Peanut Butter Granola - Only 4 Ingredients

Granola is something I love. Seriously.  I probably love it too much.  I love the satisfying crunch and the sweetness.  I have seen countless recipes for making my own granola but it always seemed "out of my league."  I'm not a great baker or chef so trying something like granola just seemed like too much. Until I stumbled across the recipe for 4 ingredient peanut butter granola. Well this got my attention because:

1.  it involved peanut butter

2:  it had less than 5 ingredients.

I decided to give it a try and man am I glad I did. So if you are like me and scared to check this out - DON'T BE. I promise you can make this. If I can bake it, you certainly can too.

Super Easy (not just for breakfast) Breakfast Pizza

When I stumbled across this recipe I had no idea it would be so easy.  So so so easy.  Today it is snowing (again), my kids are sick, and we are bored.  I decided it would be a good day to pull up the thousands of recipes I have saved on the internet and start trying one out.  Elli and I decided the breakfast pizza was the way to go.  The reason this works is because you will most likely have all of the ingredients on hand.  If not, it is super versatile and you can make it however you want.

No more talking!  Let me give you this recipe that will 100% become a staple on our list. I envision it for dessert, for fun lunch, even for dinner (who doesn't love breakfast for dinner!?)

Here is what you need: (kinda because you can really do this however you want!)

-1/2 cup whole wheat flour

-1 tsp baking powder

-2 stevia packets (I didn't have anymore stevia so I used another sweetener we had on hand) or 2 tablespoons sugar

-1/2 cup water, juice or milk (I used 2% milk but to keep it vegan use almond or soy)

-2 tablespoons applesauce (or coconut oil, mashed bananas, vegetable oil...)

-1/8 tsp salt

-You can add any spices you wish. I added a dash or two of cinnamon but you could do pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, you name it!

-And the fun part:  Add in a few handfuls of whatever you want.  We added in 1/2 banana sliced and couple handfuls of mini chocolate chips. You could do blueberries, strawberries, walnuts, raisins, chopped apples, and the list goes on!

 Here is what you do

-Grease a round pan really well so it doesn't stick.

-Mix all ingredients together and then pour into prepared pan

-Place in NON PREHEATED oven at 425 for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (mine took exactly 10 minutes)

It looks delicious even without toppings!

Now have fun with toppings. Today I melted the Cinnamon Cheese spread I had and spread that on top (just one wedge). Then I added sliced strawberries and powdered sugar.  Seriously - this is breakfast? Both kids loved it and ate it up.  

This was delicious on top but I'm sure any cream cheese would work.

Who WOULDN'T want to eat that for breakfast?

OK you try your breakfast pizza and tell me what you add to yours.  I'm thinking next time I'll add walnuts and top with bananas and cinnamon. Or what about mini chocolate chips topped with nutella and bananas?  Oh man or what about mini chocolate chips topped with peanut butter and banana.  Yep I have a lot of baking to do!  I may very well be making this tonight for dessert while my kids are sleeping since they ate it all this morning and didn't want to share very many bites with their mom.

I want to let you know the original recipe came from Chocolate Covered Kate. I love her blog. I use it all the time. She takes desserts and makes them healthy.  She is all about chocolate and all about health. She should be my best friend. Really.  I haven't tried a recipe from her site that I didn't love.  Check it out!

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2010/04/12/the-breakfast-pizzert/

Happy Breakfast!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookie for Kids (or you!)

So you know I eat my three ingredient cookies everyday (ok usually two a day!) But I don’t feel guilty about that. They are only about 45 calories a piece and made from completely clean ingredients –no dairy, no oil, just deliciousness. 

Well while scrolling through pinterest during our snow days here recently I saw a new twist on the same cookie idea. The difference? These are peanut butter and jelly cookies instead of chocolate chips cookies. Now I love chocolate chips but not everyone in my family is quite as addicted so I thought this might be a good change for them.  And my kids love pb&j so why not a pb&j cookie?

So here is the recipe. It is easy, quick, and you can feel great about your kids having one or two cookies a day if they are made with these ingredients!

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

As I have mentioned before, I am constantly working to get the processed foods out of my house and start making my own things for the kids and for me.  This isn't something I'm doing over night. It is a small steady change that I work on. I am busy, my kids are crazy some days, and some days we just need a quick easy snack. But then there are times when I can try out a new recipe and I embrace those opportunities.  This was one of them.  We tried out making the no bake peanut butter bars.  Now you know I posted another peanut butter bar recently here, and this is very similar. The difference is this one is sturdier.  You know for a real snack - a nice heavy snack that will tide you over. The Cheerio one is a bit light and definitely not as filling as this one.  I like both because I like to mix it up.  

Here is what you need:

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup honey

3 cups quick cook oats

Here is what you do:

1  Melt the honey and peanut butter over medium heat until smooth

2.  Mix in the oats and remove from heat

3. Stir well

4.  Press into 9x9 pan

5.  Let cool (I refrigerate mine but that is how I like them. They do not have to be refrigerated!)

Verdict? These were delicious and perfect for everyone. The kids like them for snacks, I eat them for a night time treat, and Daddy takes them in his lunch to work.  Score! Clean, easy, and home made. 

Enjoy!

original recipe here:http://www.food.com/recipe/natural-no-bake-peanut-butter-energy-bars-163297?layout=desktop