Homemade Granola Bars

Did you know school is starting Monday?  I was blissfully unaware of just how close the approaching school year was until last week.  Maybe it's because all I could think of was a certain lemonade stand birthday party, who knows.  I didn't realize how quickly Gannon's time as a preschooler was diminishing, or how unprepared I am for school to start!

He is ready, okay who am I kidding, he is more than ready to start school.  As happy as I am that he is excited and really going to love it, part of me just wants to keep him home a little longer.  Why do they have to grow up so fast??

This weekend, I have been racking my brain to find suitable lunches and snacks to send with him to school.  Add to the fact that he is one of the pickiest eaters on the planet, their school district is peanut free.  This obviously means no peanuts, peanut butter, etc.  But it also means nothing that was processed on equipment that may have come into contact with peanuts or any other tree nuts.  Not so easy.  That eliminates his favorite lunch, peanut butter and jelly, and two of his favorite snacks, oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip granola bars.  I've got to get creative.

I found this recipe on Pinterest for homemade granola bars, so I thought I would give them a world.  I made a couple of changes based on what I had on hand in the pantry.  This is what we got.

 

 

These were so easy to make, and they didn't take long either!  The recipe makes 24 bars, and they freeze well.  I plan to just take one out in the morning before school and toss it into his lunch box.  That way, it's ready at lunch time, and I only have to make them once a month....if I don't sneak into the freezer while he's at school ;)

 

So here's what you need:

 

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ (I didn't have any, and they came out fine, however, it's on the list for next time)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup dried sour cherries, chopped (I didn't have cherries, so I used raisins)
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (I only had semi-sweet morsels)
3/4 cup slivered almonds (obviously, I had to omit this)

 

And here's what you do:

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a square baking dish with parchment paper.

 

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla.

 

Mix well using your hands, add in raisins (or other dried fruit), and chocolate chips (and almonds, if you're using them). Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden around the edges. Cool on wire rack for about 30 minutes before cutting. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting or they will crumble.  I used a pizza cutter, and it worked great!

Store the bars in an air tight container, or freeze.

The moment of truth:

 

 We have a winner!!

And there you have it!  Homemade chocolate chip raisin granola bars :)

Cream Cheese Danish--Crescent Roll Style

Need an idea for a super easy and yummy breakfast?  Well, I found this one on Pinterest, and I have been dying to try it.  It has officially been approved by my picky eaters!  What will yours think?

These are cream cheese danish, made with crescent rolls!  Just click on the photo for the recipe!

Here, We Love Purple and Live Gold

Here in the south, we take football seriously.  Especially SEC football.  Being from Louisiana, we are a  Tiger family.  We love purple and live gold.  We win with them, and we lose with them.

 

I am sure most of you know that last night was a semi-important game.  We prepared for it much like we did any other game.  We dressed in full purple and gold attire, and baked some yummy goodies!

"L-S-U!!  L-S-U!!"

She is such a great little helper!

She was very proud of her "Ella-Shoe" cupcakes.  She wanted to eat all the batter ;)

Here is Austyn's creation going in.....

...and here it is coming out.

*Gannon was too busy playing Kinect with Daddy to have any interest in the kitchen*

That is, until it was time to decorate!  He finally made an appearance!  Like me, he was upset that we couldn't find any purple sprinkles, sugar crystals, or other toppings.  We only had yellow, but hey, we rocked it!

Yum, yum!

Geaux Tigers!!

Although we lost the battle, I still believe we won the war.  These cupcakes are still celebratory.  They represent a beyond great season.  LSU had an undefeated season with the toughest schedule in college football.  It has been said that this team is among the greatest in college football history.  We may have lost last night (in an epic fail!), but we are still very proud of our Tigers!  We are eagerly awaiting next season and can't wait to see what's in store!

Hot Cocoa and Homemade Donuts

Perry must have been cold this morning when he arrived at our house.  We found him on our stove all ready to make hot cocoa!

Austyn...I just love how excited she gets every morning when she finds Perry!  It is such an adventure for her.

Gannon-- He wasn't nearly as excited about Perry as he was about the smarshmallow smiley face Perry made for him.  He went straight to them and started eating :)

While we were making hot cocoa, Gannon and Austyn decided that donuts would go perfectly with it.  So, off we went on a donut-making adventure!

Here's what we did:

-First, you will need a can of refrigerated buttermilk (not flaky layers) biscuits.

I used the small ones...not sure it matters, but that is what I had.

Flatten out your biscuits and cut a hole in the center.

I used a bag tip for piping icing to cut our holes.  Just use whatever you have handy.

 

Next, submerge the donuts (and holes) in melted butter.

Then, dip them in sugar.

Finally, spread them out on an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake them at 375 for 12-14 minutes.

Yummy!

And, of course, here are a few photos of the kiddos enjoying their hot cocoa and donuts!

Perry's Cake

If you saw my earlier post, you know Perry was in our mixing bowl this morning waiting for us to bake something super-yummy.  Well, of course, we couldn't let him down!

Here are a few photos from our cake baking adventure:

Austyn has been giving us "thumbs-up" all the time lately.  It's her new favorite.

And, I think Gannon wanted us to mix him up!  Silly kiddos :)

They did such a great job adding all the ingredients to the bowl. 

Best part?

They didn't even fight!!

Mix, mix, mix....

Austyn had her fingers in her ears immediately after turning on the mixer... She hates loud noises!

Daddy's girls!

Sweet little hearts!

"Yummy, yummy, yummy I got love in my tummy

and I feel like I got lovin YOU!!"

-Austyn Elisabeth :)



Days 49-56

I have got to get better at updating...

This is the latest in the project I have been working on this year.

Day 49

A Morning Bath

We don't usually take baths in the morning, but everyone fell asleep last night before we could get to it.  I think they enjoyed it :)

Day 50

Pa'Pa's Lil Captains

We spent this weekend at our family's camp at Toledo Bend.  Bryan's parents, brother, and his brother's two boys were there, also.  We had some long overdue relaxing family time.  Saturday, we took the boat out for a ride, and as you can see, it was a huge hit!

Day 51

Cousins

Every holiday/season we try to get pictures of all four kids together.  Since we moved, that has been hard.  I took this opportunity to snap some shots of these precious babies playing and having fun.  This is one of my favorites.

Day 52

Daddy's Little Golfer

Day 53

A Tea Party With a Princess

Bryan's nanny had a wicker furniture set that she bought for her own granddaughter, who is now 16.  Being that it was sitting at her house and not being used, she passed it down to Austyn, who was beyond excited!! She immediately set up a tea party with her besties :)

Day 54

My Vice

I LOVE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!

Day 55

So the kids were playing outside this afternoon while I was doing some housework.  I peeked out the window and saw them riding together. I HAD to get the camera out for that one!

Day 56

(almost) Naked Golfer

Why are my kids happiest without clothes?  Are they the only ones?

Snowman Breakfast

This morning was a coooold one; burrrr.  Although it wasn't snowing, the ground was white with ice.  What better than snowmen to eat for breakfast?  I got the idea while browsing a my friend, Lindsey's, blog.  I didn't have fruit roll-ups so we substituted sprinkles.

Here are a few snapshots from our morning.

These were super easy.  Here are the steps:

1. Preheat oven to 450° and grease a cookie sheet.
2. Arrange biscuits on cookie sheet.  Be sure to pinch them together so they don't fall apart.
3. Arrange chocolate chips on faces of snowmen.
4. Align raisin buttons (we didn't have raisins, so we used chocolate chips here, too).
5. If you are using a fruit roll up for the scarf, attach it after baking.  We used sprinkles, do them now.
6. Bake for six minutes.