Because I am counting calories currently, I've been in search of low calorie snacks. These granola bars - cut into 10 pieces come in around 125 calories each - perfect for me!!! I love the texture, they are soft and chewy.

Adapted from What's for Lunch Honey?

Ingredients:

• 2 c. plus organic mixed wholegrain flakes, We used 1/2 c. barley flakes, 1/2 c. wheat flakes, 1 c. regular rolled oats
• 1/3 c. plus 1 1/2 Tbsp. margarine
• 1/4 c. sunflower seeds
• 2 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 1/3 c. pistachios, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 c. dried berries of choice, We used cherries and cranberries
• 1/2 c. dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (omitted this, forgot to put it in... oops! still tastes great)
• 1/4 c. brown rice krispies
  

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray the bottom and sides of a baking tin (8x10in.).

2. In a bowl mix the wholegrain flakes, seeds and pistachios in a spread out onto a baking sheet. Toast in the oven for about 10 minutes.



3. In the meantime, melt margarine in a large saucepan on a low heat. Add honey and sugar, stirring until most of the sugar has dissolved.



4. Add the wholegrain flakes, seed and nut mix including the cinnamon and dried berries. Stir well to coat the mixture.

5. Tip the entire mixture into the greased baking dish and press down lightly. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely then cut into bars.





5. Tip the entire mixture into the buttered baking tin and press down lightly. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely then cut into bars.

I'm going back to sparkpeople and tracking calories again, to work off some holiday weight. So I'm posting recipes again, and will attempt to keep up with Menu Plan monday as well.

This week:

Breakfasts: Baked Applesauce Oatmeal, and Orange Juice

Lunches: Leftovers, or filled Pulled Pork Buns *hopefully more on these later for a recipe

Dinners:

• Arroz Con Pollo
• Spicy Chick'n patty sandwiches, sweet potato fries, broccolini
• Gnocchi, Sausage, and Kale soup
• Stuffed Fish, Roasted Asparagus, salad
• Pretzel hot dogs, pasta salad

Recipe from Two Peas and their Pod

2 cups uncooked old fashioned oats
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 medium empire apples, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk (We used Real Goodness 0%)
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the milk, applesauce, butter, egg, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add milk mixture to oat mixture; stir well.

3. Pour oat mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray.

4. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.

This is an easy recipe to double, so if you are serving a crowd, double and bake in a 9 by 13 pan. Bake for double the time. Serve warm.

I absolutely loved this oatmeal. We ended up baking it for about 30 minutes to get the apples just tender, but still with a bit of bite. Divided up original recipe size into 8 portions! I'm going to take the leftovers for breakfast to work during the week.

Last night for dinner we ate cheesesteak sandwiches, roasted broccolini, and one of my favorite summer sides: zucchini coins. They are baked, not fried, and so delicious! If you can get panko, I recommend you do so, it makes these much lighter and tastier than using regular breadcrumbs.

Recipe: Zucchini Coins

1 zucchini (green squash)
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c. panko or breadcrumbs
parmesan cheese
salt

1. Cut the zuchini into 1/4 inch slices. This does not need to be perfect!
2. Set up your beaten egg in one bowl, season as you wish, i used parmesan cheese, a little italian seasoning, and salt. The panko goes in another bowl.
3. Dip the coins first in the egg mixture, then in the panko.
4. Put the coins on a greased baking sheet. When I have them all done, I like to do a quick spray with the oil spray I use on the tops of the coins. Trust me, it helps later.
5. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8 min. Turn them over, don't lose any! and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until lovely and golden brown.

these are best eaten right out of the oven when they are still nice and hot. I like to salt them when they come out to make sure you get that amazing flavor.

Hey all, Meesh here! So since we've actually started menu planning again, I thought it wasn't fair to all of you to talk about delicious food, and not show you pictures of it. So here are quite a few long overdue photos (blame the fact the we have 2 libraries and a used bookstore within 10 minutes of us!) Ok, after uploading all these picture, please forgive the overload of deliciousness, and if you make it to the bottom, hats off to you!



So we ran out of home-made chicken broth last week, and my menu was looking a bit sparse, so I added a roast chicken to it! We've recently started buying medium size broiler-fryers (around 4 lbs) when they're on sale. Not only do we get chicken for the whole week, but I can usually get around four quarts of the best stock you've ever had! Anyway, I roasted the chicken up on Sunday, as well as the Hasselback potatoes, and all we had to do after our eye appointment on Monday was heat them up! Well, that was the plan anyway, I had been battling a migraine all day long, and all i really wanted was some comfort food, so we added some biscuits and gravy too.


Chili's has been running a commercial for a few weeks now that has me drooling. I've never actually tried their chicken enchilada soup, but what can I say, I've got a good imagination. I found this copy-cat recipe, and the rest is history! We used the homemade chicken stock, and it was full of (2%) cheesy goodness!



Have you checked out The Pioneer Woman's blog? If you haven't, you really should, she's hilarious, and every recipe we've ever tried from her has turned out fabulously. Jess and I drooled over this sandwich when she first posted it, and when we tried it for lunch, she didn't let us down. O-M-G. Yeah, that's all the words I had. I also discovered I like Munster cheese, who of thunk?

We tried a new pancake recipe about a month ago. Well, we tried at least. Don't ever trust me to read a recipe correctly on a weekend morning. Or to ensure that we have all the ingredients...Anyway, we totally fudged up the recipe, and out came the best pancakes we've ever made!
Totally Fluffy Pancakes
1 c AP flour
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c skim milk
1/3 c plain yogurt
1/6 c water (basically, put the milk and yogurt in a 1 c measure, and fill up the rest of the way with water)
1 egg
1/2 tsp agave nectar (or just add a bit more sugar)

We use a 1/4th cup measure to make the pancakes.If you do this, you'll get exactly 9 pancakes. Spray griddle with non-stick spray. You MUST spray before every batch, because they don't have any oil in them and they will stick. Enjoy. (1 pancake= 93 calories and .7 g of fat)


Mmmmm, stuffed fish. Jess's family makes this all the time with fresh trout (I think it's trout, don't quote me on that through). Obviously we don't have any fresh, but the scrod at the store looked pretty good, so we tried that. Stuffed fish isn't actually stuffed, and it's ridiculously easy. What we did was take about .75 lb of scrod, and one box reduced sodium Stovetop Stuffing Mix. We made the mix according to the instruction (although not on the stove, just in a big Pyrex measuring cup) and poured it over the fish (which was in a greased Pyrex baking dish). Bake at 375 for around 25 minutes (or until fish is flake-y). Super easy and super delicious!


*Sigh* last one! This took a lot longer than I though it would! Another super simple dinner, we just skewered shrimp and tomatoes and did them up in our grill pan. Note to self, make sure all the tomatoes are around the same size, because otherwise some of the shrimp will be up in the air and won't cook right at all. Leftover refried beans, and some instant brown rice with what seems like everything out of the produce drawer. There was garlic, green onions, tomatoes, red peppers, jalapeno, corn, plus some sour cream and 2% Velveeta. And of course the avocado on top. Yum! Oh, and those Ziploc steam bags rock. Makes corn on the cob with minimal time, minimal mess, and maximum freshness. An A+ in my book!
Oye. That was really long. In fact, it took so long that I need a snack now. Adios!

Just a quick post today because I have to get off to work to do a full day of what I'll be doing once training is over.

Lunches:

• Tabouleh
• Chicken Caesar Wraps
• Tuna Santwiches
• Veggie Bagel Sandwiches
• Buffalo Mac & Cheese
• Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

Dinners:

• Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
• Chili's Enchilada Soup
• Roast Chicken, potatoes, green beans
• veggie stuffed pancakes
• burgers, baked beans, asparagus
• stuffed fish, salad, broccoli

We actually ate the enchilada soup for dinner last night, and it was delicious!

We did pretty well last week, and ate almost all of our meals. This week we have already made Incredible Baked Cauliflower and Broccoli Cannelloni from Jamie Oliver, we had my parents over to dinner, and it was delicious!
For the rest of the week:

Lunches:

• Roast Beef sandwiches, doritos
• Leftovers
• Tuna wraps
• Tabbouleh
• BBQ Pork Salad

Dinners:

• Cauliflower and Broccoli Stuffed Pasta
• French Bread Pizzas
• Shrimp, green bean curry, coconut rice
• Crispy Fish Tacos
• Steak Sandwiches, oven fries
• Crockpot pulled pork, baked beans, asparagus
  

It's pouring rain outside, and I'm really not looking forward to going out in it to get to work. I'm not sure what made me think about it, but I wanted to share about the Arts and Crafts fair that we went to a few weeks ago. It was about 15 minutes from our house (we're loving the convenience we have to things now that we have moved).
** Just now a tree or something must have fallen on the power lines a little further from our apartment, because I just saw them pulled tight, spark up, and now everything is resetting itself in the house. I'm glad I'm already awake, because the alarm clock is reset as well. Jeez, that was a bit alarming, but whatever happened is out of my sight range, I think the spark I saw was just from the wire being pulled tight against the pole I can see out the balcony doors. Good, the cable has completely reset itself, so I should be able to upload this post before I leave.***

Ok, back to the craft fair... here is a picture of our haul from the day.

The rosemary is thriving wonderfully in one of our plant boxes on the balcony now, the wine is delicious, and we've been really enjoying the soups that you see in the picture. The piece of artwork is of our favorite street in NP, and has some of our favorite places listed. I also got some summer sausage which I'm not as fond of as most I've tried, and the maple candies are long gone.

Well, the mission to stay on track with the menu plan fell off a little last night.... We ended up in the vision place for our exams and new contacts for just about 2 hours, and ended up grabbing a tasty frozen pizza to bake up quickly when we got home, instead of trying to cook, because we would have ended up eating at about 8:30 that way..... It's amazing how much you get used to having a bad prescription for glasses or contacts, it took me about an hour last night for my eyes to be able to focus in while wearing the new ones. It's so nice to be able to see! We are just starting to reap the benefits of having health insurance again, and the vision plan was pretty nice.