Granola

I remember back in the 70's (ok, I'm showing my age) when Granola became the "thing to eat"!! Euell Gibbons was asking people if they had ever eaten a Pine Tree and granola was becoming the rage!!

Granola is one of those foods to take along with you to munch on when you're hungry. You can keep a stash in the car for those long car rides or just to munch on when your on your way home from work when you just need a little something to tide you over until dinner.

I'll let you in on a secret.......

It's really easy to make!! You'll have a batch ready in no time. Ready for your munching pleasure.

I made this batch for my friend Jonathan at work. He's having issues with his cholesterol and so I made  this recipe for him to munch on and hopefully to help with getting his cholesterol in check. Oats are good for your cholesterol.

As far as the cafe, we couldn't keep enough of this on our shelves. You see there was a gym up the street from the cafe and the morning ladies wanted a place to relax after their workouts. So they would come to the cafe and munch on the granola and talk about life over a cup of coffee. Granola and coffee, life was good.......

Teri

Notes: You can use any kind of nut you like. I used sliced almonds in mine, but walnuts or pecans or even peanuts would be good.

You can also use any kind of dried fruit you want. You can use just one type, or you can add a mixture of several kinds of fruit.

Granola is great on yogurt, ice cream, as a topping for a coffee cake or just to be eaten by itself. I enjoy it with yogurt!!

Granola

3/4 cup oil (I use canola, I would stay away from vegetable oil)
1/2 cup honey
1 cup brown sugar
1 tblsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
8 cups of old fashioned oats
1/2 cup sweet coconut
1 cup almonds (I used sliced, but you can use any kind of nut you prefer)
1 cup craisins (I used craisins, but you can use any type of dried fruit you prefer)

Heat oven to 325 degrees

In a small saucepan on top of stove, mix oil, sugar, vanilla, honey and salt together and heat until sugar is melted. About 5 minutes

 

Combine oats, almonds and coconut in a large bowl. Once mixture above is ready, pour over oats and stir to cover.

 

 

 

 

Prepare two cookie sheets with either parchment paper, foil or some kind of lining. I use my silicone mats. Divvy up the granola between the two pans and spread it out.

Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Take pans out and stir the granola and spread back out. Put pans back in oven for 15 more minutes. Take pans out. If the granola is a golden brown, it's ready. If it's not, then back it for a few more minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool. Add craisins.

Store in an air tight container. Will keep for 6 weeks.

Enjoy!

Chocolate, Peanut butter, Rice Krispy Treats

aka Rice Krispy Treats on steroids!

Who doesn't love Rice Krispy Treats? It's one of those treats that can take you back to your childhood in a split second. It's summer time and mom doesn't want to bake and make the kitchen hot, so she makes these wonderful treats.

My mom used to make a version that had butterscotch chips in them with chocolate on them. They were called "Scotcharoos" or something like that. The version that I make is a combination of the two. These have that same butterscotch flavor, but they also have peanut butter mixed in. aka Rice Krispy Treats on steroids!!

We used to make these in the cafe and officer Dan would come by everyday and buy two of them. One for him and one for his kids to share. I'm thinking most days that second one never made it home.

Teri

Note:
The trick to pressing down the Rice Krispy part with out making a huge mess is to wet your hands and then press down. The mixture will not stick to your hands!!

Chocolate, Peanut butter, Rice Krispy Treats

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of corn syrup
1 cup of peanut butter
6 cups of Rice cereal

 

Frosting

1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of butterscotch chips
                  

Directions:

Heat the sugar and corn syrup until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter.



 Stir in the Rice Krispies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Press the mixture into the13 x 9 pan lined with foil and sprayed with pam. (I use a butter flavor spray) 

 

 

 

 

Frosting:

Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips together; stir once they are melted. I melt them in the microwave, but you can use the double boiler method for melting. Spread on the bars immediately.

 

 

 

Chill in the refrigerator until set. Cut bars and serve.

 

Enjoy!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Happy post Cinco de Mayo!!!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo I'm sharing with you the cafes Friday soup. We made our soups home made everyday. Not only is soup fairly easy to make, but there is nothing like a home made soup to warm the soul on a rainy, dreary Sunday afternoon.

I found this recipe in a cook book I bought when I took my trip to San Antonio. We took a day trip to Fredericksburg, TX which is a cute little touristy town filled with wonderful shops and restaurants.

My friends and are were walking around town and walked by a bakery. I had a taste for cookies (something I can never pass up) So we walked up to the door. But at 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon they were closed with a sign on the door that read "all sold out". So not giving it much thought, we kept wandered on our way. One of the shops we went to was a quaint little book store where I found this cookbook that the woman who owns the bake shop wrote. The girl that was helping me told me that her Fruit Empanadas recipe was alone worth the book.

Fruit Empanadas? Sold out sign? I had to have this cookbook; so, I bought it!

Now I'm one of those strange people that LOVE to read cookbooks. So guess what I read on my flight home? (OK that was probably an easy one) Her book had all these wonderful recipes and we tried many of her recipes at the cafe. As a mater of fact, my book is all torn up and food stained on most of the recipes we used!

I should buy a new one. But what a wonderful thing to pass down to my daughter or granddaughter. An old stained, highly used cook book!!

This soup would be a wonderful addition to any ones repertoire. Happy Seis de Mayo!

Teri

Notes: We served this with tortilla chips and shredded cheddar cheese on top.
I cook the chicken in water in the oven. You can use the water/broth that comes from this as part of your soup base. If you use this you might have to add some chicken bullion to have more of a chicken flavor.

Ingredients

2 tbls. olive oil
1 medium onion diced
1 red bell pepper diced
6 garlic gloves diced
2 cups of corn
1 tbls minced chipotle pepper in adobe sauce (1 pepper)
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
3 medium sized chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1 can diced tomatoes
8 cups of chicken broth
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Cook and shred chicken.

In an 8 quart pan, (I used my dutch oven) heat olive oil. Add onions, garlic and red pepper to oil. Saute until onions are translucent. Add cumin, chili powder and chipotle puree to pan and stir.

 

 

Add diced tomatoes and corn and stir; add chicken broth. Stir all ingredients together. Add shredded chicken and cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

 

Serve in bowls and garnish with tortilla chips and shredded cheddar cheese.

Enjoy!!