Trail Mix Granola Bars

I came across a recipe on Pinterest for No Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars. It was definitely something I wanted to try - but you know me. I'm not going to just make plain granola bars (in my book, chocolate is standard so "chocolate chip" is considered plain). I thought I would try making a trail mix version. I modeled it after my handsome husband's favorite snack to take to work. He puts almonds, raisins and craisins in a bag (sometimes adding something chocolate as well). It's really quite tasty - and addicting I might add.

   The bars came out fabulously, and only took 5 minutes to put together. I was amazed at how easy it was - easier than rice crispy treats I think - no messy marshmallows you have to wait on to melt.  The kids and hubby loved them. My mom said they were better than anything you could get in the store. My son even wants me to make some for the after-game treats for his baseball game next Saturday (That will be a slightly different version, because there are a couple boys with nut allergies.)

   This is the type of granola bar I wanted to make today, but you should make the kind you and your family would enjoy. Have fun playing with the recipe and making it your own. :)

Here's what I did:

In a sauce pot, I put 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup honey and 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, and set the heat to medium.

I brought the mixture up to a boil and cooked on low for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, I got my "trail mix" ingredients together. 1 3/4 cups oats, 1 cup rice cereal, 1/4 cup each of raisins, craisins and sliced almonds.

I poured the hot sauce over the mixed ingredients and stirred it all together.

Then I dumped it into a pan. I wasn't sure what size I would need, so I went with a 9x13.

I pressed down the bars. (You really need to squish them together very tightly!) It was at this point that I realized my pan was WAY too big.  A 9x9 would have been perfect. Oh well. I just smushed it all into one half of the dish.

Then I drizzled some melted chocolate over the top with a fork.

I put them in the fridge to firm up and then I cut them into bars. (You should get 10-12 good sized bars.)

I put some on a plate for the kids for an afternoon snack. (I could have made my cuts a little neater, but the kids don't mind. They just thought it was cool that mommy made granola bars! They wanted to make more, so we made a batch of Peanut Butter S'more Granola Bars next- see next post.)



Here's the recipe:

Trail Mix Granola Bars

1 3/4 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned is up to you)

1 cup puffed rice cereal

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup craisins (dried, sweetened cranberries)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup chocolate chips, -melted or not- for decorating (optional)

In a pot, bring butter, sugar and honey up to a boil. Cook on low for 1 minute. In a large mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Add the hot butter mixture on top of the other ingredients and mix well. Dump into a 9x9 square pan and press the mixture flat. (Really press hard to get everything to stick together in a solid mass.)  You can drizzle the top with melted chocolate, or top with chocolate chips. Cool in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes and then cut into bars.

This recipe can easily be adapted to include any mix-ins you want, just swap out ingredients. If you prefer a crunchy granola bar (vs a chewy version), just boil the butter mixture for longer (2 or 3 minutes). Have fun!

Strawberry Souffle



Photo of Strawberry Souffle @ Cafe Jacqueline - taken by Pei Ketron on foodspotting.com



I was watching an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate on The Food Network and they were talking about egg dishes. Alton Brown said that the best egg dish that he's ever had was a Strawberry Souffle at a little souffle restaurant in San Fransisco, Ca. (Cafe Jacqueline)  I thought that was intriguing. I have never made a souffle. I don't think I have even ever eaten one, but I made up my mind to make a strawberry souffle.

   Having nothing but the little clips of this small French woman putting together this Strawberry Souffle for the episode, I concocted a recipe and put it together. The only words she said was "we cook the strawberries with some cream, sugar and a pinch of flour." I had to guess on all her measurements. It was fairly easy and definitely tasty. My one mistake was trying to check on it to see if it was done. I say this all the time: Don't make my mistakes. Leave your souffle alone while it bakes and it won't fall as much as mine did.

It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but I think for just making up a recipe and having never made souffle before it turned out pretty good!

Here's what I did:

I put about 1/2 pound of chopped strawberries in a pan. (maybe closer to 3/4 pound)

I added enough sugar to make them sweet (3 Tbsp), and a dash of salt (about 1/8 tsp)

I let the strawberries and sugar cook while I got 1/8 cup flour and 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cream together. I mixed it until their were no lumps.  (I know, 1/8 cup isn't a "pinch of flour" but she used a scoop to get her "pinch." I tried making the souffle another time, and only used about 1 tbsp of flour. The souffle was runnier.)

Then I added it to the strawberry mixture and cooked it for a couple minutes.

Then it was nice and thick like this.

I turned off the heat and let it cool down some. 

I then turned my attention to the eggs.

I separated 4 eggs.

I added 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar to the whites,

and beat them with an electric mixer until they were at stiff peaks. . . .

Like this. (This happens quickly if your eggs are at room temperature.)

Now I prepared the souffle dish. I spread the entire thing with butter.

and then I coated it with powdered sugar - my souffle would have rose higher if I had used granulated sugar. It needs something to grab on to. Oh, well. Live and learn. (**I did make this a second time, coating the dish with white sugar and I think it worked better.)

This is it all coated.

I whisked the yolks and then started tempering the strawberry mixture into the yolks. I just took a little bit of the strawberries, added it to the yolks . . .

and whisked like mad to make sure the yolks didn't scramble.

I did this 3 more times until the egg yolks were the same temperature as the strawberry mixture. Then I poured the egg yolks into the remaining strawberry mixture and whisked to combine.

Now back to the egg whites. I took 1/4 of the egg whites,

and folded them into the egg yolks and strawberry mixture (the base).

Then I added another 1/4, and folded again.

I repeated until all the egg whites were folded into the base - it's o.k. if there are a few streaks of white.

I poured the mixture into the prepared souffle dish

and then baked it @ 350F for 35 minutes. (A smaller dish would have been better - would have gotten more height. Now I know for next time!  **The second time I made this I did put it in a smaller dish - the uncooked souffle came up to the top of the dish -. After it was cooked, it rose a good 2 inches above the dish - but I had to increase the cooking time by 5 minutes.)

While it was baking, I sliced some strawberries and got some powdered sugar in a sifter for dusting.

At 30 minutes I peeked at my souffle and it was beautiful, but a little underdone, so I shut to door and cooked it for another 5 minutes. That was my downfall. My souffle fell in the oven, and as a result it is no longer high and impressive. I still dressed it up and took a picture, though. It tastes just fine! - Next time I'm going to use a smaller dish too!  (**The second time I made this, it was high and pretty and I was just about to take it out and snap a picture before it fell - because all souffles fall eventually - and then my 2 year old made a huge mess. I had to clean her and the cats up. I turned off the oven, but didn't get to take out the souffle right away. By the time I did, it had already fallen. Oh well. For now you can just look at the picture of the Strawberry Souffle at Cafe Jacqueline - at the top of this post - and pretend mine looks that nice.)



In case you want to replicate my uneducated, but inspired souffle, here is the recipe.

Strawberry Souffle

about 1/2 pound of strawberries, washed and diced fine.
dash of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup flour (2 Tbsp)
about 1/3 cup cream
butter for preparing souffle dish
sugar for preparing souffle dish
4 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350F and put a rack on the bottom third of your oven (with no racks on top). Prepare a 2 1/2 quart, or 1 1/2 quart souffle dish by rubbing the entire inside with butter and then coating it all with sugar. Put the dish in the fridge or freezer, while the souffle comes together.  Cook the strawberries, and sugar together until the strawberries are very soft. Mix the cream and flour together and then add to the strawberries. Cook for 2 minutes and take off the heat. Cool. Whip the egg whites and cream of tartar together, until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Gradually combine the egg yolks with the strawberry mixture, so as to not cook the eggs. Fold the egg whites into the strawberry and egg yolk base, 1/4 at a time, until all the egg whites are folded in. It's o.k. if there are still white streaks. Pour into cold, prepared souffle dish and put into the oven. Bake @ 350F for 35 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR! If using a 1 1/2 quart dish you will need to increase the baking time by 5 minutes. The souffle is done when it has risen and it is slightly brown on top. It will be jiggly, and it will fall just a few minutes after it comes out of the oven. Just deal with that fact now. Top with powdered sugar and fresh strawberries.

The souffle is a soft dish. It is not like a cake - which I thought at first. It is more like a saucy omelet. This souffle has a very pronounced strawberry flavor. Since concocting this recipe I have looked online for other strawberry souffles and most of them are only pureed strawberries, sugar and egg whites. Not sure how those would be - I just set out to make one like I saw on TV. It may not have worked perfectly, but it was a new food adventure. We should all have one of those every once and a while. Stretch out of our boxes!  (When typing this I accidentally typed "boxers." Good thing I caught the typo, that would have been embarrassing - but funny!) Now go out and stretch!

Nana's Banana Bread

Remember back in my very first "Welcome" post, I had said that my mother is a self proclaimed disaster in the kitchen? It's true.  She claims she can't cook anything - but I happen to know that her banana bread is amazing.  It's the banana bread I grew up eating, and to this day I still think it's the best. Of course, I added a couple slight twists (like adding chocolate chips, because let's face it, almost anything is better with chocolate!). But this banana bread will always be my moms.
   Since I have become a mom myself, and my mom is now "Nana" this is Nana's Banana Bread. (The kids love the way Nana and banana rhyme.) :)
   This is the only recipe I'll ever use for banana bread. I hope you will love it too.

--I got busy chit-chatting with my hubby, so I goofed up when I made this batch. The good thing is that this bread is pretty forgiving (it is my mom's recipe after all) so it can handle a goof up now and then. My loaves still came out delicious.

Here's how to make it:

Put 1 stick of butter in a bowl. It can be room temperature or melted, or whatever. It doesn't matter too much.(If it's melted, the bread will be more dense. If it is softened or room temperature, the bread will be more cake-like.) Add 1 cup of sugar

and cream together

Add 1 egg and mix.

Then add a second egg and mix again.

I got my flour bin out and realized it was definitely lacking the 2 cups I needed, so I refilled it, and then added the flour to my mixing bowl . . .

along with 1 tsp of baking soda

I started to mix and then got my bananas.

This recipe calls for 3 bananas. I'm using some that my 2 year old decided to carry around the house like toys. They are pretty bruised, but still good.

 Just put them in a bowl and mush them with a fork until mostly smooth.  (My bananas were small, so this was the first mistake on my part. I should have realized, and not added the total amount of flour - or added more banana.)

I added the bananas . . .

I mixed it and saw how drastically dry it was . . . what did I do? Did I accidentally add 4 cups of flour instead of 2? I think I must have. (Do you remember the black measuring cup in the bottom of my flour bin? That is a 1/4 cup measure. I would have added 8 of those to get my 2 cups. BUT, I used my yellow 1/2 cup measure - I couldn't find any of my full cup measures, go figure. So . . . did I accidentally add 8 1/2 cups, making 4 full cups? I must have.)

So, there's nothing left to do but fix it. I'll just double the recipe and make 2 loaves instead of 1. My bread might be a little tough, from having been mixed more but it will be o.k. (It actually was not tough at all. It was light and delicious like always. I told you it was very forgiving!)

First thing's first, I mashed up the rest of my bananas.

and added them to the bowl.

I also added about 1 tsp of vanilla, and a dash of salt. (This is not in my mom's recipe, but I like it.)

I added in another stick of butter - I melted it so that it can mix-in better. I also added another tsp of baking soda.

 

And 2 more eggs.

I mixed it all together and then started on the optional mix-ins. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of nut meats per 1 loaf. We like pecans, so I got about a cups worth (for my 2 loaves) out of my freezer.

I chopped them up,

and added them to the bowl with about 1 cup of chocolate chips.

I mixed it all together and then divided the dough/batter evenly between 2 greased loaf pans.

I smoothed them out as best I could, and put them in a 350F oven for 60 minutes.

This is what they look like when they are done.

Even though I inexplicably messed up on the recipe I've made a million times, they still turned out great. I'm sure I had to make these mistakes, just so that all of you could see what to do if that happens to you. There's not many mistakes in the kitchen that you can't fix, or cover-up. :) (See my Accidental Butter Rolls for another kitchen mistake I made/fixed.)

I love this bread!

Remember that the nuts and chocolate chips are optional, but always tasty!



Here's the recipe:

Nana's Banana Bread

1/2 cup salted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups bread flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt*

1/2 tsp vanilla*

3 medium to large bananas, smashed

1/2 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)*

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla, flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix in bananas, nuts and chocolate chips. Put into greased loaf pan. Bake @ 350F for 60 minutes(until toothpick comes out clean).

*my additions