

 I put some olive oil in the bottom of my crock pot and then put a layer of chicken in the pot.

 I put a handful of Mozzarella cheese on top of that layer and then added another layer of meat and another layer of Mozzarella on top of that. I was cooking for a crowd. If I was making a smaller batch I would have just done one layer of chicken and cheese.

Then I poured the jar of spaghetti sauce over the top and turned the crock pot on low for 6 hours. I'm not sure how it would do on high ~ it might burn on the edges. If someone risks it, let me know how it works out.

 And this, my friends, is the only mess I had to clean up before my company arrived...not too bad...but then I looked up and saw cob webs in my artificial flowers on the plate rack above my stove..."Why do you have artificial flowers on your plate rack?" You ask...Because at one time I had plates on my decorative plate rack and while we were out of town one fell off the rack and hit my glass top stove ~ destroying the glass top...so now I have artificial flowers on the plate rack above my stove.

So then of course I spent some of my spare time cleaning artificial flowers...sigh...

When the 6 hours was up I made some spaghetti on top of the stove (with freshly cleaned artificial flowers above) and I put the cooked spaghetti in a huge pasta bowl and then scooped the chicken and sauce on top. I sprinkled a little more Mozzarella on top because I can never have enough cheese.


I wondered whether the bread crumbs would stick to the chicken...not really...some of it did a little bit...but it tasted so good we didn't care. It came out more like a spaghetti with chicken dish with thick cheesy sauce. Since I have never had real Chicken Parmesan I wasn't hard to impress. If Chicken Parmesan is a favorite dish of yours you might still like this dish, you may just have to come up with another name for it, like Crock Pot Chicken Cheesy Spaghetti or something like that.


This is the recipe for Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan adapted from chef-in-training blog.

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts) with all visible fat removed
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup Panko Japanese bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese 
large jar spaghetti sauce (we like Ragu Chunky Garden style)


Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in a shallow dish.
Beat 2 eggs in a separate bowl.
Dip chicken pieces in egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture to coat.
Put olive oil in the bottom of crock pot.
Put coated chicken pieces in the crock pot.
Put Mozzarella cheese on top of chicken.
Pour the jar of spaghetti sauce on top of everything.
Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.
Serve over cooked spaghetti with additional Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese, if desired.


What was the taste tester's bottom line?
This was an easy, tasty dinner. One of the little taste testers loved it so much I sent the leftovers home with him. Not everyone raved about it, but no one disliked it. When I make dinner for 12 people (I doubled this recipe and had lots of leftovers) I expect some people won't like it, but that wasn't a problem with this dish.


The bottom line: I guess I can use something other than ground beef with spaghetti and tomato sauce. (oh, and I always need to check for cob webs in the artificial flowers before company arrives)

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

 

It's peanut butta jelly time, peanut butta jelly time...

 Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

I've been singing that all weekend...

just ask my family.

Yes, I've been singing a line from an annoying song over and over again. Actually, I don't know any more of the song, and my 16-year-old grandson tells me I probably don't want to know what the rest of it is. But I should be allowed this crazy behavior, because I made some of the yummiest peanut butta (okay, butter) and jelly bars ever! And when you have the yummiest peanut butter and jelly bars ever in your house it just seems natural to sing out "It's peanut butta jelly time" at all hours.  

I'll tell you how I made them and you can sing odd songs at all hours too.

 I gathered the ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, peanut butter, flour, baking powder, jelly, and peanuts.

 I creamed the butter and sugar.

Then I mixed in the eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter.

I sifted the flour and baking soda together,

and added the dry mixture to the wet mixture. I mixed them together just until they were combined.

 I spread about 2/3 of the mixture into a 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper.

I spread jelly on top of the peanut butter mixture.
This was homemade blackberry jelly from our own blackberry bushes in the back yard.

I dropped spoonfuls of the peanut butter mixture on top of the jelly layer. This layer does not totally cover the jelly, but that's the way it's supposed to look. Then I sprinkled chopped peanuts on top. I put this in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, and waited impatiently.

While I waited I took a picture (through the screen) of some tulips in our garden by the driveway.

 This is what those yummy goodness bars looked like when I took them out of the oven. I decided it would be best if I waited to cut into these until some taste testers arrived...but they were late getting here...Did you know if you cut a pan of baked goods into bars and put them in an air tight container most people won't notice if a bar is missing? Just sayin'.

When my taste testers arrived I had a plate of peanut butter and jelly bars and cold milk waiting for them...along with multiple rounds of "It's peanut butta jelly time, peanut butta jelly time!"

This is the recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars which I barely adapted from the recipe on www.framedcooks.com

And that blog adapted their recipe from Ina Garten's recipe.

2 sticks of butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups creamy peanut butter

3 cups flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups jam or jelly (any flavor)

1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped

**I didn't add any other salt to the recipe because the butter, peanut butter, and peanuts have enough salt.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

Prepare a 9x13 pan by spraying with PAM, then lining with parchment paper and spraying with PAM For Baking.

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, then add the peanut butter. Beat about 2 minutes, until creamy.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined.

Spread about 2/3 of peanut butter mixture into the 9x13 prepared pan.

Spread the jelly on top of the peanut butter layer.

Spoon the remaining peanut butter mixture on top of the jelly layer. Some jelly will show ~ but that's not a problem. 

Sprinkle the chopped peanuts on top.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

What was the taste tester's bottom line?

These got mixed reviews. Three people loved them. Four people said they were good. And one little taste tester took one look and said "Peanut butter?...Yuck!"

This is my 16-year-old grandson's very cool thumb's-up. He's the one who told me I don't want to know the rest of the words to the Peanut Butta Jelly song...I believe him.

The bottom line: These would be great for a potluck or some other occasion where breaking into the Peanut Butta Jelly song will not be disruptive ~ probably not for a funeral luncheon.