Muesli...turned granola!

I just got back from a wonderful week at the beach with my entire family!  While there, my sister-in-law was using muesli instead of oats in an overnight oats recipe.  After trying it, I declared it delicious and decided it might be fun to try my hand at muesli when I got home.  I found a great muesli recipe from Everyday Maven and set to work making it, with a few modifications.  After a couple more discussions with my sister-in-law on why my muesli (while delicious) tasted so different from what I had at the beach we discovered we had actually been eating granola not muesli!  I found a great granola recipe from Kath Eats Real Food that I was ready to try, but I still had tons of muesli to get through.  That's when I decided to take my delicious muesli recipe and the granola recipe I was longing for and combine them...what resulted is heaven!

Ingredients:

Muesli Mixture
4 cups 100% Whole Grain 5 Grain Cereal (I used Old Wessex Ltd.)
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup chopped pitted dates
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut (unsweetened would work well too!)
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
2 Tbps. coconut palm sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Granola Additions
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 cup + 2 Tbps. coconut oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine the ingredients needed to make the muesli mixture in a large bowl.

Heat the honey in large pot until it warmed and thin (just a couple of minutes).  Add your muesli mixture to the pot and stir to combine.  Add in the coconut oil (it is solid, but spreadable at room temperature) and mix until the oil melts and it is combined with the muesli and honey.

Spread the mixture onto a shallow pan that has been coated in cooking spray.  Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.  Remove to stir the mixture.  Bake for 5 more minutes and once again remove and stir.  Bake for another 3 minutes then remove from the oven (without stirring) and let sit in the pan until cool.  Once the granola is cool you can store at room temperature in a sealed container.  I used large mason jars.

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

I had never attempted to make my own enchiladas until I discovered Skinnytaste but now I make them a lot, especially in the fall and winter.  My favorite enchiladas are the Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde but these are a close second and definitely my husband's favorite.

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

Enjoy!

Skinny Apple Cobbler

We were supposed to have dinner with our friends on Friday, but between my 2 year old developing a nasty cold and me spraining my ankle we didn't quite make it.  That meant I had all the ingredients for the apple cobbler I was going to bring and no occasion to make it.  I decided that having a 3 day weekend was a good enough excuse.  I used Skinnytaste's apple cobbler recipe as a base and decided to add a mixture of apples and pears to this fall treat!  The results were delicious!

Skinny Apple Cobbler

Enjoy!

Baked Banana Oatmeal

I've eaten oatmeal everyday for breakfast every since I discovered overnight oats this summer.  Now that it's getting warmer I've been making oatmeal in my slow cooker and recently I've been baking oatmeal.  This recipe from KERF is delicious!  I did add 1/3 cup sugar with the dry ingredients.  But other than that it's perfect the way it is.  As a side note I decided to spray by 8x8 pan with cooking spray instead of using parchment paper.

Baked Banana Oatmeal

Enjoy!

Tortilla Factory Salsa

When my husband and I first started dating we realized that we had a lot of things in common, but perhaps the most important was a shared love of The Tortilla Factory.  It was an institution in the town where we grew up and the best part was the salsa.  There is no other like it and when the restaurant closed down this past year we were devastated.  Luckily my sister stumbled across this recipe on Tastebook.  We were skeptical at best but I've since made it (several times) and it's fantastic.  I've modified the original recipe and little bit and this one has given us the best results.

For all you that have been missing Tortilla Factory salsa...make this and thank me later.

Tortilla Factory Salsa

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (I've had the best results with Contanadina)
1 small/medium onion chopped
6 oz. cilantro
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. Mexican oregano

I just throw everything in my food processor and let it run for a couple of minutes.  It's best chilled and even better after it's been sitting in the refrigerator for a day.  For an even better faux Tortilla Factory experience, head on over to Costco and pick up some Mission Tortilla chips.

Smoky Stuffed Peppers

Here's what we're having for dinner tonight!  I was going to make chili since it's cold, rainy, and a football day, but when my husband saw my wilting basil he suggested we move this recipe up in the rotation!  I've been making this recipe for a few years and my whole extended and immediate family (minus my 2 year old who eats NOTHING) loves it!  

I like to make things a simple as possible, so in order to shorten my time in the kitchen I use frozen microwaveable rice in place of cooking the rice in chicken stock.  I find mine at Wegmans but Trader Joe's and Safeway also sell it.  I just microwave it and then add it to the pan with my sausage and tomatoes and add the other ingredients.

Eating Well's Smoky Stuffed Peppers

Enjoy!