Friday, May 28, 2010

'Bout To Get All Martha Stewart Up In Hee-Yah

... with not one but two recipies. TWO. Yes, I know my posting recipies is about as common as the Second Coming, but here we are.

I had previously mentioned that my sister-in-law Lindsay was overdue with her first baby. Well, turns out babies don't actually stay inside forever-and-ever, and little Cole made his appearance (with some major persuasion) on May 23rd. Due to the cold I've had I didn't feel safe to stop by until today, and I never stop by a new parents' home without food. Well, to be honest I always used to, but since having Mason I've learned the power of a premade meal and snacks when you're with a newborn. So I guess Lindsay and her husband Barclay were the first of my food-giving enterprise, but whatev. Its a learning curve.

Here, dear readers, are two of the items I homemade for these fine folk. And as of yet I do not think either of them have passed away from food poisoning, so thats an A+ in my books!

The first I labelled "Breastfeeding Bites" on the bag I gave, but they are actually called "Goody Two Chews" and are originally from the Crazy Plates cookbook (I think). I actually got the recipie from Morgan, a friend of mine who happens to write the fabulous baby blog Mon Petit Amour. She had received these as part of a food package when she was a new parent, and loved them for quick middle-of-the-night snacks.

Breastfeeding Bites/Goodie Two Chews
1/3 c. light peanut butter
1/3 c. pure maple syrup (you know how us Canadians love us some maple syrup)
2 egg whites
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I used 1/2 cinnamon & 1/2 nutmeg since why in the hell would I have pumpkin pie spice?)
2 1/2 c. low-fat granola
3/4 c. dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (how do you make that little tiny circle? This is why I don't normally do recipies ....). Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside. In a medium bowl, beat together peanut butter and maple syrup on medium speed of electric mixer. Add egg whites and spice and beat again until smooth. Stir in granola and cranberries. Divide mixture evenly among muffin cups.

At this point, it should be looking something like this (but only if you're as good a baker as me):
Bake on middle oven rack for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before removing clusters from pan. Store in an airtight container. This will, surprisingly enough, make 12 clusters. And they will look like:
And they will taste delicious. Mildy sweet, a bit cinnamon/nutmeg-y spicey, kinda like Christmas in your mouth.

Homemade Item #2 was a recipie I tried a few months ago from http://www.dinnervibe.com/ (their link is no longer working for me, but maybe it will for you?). I've slightly modified the recipie.

Yummy Granola Bar (I call them Chewie Goodies)
2 1/2 c. Alpen Augar-Free Museli (or whatever you can find thats similar, or of the multiple-grain variety)
2 c. Kashi Puffed Whole Grain (basically, a puffed rice cereal thats unsweetened)
1 c. coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
1 c. nuts (I used almonds and chopped walnuts, but you can really use whatever you've got on hand)
1 c. dried fruit, chopped small (I used a berry mix and some prunes. Because it was for a post-partum mom. And if you have to ask why, you've never had a baby)
1 c. pumpkin or sunflower seeds (I prefer pumpkin, but you can tell me to go to hell and pick sunflower)
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. honey
1 c. brown sugar

Grease a 9 x 13 pan and set aside. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. It will already be lookin' delicious, something like this:
Put butter, honey and brown sugar in a large pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until bubbling. Add dry ingedients, stir well, and continue to cook until a light golden brown, about 6 - 7 minutes. Pour into pan and press very hard (*tip* wet your hands with cold water so you don't burn yourself while doing this). Let cool completely then place in fridge to chill. Cut into equal-sized bars.
These will taste even more delicious, but are fairly sweet so cut them into teeny bars and enjoy as your glucose levels go shooting through the roof.

Yup, total Martha Stewart today. I added the above snacks with a homemade/frozen butter chicken and two board books, and was good to go! Now if I'd only thought to take some photos of baby Cole, I'd have a nice way of wrapping up this post. But I didn't, so I don't. Umm. Guess I'll stop writing now.

5 comments:

  1. Both of those look great! I love how you renamed them "Breastfeeding Bites". I still love food I can eat with one hand because I am always ravenous (and crazy thirsty) whenever I sit down to nurse Baby H.

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  2. Mmmm, looks yummy! I've made those goodie-two-chews before, they are awesome. The granola bars look great too. I love the name your sister-in-law chose, of course, since I chose the same name for my first baby!

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  3. This all looks so good and very pretty too! What perfect things to cook for a new mom :)

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  4. YUMMY! Oh boy I want some. I'm following you. Thanks for flying with us on Friday-Follow.

    Tami
    www.heartsmakefamilies.com

    ReplyDelete

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