Simply Homemade: Yummy Granola Cereal and Hot Cocoa Mix

These are a couple of staples that I have been making for a little while and now my kids get upset when we run out. So I thought I would share the recipes in case anyone would like to try them, too.

Healthy Homemade Granola Cereal
4 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup slivered almonds (or chopped pecans)
1/2 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar)
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups whole grain flakes
In a large bowl, combine the oats, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, almonds, sucanat and salt. Mix well and then toss in the whole grain flakes. In another bowl, mix the oil, honey, water and vanilla. Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well. Spread over a jelly-roll pan sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake at 300 degrees for 50-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. If you desire, you can add raisins for the last 15 minutes. You can also add banana chips or dried cranberries. The granola will brown as it cooks. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Hot Cocoa Mix
2 3/4 cups powdered milk
1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
dash of salt

Whirl in blender and store in airtight container. Use 3 Tablespoons per cup of hot water.

Make Your Own Ice Gel Pack

It seems we are constantly in need of an ice pack in this house - between my son and my husband, they are almost always using one for some kind of pain or another.  And we had two of the gel ice packs until recently when one mysteriously disappeared.  So the two of them were having a hassle over sharing one ice pack (and one of them seemed to forget to put it back in the freezer when done:-).

I knew I had seen directions online sometime back about how to make your own and save money, rather than buying another one.  So I did a search today and made one.  It came out great and cost only pennies!!

Here's what you need to do:

Get 2 ziploc freezer bags (one sandwich size and one quart size)
Mix 3 parts water and 1 part rubbing alcohol together
Add a little blue food coloring (or whatever color you like:-)
Put the water mixture into the smaller bag and seal, getting out all the air that you can.
Then put the smaller bag into the larger one and seal, again getting out all the air that you can.
Place in freezer for a couple of hours and it is ready for use!


You can make a larger one, too, if you want to.  We mostly had hand and feet needs, so the small one works for now.

This is better than using frozen peas (especially when your guys forget to put them back in the freezer when they are done:-) and so easy to make!  Now, if only we could avoid the injuries that create the need for the ice packs.....NOT gonna happen with a son playing football and a hubby who works out hard all the time!!!

Today I made Turkey Pepperoni from scratch!

Ok, here is what I did today - I made Turkey PEPPERONI! And boy, is it spicy! We really like it!

I used Tammy's Recipe, but I used ground turkey and instead of Morton's TenderQuick Curing Salt (which I couldn't find anywhere), I just used regular salt. This way, it doesn't have any nitrates or nitrites, either. I will keep it refrigerated or frozen so that it won't spoil anyway.

Here is the meat just before going into the oven.

It takes 4 days to make, but it is worth it! Not only is it healthier and tastier, but it is about 1/4 of the cost of Turkey Pepperoni at WalMart. Now I can't wait to make pizza and try it out! Of course, I make my own whole grain pizza crust. I will share that recipe another day, too.

How to Make Delicious Whole Wheat Pita

This is in response to a request by my dear friend Terri! Over the last couple weeks I have made this pita several times and we just gobble it up! It is so good and tasty! I made "mock" gyros last week and I will share about them and how you can make them really simply another day. You can also make up some hummus to eat with them. I have a couple of yummy recipes for that, too - roasted red pepper hummus and jalapeno hummus.

Whole Wheat Pita
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp salt
4 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour
(if you don't have fresh ground, try 3 cups whole wheat to 1 cup bread flour)

Place water, honey and salt into a large mixer with dough hook. Mix well.
Add 2 cups of flour and then yeast. Mix well.
Add remaining two cups of flour and knead dough for 5 minutes.
Remove dough to lightly floured surface (I use a big bowl because I don't have any counter space) and hand knead for a few minutes.
Separate the dough into 8 portions. Set the dough aside and cover with a towel for 30 minutes.
Roll down each ball with your palm on a floured surface forming a small disc. Then, with a rolling pin, form 8 discs 7-inches diameter. They should be bout 1/4 inch thick. Set aside and cover with a damp linen or towel. Let them rest for 15 minutes.
While they rest, put a stone or baking sheet into your oven and turn the oven on the 450 degrees. After the fifteen minutes, starting with the first pita you rolled out, put a few of them onto the stone or sheet. Do not crowd! They need the circulated air.
Let them cook for about 6 minutes. They should be puffed up, but not really browned. Remove with tongs and keep under a warm, moist towel until all are done baking.
Store in airtight container or ziplock bag when cooled.

Yummy! Enjoy these wonderful - and easy - pitas! I will give you the other recipes tomorrow, I hope.

Foam Soap Refill

Do you love that foam soap but hate the price? Well, my daughter absolutely LOVES foam soap and begged me to buy it. One day I broke down and bought ONE. When it ran out, I thought to myself, "I wonder if you can make this soap?" Well, I went out and searched on the internet (don't know where I would be without this great instant resource:-) and found it is easy AND CHEAP!! The foaming is in the pump, not the soap.

All you have to do is put 3 Tablespoons of liquid hand soap or dishwashing soap in a bowl with 2/3 cups of water. Gently mix soap with water - DO NOT SHAKE! Pour into foam soap dispenser and VOILA! More foam soap at a fraction of the cost of any other since you are only using 3 Tablespoons!!

How cool is that? And I am sure your kids will wash their hands more often and for longer with the foam soap. Mine do!