Gluten-free Granola Bars

I love to carry granola bars in my purse so I have something to eat in case I'm not around a store or just have to eat on the run.  However gluten-free granola bars are expensive!  So after buying them for awhile I decided to make my own.  This recipe seemed really easy (the same difficulty level as rice krispy treats), so I decided to try it out.  I didn't have all of the ingredients but I did have stuff that would work, so I improvised, and they turned out amazing!  I gave some to eight different friends, none of whom have to eat gluten-free, and they all loved them.  Their comments included telling me I should sell these and asking me if I would make more of them tomorrow.

What I used this time was: 2 cups gluten-free certified oatmeal, 2 cups of Honey Nut Chex (crushed up), diced pecans, a handful of craisins, 1 cup of chocolate chips, 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter, and 1 cup of maple syrup (highly recommended!).

This recipe didn't make nearly as much as I thought it would!  Next time I will definitely double the recipe.  They don't really taste like granola bars.  They taste more like no-bake cookies (which is not a bad thing in my book!)  Next time I want to make some with more craisins, white chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips, coconut, almonds, and honey and corn syrup, because I don't want them to taste peanut buttery.

These were super easy to make.  They were done in ten minutes, aside from setting up.  I will definitely keep making variations of them instead of buying expensive granola bars.  The ingredients are way cheaper and last for more than one use.  I definitely recommend this recipe, especially for kids who have to eat gluten-free.  They can even help make it!  And it's really easy to customize to your own tastes and dietary needs.  Let me know if you make these and what you used in yours!

More photos:

Food Friday: Caprese Salad

So I hung out with G one night last week.  He wanted to barbecue but it was hot weather and I don't always like to eat hot food when it's hot out.  So we made salad, Caprese salad, which I had never made before, but it was super simple.  I didn't use a recipe, but here is what I did.  (And it's even easier if you don't care about making it look pretty)

Obtain about an equal amount of mozzarella and tomato.  We got two things of mozzarella and two tomatoes that were about the same size as the mozzarella, but only ended up using half.  Obtain fresh basil. (it might be impossible to find at Safeway and then when you go to QFC, you can't find it either so you ask someone and they literally say they "hide it here" when they show you where it is)  Obtain balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  (If you need it to be gluten-free, make absolutely sure that these two things are gluten-free.  The other ingredients should be gluten-free but check the cheese just to be safe.)  Dice up the tomato and mozzarella.  If you want it to pretty, try to cut it all the same size and arrange it in a checkerboard pattern.  If you don't care if it's pretty, just cut it up and put about the same amount of each on the plate.  Chop up some basil and sprinkle it on top.  Drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil on everything, then eat it.  Easy.

I gave G the prettiest looking one and took the one with the triangle pieces, because I am a nice chef.

Food Friday: Soup-er Simple Meal Idea

We ate this for dinner the other night and it is so simple to make.  If you're a carnivore like G and I, you can start by browning some ground beef in a skillet.  If you're a vegetarian, just skip that step.  Boil some water and cook the amount of pasta you want to eat until it's al dente.  Drain the water, then put the noodles in the pan with the ground beef once it's done cooking.  If you're a vegetarian drain the water, then put the noodles back in the pot you cooked them in.  Pour in some of any kind of creamy soup as a sauce then stir it until the soup is brought up to a good temperature for eating.  Then you just eat it.  The soup that we used was called Loaded Baked Potato with Bacon.  It sounds like a flavor of chips but I swear it's a soup.  I think it is Progresso brand.  Other good flavors would include: cream of chicken, cream of celery, and cream of mushroom.  You could actually use any kind of soup you wanted, not just creamy soups, but it would be more like a noodle soup than a pasta with sauce then.

Healthy Fish and Chips

I made this a couple of weeks ago, but I've had so many other things to post about that I'm just now sharing it.  G's mom gave us a beautiful halibut fillet.  I'd never cooked fish before.  I learned that fish cooks waaaaaaaaaaaay faster than chicken.  The bottom of my piece got a little bit burnt but it was still delicious.

Sidenote: I think that I may have to do a broccoli intervention for G. He wants it every single night : )

I cooked the broccoli the way I usually do now, with a little bit of salt and pepper in a sauce of equal parts extra virgin olive oil, worcestershire sauce, and honey.  I just cook the broccoli, turning it occasionally, until it gets nice and bright green.  If you cook it to mush, almost all of the healthy nutrients get cooked out.  I battered the fish with flour mixed with some sage, some oregano, and salt and pepper. Then I cooked it in the sauce left in the pan that I cooked the broccoli in. 

For the "chips" portion of the fish and chips, I washed some potatoes, then diced them up without peeling them.  I cooked them with a seasoning of some sage, some oregano, salt and pepper, and a little paprika.  I fried them in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil.

To make this healthier, substitute olive oil with coconut oil.

This is a Post About Nachos

I could say that this post is an analogy for how it takes all kinds of people to make the world work, but it's not. I just like nachos. And I made some recently.  So there will be pictures.  Nachos are a great food for when you aren't starving to death.  If you think you'll be really hungry in about 20 minutes, then nachos are a perfect food to make.  The great thing is that you can put as many or as few toppings on as you would like and they still taste amazing either way.  They obviously taste amazinger with more toppings (Yeah, I know that's not a word.)  And you can put anything on them that you want, which is pretty much true of literally any food, but whatever.  Nachos are just melted cheese on chips.  That's all. Which makes them really affordable if you don't add other toppings.  But G and I like to add other toppings.  For one thing, we are meatatarians (also not a real word, so sue me, but don't really sue me please), so I browned a bunch of hamburger to sprinkle liberally on top of our nachos.  We also added some diced onions, as well as jalapenos to only G's half, because spicy food and I do not mix.  Then we stuck them in the oven at an arbitrary temperature (it may or may not have been 350, I don't remember) until both layers of cheese were nice and melty.  Then we pulled them out and piled on diced tomatoes, more onions, guacamole, and sour cream.  I couldn't even finish my whole plate before getting full.  But they were delicious indeed, so delicious that G ate all the leftovers by dinnertime the next day.  Here are some pictures, of G's plate, because I just fail at my sour cream dolloping skills.

Om nom nom

Now quit drooling all over your keyboard and go make your own.

How to Make Yummy Food

I feel like I should tell you guys that I have a wrist brace on my dominant hand, so it's really hard to type right now.  It sucks because it's putting my Etsy stuff on hold until it heals.  And I can't take pictures either.  Since my camera's battery door pretty much needs to be held shut with one hand while pushing the button with the other hand, that's basically impossible now.

Anyway, G is a culinary genius more or less.  I wanted a McChicken from McDonald's on Friday (Don't judge me).  G suggested that I make my own variation instead since we have some chicken in the freezer that needs used up.  So I did, and they were so delicious that we both wanted them again for lunch the next day.  So I made them again.  First, a picture of the finished product.

with sweet potato fries and this delicious vintage looking cream soda that I just discovered at Safeway

How to make the "Awesome Burger" (G named it):

First you take some thawed chicken.  You tenderize it and then cut it into the size that will fit onto a bun.  Set up a breading station which means you need one dish with an egg and a little bit of milk whisked together until it's smooth, then in the other dish put: enough flower to bread however much chicken you're making, some garlic powder, some salt and pepper, and some basil flakes (I never measure and you could actually use any spices you want, those are just the ones I used).  Mix the dry ingredients together until it's fairly well blended.  You can use a fork or your hands for that.  It just needs mixed enough that there aren't any places with way too much seasoning.  Dip your chicken piece into the egg mixture on both sides.  Then dip it into the flour mixture until it's fairly well coated on both sides.  Put it in a frying pan with a little olive oil (or vegetable oil).  Then you fry it until the chicken is fully cooked all the way through, which means that you have to flip it after a while.  What we did with it after that was put it on a toasted onion bun with a little mayo, then top it with lettuce, tomato, and pepper jack cheese.  It was delicious like that, but you can use whatever toppings and condiments you want.  And that's it.  Enjoy.