Granola

16 cups oats (rolled or quick)
1 1/2 cups each sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnut pieces (or almonds or pecans), cocnut, dry milk
1 1/2 cups wheat germ (optional)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 cup oil
2 cups apple juice (I prefer pineapple juice)
1 TB vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in LARGE bowl. Microwave honey and oil 1-2 minutes on high to soften honey, then beat well. Add vanilla and pour all liquids into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until thoroughly combined. Bake in 5 batches at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Add dried fruit (raisins, chopped apricots, etc) after the granola has cooled. Store in airtight container.

Note: This make a LOT of granola, but it doesn't usually last very long at our house. I like to almost double the amount of liquid (oil, honey, juice). I just think it makes better granola. This makes an excellent breakfast or snack!!!

Mom Mobley's Tortellini Soup

During the family reunion in July Mom Mobley made this WONDERFUL soup! I'm so excited to add this to my recipe collection!

Tortellini Soup

1 ½ pounds hot Italian sausage

1 ½ pounds mild Italian sausage

3 tablespoons olive oil

8 garlic cloves, minced

2 large onions, diced

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup sliced celery

4 cups sliced zucchini

1 cup lentils

4 cups tortellini

1 29-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 29-ounce can tomato sauce

8 chicken bullion cubes

3 quarts water

Salt and pepper to taste

1-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning (combination basil, oregano, sage, etc.)

Brown the sausage and cook through. Drain well. In soup kettle cook garlic, onion, and mushrooms in olive oil. Add water and bring to a boil and bullion. Add lentils, and cook for about ½ hour or until lentils are nearly soft. Add salt, pepper, seasoning, tomatoes and tomato sauce. Simmer for a couple of hours. Add vegetables and cook for 15 minutes. Add tortellini and cook an additional 15 minutes. Serve to the troops.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Garrett and I love this recipe...seriously, we've made it at least 4 times in the last 2 weeks. The great thing about it is that all of these ingredients are so common that you most likely have them at home already. All you need are the bananas. I hope that you like it as much Garrett and I do!

1 3/4 c. flour, divided
2/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. mashed ripe bananas (2-3) bananas
1/3 c. softened butter
2 Tbsp. milk
2 eggs
a handful and a half of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine 1 c. flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add mashed banana, softened butter and milk.
Beat with electric mixer on low speed until blended, then on high speed for 2 minutes.
Add eggs and remaining flour, beat until blended. Stir in nuts.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan; cool thoroughly on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Just Cook Already

I know that we're supposed to submit our own recipes, but I just found a new blog in which I have just become a huge fan of; Just Cook Already. They have tons of fabulous recipes and creative ideas.

Check it out....the Chocolate Bottom Banana Bars are to die for!I hope you enjoy the blog as much as my belly has!

Blondies, Blondie Cookies & Caramel frosting

All I have to say is....YUM!!!

Blondies

melt 2/3 cup butter, 2 cups brown sugar.
Mix with 2 eggs, 2tsp vanilla, add 2 cups flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp soda, 1 tps salt
Put in a 9x13. Bake at 350 degrees for 23- 25 min. Eat plain or put the Caramel Frosting from below on it.

caramel frosting
1/2 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar
melt butter and brown sugar over med heat. Stir and boil 2 min, remove from heat and stir in milk then cool until it is luke warm about 30 min. Gradually stir in powdered sugar and beat until it is spreadable if it is too stiff, add milk 1tsp at a time until desired consistency is reached.

It refrigerates well, and is YUMMY!

For Blondie Cookies, use your favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and instead of using white sugar; replace it with brown sugar. Make sure you also use the other brown sugar in the recipe as well. Mix and bake according to your recipe and then frost with Caramel Frosting.

Corndog Casserole

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that the name of this dish may be a little bit unappetizing. However it really was decent and QUICK....which we all know is important at times. And the kids liked it!

Ingredients:
2 cups thinly sliced celery
1 1/2 cups sliced green onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds hot dogs
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 (8.5 ounce) packages dry corn bread mix
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

Directions:

1. In a medium skillet, saute celery and green onions in butter for 5 minutes. Place saute mixture in a large bowl; set aside.
2. Slice hot dogs lengthwise into quarters, then cut into thirds. In same skillet, saute hot dogs for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add to celery/onion mixture and mix all together. Set aside 1 cup of mixture.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. In a large bowl combine the eggs, milk, sage and pepper. Add all but reserved 1 cup hot dog mixture. Stir in corn bread mix and 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese. Mix all together and spread mixture into a shallow 3 quart baking dish. Top with reserved 1 cup hot dog mixture and remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese.
5. Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Note: I didn't include the celery, it's not popular in our home.
Also, the recipe calls for A LOT of sage! Next time I will either cut the sage down a lot or not include it. The sage gave it a stuffing taste.
I also didn't do a whole pound and a half of hot dogs, I used 1 pound plus 3 leftover hot dogs I had thrown in the freezer. Stuart thinks it needed more hot dogs, but I thought it was fine the way it was.

Monkey Bread made with Amish Bread

Amish Bread (this is a sweet bread)

• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups bread flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Once you have the Amish bread made then you gather these things and do this:

Brown Sugar: 1/2cup will be needed
* 2 sticks of butter (1 cup)
* Bundt Cake Pan (feel free to use dorky shapes)
* Cinnamon: 2-3 teaspoons
* 3 cans of Buttermilk Biscuits (the non-flaky ones)
* Sugar!: 1 cup

Now before you do anything…go ahead and preheat that oven to 350 degrees You’ll need this in about 10 minutes.

Open up all three cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters. (Or in our case cut up your bread dough into small pieces.)
At this time you’ll want to combine the 1 cup of regular sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon. I use 3 teaspoons of cinnamon and this gives it a fairly strong cinnamon flavor. If you’re not so hot on cinnamon, cut it back to 2 teaspoons. Dump these into a 1 gallon zip bag and shake to mix evenly. Drop all of the biscuit quarters into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Go ahead…all of them. Yes, they’re sticking together right now, but just trust me.
Once all the biscuit quarters are in the bag, seal it and give it a vigorous shake. This will get all those pieces unstuck from one another and nicely coated with the cinnamon-sugar. You might have some excess sugar left over and that’s okay.
Spread these nuggets out evenly in your bundt pan. I suppose you might want to grease this pan before doing this, but I’m pretty sure the gallon of butter we are about to add will keep it safe.
At this point, you’re going to want to melt those two sticks of butter together with 1/2cup of brown sugar. This can be light or dark brown sugar. Stir together over a medium-high heat until the two become one.
Once the brown sugar butter has become one color, you can pour it over the biscuits.
At first…it’s going to look like too much. It’s okay though.

Bake this @ 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until the crust is a deep brown on top.

If you have the willpower, allow this to cool for about 15-30 minutes before turning it over onto a plate. If it doesn’t slide right down onto the plate, give it a few love-taps until it plops. It’ll hold.


If you'd like a tutorial (probably because it just looks SOOOO yummy) click here.