Easy Homemade Granola Recipe (Plus Another Giveaway!)

I'm not kidding when I say this recipe is easy.  It only has 4 ingredients!  I love homemade granola, and since I've been using coconut oil in it I like it even better! 




You will need:

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup almonds (sliced or chopped)

Directions:

Melt coconut oil  and honey.

Add oats and almonds and stir until coated evenly.

Spread into a thin layer on a baking sheet.

Bake at 300 degrees for 12 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

As if it weren't enough for me to give you an easy and delicious recipe, I'm also going to give one of you a gallon of  Tropical Traditions Virgin coconut oil, thanks to the kind folks from Tropical Traditions.

Here is a little more information about the coconut oil:

Tropical Traditions is America's source for coconut oil. Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil? You can also watch the video they produced about Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil:

Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the  advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

If you place an order through any of the links in this post, you'll also receive a free copy of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil Book.

To enter the giveaway, just log in to the form below with your email address or Facebook account then follow the instructions on the form. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blender Pancakes

I mentioned in my post about grinding wheat in the blender that I would be trying out a recipe for blender pancakes and letting you know how it went.

Well, here it is!



 Ingredients: 
1 cup milk
3/4 cup whole wheat berries
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:  In a glass blender, blend milk and wheat berries for 4 minutes on high.  Add baking powder, brown sugar, eggs, and salt and blend for 1 minute on low.  Pour batter onto hot griddle and cook until bubbles form on the surface.  Flip pancakes and cook for an additional 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Can I just say that this is great?!  I loved the fact that I used only 3/4 cup of my wheat berries rather than a whole bag like I used when I made bread!   (By the way, I ordered my wheat berries from Vitacost since you get a free $10 coupon when you create an account.)  The wheat berries ground up so much better when they were combined with a liquid, and the pancakes were delicious!  I also loved the fact that I could just dump everything into the blender and pour the batter directly onto the griddle.

I'll definitely be making these again!

  

This post may be linked to one of these parties.
Disclosure: The link in this post is my referral link.

How to Grind Wheat in a Blender

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As requested, here are the results of my experiment with grinding wheat in the blender.  I love cooking with whole foods, but I've never baked with freshly ground wheat before.  I don't have a wheat grinder, and I certainly didn't intend on spending the money for one if it were possible to grind it in a blender.

Step one: Get some wheat berries.  I ordered mine from Vitacost since you get a free $10 coupon when you create an account.  I didn't feel like spending good money on an experiment when I knew it might not work.

I used hard white wheat berries, but I wouldn't think it would make much difference what kind you use.

Step Two:  Get your blender ready to go.  Do not let the brand name of my blender fool you.  KitchenAid mixers are definitely 10 steps ahead of any other mixer, but their blenders?  Eh...not my favorite by any means.  All that to say - even if you have a cheap blender, it will probably work just fine.

Step 3:   Add the wheat berries and start grinding.  I only ground about a cup at a time.  The wheat berries jumped so high when I turned it on that I was afraid if I added any more the flour would start flying out the top of the blender.

Step four: I found that I needed to let it run on high for about 2 minutes. If I ground for less time it still had chunks. And if I ground for more time, it didn't seem to get any more fine, but the motor started heating up the flour.

Step five: Bake some bread or rolls using your favorite whole wheat bread recipe.  I actually made some of both.  My bread didn't turn out too pretty, but you get the idea.

My conclusion:  The blender definitely does not get the flour very fine.  The dough feels very gritty when you're working with it.  But as you can see from the pictures, it is still very useable.  (How pretty your bread turns out just depends on how good of a cook you are - which I'm obviously not the greatest!)


I'm very curious now to try out a recipe I saw for Blender Pancakes!  You grind the wheat in the blender along with the other pancake ingredients and then pour them onto the griddle!

Maybe soon you'll see a post on how that turned out! 

This post may be linked to one of these parties.

Bread Machine Pizza Crust

 I love my bread machine.  I use it at least a couple times a week, usually to make dough of some sort.  It took me quite a while, though, to find recipes that worked well every time.  Sometimes a recipe would work great once, but the next time it would turn out awful.  It took me forever to find a pizza crust recipe that I liked, so I would often end up buying a mix.  I'd much rather make it homemade, so I was very happy when I found this recipe.  I have been using it all the time, and haven't had a bad batch yet! 


Ingredients:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 T milk
2 T olive oil
1 1/4 t. salt
1 T sugar
3 cups bread flour
2 t bread machine yeast



Run on dough cycle.  When the cycle is complete, roll out onto a large round pizza pan.  I like to use the kind with holes in the bottom.  The dough should not be terribly sticky, but you will still want to put a little cooking spray on your pan and on your hands as you roll it out.  After I roll out the crust, I like to put it over top of my oven vent while the oven preheats.  This gives the crust a chance to rise a little bit, and it also cooks the bottom of the crust ever so slightly so that it doesn't get soggy when you put the sauce on it.    Let it sit there for about 10 minutes, then top and cook at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. 



This post may be linked to one of these parties.

Mashed Potato Soup Recipe

I really wasn't planning on posting this because I honestly just threw some stuff in the crockpot trying to use up leftovers. But it turned out so well that I have to post it so I can remember what I did. I thought some of my readers might like to have a recipe that uses up leftover mashed potatoes and tastes delicious!

Here's what I did:

Half a crockpot full of leftover mashed potatoes
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of chopped carrots
1 large head of broccoli
6 slices of bacon, cooked and cut into small pieces

Mix it all together and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

When it's all done the mashed potatoes just sort of melt into the liquid making an incredibly thick and creamy soup. This is honestly the best potato soup I've ever made!


I'm linking this post to Real Food Wednesday.

New Recipes

I am always saving recipes that I want to try, but somehow never get around to actually trying them. Well, I finally tried out not one, but three new recipes! And, all three of them were keepers!

I found all of these on Pinterest.

The first one was called Hootenanny. It bubbles up in the strangest way, but it is so easy! I thought that for the small amount of effort it took to make it, it tasted plenty good! I timed myself, and it literally took only 5 minutes to get this into the oven. It's a perfect breakfast on a busy morning.


Blend up 1 c. white flour, 1 c. milk, 6 eggs, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Pour batter into greased 9x13 pan. Then, pour 1/2 cube melted butter over the top (do not mix). Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. Cut in pieces, drizzle with Maple Syrup, serve.



Then I tried this BLT Pasta Salad. It was a big hit! So, so good!
Last night I made this Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Braid. I actually made my own crescent dough for this. If you already have chicken cooked up (which I usually do) and if you keep bread dough in the freezer (which I aspire to do, :) it's really quick and easy.


What new recipes have you gotten around to trying lately?