Squash Pancakes

My friend Rachel gave me this recipe.  What a great way to get your kids to eat veggies! We eat these as a side with supper.

Squash Pancakes

4 cups shredded squash (zucchini and/or yellow squash are best)

1 cup shredded cheese (pick your favorite)

1/2 teaspoon salt

few dashes of pepper

2 eggs

1-1/2 cups Bisquick (GF also works!)

Stir all the ingredients together. (I pulled my veggies out of the freezer but fresh can certainly be used.)

I used Mexi-blend here.

Drop by scoopfuls onto hot griddle.

Cook until golden brown on the outsides and done on the inside.

Carl's Wicked Awesome Bars

My husband wanted to make granola bars.  He searched for recipes that didn't contain white or brown sugar and found nothing the really suited him so he threw together this one based on several recipe ingredients he found.  He emailed me the recipe he had tested a couple times and titled the email "Carl's Wicked Awesome Bars :P" so the name stuck!  

Carl's Wicked Awesome Bars

4 cups regular oatmeal

1/4 cup milled flax seed

1/4 cup milled chia seed

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup craisins

1 cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Dash of cayenne pepper

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

1/3 cup sunbutter

(Feel free to change up the nuts, butters, and fruits to suit your taste!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Drizzle some olive oil on a paper towel and rub inside of 7 x 11" baking dish.

In medium bowl mix together oats, flax seed, chia seeds, and nuts.

In another bowl mix together craisins, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, cayenne, cocoa,  sunbutter.  Yes it looks a little nasty but I promise it'll be fine once added to the oats!

Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients. 

Stir until dry ingredients are completely coated. 

Dump into prepared pan.  

Press firmly into pan. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. After you remove from oven, press them again. 

Allow them to completely cool before you cut them.  Store them in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap. 

V7 Vegetable Juice Blend

Make your own vegetable juice blend full of Vitamins A, C and E,  potassium, iron, and magnesium to name a few. Nothing added like the "natural flavoring" or citric acid that the store sold juice shows as ingredients.  You control the salt.  Notice mine is called V7 not V 8 as I did not use watercress which is listed as one of "their" ingredients.

 V7 Vegetable Juice Blend

2 quarts canned crushed tomatoes or approximately 2-28 ounce cans (use low sodium so you can control your own salt)*
4 celery stalks
2 carrots
1/2 beet (or 2 Tablespoons beet juice)
2 Small handfuls of spinach
4 small handfuls of iceberg lettuce
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
salt, as needed

Send all through juicer. (If you are using already juiced beets then just add that to the juice at the end.)  Mix, add salt to taste, and enjoy!

That is a 1/2 gallon canning jar in the top picture so that is how much what my juicing made. 

*You could use fresh tomatoes but I have not worked out the pound/quart ratio yet.  I hope to make some when our garden is ready to harvest and can some for later.

Mollie's Tender Chicken

Mollie's Tender Chicken 

(originally known as Parmesan Chicken but renamed by my niece)

1 cup plain breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons white flour

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup milk

6-8 chicken breast strips (1/2 inch thick)

Oil for frying

Mix breadcrumbs, flour and Parmesan cheese together.  Put milk into a dish deep enough for dipping the chicken pieces.  Dip chicken in breadcrumb mixture, then in the milk and then back into the breading mixture.  Press the chicken pieces with your hands at this point to flatten them a little.

Heat oil in a frying pan and heat to a medium high temperature.  Place chicken pieces into the pan and lower temperature to medium.  Fry pieces until chicken is done and pieces are a crispy golden color.

Baked Chicken Tenders

Baked Chicken Tenders 

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley or a heaping 1/2 Tablespoon of dry

salt and pepper, optional

1/4 cup milk

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

olive oil or melted butter

(Additional ingredients for Garlic Lover's Version)

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Slice chicken breast halves into nice strips or leave whole.

Dip in milk.

Then in mixture of bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, and salt/pepper. For a thicker crust you could dip in dry, then wet, then back in dry.

Lay on greased cookie sheet.  Mist/drizzle with a little olive oil spray or drizzle with melted butter.
(If you are doing the garlic lovers version mix melted butter, garlic, and lemon to drizzle over instead.)

Bake tenders at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  If you do whole halves then bake for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy on a salad or dipped in your favorite dipping sauce (like Honey BBQ ) Great cold for school lunches.

Berry Smoothie

Berry Smoothie

1/3 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup orange juice
3 ounces (weighed) vanilla yogurt (we use Cultural Revolution from Kalona, an organic yogurt made with cane sugar when we don't have our own homemade goat yogurt)
1/2 ripe medium size banana
1/2 cup frozen mixed berries
optional: 1/4 cup powdered egg whites (we use NOW Foods brand)


Yes, I measure. :) Add it all to a tall glass and blend with hand blender. You can add protein powder if you like.

YUM!!