Granola

Our friends in our ward gave away a bag of granola to neighbors/friends for a Christmas goodie and after gobbling it up I decided I HAD to have that recipe! It's one of those you just have to share:

Granola

In a large bowl combine:
10 1/2 c. regular oats
2 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. wheat germ
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. shredded coconut
1/2 c. sliced almonds
1/2 c. unsalted roasted sunflowers seeds
1/4 c. sesame seeds

You can use all of none of the seeds and nuts above. Mix well in bowl so all of the ingredients are not in clumps.

In a small bowl mix:
1 c. water
1 c. oil
2 Tbsp. vanilla

Mix well so oil and water are not separated. Then quickly pour wet mixture over dry mixture and coat. All of the dry mixture should be coated and clumps start to form. Spray two 11x17 jelly roll pans with non-stick spray. Divide mixture in half and spread out on each pan. Bake in oven @ 235 for 3 hrs. Make sure it isn't completely dried out. Stir occasionally, not too often if you like it chunky. When done place on counter to finish drying. At this time you may add fruit, 3/4 C raisins, craisins, dried blueberries, apples, strawberries, peaches, etc.

Tips:
- Wheat germ is found on the top shelf on the cereal aisle (at least at Walmart that's the case).
- Unsalted sunflower seeds and sesame seeds are harder to find. I didn't use any. The girl I got the recipe from doesn't either, but sometimes she adds in chopped up pecans. For the fruit I just did craisins and it was really good.
- I don't have jelly roll pans so I just used one 11X17 and one 9X13 and divided the granola up between the two pans.
- You can cook for the full 3 hrs without ever stirring and it's not too dry and it's the perfect balance of chunks and non chunks in my opinion.
- Great with milk and fresh strawberries or raspberries!

I mentioned this recipe to Cami and she wondered if it's any cheaper to make granola than to just buy it. So I priced it all out and I figured it cost me about $5.00-$5.50 to make this recipe, using just coconut, almonds, and craisins as my additives, and it makes about 16 cups of granola. The box of granola we like costs $4.25 for 8 cups so making it is cheaper than that, but if you buy granola in bulk (like from the church) I'm not sure how the price would compare to making it. On the other hand if I bought my oats and brown sugar in bulk then the cost of those would go down too so making it would be cheaper than what I quoted. And it just always seems healthier when it's fresh and made in your own kitchen! Enjoy.

Punch Bowl Cake

Punchbowl Cake

1 German Chocolate Cake Mix - made according to directions on the box, baked and cooled.
2 small pkg. Instant Chocolate Pudding - made up one at a time as directed on box. Keep separated
1 lg container of Cool Whip
6 Skore or Heath Bars (or 1/2 bag of Heath Bits)

Crumble 1/2 of the cooled cake into a punch bowl (or other large bowl). Mix up one pudding as directed and spread over the cake (I like to let the pudding set first so the cake doesn't get soggy, but some people like it soaked into the cake. To each his own I guess). Spread over the cake. Spread 1/2 of the cool whip on top. Crush 3 candy bars (in a zip lock bag with something hard used to crush them) and sprinkle over the cool whip. Repeat all layers. Refrigerate.

*This wasn't listed on the original recipe, but I used a vegetable peeler to make some yummy chocolate curls to make it look pretty on top of the last layer, in part because I could find Heath bits with chocolate. Weird. Anyway, try it out. This is such a good recipe!

Pretzel Salad

Here you go Linds!

Ingredients:
Crust:
-2 c. Pretzels, crushed
-3/4 c. melted butter
-3 T. sugar
Filling:
-8 oz cream cheese, softened
-1 c. sugar
-8 oz Cool Whip, thawed
Topping:
-2 packages of 3 oz strawberry Jell-O
-2 c. boiling water
-2 packages 10 oz frozen strawberries, thawed and sliced

Preparation Instructions:
1. Crust: Mix crushed pretzels with butter and sugar. Spread in a 9x13 pan (Linds, 9x9 would probably work fine, it'll just be a bit thicker). Bake for 10 min. at 350 degrees. Let cool completely and refrigerate for 1 hr.
2. Filling: Mix cream cheese, sugar, and Cool Whip with hand mixer. Spread evenly on pretzel crust-- all the way to the edges. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Pour Jell-O into boiling water. Stir 'til dissolved, let cool just a little. Combine strawberries and Jell-O, then pour over cream cheese mix and crust. Refrigerate for a few hours or until Jell-O sets.

ENJOY!

Pumpkin Roll!!!

Okay ladies, no more slacking. Time to get this blog up and running again. Let's share our food! I'll kick it off with a yummy pumpkin roll, that will add a flattering roll to your middle if you eat too much :). (See pictures of me for proof). I got this recipe from verybestbaking.com, it's the Libby's Pumpkin Roll official recipe and it's so yummy. I used to be really intimidated by pumpkin rolls (because of how they looked) before I had ever tried making one. But they are actually very easy, and fast too.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup (Libby's) 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
more Powdered sugar for towel and decoration

Directions:
For Cake: Preheat oven to 375. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

Combine flour, baking powder, bakign soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl unitl thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts if desired.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 min.) Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

For filling:
Beat cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Cooking tip: Be sure to grease the pan and wax paper well. Also, be sure to put enough powdered sugar on the towel when rolling up hte cake so it will not stick. That is the trick to this whole thing, not letting it stick anywhere, and not over-cooking it.
Also, it's easier to cut this with floss to serve, just as you would cut cinnamon rolls out to bake them.

Potato-Turnip Gratin, by Steph

Talk about delicious! Martha is not messing around here, with the calories. Heavy cream galore, and it was so worth it.

My first time using a turnip. In the grocery store, I felt foolish asking the produce lady which one was a turnip. She said, "Oh, that's fine. You're probably just confusing them with the rutabagas." Inwardly I thought, "No, because I have never seen a rutabaga in my life." But out loud I said, "Yeah, they do look a lot alike." After her help, I left the store with my first turnip.

I did infuse the fresh sage in the cream, which I think made a big difference in the taste. We all loved this dinner and I will for sure make it again. Some day. If I ever get through the rest of the Martha recipes.

Tomorrow for dinner: Pot Roast and Yellow Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Icing.

Wiener Schnitzel by Linds

This was so fun to make! I did not use veal becuse I just don't like the thought of it, or the price of it. So I bought pork instead, since it had been a long time since we've eaten pork.

(Note to self: along with freshly ground pepper, I need to buy a meat mallet so Kenny doesn't have to use an ice cream scoop to pound away at our meat)

I liked the method of it, and would like to try it to make breaded chicken as well. The only problem is I didn't use my awesome skillet that tells me the temperture and keeps it there for me. So I was just working on the stove, so I had no idea how hot the oil was. I think it was too hot to begin with, and it totally scorched the bread crumbs, so I turned it down some. But I must have not been able to get it right because every piece was still a little pink. It was freaking me out so I didn't eat very much of it cuz I didn't want to get sick. Kenny LOVED the meal and ate the other 3 pieces :). I always feel better about life when Kenny likes my meals haha.

We squoze some lemons on top of it and it was really yummy. We served it with rice and the leeks vinaigrette for quite a lovely meal (minus the pink pork). Any tips on that, Steph?

Leeks Vinaigrette by Linds

My 2nd experience with leeks, and I still just don't like them that much. It was fun to make, but I really don't think I would buy them just for us to eat on a regular basis. They smell good, though, I guess just like green onions. But it was pretty fun to make. Kenny liked them, so that was worth it.
Poaching them--I didn't use nearly enough water (it said 5 quarts) but I thought that was not really necessary.

The finished product. We ate them as a side with the Wiener Schnitzel, which I will post about next.

Note to self: get some freshly ground pepper. Martha calls for it in probably every single recipe, and I still have never owned any.