HOMEMADE GRANOLA BARS

Okay. Here's the basic, original recipe from Goop.com, which is Gwyneth Paltrow's "Mom" website. It's good made just like this, but ohhhhhhh, the variations you can do!!!!!

1 1/3 cup quick cook rolled oats
pinch salt, one of cinnamon, one of nutmeg and one of ginger
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 cup dried fruit and/or nuts
1/4 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup good quality maple syrup
2 T. brown rice syrup

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8" square pan with parchment, hanging over the sides.

Grind 1/3 cup of the oats in the food processor until they're powdery. Add to large bowl with remaining oats and all other dry ingredients. Toss.

In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients together.

Add wet to dry.

Put mixture into pan and smooth top. Bake 1/2 hour until evenly browned. Let cool 15 minutes on a cooling rack (the parchment makes a good sling to get it onto the rack). Cut into bars.

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Now for the variations. I've found that just about any dry, crunchy type of grain or cereal will work for the "1/4 cup flax seeds". I've used wheat germ, crunched up cereal (it's the perfect thing to do with the leftover handful in the bottom of the box), and several other ingredients that sounded and looked as if they might taste good in a granola bar. No misses yet. I don't think you can screw it up.

Secondly, you can change up the spices you use however you want. When I'm using apples I use a little more than a pinch of cinnamon and ginger and no nutmeg. When I use dried mango or papaya I use a pinch of cardamom. Peaches and cloves are good together, and then sometimes I just don't use anything but the salt so I can taste the natural sweetener and other ingredients I've used.

Third, 1/4 cup of oil is WAAAAAAAAAY too much. I use about half that. Replacing the oil with peanut butter or any kind of nut butter is really delish too.

Fourth, I don't care for maple syrup too much so I replaced it. Depending on what ingredients I"m using I've replaced it with agave nectar, honey, or a mixture of those two plus others like sorghum or molasses. (A teensy bit of that goes a long way though.)

In order to get my kids to eat this the first time, I added m&ms- about 1/2 cup to the whole recipe. I guess that provided just enough chocolate/candy lust to get them to try it. Now they love them no matter what ingredients I sneak in.

Enjoy!

Tiedye

Buff Chick Dip (from Hungry Girl)

I did this dip for a friend get-together late this afternoon. Oh. My. Gosh. It's FABulous!! It's from the new Hungry Girl 1-2-3 Recipe Book. OK here's the recipe as written by HG:

8 oz. fat free cream cheese
1/2 cup Frank's Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup fat free Ranch dressing
1/4 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
Two 10 oz cans of 98% fat free chunk white chicken breast in water, drained and flaked

Place cream cheese in lg microwave safe bowl and stir until smooth. Mix in Frank's RedHot sauce, mozzarella, ranch, and yogurt. Stir in chicken until thoroughly combined.

Microwave 3 minutes. Stir and then microwave for an additional 2 minutes or until hot. Enjoy!

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Ok here's what I did:

One 8 oz tub of lowfat cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup Frank's Redhot Buffalo Wing Sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup lowfat Ranch
1/4 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt

I left off the chicken completely because two of us are vegetarians. Then I substituted lowfat instead of fat free for the cream cheese and Ranch dressing. I would just rather not have food than to have the fat free versions of those items. Then. THIS is MOST important...... I used HALF of the amount of Frank's sauce and it was just right. HALF.

OK this is the BEST dip for fresh celery and salt free tortilla chips on the PLANET. I bet it would be great with chicken too.

Enjoy!!

tiedye

Ice Cream Cake

Okay, here's the original recipe as I got it a few years ago:

Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake

Butter the cake pan of your choice, then press wax paper over the bottom of the pan.

If using Dairy Queen ice cream, spread it in the bottom of the pan. If you are using any other ice cream, allow it to soften, then spread on the bottom of pan until the pan is almost half full. Sprinkle with crushed Oreo cookies, then spoon hot fudge sauce (at room temperature) over the top of this. Set in freezer until frozen.

Remove from freezer and add second layer of ice cream. Smooth it evenly with the top of the cake pan. Return to the freezer and freeze until very hard.

Remove from freezer and frost with a mixture of equal parts ice cream and thawed frozen whipped topping beaten together. Return to freezer until 10 minutes prior to serving time.

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Now here's what I do. We like it better- it still has that distinct taste a DQ ice cream has but instead of being all ice cream it has a thin layer of real cake too.

You do need a cake mix (whatever flavor you want), you need chocolate wafers, Hersheys chocolate syrup, and you DON'T need Oreos.

Line a deep cake pan (I use a bundt pan) with Saran. (If you spray a little Pam on the pan it'll stick nicely for you.

Bake your cake in a large enough sheet cake so it's a thin layer - maybe 1" to 1.5". Let it cool.

Dollop and then spread a little hot fudge sauce in the bottom of the pan. Spread softened vanilla ice cream next, to about 1/3 full. Make sure it's pressed down firmly into the pan.

I use chocolate wafers; the kind that are with the sundae ingredients at the grocery store. Crush a sleeve of those and then drizzle just enough chocolate syrup over them and toss, so they are a little moist instead of dusty and loose. Then spread that over the vanilla ice cream and press firmly.

The cake layer is the next layer- cut it to fit and lay it over the cookie crumbs. Press firmly.

Spread a layer of chocolate ice cream last, until your pan is as full as you want it. Cover with Saran directly on top of the ice cream and freeze.

I frost this cake with Cool Whip.

Enjoy! Tie

Barbeque Baked Bean Cheese Dip

This was in the Thursday Food edition of the AJC. It's suuuuperrrrrb.

1.5 cups catsup
1/2 c molasses
1/3 c maple syrup
1/3 c packed brown sugar
3 strips bacon, finely chopped
4 slices deli ham, finely diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1/4 Dijon mustard
1 cup water
three 15-oz cans cannellini beans, drained
8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1-pd bag corn tortilla chips

In medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the catsup, molasses, maple syrup, brown sugar, bacon, ham, onion, mustard and water. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often, until very thick, about 2 hours. (Note from Tie: I put it in the crockpot on low instead so I didn't have to watch it.)

Add beans and simmer another 10 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 and spread cream cheese in an even layer across the bottom of a deep 8x8 baking or casserole dish. Spoon beans and sauce over cream cheese, then top with cheddar. Bake 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and heated through.

Serve with chips.

Enjoy!
Tie

CHEESEBURGER CHOWDER

1/2 pound ground beef
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
1 3/4 cup milk
1 cup frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
1 T taco seasoning
1 T dried minced onion
1/2 t. chili powder

Optional, for topping:
Coarsely crushed corn chips
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Chopped green onions
Sour cream

In large saucepan saute beef over medium heat until done. Drain.

Stir in soup, milk, potatoes, chilies, and seasonings until blended. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with toppings.

This soup takes all of 15 minutes from start to finish, and it's GOOD. Sometimes I use low fat Velveeta instead of the cheese soup, because Campbells cheese soup has a particular taste I'm not so fond of, but even using the soup it's still great.

I have made it without the mexican seasonings before, and then I top each bowl of soup with a hamburger dill pickle chip and a teensy swirl of mustard (sounds gross, BUT lemme tell you, it tastes LIKE A CHEESEBURGER)!!

Enjoy!!
Tie