Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Pizza Pasta…

I first came across this recipe almost ten years ago when following Weight Watchers. The kids were little; loved it, so we ate it almost every week. My husband and I got tired of eating it all the time so I stopped making it. To be honest, I had not made this in almost eight years.
Last night I set out to make spaghetti for dinner. I had the pasta boiling, since the computer is in the kitchen, I sat down to look at my email.  In my inbox was an email from www.bookstrand.com, informing me Reece Butler had a new book releasing in a week. This will be book nine in the series, which started three years ago.
To say I was not paying attention would be an understatement. I had pre-browned the meat a few days ago, so I just needed to heat the sauce and meat.  I opened the jar of sauce and threw away the lid… at least I thought I had. Yep, I threw the jar in the trash and kept the lid, whoops!
Now I usually keep two jars of spaghetti sauce in my pantry, of course I couldn’t find the other jar. So I pulled out the pizza sauce. The kids did not remember, ever having pizza pasta, and thought it was “really good” and “it tastes just like pizza.” Oh my, I have feeling this dish has now made a comeback in our diet.


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Peanut Butter Granola From Fit-it and Forget-it...

I found this recipe in 2011 from Fit-it and Forget-it website. Since then we have made this recipe many times and even given it as gifts. The recipe takes a little bit of time and you have to stir a few times. The plus side is you get use your slow cooker, which means you can get the help from little hands.
The kids and I always have fun making this granola, and it makes a great rain or snow day activity.  The instructions states when the granola is cool break into chunks. We have never really gotten chunks, more like crumbles, so we like to use this as the base for trail mix.
The granola has a good peanut taste without being overwhelming, which is good since we you all know I don’t like peanut butter. I like to pour milk over the granola or stir into my yogurt for breakfast.
We have omitted the coconut and raisins, and added in our own favorites. One time we tried to add in chocolate chips after we poured the mix out to cool. Well that did not go so well, since the mix was still too hot for chocolate.  
You can personalize the add-ins to your own tastes, we have made with nothing but a variety of nuts. Most of the time, we just throwing in whatever I have in the pantry, it is great way to use up the leftovers from holiday baking.
I have meaning to omit the brown sugar and try using honey… maybe next time I make this.
Make sure you store the granola in an airtight container!

Ingredients:
6 cups dry oatmeal
½ cup wheat germ
½ cup toasted coconut
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup raisins