A Yummy Homemade Granola Bar Recipe

You need:

2 cups old fashioned or instant oats, uncooked
1 cup flour
2/3 cup dried cherries/blueberries/craisins/raisins (your choice)
1/2 cup chopped almonds/pecans/walnuts (your choice, or none if allergies)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
3/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey (I used agave nectar, and a bit less than 1/2 cup)
2 cups finely chopped apples or pears
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350. Grease or spray a 9x13 metal baking pan. Glass works but the bars may be a bit harder to cut. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, flour, dried fruit, nuts, brown sugar, wheat germ, flaxseed, cinnamon, and salt until well combined. Stir in the oil, honey, apples or pears, vanilla, and egg until blended. Get your hand damp and use it to pat the mixture into the baking dish. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are a pale golden color. Cool completely in the dish on a wire rack. When cool, cut into 12, 18, or 24 pieces. Wrap the pieces in plastic wrap or foil, put in ziploc bags, and freeze. To eat, unwrap, and thaw in microwave on high for 1 minute.


servings based on 24 bars: 1 bar = 180 calories, 6 grams fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium, 29 g carbs, 3 g fiber

Frozen Fun

Freezing is a great way to preserve food because it changes food the least. According to the Purdue Extension, you should freeze only the highest quality produce and preserve berries, beets, asparagus, green beans, broccoli, corn, and leafy greens the same day you pick them. Pick tomatoes, apples, and peaches when they are ripe but still firm, and allow them to ripen a bit more for a few days before preserving them. For better veggies, blanch them in boiling water or steam before preserving them to stop the action of natural enzymes that cause produce to spoil and lose nutrients. To blanch: use at least one gallon of water per pound of vegetables. Bring water to a vigorous boil, then place veggies in a wire basket and lower them into the water, making sure they are covered. Put a lid on the pot and set your timer according to info below based on what veggie you are blanching. Keep the heat on high while blanching.

*asparagus - cut or leave whole - blanch 3 minutes
*lima beans - shell and sort - blanch 3 minutes
*snap, green or wax beans - cut in 1 or 2 inch pieces - blanch 3 minutes
*broccoli - soak in salt water for 30 minutes to drive off insects. Cut stalks lengthwise, leaving one inch florets for even blanching - steam for 5 minutes
*carrots - leave small carrots whole, slice or dice large carrots - blanch 3 minutes
*corn - freeze clean cobs or cut corn from cob after blanching - blanch 4 minutes
*peas - shell only what you'll blanch and freeze immediately - blanch 1.5 minutes
*sweet peppers - trim, cut out stems and seeds - blanch 3 minutes
*summer squash - cut in 1/2 inch slices - blanch 3 minutes
*apples - place slices in solution of 2 tbsp salt to 1 gal water for 15-20 minutes, drain, blanch 2 minutes and cool in cold water
*berries - steam blueberries for 1 minute to tenderize skin and make for better flavor, or just wash and freeze
*rhubarb - cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces - blanch 1 minute, cool promptly
*herbs - wash, drain, chop, and freeze. Herbs will be limp when thawed so use in cooked dishes.

What NOT to freeze: foods with very high water content, such as lettuce, cucumbers, and watermelon; celery; potatoes; raw vegetables (must be blanched first).

Ummm...wow

Ingredients in McDonald's Frappe՛

Mocha Coffee Frappe Base
Water, cream, sugar, milk, high fructose corn syrup, coffee extract, natural (botanical source) and artificial flavors, cocoa (processed with alkali), mono- and diglycerides, guar gum, potassium phosphate, disodium phosphate, carrageenan, carob bean gum, colored with (red 40, yellow 5, blue 1).

Ice
Ice

Whipped Cream
Cream, nonfat milk, water, corn syrup, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, mono-and diglycerides, carrageenan, polysorbate 80, beta carotene (color), natural (dairy and vegetable source) and artificial flavor, mixed tocopherols (vitamin E) to protect flavor. Whipping Propellant (nitrous oxide).

Chocolate Drizzle
Corn syrup, water, hydrogenated coconut oil, high fructose corn syrup, glycerin, nonfat milk, cocoa powder, cocoa (processed with alkali), food starch-modified, disodium phosphate, potassium sorbate (preservative), xanthan gum, artificial flavor (vanillin), salt, soy lecithin.

A Stolen Snack Girl post

So it's back to school time and we all know you should send your kiddos out the door with a healthy, non sugar filled breakfast. Cereal is popular, but its hard to find good cereal. My favorite website, managed by Snack Girl, recently posted the following that I thought I would share. Everyone should check out her website at www.snack-girl.com. She's full of great info!


"Back in March, I wrote Candy or Breakfast? Evaluate Your Cereal and since then I have been on a search for cereals that pass my, "Healthy or Crappy Cereal Test" (patent pending :)

The sad thing isn't that I couldn't find hardly any that I both liked and passed the test! The biggest problem with my test was the second ingredient measure. If the second ingredient was sugar, high fructose corn syrup, molasses, etc., I had decided the cereal failed.

Well, that turned out to be quite a high bar and I think it ruled out some healthy choices. I asked my new pal Cheryl Forberg what she thought. She thinks that if it has 5 grams or less of sugar per serving it is a good choice.

So here is a new version of the test using Kashi's Heart to Heart Cereal:


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Healthy or Crappy Cereal Test
1. Is the first ingredient whole grain? Yes! The first ingredient is whole oat flour.

2. Is there 5 grams or less of sugar per serving? Yes! There is 5 grams of sugar per serving.

3. One serving must provides at least 4 grams of fiber. You can remember this one with Four Fiber. Yes! It has 5 grams of fiber!


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Great! Kashi's Heart to Heart passes!

Previously on Snack Girl, I slammed Kashi for Kashi GoLean, which has 10 grams of sugar per serving. That stuff really tasted like Captain Crunch.

But, Kashi's Heart to Heart cereal is pretty tasty and has less sodium than Cheerios, but more sugar (aah, trade-offs). My kids don't love it, but I can serve it with some other cereal mixed in (like Rice Krispies) and it becomes more palatable.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!"

Food for thought

Snacking on cherries or drinking cherry juice at night can help you fall asleep. They contain tryptophan, like your Thanksgiving turkey.

A handful of almonds will help ward off pre-period headaches, ladies.

Drink green tea for thicker, lusher hair.

Eat grapes to help repair and even prevent premature dryness, fine lines, and sagging of the skin.

Complex carbs, like chickpeas (think hummus), lentils, & whole grains, can help banish a bad mood. When we are feeling blue, we crave sweets because the simple carbs prompt the brain to secrete serotonin, the calming hormone that eases depression and stress. But after the initial high, the blood sugar crashes and can make your bad mood worse. So stick to the complex carbs!

Protein rich foods can help with splitting nails. Sedentary people need half their body weight in grams of protein daily. Active people need more.

Plain yogurt can help with bad breath. The cultures in plain yogurt get rid of stinky sulfur compounds in our mouths. The sugar in breath mints just make things worse.

Eat an apple with peanut butter for an energy boost in the afternoon.

Low fat dairy can help with PMS. When women don't get enough calcium, they may experience more cramps, mood swings, and bloating. If you also get headaches, you may be low in magnesium. 1/4 cup of almonds or cashews will give you 30% of your daily magnesium needs.

Zinc-rich foods (crabmeat, yogurt, baked beans, green peas, pumpkin seeds) can help with a dry, flaky scalp or hair loss.

10 little changes you can make right now

Here's a list of 10 changes you can make right now for better health...

1. Switch from refined oils including vegetable oil to unrefined oils, such as extra virgin olive oil, flax oil, sesame oil, etc. The benefits include eliminating processed, heat-treated, & damaged fats and increasing your intake of healthy omega-3fatty acids.

2. Switch from sugar to agave nectar or honey. Both are sweeter than sugar, so you can use less in your coffee or tea. Another benefit of agave nectar is that it is low on the glycemic index, so it won't enter your body all at once and cause you to crash later.

3. Change from margarine to butter. Butter is all natural, unprocessed.

4. Change from table salt to celtic sea salts. You will be adding essential minerals that your body needs.

5. Switch from all purpose white flour to whole wheat flour, or at least go half & half when you bake.

6. Change from overly processed, conventional meats to organic meats that come from grass fed livestock and are free of hormones, antibiotics, and preservatives. You will reduce your body's toxic load.

7. Change from conventional produce (fruits & veggies) to organic. In addition to reducing that toxic load, organic produce has been shown to have a higher nutrient content. Plus it tastes better!

8. Switch from eating excessively refined carbohydrates to pairing complex carbs with protein at each meal and snack. For example, an apple paired with a tbsp. of nut butter. Protein helps you feel fuller longer, improves your mood, and keeps your blood sugar stabolized.

9. Switch from white stuff (bread, pasta, rice...) to whole grains. Foods made with white flour have basically had all the nutrients sucked out of them. Like protein, whole grains help you feel fuller longer and add fiber to your diet, which we all need daily.

10. Switch from candy, chocolate bars, and other sugary treats to dark chocolate. Look for 70% to 90% cocoa. Good quality dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants and minerals, especially magnesium.