We have a bit of an issue with food in this house.
I eat too much of it, and my kids don’t eat enough.
That’s not true. Michael doesn’t eat enough.
SO, we have been supplementing his breakfast with some sneaky calories.
He doesn’t seem to mind, and the rest of the family reaps some benefits, too.
In addition, I’m the Mom who gets breakfast requests from friends who sleepover. {Thankyouverymuch}
“Um… Becca, can you please make smoothies tomorrow morning? Please?”
“And, um… can I have a granola bar? Can you give my Mom the recipe?”
Do you know how happy this makes me??!!
No, you probably don’t. Because you don’t know that normally, I am not allowed to make breakfast.
I make a mean dinner, and some some pretty great lunches. But in the morning, Steve won’t let me near the kitchen.
Confession: I make horribly flat pancakes and soggy waffles.
Movingrightalong.
I thought I’d share my recipes with you. Along with some Pioneer Woman-esque pictures. A gift, if you will.
Feel free to give me something in return.
Yummy Strawberry and Banana Smoothies
Cast of characters:
Frozen strawberries
*optional – Yogurt – any kind.
Protein powder (I use unflavored soy, but I won’t try to control your smoothie… use what you like)
Milk – 2% is pictured, but we use whole milk for Michael and Jack.
Bananas
A few notes:
I showed you two types of yogurt because I know that yogurt is a very personal kind of thing ;) Well, it is around here. I like the YoPlus (even though it has some added sugar) and the boys like the unflavored or vanilla.
What I love about this recipe is that it can be easily adapted for people who don’t need all of the extra calories and fat of whole milk and mucho protein powder. And you can easily make multiple (different) smoothies at the same time.
This recipe should adapt well to any blender/smoothie maker. I’m pretty bad at taking exact measurements when I make anything (no, that’s not what was wrong with the waffles and pancakes). Just look at the pictures and adjust the ingredients to fit your taste.
Here we go…
In the bottom of the cup/blender, etc. pour 6-7 small strawberries (or 4-5 of the hughmongo Costco sized ones).
Add one container or 2-3 large spoonfuls of yogurt. (And next time, make sure Jack moves his hands out of the picture)
Pour milk to the top of the strawberries.
Add 1/2 the amount of one serving size of protein powder (for a regular smoothie) or twice the amount of protein powder (if you need to gain a little weight).
Break up a banana and add it in there (and maybe a few extra strawberries to make it thicker).
I have a favorite smoothie maker (that also works for making awesome salsa). We just ordered our second one last week because our 2 year old one just started to die…
*affiliate link*
I’m a little controlling “by the book” when I add the ingredients. I stick to the order listed because I have found that there is less protein powder stuck to the side of the cup when I follow this order. But do what you want, I’m not going to control your smoothie (unless you’re making it in my house. then I might get a little weird).
If the blender isn’t blending well, you probably need to add a bit more milk. Test it out, and drink it up. 2 servings of fruit right there…Yum.
“Mom’s Really Good Granola Bars” (named by Jack, not me)
Cast of characters:
3 cups oats
2 tablespoons “healthy chaser” (I use ground flax seed, but you could also use wheat germ, 7 grain cereal, etc.)
1/4 cup protein powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon chunky peanut butter (Costco brand organic creamy pb is yummy, too. Your choice. I’m not controlling your granola bars.)
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup chopped almonds/walnuts/cashews
1/4 cup dried cranberries and raisins, cut in half (or any other dried fruit)
1 cup bear naked granola (or any other kind you like, or not. you can skip this ingredient)
Some notes:
You could substitute chocolate chips for the raisins and cranberries, or for the nuts. This recipe is really flexible.
Sometimes I toast the oats and nuts on 400 degrees for about 13 minutes, but I haven’t been able to tell if it makes a difference. If I have time, I do it. If not, I don’t.
Here we go…
Put peanut butter and honey into a pot, and heat it on low until it melts together.
I use a handheld chopper to chop the almonds and walnuts and a knife to chop the cranberries and raisins because they are so sticky.
Pour oats, flaxseed, protein powder, nuts, raisins and cranberries, and granola into a large bowl.
If you’re using chocolate chips and you decided to toast the granola, you should let it cool down so the chocolate doesn’t melt. But if you have picky kids and you need to trick them into thinking that they are eating chocolate granola bars you could let it melt and change the color of the whole granola bar. Not that I have ever tricked my kids into thinking they are eating lots of chocolate when they in fact are not.
Pour the melted honey and peanut butter into the bowl.
Let your 9 year old helper use Suzy, your beautiful mixer:
Or you could do it the old-fashioned way (how I used to do it before Suzy came into my life) and get out a wooden spoon and stir, stir, stir.
But this way is much more fun.
While Suzy was mixing away, I grabbed a 9×9 pan (well, stone, because I have no pans. Only stones.) and lined it with some parchment paper.
Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper:
And cover it up with another piece of parchment paper.
If you have a small rolling pin (this might be where I have to admit my Pampered Chef addiction) you could use it to flatten down your granola bars. If you don’t, you could use your hands. As Darcie shared with me last night, you could also use a wine bottle. Hmmm… if your wine bottle is too big, I bet a beer bottle would work just fine.
But your husband may or may not give you a weird look.
After your granola mixture is nice and flat, throw the top piece of parchment away and use the bottom one to lift out your granola onto a cooling rack.
Push the granola into a nice firm square on all sides, then let it sit and harden for at least an hour.
I use a pizza cutter to cut my granola bars.
And I store them in a ziplock container in the pantry. They last for about 1 week, but you could get a little more time out of them if you store them in the refrigerator.
Oh, and if you bring some into your co-workers every once in a while, you get lots of smiles!
Completely irrelevant fact about my kitchen: After proof-reading this post, I realized that everything except for Suzy and the blender are from Pampered Chef. Hmmm…
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This post was originally published on 2/21/2010 and is one of my top five viewed posts.
I still make these smoothies and granola bars for my family, and they still love them :)
