Chex Scotcharoos

6 cups Chex cereal

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

2 cups butterscotch chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Butter a large bowl, and measure out 6 cups of Chex cereal. Set aside. Butter a 9x13 dish, OR line a baking sheet with wax paper if you would like freeform scotcharoo's.
In a small saucepan, combine the corn syrup and sugar over medium heat. Once boiling, immediately remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter. Pour over cereal and fold together. Pour cereal into the 9x13 dish, or use a large cookie scoop to drop cereal onto wax paper, and use your hands to press together and form them.
Using a microwave safe dish or a double boiler, melt together chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, 1/2 cup of peanut butter and vanilla. If microwaving, heat in 10 second intervals, stirring in between to prevent the chocolate from burning.
Once smooth, pour over cereal, or scoop onto the piles you have created.
Allow to cool completely at room temperature.

Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
6 ounce jar of pesto
1 package Ranch Dressing Seasoning Mix
1/2 cup chicken broth

• dump everything into the crock pot & stir
• cook on High 3-4 hours or Low 6-8 hours

Farmer's Market Spaghetti

4 cups cherry tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, smashed 4 sprigs fresh thyme 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette (I use this recipe) 3/4 lb spaghetti noodles 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

• In a medium bowl, toss together tomatoes, garlic, thyme, and olive oil.
• Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until tomatoes have burst.
• Meanwhile, cook and drain spaghetti reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water.
• Add the water back in with the drained spaghetti along with the balsamic vinaigrette and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese.
• When the tomatoes are finished roasting, remove from oven and discard thyme.
• Add tomatoes and garlic to the spaghetti, scraping the baking sheet to make sure all the juices and flavored bits get all in there.
• Toss to combine well, serve with remaining parmesan cheese sprinkled over top.

 

Whole Wheat Pizza

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. yeast

1 1/3 cups cold water

1 Tbsp olive oil

Pizza sauce

Cheese

Toppings

• In a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix to combine.
• Add the cold water and oil and mix until a soft dough forms. The dough will be sticky to the touch and a lot wetter than a traditional yeast bread dough. This is how it's supposed to be.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days. The dough will not rise much in the fridge and that's ok.
• Pull the dough out the the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for one hour before using. While the dough is resting preheat your oven to 500 degrees.
• If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to heat, too.
• When the oven is hot, cut your dough in half. Place half of the dough on a piece of parchment paper that is 18 inches long. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough (on top of the parchment paper) into a 12 to 14 inch circle.
• Top with 1 cup of pizza sauce, 1/4 cup grate Parmesan, 1 to 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella, and toppings of your choice.
• Bake pizza on the parchment paper for 10 minutes.

Pizza Sauce

2 T. olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

• In a small sauce pan cook the oil and garlic together over medium heat until the garlic starts to smell good.
• Add the tomatoes and simmer until it thickens a bit, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. DONE!

Ricotta, Tomato & Spinach Frittata

1 tbsp olive oil

cherry tomatoes

handful spinach leaves

small handful basil leaves

ricotta

6 eggs, beaten

• Heat oven to 375. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan and cook the tomatoes and toss for 1 min to soften.
• Remove from the heat, add the spinach leaves and basil, and toss together to wilt a little. Transfer all the ingredients to a greased 11 x 7 rectangular baking dish. Take small scoops of the ricotta and dot over the vegetables.
• Season the eggs and beat well, then pour over the vegetables and cheese. Cook in the oven for 20-25 mins until pale golden and set. Serve with salad.

Baked Oatmeal

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups applesauce, unsweetened

½ cup or 1 banana, mashed

6 packets of Sweetleaf Stevia or 1½ teaspoons stevia powder or use ½ cup honey

5 cups, Old Fashioned rolled oats { I used Bob’s Red Mill}

2 tablespoons flaxseed meal*

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

3 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2¼ cups milk (I used 1%)

Optional toppings: raisins, walnuts, chocolate chips

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix eggs, vanilla, applesauce, banana and Stevia together in a bowl.
• Add in oats, flax, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and mix well with wet ingredients.
• Finally pour in milk and combine.
• Spray a 12 and 6 capacity muffin tin with cooking spray or use cupcake liners. Pour mixture evenly into muffin tin cups.
• If using toppings add them onto the tops of muffins now. If using fresh or frozen fruit, drop it right into the batter.
• Bake 30 minutes until a toothpick in center comes out clean.
• Cool and enjoy or freeze them in gallon freezer bags.

Avacado Chicken Enchiladas

Enchilada Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken stock  - (you could use vegetable stock)
2 teaspoons of cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 cup mild or medium salsa verde (depending on how hot you want it)
1/2 cup fat free sour cream

Enchiladas
3-4 cups cooked chicken breasts, chopped or shredded
2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
3 avocados, peeled and chopped
8 flour tortillas

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In medium sauce pan, saute garlic in butter  for about 1 minute on Medium - High Heat. Stir in flour let it cook for about 2 more minutes.

2. Next stir in the chicken broth, cumin, salt, pepper and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream, salsa verde and cilantro until smooth (or at least as smooth as you can get.)

3. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Add about 1/2 cup sauce to the bottom of the pan. and spread out until bottom of the baking dish is evenly coated.

4. Lay out a tortilla and add chicken, shredded cheese, and avocado to the end of the tortilla and roll. Then place the rolled tortilla seam-side down and repeat until the pan is full.

5. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Cover with 1 cup of cheese and bake for about 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbling.