Granola Bars

In my quest to make taking lunch to school cheaper, I began making granola bars. The cost of those little bars can really add up when you have 4-6 kids taking them to school each day! I tried multiple recipes and mixed and matched things to make one that we all liked. The boys were so happy - they like them more than the store bought ones!

 

Granola Bars

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. honey

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

2 c. quick oats

1 c. crispy rice cereal

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. Crasins

Over medium high heat, melt butter in a pot on the stove. Add honey and brown sugar until it starts to boil. Turn the heat down a little and let boil 2 minutes. While it is boiling, mix oats, cereal, cinnamon, and Craisins together in a large bowl. When the 2 minutes are up, and vanilla to butter mixture and stir, then pour of oats and mix thoroughly. Pour onto greased small jelly roll and press together. The way I found best to do this since I only have a large jelly roll pan is to push the mixture to one end and pack it together. This made about 12 granola bars for me - I cut them in 4x3 rows. Actually, when I made them, I always at least doubled the recipe. I tried tripling it once and pressing the bars into the entire pan, but they weren't pressed together enough and fell apart easily. They need to be packed tightly together to stick in bars.

Creamy Lemon Pie

One of the pies that is a must for the boys each year for Thanksgiving. Sometimes they really make me laugh... the things I expect to be popular are ignored and the things I don't think they'll care about are the popular ones. This was one of those pies. I thought it sounded good so I made it, not expecting them to get too excited about it, but they ask for it year after year. Go figure.

 

Creamy Lemon Pie

1 graham cracker pie crust

3 egg yolks ( I save the whites and make Divinity out of them)

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 c. lemon juice

Cool Whip

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the eggs yolks then add sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice. Mix well and pour into pie crust. Bake 8 minutes. Chill. Spread Cool Whip over pie before serving.

Taco Soup

This soup is a big-time favorite at our house. Everyone loves it! Maybe because it is one of the few meals we eat that comes with tortilla chips as a side, but it is always nice to have a few meals everyone eats. I got this recipe from a friend years ago and changed it a bit to suit my family a little more. This recipe also makes a TON of soup! It is enough to feed my family of 7 for two meals.

 

Taco Soup

1 pound hamburger

1 pound Italian sausage

2 cans corn

2 cans hominy

2 cans black beans

2 cans kidney beans

2 cans Rotel 

1 envelope Taco seasoning

1 envelope Ranch dressing mix

First, do not drain any of the cans! This is a recipe where you just open and dump.

In a large pot, brown the hamburger and sausage together. I chop my meat up really finely because I hate large chunks of meat, but that is my personal preference. You can chop this up as you like. Dump in all the opened cans and add the two envelopes of seasoning. The original recipe also calls for three cans kidney beans and 2 cubes beef bouillon, but I can't tell the difference when I use them and don't. I get large containers of Taco seasoning at Costco and pour in some of that. No, I'm not big on measuring so I dump in what looks good to me. It's more than one envelope, maybe about 1 1/2. At this point, heat through and serve with tortilla chips. We prefer to use Tostitos Scoops, but any will do.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

I was in nursing school when I was given this recipe. A bunch of us in my first semester clinical group were planning a Thanksgiving dinner together since none of us had family around so we were all sitting around talking about the food we wanted. Our teacher chimed in and started talking about this pie, promising to give me the recipe so we could have it for dinner. I got the recipe and made it. It was an instant hit for all of us!

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

1 chocolate cookie pie crust (graham will also work, but chocolate is better)

1 c. creamy peanut butter

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

4 1/2 c. Cool Whip, divided

1 jar hot fudge ice cream topping

Reserve 2 Tbsp. hot fudge topping and 2 Tbsp. peanut butter. Set aside. Beat together peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Fold in 3 cups of Cool Whip.Pour the mixture into the pie crust and smooth out to the sides. Heat remainder of the hot fudge topping in the microwave for one minute. Pour over peanut butter layer and smooth out so it covers the top of the pie. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve, then spread the remainder of the Cool Whip over the fudge topping. Heat the reserved fudge topping and peanut butter in small baggies for a few seconds and knead. Cut off a small corner of the bag and drizzle the fudge topping over the pie in one direction and the peanut butter in the opposite direction.  Top with Reese's Peanut Butter Cup minis if desired.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite pies. When my Grandma and I get together, it usually involves making pumpkin pie and eating it right out of the oven. Pumpkin pie is one of those pie people make in the fall, but I think it is good any time and make it all year. I am not one of those people that likes whipped cream, so I have my pie whipped cream free, but it is SO GOOD! One thing I really like to do with my pie is substitute the evaporated milk with eggnog. The eggnog makes the pie richer and the spices more pronounced.

 

Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs

15 oz. can pumpkin

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. cloves

12 oz. can evaporated milk OR 1 1/2 c. eggnog

1 deep dish pie shell

Mix pumpkin, eggs, and sugar together. Add spices and mix them in. Add milk and mix it in. Pour into shell. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 15 minutes. Turn heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a large crumb.

Grandma's Cherry Cheese Pie

I remember my Grandma making this pie when I was growing up. It was always so fun to bake with Grandma! I remember her making cookies and measuring things by the handful. It was so impressive to me that she didn't use measuring cups. I still need to use measuring cups when I cook today, but I do use them more as a guide than a definite measurement. Some day, I'll be able to cook as well as my Grandma! 

Grandma's Cherry Cheese Pie - adapted from Joyce Young

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

8 oz. Cool Whip

1/2 c. sugar

dash lemon

vanilla

1 can cherry pie filling

graham cracker crust

You can use either a store bought or homemade crust for this pie. Mine was store bought since it was easier and on sale. Mix the cream cheese, sugar, lemon, and about 1 tsp. vanilla together in a bowl. Fold in the Cool Whip. Spoon filling into graham cracker crust and top with cherry pie filling. Refrigerate until serving.

Cheesecake Cheese Ball

I got this recipe a few years ago from a friend of mine. We were in nursing school together. Actually, there was a group of us who decided to have Thanksgiving together since none of us had family around to celebrate with. This is the cheeseball she brought. It was SO GOOD! My kids loved it, too, although that might have been partly for the Scooby-Doo graham crackers she brought with it.

 

Cheesecake Cheese Ball

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened

1 c. butter, softened. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

4 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

1 1/2 c. chopped pecans

graham crackers

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and brown sugar and mix in. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for two hours. Place on plastic wrap and shape into ball. I made two balls with this and they were both good sized balls. One ball would be huge. Refrigerate for another hour. Roll ball in pecans just before serving. I rolled this one in the remaining chocolate chips. Serve with graham crackers.