Homemade Granola Bars ~Recipe 2

These are more chewy than the others I posted recently.

Ingredients:

2 1/2C.  Rolled oats
1/2C.  packed brown sugar
1/2C.  wheat germ
3/4t.  ground cinnamon
1C.  unbleached white flour
3/4C.  raisins
3/4t.  salt
1/2C.  honey
1  egg, beaten
1/2C.  oil (I actually used 3/4C applesauce instead)
2t.  vanilla extract

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Grease or spray 9x13 baking dish.
2.  In a large bowl, mix together oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt.  Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil (or applesauce), and vanilla.  Mix well and pat evenly into prepared pan.
3.Bake for 30 minutes until bars begin to turn golden at the edges.  Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm.

Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

I use this in casseroles and sauces just as I would store bought cream of chicken soup.  I love knowing what's in my soup and knowing that it is HEALTHY!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C. chicken broth
1/2 t. poultry seasoning
1/4 t. onion powder (or a bit of diced onions)
1/4 t.  garlic powder (or diced garlic)
1/8 t. black pepper
1/4t.  sea salt (or to taste)
1/4 t. parsley
dash of paprika
1 1/2 C. milk
3/4 C. flour

In a medium saucepan, boil chicken broth, 1/2 cup of the milk, and the seasonings for a minute of two (longer if using fresh onions or garlic).

In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of milk and the flour.  Add to boiling mixture and continue whisking briskly until mixture boils and thickens.

I freeze this in 1-1.5 cup portions so I can just thaw it when I need a can of soup.  And I usually at least double the recipe so I can stock up and always have some on hand.

1st Grade: Week 31 Highlights

Just a couple of "highlights" this week:

We started learning about Rome this week.  I read the story of Romulus and Remus to him, and he told it back to me as "Romulus and Regis".  Has he been spending too much time with his Regis Philbin loving grandma?

We also made our own fasces, the Roman symbol of power.

The other highlight of this week was "Rupert's" renewed interest in cursive.  He's been working in his workbook a bit, but mostly he has just been going nuts writing his name in cursive.  I'm finding papers everywhere with his cursive name written on them.  He even COVERED a sheet of paper in his newfound script while we were driving in the car the other day.  I love it!

We had several social opportunities this week, of course, including:  Play practice, kung fu, 2 playdates, story time, and art day.

Homemade Granola

A friend of mine shared this recipe with me (thanks, Angie!!), and my family is loving it!  We make granola, fruit and yogurt parfaits with this and also just eat it as a cold cereal.  This is so good, I don't think I'll ever need to buy packaged cereal again!

3 C.  rolled oats
1/2 C. chopped almonds
1/2 C. chopped pecans
1/2 C. chopped walnuts
1/4 C. pumpkin seeds
1/2 C. flaked coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt (unless you use salted butter, then omit)
4 T. butter or oil
1/3 C. honey
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 C. dried cranberries
1/2 C. dried blueberries

Preheat oven to 325

Stir together oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, salt, and cinnamon.

In a small saucepan melt butter (or oil) with honey over low heat, stirring.  Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over oat mixture and stir until well combined.

On a large baking sheet, spread granola into a thin layer.  Bake, stirring every 5 minutes, until brown and crisp, about 20 minutes.  Do not overcook; it will crisp more once cool.

Let cool, then stir in dried fruit.

Any combination of unsalted nuts/seeds/dried fruit would taste great.  Just use the same proportions.

***I did alter this recipe since I didn't have all these things on hand.  I made mine with almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds, raisins and dried dates.  I didn't use coconut (I don't like it), and it came out fine.  Next time around I may try coconut oil instead of the butter.  I think my family would enjoy that.  And I can't wait to try this with other dried fruits like raspberries, strawberries and apples!!

Homemade Granola Bars ~Recipe 1

I liked the way these came out, so I thought I'd post the recipe.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients:
2-1/2 C.  rolled oats
1/2 C.  wheat germ
1/2 C.  sunflower seeds
1/2 C.  almonds, crushed
1/2 C.  peanuts, crushed
1/3 C.  brown sugar
1/2 C.  honey
4 T.  butter
2 t.  vanilla extract
1/4 t.  sea salt
dried fruit (a couple handfuls)

Crush the nuts (I used my Pampered Chef Food Chopper).  Then, mix the nuts, oats, wheat germ and sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides.  Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so they don't burn.

Line a 13"x11" baking dish with waxed paper and lightly spray with a nonstick spray.

Put the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly.

Mix everything really well in a large bowl (including the dried fruit).

Dump mixture into your prepared dish, and spread evenly.  Cover the mixture with another sheet of waxed paper and press mixture firmly into the dish so it is nice and compacted and won't fall apart when you cut your bars.

Let it cool completely, pull the mixture out of the dish, flip it onto a cutting board, remove all waxed paper, and cut into bars with a large knife.

I store these in the refrigerator or they can also be frozen.

1st Grade: Week 30 Highlights

Ahhhh...spring break was so nice, and a little preview of our summer break to come.  I have toyed with the idea of year-round schooling, but I want a long break, gosh darn it!  I need that extra time to just relax, get geared up for the next year of school, plan, research, and do all the fun activities that come with summer.  I can't wait to see what this summer will bring.  I am excited to let "Rupert" run wild and follow his interests as far as he wants to go.  I'm ready for a summer adventure!

BUT...

not for another (roughly) six weeks.

Grammar:  This week "Rupert" finished his first grade grammar curriculum.  I've decided not to move on to second grade grammar until we officially start second grade.  We're at a good stopping point, and I just plan to intermittently review what we've learned this year through the summer so he'll be ready to move right into second grade grammar when we start back up in the fall.

As we finish first grade grammar, we are going back through his memory work and I am letting him illustrate each of the poems he has memorized.  This is my all-time favorite so far.  He came up with this idea all on his own!  LOVE it!!

Spelling:  This list is giving "Rupert" quite the hard time.  We started it before spring break, and we will continue working on it next week.  Said, head, been, come, some...these crazy 4-letter words are killers!

Math:  I feel really good about where "Rupert" is in the math department.  He is a master of addition, he is now tackling subtraction, and getting a better handle on it every day, and he's been "working" on skip counting.  It has been fun and easy with the skip counting songs, so I can hardly call it work.  He is also understanding other math concepts like time, money and fractions just by living life.  The other day I commented on how I had just spent $28 for this week's groceries and "Rupert" said, "That's almost 3,000 CENTS!  Not that good of a deal!  Well, 200 more cents and it would be 3,000."  I was dumbfounded!  How did he come up with this??  When I asked him, I got a very Uncle Erik response, "Yeah....everyone knows THAT!"

History:  We were introduced to the people of the ancient Americas, the Nazca drawings, and the heads of Olmec.  "Rupert" made his own Nazca drawings using white crayon on white paper.  Then we painted over it with watercolor to reveal the image.

ASL:  We learned the signs for the days of the week and ordinal numbers through "seventh".

Getting Creative

I was telling my brother about my homemade English muffins this weekend, and he suggested putting raisins in it. Why hadn't I thought of that?  So today I thought I'd give it a try.  I just used the original recipe, and then threw in some raisins and cinnamon and I'm so excited to report that they came out really well!  I learned to lower the heat while they're cooking in the pan, though, so the raisins don't burn.