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  • Home
    • Disclosure Policy
    • About Me
  • What's New! (Blog)
  • Low-Carb Lifestyle!
    • Trim Healthy Mama-inspired Grocery Lists
    • THM-style Beverages >
      • Mock Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos
    • Family Favorite Recipes (Not Low Carb) >
      • Snacks >
        • Delicious Homemade Gooey Granola Bars!
        • Healthy Peanut Buttery Treats
      • Soups and Stews >
        • Jamaican Seafood Chowder
        • Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
      • Salads >
        • Red Cabbage Coleslaw
      • Main Dishes >
        • Beef >
          • Beef Stroganoff
        • Chicken >
          • Chicken Fiesta
          • Chicken Nachos
          • Marinated Zucchini and Chicken Sandwiches
          • Chicken or Turkey Enchiladas
          • Hungarian Chicken Paprikash
          • Green Chili Chicken Lasagna
        • Lamb >
          • Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder
        • Seafood >
          • Chilled Quinoa and Salmon Salad (E)
          • Shrimp and Zucchini Tostadas
        • Pasta Recipes >
          • Baked Lemon Pasta
          • Paccheri (Pasta) with Cauliflower and Tomatoes
      • Desserts >
        • Cookies >
          • Free Christmas Cookie cookbook download!
          • Healthier Gingerbread Man Cookies
          • Healthier Holiday Cut-Out Cookes
          • Maple Leaf Cookies - YUMMM!
        • Donuts
        • Frozen Desserts >
          • Lemonade Ice Cream Pie
    • Recommended Ingredients and Foods >
      • Inspiration Mixes - Gluten/Dairy/Caseine/Wheat Free and delicious!
      • Organic Maple Syrup
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool Curriculum & Product Reviews >
      • Homeschool Curriculum Reviews >
        • Art >
          • ARTistic Pursuits
          • Simply Draw!
        • Grammar >
          • All About Homophones - (Marie Rippel)
          • Time 4 Learning
          • Daily Grams
        • Handwriting >
          • Cursive Handwriting - New American Cursive
        • History >
          • The Mystery of History >
            • MOH vol. 3 Audio MP3's
          • Tapestry of Grace History
          • U.S. History >
            • America, The Last Best Hope (William Bennett)
          • Winter Promise
        • Latin >
          • Latina Christiana, by Memoria Press
          • Visual Latin
        • Literature-based Unit Studies >
          • Beyond Five in a Row
          • Further Up and Further In by Diane Pendergraft
        • Logic and Reasoning >
          • Building Thinking Skills (Critical Thinking Skills Co.)
        • Math >
          • Math Mammoth
          • Math Tutor DVD.com
          • MathRider: Horselovers' Math Facts Software Game!
        • Music and Composers
        • Online Educational Courses >
          • Aleks Online Courses
        • Science >
          • Apologia Science >
            • Apologia Science's Notebooking Journals
            • Zoology 1 - Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
          • Science Weekly newsletters
        • Spelling >
          • Phonetic Zoo (by IEW)
        • Writing >
          • The Write Foundation: Level 2 - Paragraphs
          • WriteShop's StoryBuilders
      • Homeschool Product Reviews >
        • eBooks >
          • College Success Begins at Home (TOS eBook)
          • Dreams and Designs—Homemade Supplies to Complement Your Homeschool
          • Help, Lord, I'm Getting Ready to Start Homeschooling My High Schooler!
          • The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner
        • Online Educational Website Memberships >
          • KB Teacher
        • Science >
          • Polymer Crystals
    • Driver's Education for Homeschoolers
    • Foreign Language >
      • Latin >
        • Christmas Songs in Latin
        • Latina Christiana (Level 1) >
          • Latina Christiana Level 1 Lesson Links >
            • Charts and Helps
            • Year One Sayings
            • LC1 Intro and Lesson 1
      • Latina Christiana (Level II) >
        • Latina Christiana Level 2
        • LC2 Intro and Lesson 1
    • Forms and Charts >
      • "Week At A Glance" Planner
      • 2012-2013 Homeschool Attendance Form
      • 2012-2013 Homeschool Attendance Form
    • Free Audio Books to Download
    • Free Homeschool I.D. Cards!
    • Government and Civics
    • Handwriting
    • History: Classical / Chronological >
      • The Mystery of History, by Linda Lacour Hobar
      • The Middle Ages (MOH vol. 2)
      • Ancient History (MOH vol. 1) >
        • Ancient Rome >
          • Roman Architecture
          • Roman Houses
          • Roman Town (software game by Dig-It)
          • Roman Trade and Commerce
    • Language Arts
    • Science
  • Free Printables
    • Holidays >
      • Christmas
  • Book/DVD/Audio Reviews
    • Children's Movie/DVD Reviews
    • Other Product/Company Reviews
  • Home & Family
    • Frugal Living
    • Gardening and Herbs
    • Marriage - God's Way
    • Life at Home
    • Godly Kids & Teens >
      • Godly Womanhood
      • Sharing God With Your Children
      • Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home >
        • Keepers At Home - "Beginning of Club Year" Helps
        • Keepers At Home - "End of Club Year" Helps
        • KAH Skills >
          • Bible Memory >
            • Memorizing New Testament Books and Their Meanings
            • Proverbs 31:10-31
          • Cake Decorating
          • Card Making >
            • Stitched Cards
          • Computers
          • Character Studies >
            • Contentment and "I'm Bored" phrases
            • Willingness
          • Decoupage
          • Hospitality
          • Library Skills and Literature Pins
          • Sewing >
            • Beauty and the Pig - Goldie Doll
            • Edwardian-Style Aprons
            • Paper Piecing
      • Children >
        • Bible Study Bookmarks
        • The Church History ABCs (for kids!!!)
        • The Lord's Prayer - copywork
        • Some Thoughts...Family Bible Time
        • Running Away...with permission
      • Young Adults (Teens) >
        • Stepping Heavenward, by Elizabeth Prentiss
        • Deeper Roots: Discovering Our Amazing God
  • Frugal Family Trips to Washington, D.C.


Delicious Homemade Gooey Granola Bars!

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     Our family has been trying to reduce our sugar and salt intake, and also buy fewer processed foods.  I’d like to say that this saves us money, but that hasn’t been the case…so far.  However, in the long run, if our medical bills in the future remain low, then we will have saved money and will have preserved our health instead of just buying the cheapest, easiest "foods" for our meals and snacks.        If you come to my home and browse through my cupboards, you’ll still see that we are in this transition process.  But…there are far fewer boxed/packaged/jarred/canned goods in my cupboard! 

      I used to think that if we made most things homemade, they were healthier for us, right?  Well, in some cases that is true, but we have decided to eliminate shortening from our diet altogether, and we are using natural versions of sweeteners now – organic maple syrup, evaporated cane juice, and raw honey. 

     We’re also trying to use more whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour.  I’ve been grinding wheat berries in a $30 Cuisinart coffee burr mill to make flour because I can’t really afford to buy a $400+ grain mill right now.  It doesn’t grind as finely as purchased flour, but it is working for us so far.

      We’re using coconut oil, red palm oil, and butter for our fats.  While it does mean that we need to adapt or throw out some of our old recipes, it also means we get to try some new recipes as well!

      My husband enjoys having snacks to take in his lunch box to work.  He typically works a 10+ hour day, so just a little main dish (usually leftovers) or a sandwich won’t last him that long.  He’d come home as hungry as a bear!  I know that I won’t be perfect in making all of our snacks at home, but we are really going to give this a try, instead of having a pantry full of boxes and packages of "junk" like purchased granola bars, tortilla chips (we’re going to make our own this week!), pudding paks, fig bars (my husband loves those), etc.  We’ll try putting a homemade snack/treat in his lunch along with a mozzarella stick, nuts, etc. 

      Here’s the recipe for the granola bars that I made this afternoon.  Brittany thinks they need a little bit of chocolate (she’s never been much of a fruit dessert type of person), but I think they are super delicious!

      What I really like about this recipe is that I didn’t need to make homemade granola first, or buy granola from the store.  This is a really quick and easy recipe.  Maybe next time, I’ll add a FEW chopped up chocolate chips just for Brittany!



Delicious Homemade Gooey Granola Bars!

2 and 1/4 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking oats)

3/4 cup sesame seeds

1 cup chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, unsalted roasted peanuts, walnuts, etc.)

1 tsp. sea salt (I’m going to reduce this to 1/2 tsp. next time)

1/2 cup honey (I prefer raw, unfiltered honey but any honey would work)

5 Tbsp. coconut oil (it’s expensive, but this recipe doesn’t use all that much; I buy it monthly from a wholesale store – I prefer raw, virgin, unprocessed coconut oil)

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla (I actually forgot the vanilla this time, and it was STILL delicious!)

1 cup dried chopped fruit (cranberries, raisins, chopped figs, dates, cherries, pineapple – I used non-sulfite naturally dried organic cranberries)



Directions:

1.  In a 9×12" baking pan, combine the oats, sesame seeds, nuts, and salt.  Toast in the oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until light golden. ***Stir every 4 minutes or so to prevent burning.

2.  While waiting for the oats, nuts, and seeds to toast, combine honey and coconut oil in a saucepan and heat until coconut oil has melted and they are well combined, stirring frequently. 

3.  Stir the dried fruit into the honey-coconut oil mixture and allow the fruit to soak up some of the sweet sauce.

4.  Remove the oats, seeds, and nuts from the oven when they are golden brown. 

5.  Take sweet sauce away from the heat and stir in the vanilla.  Pour fruit/sauce directly over the toasted mixture.  Stir until well combined.  Press mixture into the pan with the back of a spoon. 

6.  When cool, cut into bars, cool in refrigerator, and enjoy!  These granola bars do better if stored in the refrigerator, covered


Maple Leaf Cookies - YUMMMM!

Picture
We have a new family favorite at our home….Maple Leaf Cookies!


These made such a moist, faintly sweet cookie that was so delicious, and the cookies seemed to improve with age, instead of becoming dry and stale after a day or two like most homemade cookies.  You will need to use real Grade B maple syrup for these cookies, though, because if you choose to use maple flavoring (1 tsp. or so), the maple flavor will hardly be evident.  I recommend sticking with the real maple syrup! 

We tried this recipe again recently with regular maple syrup from the store, and they had very little maple syrup flavor.  Huh?  What’s with that?  Well, I went back and looked at the new bottle of maple syrup, and it was Grade A.  Normally, with the way that foods are graded, you’d think this would be better than Grade B, but this isn’t the case.  For true, richer maple syrup flavor in these cookies, please make certain that your maple syrup is Grade B!

If the thought of cutting out cookies with a cookie cutter seems too time consuming for you, you may also roll out the dough and cut it into squares or rectangles and then bake the cookies without using cookie cutters.

Here’s the recipe:

Maple Leaf Cut-Out Cookies
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt


Measure all ingredients into a large bowl.  If using large stand mixer, beat ingredients on low speed until well combined, or beat by hand.    Shape dough into ball; wrap with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate dough 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Set oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 2 large cookie pans, or lightly spray pans with cooking spray and then place parchment paper onto pans. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll small portions of the dough out at a time to about 1/4" thickness.  With a cookie cutter (if desired), cut dough out and place cookies one inch apart on greased or parchment-lined cookie pans.  Or, cut dough into squares or rectangles and place onto pan to bake.

Bake cookies for 5 minutes; switch and rotate pans and bake an additional 5 minutes or until golden.  Carefully remove  cookies to wire racks to cool.  Repeat until all dough is used, greasing cookie sheet each time (if not using parchment paper). 

Store cookies in a tightly covered container. 

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