Granola bars are such a great breakfast or snack.  I usually snack on almonds throughout the day but this week I decided granola bars would be a nice change for me so I made Giada's Chewy Granola Bars from her cookbook "Giada's Feel Good Food".  I actually followed the recipe and only made minor changes to it, and the granola bars turned out perfect!



The recipe called for 1/3 cup of raisins, 1/3 cup of dried cranberries and 6 dried apricots.  I'm not a huge fan of raisins so I added extra dried cranberries and I doubled the amount of dried apricots because I love apricots.  The recipe also calls for chopped almonds but I used sliced almonds instead.

3/4 cup honey
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup flaxseed meal
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
12 dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.  Then place tin foil or parchment paper into the baking dish and spray the tin foil or parchment paper with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk the honey, grapeseed oil, egg whites and vanilla extract until blended.  In a separate bowl, whisk the oats, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together.  Then pour into the honey mixture.  Stir until combined.  Then add the almonds, walnuts, dried apricots and cranberries into the mixture and stir until combined.  Pour the mixture into your baking dish and spread the mixture with a spatula. 

Bake for about 35 minutes. 

Cool for about 30 minutes before removing the tin foil or parchment paper from the baking dish.  Then cut into squares.

This makes about 15 - 20 granola bars.

I used to follow every step to every recipe I tried and if I didn't like it, I just didn't make it again.  Over the years, I've learned I can take a recipe and change it until I like it.  These days it's actually very rare for me to follow a recipe exactly as it's written. 

The first recipe I took apart and made my own was a Sunny Anderson muffin recipe. I made her recipe a couple of times but decided there were some things I wanted to change.  Her recipe called for strawberries, bananas, blueberries and nutmeg with only a pinch of cinnamon.    

First I decided to eliminate the strawberries and bananas because I thought there was just too much going on in those muffins.   With those gone, I liked the muffins better but I still wasn't completely happy with the recipe.  The flavor of the nutmeg was too strong so I decided to add more cinnamon and less nutmeg.  It took me a couple of attempts to figure out the right amount of cinnamon but now the recipe is exactly the way I want it. 

This recipe is one of my favorites not only because the muffins are delicious but also because this recipe made me realize how much I love to cook, bake and create new foods.  I hope you all enjoy my blueberry muffins as much as I do! :)




This recipe makes 12 muffins.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 tsp. raw sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Make sure you spray the muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, canola oil, and sugar together.

Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients.  Using a mixer, mix the ingredients until combined.  Then fold in the blueberries and walnuts.

Using an ice cream scoop, drop the batter into the muffin tin.  I sprinkle raw sugar over the top of each muffin before putting them in the oven.  The raw sugar creates a crust on top of the muffins which I think perfects the recipe. ;)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.


Do you have any recipes that are special to you?  I'd love to hear about them! :)
 

TGIF!!!!  I'm so glad it's finally the weekend!  Luke and I rented a movie so we're going to have a quiet evening at home.  I'm so excited for our quiet night at home after having such a long, crazy week at work.

Before I sign off for the week, I wanted to share a yummy treat I found last week...a cream cheese spread with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Oh my goodness, it is so delicious!  It's actually Wal-Mart brand (the Great Value brand) and it's a "Limited Edition" so I'm not sure how long they're going to have it on the shelves.  I've decided I'm going to have to go back and stock up on it before it disappears. 

For breakfast this week, I've been eating the cream cheese spread on an English Muffin and it's such a treat.  I've looked forward to it every morning.  It's kind of like eating cream cheese icing on an English Muffin.  It's delish!  I can't imagine how amazing the cream cheese spread would be with  apple slices but I'm going to find out this weekend. ;)

As I've mentioned, I'm a pescatarian so sausage biscuits are not an option for me anymore.  I had always loved sausage biscuits, sausage balls, chili with sausage and dips with sausage so sausage is something I've actually missed.

One of my friends has high cholesterol (it runs in her family) so her doctor recommended that she limit the amount of meat she eats which has actually helped lower her cholesterol.  One afternoon, I was explaining to my friend that I had found alternatives to most meals/meats but I had not found an alternative for sausage.  Thank goodness for my friend!  She asked me if I'd tried the Morning Star Farms Original Sausage Patties.  I told her I hadn't tried them because I'd thought they'd be awful.  She told me I had to try them because they taste just like a real sausage patty and the texture is even like an actual sausage patty.  She was so right!!!


The "sausage patties" are such a treat for me!  For breakfast this week, I'm eating one "sausage patty" on half of a toasted, buttered whole wheat bagel.

The sausage patties are so easy to cook.  Just spray the skillet with cooking spray, then place the frozen sausage patty in the skillet and brown both sides.  Once both sides are browned, it's ready to eat!   I highly recommend you give these "sausage patties" a try.