Cheap & Easy: Crock Pot Peanut Butter Granola

DSC_0135

This is one of my teenage son’s favorite recipes. I like it, too, because I can “clean out the pantry” and add things based on what I’m trying to use up: sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, chocolate chips, cinnamon, etc., and adjust the recipe accordingly. If you’re like me, you don’t measure things and eyeball it anyway! Should you want raisins, I’ve never tried those but you could stir them in afterwards, although warming the raisins can’t hurt them. I love my slow cooker so much I’ve always had a little ceremony for them when finally break down. They are a definite workhorse in my kitchen. For large gatherings, I use both my slow cooker AND my 9.5 quart doufeu…easiest way I know of to feed a crowd.

CROCKPOT PEANUT BUTTER GRANOLA

1/3 cup coconut oil (I like Jarrow’s unrefined, organic, virgin from Amazon)
1 cup peanut butter, generous
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 c ground flax seed
7 cups rolled old-fashioned oatmeal (NOT quick cooking)
honey to taste — usually 1/4 cup
3/4 c brown sugar

Allow oil and peanut butter to soften and stir to combine in the bottom of a large crock-pot. Add remaining ingredients, stirring to combine well and then stirring every 20 minutes or so until it’s as toasted as you like. I generally stir every half hour to an hour and leave the crockpot on low for four to six hours. You KNOW it’s a good recipe when your kids are a) willing to give up cold cereal for it and b) volunteer to stir it for you. It’s a hit at our house, anyway!

Trunk-or-Treat Decoration for Halloween

DSC_0290

We created a cute vampire-fang-monster-mouth car decoration for the open back of a car at our trunk or treat. This was in 2009 – weren’t those boys so cute? They look so small to me when looking back just two years later. We had just moved to Houston in this picture and it was HOT for Halloween. The fangs were easy to create – a quick tip to make it even easier: we used an old, giant sticky note presentation board so they just stuck and we didn’t even have to tape them on anywhere to the car! Easy! Cute!

Cheap & Easy Recipe: Ben Likes Hootenany Pancakes!

Ben likes hootenany pancakes so much that he sang for them and we got it on video. It’s a classic Rolfson recipe and oh-so-easy-and-cheap. It is a staple in our household for breakfast OR dinner. Sometimes we even have to make two pans.

Hootenany Pancakes

1 cup flour
1 cup milk
6 or 7 eggs
pinch salt
1 stick butter

Cut 1 stick of butter into several chunks and put in bottom of 9×12 or 10×13 pan. Place in 400° F oven until melted. While butter is melting, whisk or blend flour, eggs, milk and salt. When butter is melted, pour into pan with swirling motion. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Pancake will puff up! Best served with elderberry syrup but also great with jelly, powdered sugar, etc. I have been known to serve these in the car in baggies – cold – and the kids eat them just as well. Enjoy!