Category Archives: Cooking & Recipes

Homemade Granola Bars

Notes: I follow the Old World Garden Farms blog where they recently posted this recipe. We made these today and both thought these were really good. We made ours using chocolate rice cereal. Next time we may try different dried fruit and maybe some .
Edit: We’ve since been making these with chocolate chips and have also tried craisins and carob chips.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup puffed or crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup chopped or slivered nuts (I used almond slivers)
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup or agave nectar to make it vegan friendly)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons peanut butter (or any nut butter freshly ground)

Instructions:
1. Heat the oven to 325°F. Line the baking pan with parchment, leaving extra parchment to hang over 2 of the sides. Lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Mix the oats, cereal, nuts, and raisins together in a mixing bowl.
3. In a small bowl, mix the honey, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and peanut butter.
4. Pour the honey mixture over the dry ingredients. Stir until the ingredients are completely coated and start to stick together in clumps.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Use an extra piece of parchment paper to firmly press the mixture into the pan.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes for chewy granola bars or 25-30 minutes for crunchy bars. As soon as you remove the bars from the oven, press them again with the back of a lightly oiled spatula for well compacted granola bars.

Source: Old World Garden Farms

Meatless Loaf With Mac And No Cheese

Neither one of us liked either one of these. We didn’t like the flavors. I had forgot to put the oats that the meatless loaf recipe called for so it didn’t stick together. I don’t think the oats would have helped with the flavor though.
I didn’t save the recipe to either one.

Thai Stir Fry

Notes: I thought it was ok. Nova didn’t care for it. She doesn’t like the ginger.

Ingredients:
1 whole red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 whole yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced
3 whole baby bok choy, chopped
1 cup cauliflower florets
½ cup frozen edamame (soy beans), thawed
2 tbsp sherry
1 tbsp agave nectar
1½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
½ tsp ground ginger
5 whole garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
Cubed tofu, snap peas and mushrooms also make a nice addition to this dish.
Chef’s note: For a thicker sauce or glaze, add 1 tbsp of cornstarch mixed into 3 tbsp of water.

Directions:
Line a large skillet or wok with water and cook vegetables over high heat until fork tender but still fairly crisp, about 7-10 minutes. Meanwhile whisk remaining ingredients (except edamame) together to make a sauce. Once vegetables are cooked, pour sauce over top and cook for another 2-3 minutes, allowing the sauce to thicken up a bit. Add edamame, stir until everything is fully incorporated and serve over brown rice.

Source: HappyHerbivore.com

Vegan Nachos

Notes:

Ingredients:
6 corn tortillas
1 cans black beans, rinsed and drained (might be good to smash them or use re-fried beans)
2 tomatoes, diced
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced
6 green onions, sliced into rounds
1 jalapeno diced
Salsa
Guacamole

Directions:
Preheat oven to broil.
Cut corn tortillas in to quarters. Place on sprayed cookie sheets. Broil approx 1-2 minutes on each side. Watch closely.
Remove chips from oven.
Spoon the beans over the chips. Add the tomatoes, bell and jalapeno peppers and green onions. Broil again 7–10 minutes.
Top with salsa, guacamole.

Source: Unknown.

Baked Kale Chips

Notes: As Tony Tiger would say… They’re Grrrrreat! Very important step – make sure your kale is dry before adding the olive oil. These were really good.

Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh kale leaves, well-washed and dried (you can use a salad spinner, or pat dry with towels, or just let air dry!)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
coarse sea salt (or whatever salt you prefer

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
On a cutting board, use a kitchen knife to chop the kale into bite-sized (about 1 1/2″) pieces or simply tear it with your hands. Be sure to remove the large center stem and discard (for your compost pile) Place pieces in a large bowl, and drizzle with olive oil. Then using your hands, toss the kale until the leaves are evenly coated with the oil.
Lay the kale pieces out evenly on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and then sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until kale is dark green and crunchy. Remove from oven, (you can also add additional seasons here), let cool, and then serve.

Source: Old World Garden Farms

Cleaning Copper Bottom Pans

I recently acquired a set of copper bottomed Revere Ware (4 pans and 4 lids). We can’t use the copper bottom pans on our stove so we’re giving them to a friends Daughter. I spent a little over 2 hours cleaning them up. I was beginning to think elbow grease wasn’t going to be enough and would have to get out a power tool. We had these exact pans at one time and I would use Cameo copper cleaner but our local store didn’t have any so I purchased and used Bar Keepers Friend instead. Can’t say if it’s any better or worse.