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I can’t believe this is my first post of 2017! I decided I needed a bit of a breather in January, some time to regroup after a month of helping my littlest guy recover from a tonsillectomy and my biggest guy (my husband) recover from a shoulder/rotator cuff surgery. I’ll admit, it was nice to take a break from worrying about picking up my camera and just focus on cooking for my family. My head is always spinning with new recipe ideas, as well as trying to figure out what to make for dinner that I honestly enjoyed just making recipes from cookbooks, friends and my blog without thinking too much of it.

One of the things I’m trying to get better at is making healthier snacks available for my kids to take in the car on their way to basketball or volleyball practices. We are full on entrenched in sports right now and spend many afternoons and evenings trekking back and forth between gyms. It seems like my kids are ALWAYS hungry and I’ve been trying to be more mindful about what they are snacking on and making sure they are eating more than just pretzels or crackers (it’s hard!). One thing I know for sure, anytime I make snacks like these oatmeal bites, quinoa bites or egg muffins, they are the go-to snack and don’t last very long. Seeing my kids choose those first is motivation enough to get myself into the habit of making quality portable snacks more often.

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I’ve been on a granola making kick for the last couple of months. Apparently my kids are into it because they pretty much ask me for granola as a snack almost every afternoon as well as at breakfast. They love having it in a bowl with a bit of Greek yogurt and honestly it couldn’t make me happier to hear them ask for it, even when I’m not necessarily in the mood to make it.

I took the last couple of weeks off from making it but since this week is my daughter’s birthday week I decided to surprise the kids with a fresh batch when they get home from school today. When I make our granola I keep it on the counter in a pretty glass jar, it’s nice to look at as well as easy to serve – just spoon into a bowl for a quick healthy snack!

Making granola at home is super simple (if you haven’t tried it yet please do!) and each time I make it I try to add something a little different to it to keep things interesting. One thing that always stays the same is the nuts – my granola has to have plenty of nuts in it for texture, protein and nutrients. This time I used honey instead of my normal maple syrup and I added a little dark chocolate for fun.

It turned out seriously delicious!

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Over the summer break, I had a little more time in the mornings to play around with breakfast. I introduced my kids to parfaits and they loved them. I know it’s not a novel idea, but I’m more of a spooning granola over a bowl of yogurt and fruit kind of girl versus layering it up all pretty in a parfait. But there’s nothing wrong with changing it up sometimes!

I’ve always loved the flavors of cherry and almond together (hence, why I love this holiday candle so much!!) – it’s the perfect combination in my opinion. I picked up a bag of dried cherries recently thinking I was going to make a Michigan inspired chicken salad like this one, but they ended up in granola instead. I guess I need to get more, because I can’t stop thinking about Sheila’s salad on that croissant – kinda wishing I had it for lunch today.

I’ve shared recipes for homemade granola on the blog before, and this one is not much different. The great part about granola is you can stick to a standard recipe, then just change up the flavors a bit each time. For this granola recipe, I used honey for the sweetener (as opposed to maple like I tend to use) and coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.

As for the parfait, it’s simple once you have your granola cooked up. The granola is layered up between sliced fresh cherries and plain or vanilla yogurt (we like to switch up between regular and Greek yogurt). That’s basically all it takes to make a pretty little parfait – and a healthy snack. My kids were over the moon excited when I presented them with one – made me feel like Mom of the Year for a second. 🙂

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Not long ago, a good friend of mine graciously lent me her waffle maker for a “test drive”. I’ve been wanting to buy one of my own, but like most kitchen gadgets, I wasn’t sure if it was something I was going to really use. My kids eat waffles for breakfast several times a week, so I thought, like pancakes, that it might be a good idea to make large batches of homemade waffles and freeze them.

So last Sunday, we tried out our first batch of homemade waffles. I’ll just say that I couldn’t make them fast enough! Everyone loved them…and they just kept asking for more! I was lucky enough to be able to sit down and eat the last two for my own breakfast.

I found a recipe on Recipezaar that I toyed with and made my own. We have made them 2 Sundays in a row and have really enjoyed them both times. I am thinking it is going to become a Sunday tradition…

I guess I’ll be going out to buy my own waffle maker this week…thank you Betsy for the loaner! 😉

Sunday Morning Waffles

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar (or regular sugar)
• 3 TB baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups lowfat buttermilk (can substitute lowfat milk)
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 2 TB flax meal
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs, applesauce and flax meal to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Pour approximately 1/3 cup of the batter per waffle into the waffle maker and cook according to waffle maker directions.
2. Serve with a small bit of butter, maple syrup and fruit.

 

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Have a great week!

(Gina and Sammy, Flagler Beach, Saturday April 4)

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