Granola

Today I am making home-made Granola. It is a recipe my mom has been making for years - and still makes for my step-dad. After many weeks of craving Cinnamon Toast Crunch I've decided to try to eat a bit healthier & cheaper and just make my own cereal. Plus, this tends to stick with me better and longer than a silly bowl of CTC. It's so yummy -like a bowl of cookie!



So, in the spirit of giving and sharing, I will be so nice to share with you below the greatest granola recipe! Enjoy!

Granola

1 C Honey
1/2 C Vegetable Oil
Stir together in a saucepan until melted. Remove from heat.
Add:
1 Tbsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Almond extract
Set aside

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients:
9 C Oats
2 C Wheat or Oat Germ
2 C Sunflower seeds (shelled, obviously!)
1/2C Brown Sugar
7 oz Shredded Coconut (I prefer unsweetened, but to each their own)
2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Nutmeg

Drizzle honey mix over dried ingredients & mix. Divide mix up onto 2 cookie sheets (sprayed with Pam or something similar) with 1-2" sides. Spread evenly & put in 350 degree oven for 8min. Rotate sheets top to bottom & back to front, bake another 8 minutes until edges are browning, like an oatmeal cookie. Remove from oven & stir while cooling. This is important - if you don't stir while cooling the oatmeal will form one big sheet and will be a mess! Once it is thoroughly cooled store in an air-tight container. Granola should be good for about 2 weeks in the container. You can always freeze it if you need to.

Yum!!!!!

Teenage Boy vs Preglet

Who knows what this is:

1 Cup of Nonfat Milk

1 Plain Bagel w/Light Cream Cheese

1 Bottle of Water

1 Fruit Smoothie (Berries, Pineapple, Banana, Orange Juice)

2 Hard Boiled Eggs

3 Graham Crackers

6 oz Vanilla Non Fat Yogurt

1 Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwich on Wheat Bread

10 Apple Slices

4 Marshmallow Bunnies

1 Bottle of Water

4 Slices of Cheddar Cheese

8 Saltine Crackers

1 Bottle of Water

1 Apple Sauce Pack

25 Peanut Butter Pretzels

1 Serving Orange Chicken

1 Serving Brown Rice

1 Cup Nonfat Milk

2 Joe Joe Cookies

To most people they would guess it is the food consumed by an entire family over the course of 1 day... but no, sadly that is what I am consuming on a daily basis. Variances occur... for instance yesterday I ate oatmeal instead of 2 hard boiled eggs but the pure mass quantity of food is comparable. Yes, it is true... I am pregnant with the worlds hungriest blueberry-sized fetus in the world. I have actually gotten to the point where eating is not fun anymore. You know the trick where if you make someone smoke 20 cigarettes in a row they won't ever want to touch them again because it makes them so sick? That is how I feel about many things. I am trying to push through because I know 2 things: 1) it is good for my little blueberry's development and 2) eating makes me feel better.

I am one of the lucky few that does not really have traditional morning sickness. I have not thrown up. But I do experience constant nausea unless I am eating. Thus, I eat constantly. I could put most teenage boys to shame! When your husband looks at you and says "an entire package of top ramen is not a snack" you've crossed over to the other side. You are at a whole new level. I am at that level.

Next post... why tights are no longer a part of my wardrobe.

It's the little things..

We had a productive day yesterday... A while ago we made a "master list" of all of the household things we needed to do - some small, some pretty decent projects. Yesterday we actually got to cross a few off the list!

First was our shower door - bye -bye! I don't know about you but we weren't fans of our glass shower doors. The seemed to be dirty all the time & noisy and just a pain. So, Mark ripped them off yesterday & replaced them with a nice white shower curtain. Already the bathroom feels bigger & is definitely much brighter!

Next he installed a door guard for our sliding glass door. Since the construction of some of the doors in this house leave us questioning their reliability we're doing what we can to make them a bit stronger. So, in comes the door guard. A simple metal bar that rests between the far side of the door and the back of the actual sliding door. Keeps unwanted people or big animals out!

And last but definitely not least, Mark ripped off the cabinet doors and moved them over so they actually shut now. Before you pretty much had to throw your entire body into the doors to get them to close & stay closed but now it is so simple. I love it.

So... now you're asking "what did YOU do?" It is true... Mark spearheaded all of the above improvements even though I was the one who navigated Home Depot to find silicone caulking and razor blades. But while he was being Handy Manny I was making Creme Brulee and Tomato Soup from scratch... so THERE! Both turned out amazing, by the way.

Another productive day at the Lepperchaun farm!

Eating Healthy

To keep in line with my new year's resolution of being healthy, I have started buying alot of organic, kosher, free-range, hormone & antibiotic free.. everything.

Last night Mark and I decided to make hamburgers for dinner with a nice side salad - using organic lettuce & tomatoes and hormone/antibiotic free, vegetarian fed, free range ground beef... thank you Trader Joes!

This is my burger. Simple with just a touch of mustard.

And this... is Mark's burger. Complete with 2x as much meat as mine... and don't forget the bbq sauce, sauteed onions & cheddar cheese to complete it.







I'm not sure we're on the same wave length!

Birthday Treats... the adventure story

I am a big fan of channels like the Food Network or Bravo, Travel Channel - anything that showcases food or cooking. Recently while watching an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives I learned about Bacon Donuts (you have to imagine the heavenly choir singing on your own when I say "Bacon Donuts"..). So, I shared this new-found-treasure with my bacon-adoring husband - immediately his eyes sort of went watery at the mere thought of bacon as a topping on a donut. It's like Homer Simpson's dream coming into reality.



**Side Note... I should have learned long ago to watch what I repeat to my husband. After watching an episode of Paula Deen where she described how she puts little pea-sized pieces of butter in with her hamburger meat to keep it "juicy" he has made this hamburger regiment number one. So much for paying extra for super lean meat! Continuing on...



So, today is my husband's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!) and I asked him if he'd like to take a treat to work to share for his special day and he immediately answered "bacon donuts." I should have guessed. Onto the google-machine I went and spliced together my very own recipe for bacon donut holes. For those of you ready to jump on the exciting adventure... please continue reading.



Bacon Donuts, adapted

Ingredients:

2 tubes of Grands Biscuits

1 tbsp cinnamon

3-5 cups of vegetable oil



Cut each biscuit in quarters, sprinkle with cinnamon & roll into balls. Heat oil to 375 degrees ("deep frying" temp) - use candy thermometer for accuracy. If the oil gets too hot the holes burn.. we learned that first-hand. Drop 6-8 holes into the oil & let them cook for about 3 minute total. They will start to turn over by themselves but it's a good idea to make sure they're evenly fried on each side. Remove & place on paper towels to remove excess grease.



Glaze:

1 1/4 c Powdered Sugar

1/4 c Maple Syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together - if it comes out too thick, add a bit more syrup or a bit of milk (tsp at a time) until it is a glaze consistency. Dip each donut hole into the glaze -we chose to only dip half but that is up to you. Set on a piece of parchment/wax paper (glaze-side up) and sprinkle with chopped bacon. We used almost an entire package of bacon for this batch but that is at your discretion.



Let the holes set for about 30 minutes or so & either enjoy right away or place in an air-tight container for sharing later with friends! Makes 64 donut holes (wow! that sounds like alot!)



Enjoy!!!

(ps: sorry for the lack of pictures... I couldn't get it out of my husbands cell phone!)

Getting Healthy

It occurs to me that the holidays are looming somewhere close and that always sends my metabolism into hiding for a few months. I always find it amazing that in two fell swoops (namely Thanksgiving & Christmas) that I can go from a fairly normal, healthy girl to Hilda the Bohemoth Woman who's jeans are way too tight and has the energy of a slug baby. NOT THIS YEAR!

As soon as the sun decided to get it's lazy butt out of bed an hour earlier... so did I... and I started running in the mornings again. I always feel so much better when I run in the mornings - I am ready for bed at 8:15pm, but definitely feel better. Plus, I love our neighborhood early in the morning - when people are just starting to get up and move about. Houses are quiet, streets are still, sprinklers are doing their thing - it's very peaceful. Well, until I come running through with a quasi-asthmatic wheeze desperately trying not to keel over while singing the lyrics to one or another Miley Cyrus song. But enough about that..

I am also very excited about the prospect of the new workout DVD that is to be finding its way to me sometime "after the 17th" - the Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred. Compliments of my bestie, Kaija, I am guaranteed results from this bad boy. My Question is, does she yell insults at you from the DVD? I secretly hope so!

And last but definitely not least - I am going back to Weight Watchers. I joined WW a bit over 2 1/2 years ago and was very successful at it... and then decided I didn't need it anymore and I figured that I could do everything on my own. It is humbling how wrong I was. So - I am back and with a vengeance!

Watch out holidays! I'm on to you and your wiley ways!

Misadventures in Eating... trying to be Half a Skinny Bitch

My husband and I are about to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary & like all couples we are starting to think towards the future & our potential family-to-be. So, in my greatest efforts to be a proactive future-mother I have started to read all about how to be healthy when trying to conceive, etc.

I started reading Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven & I have to be honest that it is a bit intimidating. It takes the normal "don't drink caffeine, don't eat raw fish" dos & don'ts of pregnancy and straight kicks it in the soft stuff! I am only on chapter 6 but I am already asking myself, "How am I alive?! I've been eating dairy & meat and eating sugar substitutes for years! How do I not have 6 arms coming out of my forehead?!" The Skinny Bitches, if you will, fill their chapters with a barrage of information about not only certain health risks for many of the daily-consumed foods on my menu (and probably 90% of America!) but it also blows the whistle on the FDA & food industry giants for certain less-than-legit test results and statistics. It reminds me alot of the second part of Fast Food Nation - the part that goes in-depth on the meat industry. Eek!

With all of this newly discovered knowledge I have already decided to make a few changes with my eating habits. First and foremost (and probably hardest) was giving up soda & most sugar substitutes. SB goes into detail on some of our most favorite sugar substitutes - worst of all the faves being Aspartame. I think I've known for sometime that aspartame was bad but it wasn't until my dad told me that he had given it up & that action was helping with his arthritis that it really started to make me think that maybe this stuff really was poison! Then, when SB put up a big stink about it & elaborated on the questionable way that it was approved by the FDA I decided that I could probably live without it. So... Buh-Bye Soda.

Next was dairy. I won't go into detail because it is rather high on the "eeeww" factor, but I have decided to try something new on my granola during the morning commute. Today I tried Almond Milk.. and I have to say I was happily surprised. It just sort of tastes like a light-almond flavored liquid (umm.. yeah.. that's because that is what it is!). I enjoyed it very much. So, I'm 1 for 1. Feeling braver & braver, I decide to try Soy Yogurt with my lunch. I cannot say that it leaves me as happy as almond milk, but it is also not the worst thing I've eaten in recent history. It's a bit grainier than dairy yogurt and has sort of a heavier flavor, but all-in-all ok. It will probably not make a headlining appearance in my lunch, but is a good alternate option.

I have to admit that looking so closely at food & health has stressed me out a bit. I realize that so much of the food we consume on a day-to-day basis is just really not good for you. And I am a relatively healthy eater too - not alot of processed foods here. My wise friend, Tina (also a reader of the SB), advised me to find my groove with food. So, that is what I will do. Some of it is just about me asking the question: Why do I eat this? and some of it is making consciously better decisions about my health and my future child's health.

I know this is a completely new avenue for my posts - away from paint & baked goods. But I figured that lots of women go through this when they're trying to make good choices - so, I'm sharing my misadventures. Next... soy butter!