Chocolatey Coconut Almond Granola

I found this recipe for Coconut Pecan Chocolate granola on Pinterest and knew I had to try it. I made a couple changes the first time I made it, just almonds instead of pecans and dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet, and it was so good still. I put this recipe into My Fitness Pal and it has a lot of calories per serving, but it is so filling! One serving, 1/2 a cup, has like almost 600 calories but it keeps me full until lunch which nothing else does. I always have to have a snack at 10-11 but not when I eat this. I decided yesterday to make a big batch of granola to have for breakfast all week. I wanted to see if I could make some changes to cut back the grams of sugar and bring the calories down while keeping it filling. I cut the chocolate in half and cut down on the honey and it was still delicious! Not quite as good as the measurements in the original recipe but still really delicious! This recipe is for about 8 servings.

Ingredients:
4 c old fashioned oats
1/2 c coconut oil
1/2 c honey
1 c shredded coconut
1 c chopped almonds
1/2 c dark chocolate chips, divided

Heat oven to 300 degrees. In a small bowl, add honey and coconut oil. Melt in the microwave. Start heating it for 30 seconds and stir it. If it's not all melted yet, put back in the microwave. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine oats, shredded coconut and almonds. Toss well to combine. Add melted coconut oil and honey and stir well to coat everything. Spread half on a baking sheet and spread the other half on another baking sheet. Put both pans in the oven for 15 minutes. Rotate the pans after 15 minutes and let them cook another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle 1/4 c of dark chocolate chips over each pan of granola. I like to do it when it's warm so the chocolate melts and gets all over everything. Mix everything up well. Let cool on the pans. Store in an airtight container.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto with Sausage and Veggies

This pasta is adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:
8 ounces sundried tomatoes in oil
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp grated Parmesan
12 ounces penne
12 ounces turkey sausage, cut into rounds
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
1/4-1/2 pound asparagus cut into bite size pieces
Fresh chopped basil

In a food processor, combine sun dried tomatoes, garlic and pepper flakes. Pulse to combine. Add Parmesan and stir in. Set aside. Start cooking pasta according to package directions. Start cutting up sausage. Heat a little oil in a large pan and add turkey rounds. Cut up asparagus and add when there are about 5 minutes left on the pasta. Drain pasta and put back in the pot or serving bowl. Add pesto and stir well. Add sausage and asparagus, tomatoes and basil. Stir well and serve.

Plum and Blackberry Crisp

A crisp is one of my favourite desserts. And probably my most favourite non-chocolate dessert. Fresh, seasonal fruit sweetened up with a delicious crumbly topping... Oh yum... We were at the store the other day and saw these beautiful plums on sale and I instantly knew I wanted to try a crisp with them. We got home and I got to thinking, "This would be so good with raspberries too!" Well, we couldn't find fresh raspberries but I did find some beautiful, plump blackberries on sale so I knew it was meant to be. Dramatic much? Yes, I know. Fast forward to tonight. The night to make the crisp! Crisps are so easy too! Cut up some fruit, add a few simple ingredients and make the 3 ingredient crisp topping. Into the oven it goes, and then you are enjoying a perfectly tart and sweet dessert in no time!

Ingredients:
(This made 2 big ramekin servings, double and it would fit a 7x11 casserole/Pyrex)
3-4 small plums, pitted and cut into chunks
1/2 pint blackberries
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 T water

Crisp topping:
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c flour
2 T cold butter

I cut my blackberries in half but this step could be skipped. In a bowl, add cut up plums and blackberries and remaining ingredients up to the crisp topping ingredients. Stir well to combine and set aside. Heat the oven to 375. In another bowl, combine the flour and sugar and cut in the butter. Continue cutting or mixing in until the butter is in pea sized balls. Take the fruit mixture and divide into ramekins. Top each one with half of the crisp topping, really pack it in there, you won't regret it. Put in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Raise the temperature to 400 and bake another 8-10 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly before eating.

Note: put your ramekins on a baking sheet lined with foil if you want to avoid a mess like mine on the bottom of your oven!

Foil Asian Tilapia and Spicy Chinese Green Beans

It's time to start going through my pantry and start using up all the stuff I don't want to move or can't move. So on a Sunday night when I don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen, I turn to the pantry and assess what we need to use. I need to use up my Asian pantry items. Everything is in glass bottles and would not be fun to try to move. So tonight is Asian night! I also need to start cleaning out the freezer so I peeked in there and found a couple tilapia filets. Greg and I love fish but our budget really only allows for shrimp and tilapia and the occasional salmon or trout when it's on sale. But tilapia is incredibly bland. Fortunately my Asian pantry is full of flavour bursting items! I made our favourite Chinese green beans from here and then turned to the tilapia. I wanted to grill because a) less dishes and b) I also needed to make some chicken to go with pasta for lunch tomorrow and I could easily do both on the grill. I'm always worried about fish sticking to the grill, but tilapia is especially delicate. So I decided to try a foil packet. Just make a little boat out of the foil with the fish in the middle, pour the sauce over it, and carefully wrap the fish in the foil so it can steam in there. Throw it on the grill and you're done!

Ingredients:

2 tilapia loins

1 T vegetable oil

1-2 T honey

1 T Sriracha

1 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp fish sauce

1/4 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

1-2 T chopped cilantro

Mix all ingredients from vegetable oil to cilantro in a small bowl. Whisk well to combine. Put tilapia in foil "boat", pour half the sauce in each boat and wrap up. Put on the grill for about 2-3 minutes and then rotate to make sure it gets cooked all the way through. Leave for another 2-3 minutes and pull off the grill. Let cool for a minute before removing foil. 

Roasted Veggie Pasta

I love junk food, don't get me wrong, but after a weekend of eating junk food, it makes me feel pretty crappy. Just like bleh and sluggish. This last weekend was one of those weekends. On Monday I had planned to make this roasted cauliflower and mushroom carbonara which I have made before and is sooo good. But after a weekend of heavy food and lots of sugar, I was feeling like I need something a little less heavy. I love the roasted veggie part of that carbonara dish and I had the veggies on hand so I roasted the mushrooms and cauliflower. While those were roasting I diced up an onion and started sauteing that in a little olive oil. I got my spaghetti cooking and added some minced garlic to the onions. Pretty much everything was done at the same time the pasta was which was awesome! I drained the pasta and put a little olive oil, salt and pepper over the noodles and then everything went into the pot with the spaghetti. Sprinkle a little Parmesan and chopped basil over it and that's it! It was so good and hearty but felt really healthy with all the veggies. We also had these green beans on the side which was the perfect side for this pasta. We love these green beans. They are so crisp and the dressing is so bright and tangy. Even Greg, who isn't a fan of meatless Monday, loved this dinner and it filled him up which he kept saying never happens when we don't have meat.

Ingredients:
8 oz button mushrooms
1 small head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1/2 a medium white onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
12 ounces spaghetti
Plenty of olive oil, salt and pepper
Grated Parmesan, to taste
Fresh basil

Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut your mushrooms into quarters, or until they are about the same size as your cauliflower florets. Put mushrooms and cauliflower on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil to coat all veggies. Toss together and season well with salt and pepper. Put in the oven. After about 20 minutes, stir them up and return to oven. Meanwhile, dice your onion and start cooking over medium low heat in a little olive oil. Season slightly with salt and pepper. Stir occasionally. After stirring veggies that are in the oven, start boiling water for your pasta. Once boiling, add spaghetti and cook to package directions. Add minced garlic to onions and let cook for just a couple of minutes before turning heat off. About 2 minutes before your pasta is done, pull the veggies out of the oven and set aside. Drain pasta, drizzle with olive oil and add roasted veggies and onions and garlic. Toss well to combine and season with salt and pepper. Add grated Parmesan. If you like a lot, add a lot, if you don't like it, don't add it. I did just enough that you could see it on the noodles but not so much that it turned everything white. Add some chopped fresh basil.

Pico de Gallo and Turkey Tacos

Growing up we always had tacos on corn tortillas. I remember the first time I tried to use a corn tortilla to make a quesadilla and I was so shocked that it didn't taste good! I loved tacos so why were these quesadillas so bad?! Turns out I only like corn tortillas when they're fried. I love these tacos so much! A lightly fried tortilla, ground turkey with taco seasoning, and fresh pico de gallo on top. It is so fresh! A little spicy, a little bite, and a little sweet. Everything goes together so well.

Ingredients:
1 pound Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 a medium red onion, diced
1/2 a jalapeno with seeds removed, diced
1 ear of corn, charred and corn cut off the cob
1/4 c cilantro chopped
Juice from 2 limes

Dice/cut everything up and combine in a bowl. Add the cilantro last. Let sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes so everything can marry together and get delicious!

For my tacos I just heat about 1 cup of vegetable oil up in a small pot to 325-350 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile start browning and crumbling some ground turkey (I like 85%/15%). When oil is hot enough, put in small white corn tortillas, one at a time and let cook for about 10-15 seconds, until the edges start to get slightly crispy and then flip and do another 10-15 seconds on the other side. When turkey is cooked through, drain and rinse in hot water. Return to the pan and add 3 T of taco seasoning and 3 T of water. Start building your tacos and enjoy!

Slow Cooker Oatmeal

I like oatmeal for breakfast. I wouldn't say I love it for breakfast because I LOVE pancakes and bacon and bagels and other bad things for you for breakfast. But as far as healthy options go, oatmeal is pretty good. I don't always have time to make it in the mornings though and the instant oatmeal packets are good but they just don't feel as filling or healthy. Probably about a year ago now, I saw a recipe on Pinterest for slow cooker oatmeal. I thought, "Finally! The solution to my problems!" And I tried the recipe just a couple of days later. And it did not turn out well AT ALL. The recipe called for 2 cups of steel cut oats and 6-8 cups of water with a note saying if you like your oats heartier use less water. So I used only 6 cups of water. It was like cement the next morning. I ate a bowl and the flavour wasn't terrible, but it was HEAVY. We couldn't even eat the leftovers because even with adding extra water when heating it up, it was even thicker than the first day. So a few weeks later I decided to try it again but with the 8 cups of water this time. The first morning they were fine, a little heavy, but fine. The leftovers though? Forget about it. That was pretty much the end of my slow cooker oatmeal experiments. I pinned a couple of other recipes thinking I would try them out but I wasn't quite over the cement I'd produced before. The last few weeks I have made this delicious granola (I'll have to post the recipe later because it's sooo good, calorie heavy, but full of good things) and that's what we've been eating for breakfast. Make a big batch on Sunday and we both eat it all week. With the holiday though, I didn't have the time or energy to make granola to get us through the week. So, I decided it was time to try the slow cooker oatmeal again. This time I did A LOT of research. I must have looked at at least 10 different recipes. All ones I found on Pinterest by searching "slow cooker oatmeal" in case you're interested in a lot of recipes. After a lot of research, I thought a good ratio worth trying would be 1 c steel cut oats and 5 c water. And success! The oatmeal this morning was a great texture and tasted great! And I just heard from my husband who had them and it's a win in his book too!

Ingredients:
1 cup steel cut oats (any other kind of oats will fall apart, the steel cut are hearty and can stand up to the long cooking time)
5 c water
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Spray the insert of a slow cooker with non-stick spray. Put in all the ingredients and stir well. You could whisk the cinnamon to get rid of all the clumps, but I didn't worry about it. Turn it on low, go to sleep for 8 hours, wake up, and turn the slow cooker off. Stir it up well and you're ready to go! The top part of the oatmeal looked really dark from the cinnamon, but it mixed in just fine.

Tomato and Bacon Pasta Sauce

Greg and I saw this article today that was talking about how eating more pasta can actually help you lose weight. I never buy into these things. Some things we know for a fact are bad for you like sugar and fried foods. Pretty much beyond that I need firm scientific facts before I count something as healthy or not and even then I decide for myself if I think those are good "facts" or not. Look at eggs for example. 60 years ago everyone ate eggs for breakfast every morning (I exaggerate a lot, I know). And then 30 years ago people decided eggs were really bad for you because of the cholesterol. Now eggs are healthy again because they are full of protein and other good things. I figure as long as you are eating all your food groups, especially fresh fruits and veggies, and eating in moderation then you are probably doing fine. I think in 10 years people are going to find something that "proves" brown rice is actually better for you than quinoa or that Romaine is better than kale or something. But I digress, back to the article. I love pasta! Doing a low carb diet would never work for me. So I read the article in its entirety because I am always curious what the thinking is behind these fads. Long story short, more pasta follows the Mediterranean diet and people in the Mediterranean tend to be leaner supposedly. They did make a point of stating that in Italy when they eat pasta they eat lots of good stuff with the pasta like onions, garlic, tomatoes, fresh veggies, etc. so in an effort to eat more pasta with good stuff, I found some recipes for Pasta All'Amatriciana. Basically that is a tomato, cured pork and cheese dish. There are tons of recipes out there for different variations. Mine is a little more friendly for those living in the States. Especially where I am in the states, I can't find cured pork cheek or Pecorino cheese. So I use my go to bacon instead! This sauce is soooo flavourful and delicious! It feels very light but has a rich, full bodied taste. Definitely a good compromise from rich and heavy American sauces without giving up any flavour.

Ingredients:
1 medium white onion, diced
12 oz bacon, chopped (we like a lot of bacon)
4 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
1/2 c chicken stock
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes and the juices
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 T fresh basil, chopped (optional)
Parmigiano  Reggiano (optional)
1 pound pasta (penne works great but any pasta that holds sauce well like Bucatini would be fine)

Heat about 1 T of olive oil up in a deep skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes to soften. Add chopped bacon and cook until mostly crispy. Add garlic and stir in and cook for about 30 seconds. Pour in chicken stock while stirring well to get all the yummy brown bits up off the bottom of the pan. Let cook on high until almost all the liquid is gone. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Let simmer while you cook the pasta. Drain pasta when almost done cooking and finish the pasta in the sauce. Top with basil and cheese if desired.

French Potatoes

One time we had Sunday dinner at my grandma's house which is always a good time. Always great food and great people. She tried a new recipe with her potatoes and they were good! At home I tweaked them a little bit and I call them French potatoes because it sounds fancy and I didn't know what else to call them. It's super easy and they're delish but it is a little time consuming. Mostly down time while they cook so it's easy, don't worry!

Ingredients:
8 medium red potatoes
3 T butter
1 medium shallot, diced
Plenty of salt and pepper

Cut potatoes into quarters and put into a pot filled with cold water. Salt the water very well and turn on high to boil potatoes. When they are not quite fork tender, turn the heat off and remove from heat. Drain potatoes. In a large skillet, begin to melt butter over medium high heat. Once melted, keep over heat and swirl the pan around a few times until the butter starts to turn brown. You will be able to smell the change before you see it. Once it's browned, carefully add the potatoes to the butter. Season well with salt and pepper. Stir potatoes up to coat in butter and salt and pepper. Let them sit so they can brown up nicely. After a few minutes, stir them up again to brown another side. When they are almost done, add the shallots and let cook for just a minute. Remove from heat and serve

Puffed Wheat Squares

I am so proud to be American! I wouldn't change that. But I do love that growing up my family celebrated being Canadian and Norwegian as well. We almost always only celebrated with food but what more do you need? For the 17th of May (Norwegian Independence Day basically) we would always have Norwegian pancakes or Norwegian rice pudding. For Canada Day we always had puffed wheat squares and sugar cookies shaped like maple leaves with red icing. Christmas and New Years we always had Norwegian rice pudding and a traditional Norwegian Christmas Eve dinner. I so love being able to celebrate where I come from! It's something I want to pass on to my kids. Thanks to my hubby for letting me celebrate! Haha he actually loves it because he loves the food. Puffed wheat squares are a Canadian treat that are so good! They are a little like rice crispy treats in how they are made but they are a little chocolatey and just sooo good! Gooey and chewy and chocolatey... I don't know anyone that has tried them that doesn't like them!

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter OR margarine 

1 c corn syrup 

2 c brown sugar

1/4 c cocoa

About 15 cups of puffed wheat cereal (this can be hard to find but Amazon sells it and our local Sprouts sells it as puffed Kamut)

In a large pot put in butter, corn syrup, brown sugar and cocoa. Cook over medium high heat until butter melts. Let come to a boil and boil for about 25-30 seconds. Specifically it is supposed to come to the soft-ball stage on a candy thermometer but my mom never used one for this and neither have I. Remove from heat after 30 seconds and quickly add puffed wheat, starting with about half of it. Stir it all together and keep adding puffed wheat until it is all coated and the sauce is all used up. Spread out on a greased cookie sheet and press into place. Allow to cool and then cut into squares.