Morgan's Granola

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal (I like old fashioned, but I use quick oats cuz thats all I got...)
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates (I don't use this and the other 2 things under this, cuz I don't like my granola filled with junk. It gets in the way, ya know?)
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dates, apricots, and cranberries and stir well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature. important note from Morgan: I don't pack it firm. I pack it loos Then when it's done baking, I let it sit until hard, then crumble it into container which I then use for various delicious reasons. =)

EASY peach pie

2 Deep Dish frozen pie pastries (usually in one package)

1 egg beaten

2 big cans of sliced Peaches (or 5 cups)

2 TBSP lemon juice

1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 c. white sugar

1/2 tsp. cinn

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

2 TBSP butter

1. Preheat oven to 450

2. Brush pie crust with egg so it doesn't get soggy.

3. gently stir peaches and juice together

4. separately mix dry ing.

5. mix peaches and dry ing.

6. dot with butter

7. add top pie crust and brush with egg

8. bake 10 min at 450 then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 30-35 min.

if the crust or top is burning cover with aluminum foil

pressure cooker hummus

Cook time: 60 minutes

Equipment:

• Food Processor (I like my KitchenAid Food Processor)
• Pressure Cooker (I like my Fagor 10 quart Duo pressure cooker)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried chickpeas, sorted and rinsed (OR: 4 cups homemade chickpeas, OR: 2 15 oz cans chickpeas)
• 4 cups water (if cooking the chickpeas)
• 2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chickpea cooking liquid (reserved from cooking the chickpeas, or water if you're using canned)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup tahini (or substitute natural peanut butter)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika (for color; smoked spanish paprika, pimenton de la vera, is my favorite)

Directions:
1. Pressure Cook the Chickpeas (optional): Put the dried chickpeas and 4 cups water in your pressure cooker, lock the lid, bring the cooker to high pressure, and cook for 40 minutes at high pressure. Then, remove from the heat and let the pressure come down naturally, another 10 to 15 minutes. Drain the beans, saving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid for use later in the recipe.
*See my Basic Technique: Pressure Cooker Beans for an overview of the technique.
**OR: Substitute make ahead Pressure Cooker Chickpeas - if they're frozen, thaw them out in the microwave before using them in the recipe.
***OR: Substitute two 15 ounce cans of chickpeas. Rinse them well, and use water instead of the chickpea broth.

dadcooksdinner.com

kimberly snyder's green smoothie

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1 head organic romaine lettuce, chopped
3-4 stalks organic celery
1/2 head of a large bunch or 3/4 of a small bunch of spinach
1 organic apple, cored and chopped
1 organic pear, cored and chopped
1 organic banana
Juice of 1/2 fresh organic lemon

optional:
1/3 bunch organic cilantro (stems okay)
1/3 bunch organic parsley (stems okay)

Directions:
Add the water and chopped head of romaine to the blender. Starting the blender at low speed, mix until smoothi. Gradually moving to higher speeds, add the celery, apple and pear. Add the cilantro and parsley, if you are choosing to add them. Add the banana and lemon juice last.• Try to drink at least 16-24 ounces a day, if not more! Stir before you drink!

• Feel free to mix your greens and fruits, as greens and fruits food combine well together (except for melons). Be sure to balance the light and darker greens, so for instance, if you want to add some kale, be sure to balance with the lighter green of celery. Bill the anchor today, mentioned he didn’t like cilantro. No problem! Just leave it out and use another green instead, or up the quantities of the other greens.

• * If you are diabetic and prefer to cut out all high glycemic fruit, you can omit the banana. Otherwise, I suggest keeping it in, as it adds a nice consistency and taste.

• ** It is important to blend until all “chunks” are removed from the mixture. There are a lot of nutrients encased into the cell walls of the green plants, and these need to be ruptured so full nutrition is available upon consumption without much digestive work. If you don’t have a great blender, you may have to blend longer and the smoothie will get warm. In that case, be sure to make it the night before, so it will be nice and cool by breakfast time!

www.kimberlysnyder.net

Jenn's spring rolls

pkg. egg roll wraps

3/4 pkg of cabbage salad

5-6 shredded carrots

4 stalks celery chopped

4 green onions chopped

1 yellow pepper chopped

1 yellow onion chopped

1 can water chestnuts-sliced

1 can great northern beans

1/2c. egg whites

3 eggs

sauce:

1 tsp. sesame oil

soy sauce

rice vinegar

salt

pepper

garlic powder

ginger

thyme

cook up veggies until just tender put in large bowl. cook up eggs and whites add that to bowl add sauce to bowl and stir up to taste.

roll into 20 egg rolls. rub egg white on them so they are crispy.

bake at 425 for about 15-20 min.?? flipping half way through.

dipping sauce:

1/4c. water

1/4c. soy sauce

1tsp. corn starch

2TBSP sugar

2 TBSP rice vinegar

2 cloves of minced and crushed garlic

heat for 2-3 minutes in a small pan until sugar is dissolved.

Marie's Black Bean Salad

black beans

corn

celery

red bell pepper

olive oil

onion

red wine vinegar

cilantro

Marie's Mango Salsa

2 T. diced (super fine) purple onion

2 mangos

1 T. cilantro-fresh

tiny bit chopped jalepeno