Behold our homemade granola!!!

Hi everyone!
I hope you are all doing fabulously!
You know how I only post one or two pictures on my blog. Not very nice ones!! (Sorry I don't have a good camera!) I know if you are like me you would probably prefer a step by step pictures of the recipes. You know why I don't do that? First of all, because it will take too much time, and I don't have too much time to spend on blogging. Secondly, because.....hmmmmm......hmmmmm I make a real mess when I cook. So you don't really want to see pictures as I am cooking. Ufff finally I said it!!!! Now, whatever it's said on the blog stays on the blog. No one is allowed to tease me about it outside the blog. After all even if I make a mess, I am the one who cleans it! So, at least I clean my own mess, right?

Ok now back to the topic of this blog. I love granola. I think it's much healthier than normal store cereal. I wanted to make my own granola for a long time because it's fairly easy, but I hadn't found the perfect recipe. Now I have and I want to share it with you. I didn't make that up, so I don't take any credit for it. I found it on a book.

Here is the recipe:

Power Granola
4 c old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 c raw pumpkin seeds
3/4 c unsalted raw sunflower seeds
1 c sliced ublanched almonds
1/2 c wheat germ
1/2 c powdered nonfat dry milk
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c sunflower oil (I used coconut oil)
1/2 c maple syrup
1/2 c honey
1/2 c apricots
1/2 c dried figs
1/2 c golden raisins
1/2 c raisins
(or 2 c dried fruit of choice)

Stir together oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, wheat germ, dry milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla. Set aside.
Combine oil, maple syrup and honey in a small saucepan and cook, stirring over. Don't let to boil, otherwise honey will lose all its nutrients.
Pour over oat mixture and toss with hands or wooden spoon until ingredients are moistened. Spread mixture on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Stir the mixture once. When edges are brown remove from heat.
Loosen in pan in chunks and add dried fruit. Store in plastic freezer bag or airtight tin.
9 cups. Each 1/4 c serving: 191 calories, 10 mg sodium, 20 mg cholesterol, 10 g fat, 23 gr carbohydrates, 5 gr protein, 0.78 gr fiber.

 I ate my first bowl with some almond milk. Feel free to add chia seeds or flax seeds or fresh fruit or whatever your heart wants.

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Have a lovely week!

Warmly,

Juliana

Help me make my blog better!

Hi dear friends and family!
This time I am writing about a different matter than the usual. I need your feedback about my blog. This blog is one of my hobbies at the moment, and I want to make it as good as possible. I am not a lot into social media, so that maybe a downfall to promoting my blog. But other than that what kind of recommendations do you have for me? What do you like to read about, how many times would you like to read from me, etc? I will try my best to apply everything that you will suggest, so fire away!!!

Since you have been so supportive about my blog, I am going to share a couple of pictures of my sweet baby and how much she has started to like the camera. She makes the cutest and cheesiest faces possible. I can't handle them, she is too cute! Here you go!!!

As you can see, here she has only two teeth. She's got three now. Yaaay! Here she is playing with mom's scarves and belts.

Cute or cheesy, what do you think? Here she is playing with some crafts I was making for her. She wasn't very interested in "playing" with them, rather she preferred destroying them. :-)

Oh how I love this picture. My baby is so happy!!!! Here is a new instrument I made for her. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana

My guilty pleasures!!!

Well, hi friends,

I hope you are having a lovely week so far. So, as you can see from the title I am going to confess to you two of my guilty pleasures (I have many, I don't know about you).
The first one is that I am Sherlocked. Whoever have seen Sherlock on BBC will understand what I am saying. Actually, I hope I am not the only one that has this guilty pleasure. As I was scrolling on FB one day, I saw that some of my friends were watching it, and I thought I should give it a try, and I was Sherlocked!!! It's a great series. I am not going to spoil it for the rest of you who haven't watched it. To make myself feel even worse, I need to tell you that I am watching it for the second time. I usually play it while I am cooking or exercising, so that I am not really wasting time watching TV. ;-) I don't usually watch TV shows or TV series. Besides Sherlock, I have seen Parenthood (again a friend of mine introduced me to this TV series), and Granite Flats (I started watching this one of my free will and choice, and I love it). Which are your favorite TV Series or TV Shows?

My second guilty pleasure are sweets. I can't do without them!!! :-((( However, this week I found a healthy recipes that satisfied my sweet tooth without getting too much calories or sugar in. So, here you go.

Chia Seed Pudding

1 can of coconut milk or cream (I used coconut milk)

1/2 cup of shredded coconut (optional)

4 tbsp Chia Seeds

2 tbsp honey or Coconut nectar

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1 tsp vanilla powder (optional)

Mix everything together and let cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. The Chia Seeds will get bigger and softer and the pudding will get firmer.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!

I would love to know if my blog or my recipes are helping anyone. Has anyone of you actually tried any of my recipes? This was one of the reasons I started this blog. to share with you my recipes and hopefully some of you may benefit from them. I hope I can continue to have this reason to continue blogging.

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana 

Vegetables for each day of the week

I hope everyone is doing well! We have had a great week so far! Nothing exciting, a visit at the library, then a day in the pool. But we have enjoyed it. Summer is exciting. We have more fun plans for the rest of the summer. What about you, what are your plans for this summer?

For this week I planned to make dinner simpler. So, I wanted to have vegetables and some sort of carbs or protein for every meal. So here is what I planned for this week (I am including only dinner for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday).

Oriental broccoli, with rice and roasted garlic mashed potato

        

Beets and pineapple with quinoa and grilled chicken

 



                       

Deluxe peas with mushrooms and baked potatoes (this is actually my husbands lunch :-))

 

Broccoli oriental

 

 2 10-oz packages frozen broccoli spears

1 tbsp. butter or margarine

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tsp sesame seed, toasted

 

Cook broccoli according to package directions. Drain; keep warm. Combine butter, sugar, soy and 1 tbsp water, heat till butter melts. Pour over broccoli, top with seeds. Serves 6.

 

Beets with Pineapple

 

2 c sliced beets or one 16-oz can sliced beets

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsps. cornstarch

1 81/4oz can crushed pineapple

1 tbsp butter or margarine

1 tbsp lemon juice

 

Prepare and cook fresh beets, or drain canned beets. In a saucepan combine brown sugar, cornstarch, and dash salt. Stir in undrained pineapple. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes more Add butter, lemon juice, and cooked or canned beets. Cook ands stir over medium heat about 5 min or till heated through. Serves 4

 

Deluxe Peas and Mushrooms

 

2 cups shelled peas or one 10-oz package frozen peas

1 c sliced fresh mushrooms

1/4 c chopped onion

2 tbsp butter or margarine

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp chopped pimiento (I didn't have this ingredient)

 

Coo fresh peas or cook frozen peas according to package directions. Drain well. Cook mushrooms and onion in butter till tender. Stir in sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and ash pepper. Add cooked peas and pimiento. Cover, heat through. Serves 4

 

 These recipes are taken from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

Enjoy!

Warmly,
Juliana

Dinner tonight was.... a real SUCCESS

Today we had a busy and fun day. Perla had an appointment to the dentist and than we hang out with a friend and her child. When we came home, we were both a little tired and lied to take a nap. I was concerned that I might not wake up on time to make dinner. But dinner was finished right when my husband walked in the door. And you know what he said? He said that he had smelled the food from downstairs (we are in the second floor). Well, I don't believe that he smelled it from that far but the house surely smelled great.
I had planned to make for today an eggplant dish. Here are some pictures of how it turned out and the recipe will be below the pictures.

Right out of the oven

My plate, Perla ate the same amount as me :-) hubby had double

Eggplant Parmesan

1 large globe eggplant

1 1/2 c  tomato sauce (I used a little bit more sauce, I wanted more layers)

1 c mozzarella

1/2 c Parmesan cheese

1/2 c whole wheat flout

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs lightly beaten

1/4 c milk

2 1/2 c soda crackers, crumbled (I didn't have crackers, so I used bread crumbs)

dash of pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Cut eggplant into 1/4-inch rounds. Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Now the eggs and milk in another bowl, and lastly the cracker crumbs and pepper in another bowl. now take an eggplant slice and dip both sides in flour mixture, then the egg mixture and lastly the cracker crumbs. Repeat with all the eggplant. Layer in a 9*13-inch glass dish. Te slices may overlap, but shouldn't cover each other completely.

Sprinkle each layer with tomato sauce mixture and Parmesan cheese. cover tightly and bake 30 to 45 minutes or until fork pierces middle sliced easily. Top with mozzarella and a little more Parmesan. Return uncovered to oven just until cheese melts. Serve immediately.

Tomato Sauce:

1/2 onion 

1 clove garlic

2 tbs green pepper, chopped

2 tbsp oil

1 bay leaf

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

2 c tomatoes (fresh or canned, but I used fresh)

1/2 c tomato paste (I used tomato sauce)

1 tsp salt

Saute the onion and garlic in oil until onion is soft. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for half an hour. Remove bay leaf.

I hope you enjoy it!

Warmly,

Juliana