Granola Bars

Ingredients:

2 cups oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup ground flax meal

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour (I use 1/2 wheat)

1/2 cup honey

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Generously grease 9x13 baking pan. In a large bowl mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, flax, cinnamon, salt, flour. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil, and vanilla. Mix well. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Cut into bars while still warm.

Crock Pot Chops and Gravy

Ingredients:
4 lean pork chops
4 T soy sauce
1/2 c sliced mushrooms
1/2 tsp pepper
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 can cream of mushroom soup
1 medium onion, sliced or diced
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp parsley


Directions:
Place pork chops crock pot. Lay onion slices over pork chops. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and pour over pork chops. Cook on low in crock pot for 5-6 hours (or in oven for 1 hour).

Beef Stew

Served with rolls.

Ingredients:

1 lb stew meat

2 cups diced potatoes

1 cup diced carrots

1 pkg Lipton onion soup mix

water to cover

optional: celery, mushrooms, onions, tony chacheres

Directions:

Put all ingredients in the crock pot. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Staff of Life Whole Wheat Bread

I got this recipe from my mom. I like that it completely uses whole wheat flour. This has got to be as healthy as bread gets--not one bit of refined flour or sugar. Plus I've been using my new wheat grinder to grind the wheat flour myself.

Ingredients:

3 cups hot water

1/4 cup olive or canola oil

1/4 cup of honey or sugar (I always use honey)

1 T instant yeast

2-2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (to start with, add more later--maybe 4 more cups)

1/2 T salt

optional ingredients:

1 T dough enhancer*

1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

Directions:

Put water, oil, honey , and yeast in a bowl. Add 2-2 1/2 cups of flour and (opt. 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten) and mix to a paste. Add salt and additional flour until dough forms a ball around the dough hook and sides of bowl are clean. Knead for 7 minutes. (Optional: add dough enhancer after the 7 minutes of kneading and knead for another minute until mixed in). Place dough on oiled counter. Divide into two equal pieces and shape into loaves. Place in greased bread pans. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until double in bulk, about 45 minutes. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Place bread in oven, turn heat down to 350 degrees, and bake for 35 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool on wire racks.

*dough enhancer---I couldn't find any in my local stores for some reason so here is recipe for that in case it's needed:

1 cup Lecithin granules (find at a vitamin store)

1 Tbsp vitamin C powder

1 tsp ground ginger

Mix ingredients together and store in tightly closed glass jar.

Fried Oreos

Fried Oreos--can you imagine anything better or more fattening? Living in Texas has introduced me to a variety of fried foods--twinkies, snickers, tootsie rolls, etc. They fry everything here! The best fried food are the fried Oreos so we had to learn to make them ourselves. This recipe would make A LOT of fried Oreos--unless you are feeding a crowd you really don't want to make this much--way too fattening.

Ingredients:
1 large bag of Oreo Cookies
2 cups of pancake mix
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 eggs
4 tsp oil
powdered sugar for dusting

Or if you have pancake mix that just requires adding water use that--even easier.

Directions:
Preheat deep fryer to 375. Combine pancake mix, milk, eggs, and oil. Mix until there are no lumps. Dip Oreos into batter, make sure both sides are covered and put the Oreos into the deep fryer. The cookie will float so make sure you flip the cookie over so that both sides are golden brown. The cookies will cook fast so watch them so they will not burn. Take out Oreos and sprinkle with powdered sugar. The cookies are best straight out of the deep fryer. Makes about 54 oreos.

Cream Tuna on Toast

 

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cup milk
1 can tuna, drained
abt 6 pieces of toast

Directions:
Heat butter in 1 1/2 quart saucepan over medium heat until melted. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Add in tuna. Serve over toast.

Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip

 
Ingredients:
1 pkg(10oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1 pkg Knorr Vegetable recipe mix
1 can (14oz) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients except 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. Spoon into a 2 quart casserole, then top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. bake for 35 min or until dip is hot.