Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

These are my current obsession! Finally a healthy, delicious, sweet snack! The bars are chewy and very peanut butter-y. You can really play around with what other things you'd like to add to it. For this one I added dried apricots, cashews, and chocolate chips!

The great things about granola bars are many. You can use them as a snack. They are great on the go and kids love them. You can carry them hiking or on a walk or just to the office. You can crumble them over yogurt. And these also make great gifts during the holidays or anytime!

These really knock out hunger. There is protein in the nuts and peanut butter and fiber in the brown rice cereal and wheat germ. The recipe is so adaptable so play with it and let me know your favorite add-in's!

Creamy Garlic Pasta Salad

After spending the afternoon baking the Hummingbird cake with my good friend, RC. I then had to make dinner because The Other Williams was out of town for the weekend. I'm not normally the cook but this recipe was really so easy that even I could pull it off.

This pasta salad would be great for a picnic or camping trip also. It's good warm, room temp, or cold. I added what I had on hand so the veggies are totally interchangeable with whatever you prefer. We use the Creamy Garlic Dressing that I posted about previously and it gives the pasta great flavor and a light creamy sauce.

Mountain Woman Breakfast - Version 2.0

We've posted before about one of our favorite camping breakfast's, the Mountain Woman's Breakfast. Today's recipe is very similar so we're calling it Version 2.0. What makes it different from our original is the replacement of hash browns instead of cut potatoes. Also cooked in our dutch oven this breakfast is great before a big hike and very filling. Loaded with yummy goodness everything together is just delicious. This isn't an easy recipe but it's not far from it. If you have the time to sit around the fire in the morning cooking this is an excellent camping breakfast!


Servings: 2 mountain woman sized portions and a little Rascal portion

Two servings of frozen hash browns, cooked
1.5 large links of pork sausage, diced
1/2 can whole, peeled tomatoes, diced
1 small can of mushrooms
3 large eggs
Handful of cheese to top

Over charcoal bricks, cook sausage in dutch oven until cooked through. Add tomatoes, hash browns, and mushrooms. Heat through.

Pour eggs over everything and cook with the lid on until eggs are almost firm and everything is warmed through. Top with cheese and cook till cheese has melted

Kelibasa 'n' Beans

OK, people, listen up! This dish is in the running for one of my favorites! Do you see all the exclamation marks? We've dubbed this dish Adult Beanie Weanies! It tastes just like beanie weanies and although I won't go so far as to say it's healthy, it is healthiER than traditional beanie weanies because of the added grean beans and veggies.

But don't get me wrong, it's totally the Kelibasa that's the star here. I mean, come on, it's Kelibasa!

This was a super quick fix meal that can be done in a slow cooker and it could be frozen for a quick re-heat, which we have done.

We also felt like this would make a great camping dinner and work beautifully in the dutch oven over some coals. We're hoping to test that theory soon. So, basically this might be the best dish ever!

Oh and kids, they might just love you for this one!

INGREDIENTS

* 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 2 cups frozen lima beans, thawed
* 2 cups frozen cut green beans
* 1 pound Kelibasa or other smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices
* 1 (16 ounce) can baked beans
* 1/2 cup ketchup
* 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
* 1 teaspoon prepared mustard

DIRECTIONS
1. In a slow cooker, layer carrots, onion, lima beans, green beans, sausage and baked beans. Combine ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and mustard; pour over beans. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or until vegetables are tender. Stir before serving.

2. For the stove top just throw everyone in a pot on med-high heat until everything is warmed through. Everything in this recipe is already cooked so your just warming them together.

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Black Bean Hummus

To say we love hummus and pita is an understatement. It's a delicious snack and adds some good fat and a healthy dose of fiber to your diet. Plus it's filling and delicious. We normally buy our hummus pre-made but this weekend The Other Williams decided to whip up a recipe she found that uses black beans instead of chickpeas, which is what most hummus is made from.

I gotta tell you, this is the best hummus I've ever tried and will be a staple in our house from now on! It's a great snack when paired with Stacy's Pita Chips or veggies. You can also spread it on a sandwich or wrap in place of mayo. The Other Williams made her's spicey and I kept mine plain. Both are delicious!

This was so fast and so easy that you simply MUST make it. It's also cheaper than buying it. So go right now to the store and pick up the ingredients. Make the recipe and then come back and tell me how great it was!



Serving:
8 servings (serving size: about 2 1/2 tablespoons hummus and 4 chips)

Ingredients
* 1 bulb of garlic, Roasted
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon tahini (roasted sesame seed paste)
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
* 1 small jalapeño pepper, chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
* Dash of crushed red pepper
* 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
* Dash of ground red pepper
* 1 (6-ounce) bag pita chips (such as Stacy's Simply Naked)

Preparation

1. Place garlic in a food processor. Add lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, black beans, jalapeño pepper, and crushed red pepper; process until smooth. Spoon bean mixture into a medium bowl, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with ground red pepper. Serve with pita chips.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 148
Fat: 6.2g (sat 0.7g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.6g)
Protein: 4.5g
Carbohydrate: 20.6g
Fiber: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 0.0mg
Iron: 1.7mg
Sodium: 381mg
Calcium: 16mg

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Soaked Oats and Granola

For breakfast lately I've been bringing this little bowl of goodness to work with me and I've really been enjoying it! It's got everything I need to start my day and it stays with me until lunch! It's easy to make and takes very little time to prepare. Delicious and nutritious!

We've been buying the extra thick oats from Bob's Red Mill at Whole Foods but I think any brand will work for this bowl-o-goodness. We use this brand a lot for our grains because they mostly offer organic and there is a cute old guy on the package. I like that these are extra thick also.

This needs to be prepared the night before to allow the soaking process to happen but Terri is telling me just a couple of hours is good also.

Here's how it works at my house. Measure out 1/4 cup of oats into a to-go container. Top that with vanilla rice milk until it covers the oats. I normally don't measure the milk, if there's still too much in the morning you can drain it. The sweetness of the vanilla really adds to the yummy factor and the rice milk is lower in fat than regular milk, but you could use cow's milk or water.

Put this in the fridge overnight.

The next morning dice up some fresh strawberries (or other fresh fruit) and stir in a bit of local honey. When your ready top with homemade granola before eating. Crunchy, fruity, sweet, healthy, nutritious, YUM!

Enjoy!

Yield:
1 servings

Ingredients
* ¼ cup Thick Rolled Oats
* ⅓ cup Vanilla Rice Milk
* 1 tsp Local honey
* 2-3 Fresh strawberries, diced
* 2-3 tbsp Homemade granola

Directions
Measure out ¼ cup of oats into a to-go container. Top that with vanilla rice milk until it covers the oats. I normally don’t measure the milk, if there’s still too much in the morning you can drain it.

Put this in the fridge overnight.

The next morning dice up some fresh strawberries (or other fresh fruit) and stir in a bit of local honey. When your ready top with homemade granola before eating.

Crunchy, fruity, sweet, healthy, nutritious, YUM!

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Mountain WOman Breakfast

This is another dutch oven recipe that we just love while camping! The Other Williams cooks the potatoes wrapped in foil in the fire the night before. This saves a TON of time in the morning. This is a great breakfast for a busy day around the mountains hiking, fishing, etc or just hanging out at the campsite. This recipe can also be adapted for the stove/oven.

Servings: 2 mountain woman sized portions and a little Rascal portion

2 med potatoes, cooked and diced
1.5 large links of pork sausage, diced
1/2 can whole, peeled tomatoes, diced
1 small can of mushrooms
3 large eggs
Handful of cheese to top

Over charcoal bricks, cook sausage in dutch oven until cooked through. Add tomatoes, potatoes, and mushrooms. Heat through.

Pour eggs over everything and cook with the lid on until eggs are almost firm and everything is warmed through. Top with cheese and cook till cheese has melted

Serve and eat!

Dutch Oven Brownies

The Other Williams and I both love Dutch Oven Cooking while we're camping.(Check out our other dutch oven and camping recipes.) It allows us to not waste wood to cook and like a slow cooker you throw everything in and walk away. Dutch Ovens also give you the option of an oven while camping. I love baking and that's no secret so having this option for me is great! During our last camping trip I made our Dutch Oven Brownies! This are so great to have by the fire at night and you can certainly add some marshmallows to the top if you like.

Servings 4
1 Box plain brownie mix, split in half by weight.
1 egg
1/2 water & oil as directed on the package
1/4 cup Walnuts (optional)
1/4 cup Chocolate chips (optional)
Marshmallows (optional)
8 inch cast iron dutch oven


We normally only make half the recipe for the brownies, because, well, it's just us and that's a lot of brownies. So look on the back of the box and split everything in half.

I mix all the wet ingredients together before we leave the house and pack it in the cooler.

When ready to cook mix all the ingredients in a bowl and pour into a greased and seasoned dutch oven.

We use charcoal because it allows us to control the temperature better. Light 16 charcoal bricks and get it started. Once the flames have died down a little place 5 on the bottom (under) the dutch oven and 11 on the top lid of the dutch oven. 

Cook for 20-35 minutes. Try not to open the lid too much because the heat will escape and it will take longer to cook. Turn the dutch oven and lid a quarter turn in opposite directions every 10-15 minutes or so. It's hard to say how long cooking will take so just eye ball it. For us it took about 25-30 minutes.

Camp Goulash

We had such a great time camping this weekend and cooked up some yummy food also. I’ll be sharing them throughout the week so stay tuned! This is one of our favorite meals on Friday nights when we camp. We normally leave work on Friday to go camping for the weekend. Friday is a really short day so sometimes it’s hard to cook a good dinner over the fire because we’re setting up camp. Instead we make this yummy, fast, throw together meal that’s hearty, tasty and totally easy. We use a propane burner to cook everything for this meal and try to do most of the prep the night before, like browning the meat. These could also be a quick meal at home oven the stove.

1 box Velveeta Shells and Cheese
1 can Whole, Peeled Tomatoes, Diced
1 lb ground beef or turkey, cooked and drained
Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare Velveeta according to the package instruction.

Add the tomatoes, browned meat, and salt & pepper to the pot. Stir and cook until thoroughly warm throughout.

Serve while hot.

Makes 2-3 big servings

Breakfast Burrito

This is our regular breakfast when we go camping. The Other Williams normally cooks up the eggs and sausage in a dutch oven over the fire and warms the tortillas over the fire grate. It’s also a great weekend breakfast and we had it this weekend. You can pretty much add whatever you have on hand or would like to. Make it your own or use our toppings. We do normally eat this with a knife and fork because it’s really messy trying to hold it.

Serves 2-3

2 tortillas
4 eggs
½ tube of turkey or pork sausage
4 tbsp Salsa
2 tbsp any shredded cheese
3 roma tomatoes

Cook sausage in a large frying pan until almost done. Remove from heat and scramble eggs in a bowl. Add eggs to the frying pan with the sausage and cook until eggs and sausage are both done. Heat tortillas in microwave for a few seconds until warm. Add egg/sausage mixture to tortillas and top with the rest of the ingredients. Roll it up and enjoy!

Turkey Sausage Mac and Cheese

This is one of my most favorite foods and The Other Williams found a really great recipe for it. We had this over the weekend and it's so yummy, creamy, and cheesey! It's also not too bad for you either and its a snap to make. This one would be great for the kids and busy parents. We actually had leftovers the next day and this meal also wasn't too bad re-heated! It could also make for a good camping meal

Ingredients
4 ounces ground turkey sausage (or links chopped)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 cup (about 1 1/3 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon onion powder1 small can of whole tomatoes, diced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
5 cups hot cooked elbow macaroni (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Preparation
Heat a large nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausage; sauté 4 minutes or until browned. Combine milk and flour in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add milk mixture to pan; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in cheeses, onion powder, and garlic salt; cook 3 minutes or until cheeses melt, stirring constantly. Stir in pasta and tomatoes. Garnish with parsley, if desired. Serve immediately.

Servings
4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)

Brunswick Stew

We went camping this weekend and this was our dinner after a long day of hiking, boy did it hit the SPOT! This hearty stew is a combination of three different meats plus some veggies. This recipe can be adapted to just about any meat/veggie you have on hand. It's a super yum, filling, low cal, hardy, and favorful stew! The Other Williams actually made this ahead of time and froze it in a ziplock bag so when we got to the campsite she just had to heat it up to thaw and warm it.

2 bacon slices, chopped
1/2 pound boneless pork loin, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts
3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups mashed cooked peeled baking potato (about 3/4 pound)
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup (1-inch) sliced green beans
3/4 cup fresh corn kernels
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (10-ounce) package frozen baby lima beans, thawed (The Other Williams hates lima beans so she used carrots instead.)
1 tbsp Rosemary
Other seasonings as preferred.

Preparation
Cook bacon in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Add pork; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add chicken; sauté 2 minutes. Add broths and 1 cup water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 50 minutes or until pork is tender.

Remove chicken from pan; shred with 2 forks. Return chicken to pan; add mashed potato, onion, green beans, and remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer; simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Yield
8 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 290(21% from fat); FAT 6.9g (sat 2.1g,mono 2.7g,poly 1.2g); PROTEIN 30.6g; CHOLESTEROL 81mg; CALCIUM 49mg; SODIUM 597mg; FIBER 4.2g; IRON 2.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 35.9g

Tortellini Salad

This is an old favorite of ours. I got this recipe from a friend at work and it’s now become our most used picnic dish. Because its vinegar based it will say good without having to keep it in a cooler. We recently took this hiking with us and after being in a backpack for three hours it was super yummy. It’s best to make this the night before because the favors will blend together better but you can throw this together in under 10 minutes if needed. If you’re doing it the night before you don’t even need to cook the tortellini, but if you’re serving immediately you’ll need to thaw the tortellini or boil it in some water to warm it up.

Servings: Two generous portions
Weight Watchers Points: 10pts for 1/2 recipe

2 cups frozen cheese tortellini (about half the bag)
2-3 roma tomatoes, diced
3/4 cup of Corn (or a small can)
1/3 cup reduced fat Feta cheese
1/3 cup Ken’s Lite Caesar dressing
Fresh basil and oregano, chopped to taste (fresh is best but if you don’t have fresh dried will work)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Refrigerate over night if possible.