COOK: Gluten Free Granola

 I've been trying to eat healthier, and lately yogurt (Noosa Yoghurt is my favorite, although don't ask me witch flavor, I like them all!) with granola has been one of my favorite lunches.  However, finding a healthier granola that isn't also expensive is a challenge, and if you are also looking to find one that is gluten free it gets more complicated, so I decided to make my own.

The great thing about homemade granola, aside from being able to control the sugars and oils, is being able to customize the nuts, dried fruits, and spices, you can even add chocolate if you want to!

I used only almonds in this recipe, but you can use any nut that you prefer, and add dried fruits as well (things like raisins, dried coconut, dehydrated strawberries).  The spices can also be whatever is to your taste, for example, instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons of nutmeg you can use 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon cloves.  You want to keep the overall measures close so that everything gets enough of the "sauce".  

Notes: Always double check your ingredients to make sure that they are certified gluten free.
You can use regular oats in place of the gluten free oats in this recipe if you do not need it to be gluten free.

Gluten Free Granola

Makes about 6 servings

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Honey

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

2 Cups Gluten Free Oatmeal (I used Quaker Gluten Free 1-Minute Oats)

3/4 Chopped Raw Almonds

Chopped Chocolate or Chocolate Chips (Optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, cover a baking sheet with parchment paper (for easier cleanup).

In a large bowl whisk together oil, honey, vanilla, salt and nutmeg until well combined.

Add in oats and almonds, mix until everything is evenly covered in the oil and honey mixture.  Taste a small bit and adjust salt and spices if needed.

Spread granola out on prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, gently toss granola and let bake for another 10 minutes.  Granola should be a nice light brown color.  If needed give the granola another toss and bake for another 5 minutes.  (Once it has started to brown it goes very quickly so keep a close eye on it.)

Remove from oven and place baking sheet on a cooling rack, (if you want to add chocolate you can mix it in now.)  Once granola is completely cooled you can gently break it into small pieces if needed.  Store in an airtight container or zippy bag for up to 2 weeks.

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COOK: Quick and Easy Frittata

I've been working on eating fewer carbs, and more veggies, and while I love veggies, I was looking for new, or different ways to eat them.  One night laying in bed I was scrolling Pinterest looking for inspiration and saw a post about frittatas, as soon as I got up the next morning I was pulling things out of the fridge to see what I could come up with!   I've had lots of fun playing around with different combinations of veggies, meats, and cheeses, I've decided there really isn't a bad combination.

I think one thing that makes me love frittatas is the ability to throw in different of leftovers you have in the fridge; smoked asparagus, random bits of cheese, chopped up chicken from dinner the night before, herbs you forgot you had...  then simply add eggs.  If you want to take it to another level you can add toppings, pickled red onions, sour cream, everything bagel seasoning, have fun and experiment with different combinations and flavors.

Here are a few of my favorites (so far):

• Spinach, Tomato, and Feta
• Red Onion, Bell Pepper, and Cotija (Add salsa to serve)
• Bacon and Asparagus
• Broccoli and Cheddar 

Frittatas can be filling on their own, but if you want to have a fancier breakfast or brunch, they can be served with muffins (like my Strawberry Muffins or Sausage Cheddar Muffins), fresh fruit, crunchy tortilla chips and salsa, and of course coffee, tea, or juice.

Below is my recipe using a 10 inch cast iron skillet, but you can easily adjust it for a different size.  Also if you are adding less extras, you might want to add an extra egg or two so that you frittata isn't too thin and burns.  Also note that meats and veggies measurement is after cooking, this applies mostly to things like spinach that shrink to about 1 millionth of their size when cooked.

Quick & Easy Frittata

Serves 4-8

Ingredients:

6 Eggs 

2 Cups of Cooked Meats and/or Veggies 

1 Cup Cheese

Salt & Pepper

Preparation:

Wash and cut any veggies you are using, then quickly sauté in the same cast iron pan you will be using for your  Frittata.  

Turn oven on to broil, and move rack to center position.

Quickly scramble eggs with salt and pepper to taste, then add in cheese and give it a bit of a mix.

With burner on medium/medium low heat pour egg and cheese mixture over veggies and let cook for about 5-10 minutes until you can set that the edges have set.  Move  into over and let it finish under the broiler until the middle is completely cooked and edges are a bit golden.  Carefully (the handles on the cast iron get very hot, trust me!) remove pan from over, let cool only a minute or two, then cut and serve.  

Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for a few days, but I prefer to eat it fresh.

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COOK: Freezer Breakfast Sandwiches

KC loves Sausage Breakfast Sandwiches, and I love that they are so easy to make in a big batch ahead of time, and throw in the freezer.  He can grab one for his lunch bag, or heat it while he's getting ready and eat it as he drives to work.

There are lots of ways you can customize these, different flavors of breakfast sausage, different cheeses, it's up to you.  I've tried these with bacon, and it tends to dry out and doesn't reheat as well.

These freeze wonderfully for about 3 months (they get gobbled up before they sit that long!)

Freezer Breakfast Sandwiches

Ingredients:

12 English Muffins

12 Large Eggs (if desired)

1 Pound Breakfast Sausage 

OR

12 Slices Canadian Bacon

8 Ounces Cheddar Cheese (sliced)

Butter

Preparation:

If you are going to add eggs:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 12 cup muffin tin, crack an egg in each cup, (you can poke the yolk and even give it a quick scramble if you don't like a whole yolk), then bake for about 10-12 minutes, until eggs look set.  Remove eggs from muffin tin and set aside to cool.  

Next cook meat of choice:

For sausage; cut roll into 12 pieces and flatten into small patties (or save time and buy the premade patties, I find them a little to small for the English Muffins, and we like the sausage to be thinner.)  Pop them into a pan or on the griddle and cook both sides until done, set aside to cool.

For Canadian Bacon; simply put into a hot pan, or on the griddle, cook until warm and slightly browned.  If your Canadian Bacon tries to curl while you are cooking cut a slit from the center to one side, this will help it stay flat.  Set aside to cool.

Turn on your broiler, on the low setting if available.  Lightly butter the inside of each English Muffin half and pop it under your Broiler until lightly toasted.

Slice cheddar cheese, as you can see in my picture I wasn't having a good slicing day, luckily once it melts you can't tell!  

After everything has cooled (if it's still hot the muffins get a bit soggy.) you can assemble your sandwiches, you can start with the egg or meat, but you want to have the cheese on the top, it melts better when you heat them later.

Wrap each sandwich in a square of foil, then put all into a freezer zippy bag.  

To reheat from frozen: remove foil, place sandwich in microwave for heat for about 30 seconds, test, then microwave in 15 second intervals until warm and cheese is melted.  The bun will get hot, let it sit a second before handing to small children.

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COOK: Sausage Cheddar Muffins

I had been wanting to try a savory breakfast muffin for quite a while but wasn't sure how they would go over with everyone.  Berea said she wasn't sure about them, but KC was all for anything with sausage and eggs so I decided to try it.  Berea was home when I made them the first time and I asked her to just try a bite, she ate the whole thing and decided she loved them, KC agreed when he had his for breakfast the next day.

These are easy to make, and they freeze well, so I suggest making a double, or triple batch and popping the extras in the freezer, then you can just take out a few for breakfast and pop them in the microwave for about 1 minute and they are just as good as when they first come out of the oven!

I used basic breakfast sausage, but I'm excited to try with spicy sausage, or the sage sausage.  If you like sweet I bet the maple sausage would be yummy too!

As I was writing this I started thinking about the different cheeses or mixtures of cheese I could use, I'll update you on anything I try.

I'm going to try these with whole wheat flour next time, if it works I'll update the recipe.

Sausage Cheddar Muffins

Ingredients:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour 

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder 

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder

1 Cup Milk

1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter (melted)

2 Eggs (slightly beaten)

1 Cup Breakfast Sausage (cooked, crumbled, and drained)

1 1/2 Cups Cheddar Cheese (shredded)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, grease 12 muffin cups, or use liners. (I prefer to make these in liners, the cheese tends to stick to the sides of the cup, even in a well greased cup.)

As with most muffin recipes it's best to use a bowl and a wooden spoon, if you use a mixer you can over mix them leading to flat and tough muffins.

In a large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion.  

Add in your milk and melted butter and mix well.  Add your eggs and mix until everything is incorporated, it's okay to have some lumps.  

Fold in the sausage and cheese, until just incorporated.  

Fill muffin cups to about 3/4 full.  Bake for 20-23 minutes, let cool 10 minutes and then remove from the pan and let cool fully on a baking rack.  They can be kept in a plastic container in the fridge for a week, or in a freezer bag in the freezer for up to two months.

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COOK: Strawberry Muffins

Muffins are always a big hit around here, both sweet and savory.  They are great for quick breakfasts, or snacks, and very easy to make. 

I have a basic muffin mix recipe I usually use, but I decided to try something a little different for these muffins, and they were a hit!  Since we are hitting the end of strawberry season I decided I had better post this recipe quickly! 

If you have strawberries that are getting ready to go bad you can chop them up and freeze them and then make these muffins over the winter, just defrost them and squeeze out any extra liquid.

Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour (plus a bit extra to dust your strawberries)

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (melted)

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Sour Cream 

2 Cups Fresh Strawberries (cut into about 1/4 inch pieces)

Preparation:

You don't want to use a mixer for muffins, they are easy to over mix, I prefer to use my wooden spoon.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, grease 12 muffin cups, or use liners.

In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  

Add in your vanilla and melted butter, mix well before adding in eggs (make sure your mixture isn't hot from the melted butter, you don't want to cook your eggs!) and finally your sour cream.  Mix until everything is incorporated, but don't over mix, it will lead to flat muffins.  

Finally add about a teaspoon of flour to your strawberries and toss to coat them (This keeps them from falling to the bottom of the muffin and burning.)  Then gently fold the strawberries into your batter.

Fill your muffin cups almost to the top.  

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.  

Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from your muffin pan and cooling on a wire rack.  Store any leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week.  (If they last that long!)

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COOK: Butter-Dip Biscuits

If you are looking for a good, simple, and basic biscuit recipe, you've found it! 

Butter-Dip Biscuits are great with sausage gravy, breakfast sandwiches, or KC's Chipped beef with blue cheese sauce.

These are also great with butter, honey, or jelly.  They reheat well in the oven or microwave. 

These are called "buttermilk biscuits".  I never buy buttermilk, if I can find it at the market I'd have more than I could use, so I make fake buttermilk.  (Explanation below.)

Butter-Dip Biscuits

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Salted Butter

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 Cup Buttermilk (Measure out 1 3/4 cups whole or 2% milk, add 1 1/2 Tablespoon white vinegar, stir and let sit about 10 minutes, now you have buttermilk substitute.)

Preparation:

Preheat over to 450 degrees.  

Melt the butter, then pour it into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Slowly add in buttermilk, mixing until everything is wet and clumpy.  

Pour dough into baking dish, the butter will run over the top, that is a good thing! 

Push the dough into the corners and try to flatten it so it's about same height throughout the pan.

Bake for 20-24 minutes, until golden on top.  

Let cool a few minutes, then cut into squares.

Store any leftovers in a zippy bag or plastic container in the fridge.  

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COOK: Banana Oat Muffins

KC loves granola bars for his work breakfasts, or a piece of The Best Banana Bread.  I've tried several different granola bar recipes but they either fall apart too easily in his lunch box, or are sticky and not great to eat at work.  So, I decided to see if I could combine the two for an easy to eat, yummy, and healthy breakfast on the go!  KC loved them, they are very moist, but he did say that some butter helps bring them "over the top!"

Banana Oat Muffins

Ingredients:

3 Bananas (mashed)

1 Cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal

2 Eggs 

1/2 Cup Milk

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 3/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 Unsalted Butter (melted)

Preparation:

(No need to use a mixer for this recipe, you don't want to over mix the batter because it'll keep your muffins from rising.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, spray or put muffin cups into a standard muffin tin.  (12 muffins)

In a large bowl mash your bananas, then add you oatmeal and mix well.  Add your eggs, milk, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix until everything is combined.  Mix in Sugar.

Add your flour, and then pour your butter on top, mix until everything is wet and you don't see any large lumps.  

Fill your prepared muffin tin, the filling should be almost to the top.  

Bake for 20-24 minutes.  Remove and let cool on a cold burner or baking rack for 10 minutes before removing, let them finish cooling on your baking rack.  

Store in zippy bags or an air tight container in your pantry or fridge.  

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COOK: Breakfast Burritos to Freeze

Yesterday I made 22 breakfast burritos for the freezer, they are great to have around for quick breakfasts or to throw into lunches when you don't have time to pack something else.

I don't have an exact recipe, since I always just use what I have on hand, and you can add whatever your family prefers.

One tip: don't add salsa or other sauce if freezing, it tends to make the burritos soggy, if I'm packing them for lunch I just put in a small plastic container with salsa in the bag to dip into.  

(This also works with any other type of burrito, just make sure your filling isn't too juicy!)

Breakfast Burritos to Freeze

Ingredient options:

Sausage

Bacon

Eggs

Potatoes 

Onion

Jalapenos

Green Peppers

Cheese

Preparation:

I cook my meats first, if I use sausage I cook it until it's done and then I add my already whisked eggs right on top, I prefer this method because the eggs stick to the sausage and I think it helps to keep the ratio of eggs and sausage even in the burritos.  I use about 10-12 eggs per pound of sausage.

If I also cook bacon I cook my potatoes in the bacon grease for extra flavor, to make the potatoes I chop them into about 1/2 inch cubes (skin on) then throw them into a warm cast iron pan that has some grease or oil, add some seasoned salt, garlic powder, black pepper, sometimes some cayenne pepper, and usually chopped onion, and cook until the potatoes are slightly browned, I like them to be a little crispy.  

I chop the bacon after it's cooled a bit.

Once I have everything cooked I put it all into a big bowl and mix it well (omitting the cheese).  Then let it cool a bit, otherwise the tortillas get soggy before they freeze.  

If my tortillas aren't fresh I'll wrap a stack in a moist towel and microwave about 30 seconds, it keeps them from cracking when you are folding.  

The rest is easy, dump some of your mix into the middle of a tortilla, add a generous pile of shredded cheese, fold the two side in and then roll away from you tucking any runaway topping back in.  

After I have all of my burritos rolled I get out my foil and pull off a bunch of squares of foil and start wrapping the burritos, I put it at the corner and wrap away, tucking the ends in halfway through.  (I hope that makes sense, I'll add a video as soon as I can!)

I label them with a sharpie, and then put them all into a bit freezer ziplock bag, then into the freezer.

To reheat remove them from the foil, wrap in a moist paper towel and microwave about 45 seconds, flip and microwave another 30 seconds.

Again, I'm sorry about the lack of pictures, if you have any questions please feel free to comment or message me on the Facebook page and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can!

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