Granola Bars

  2 c. rolled oats
  1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. flax seed, ground
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. white flour
1/2 c. wheat flour
1 c. raisins/craisins
1/4 t. salt
1/2 honey
1 egg beaten
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. applesauce
2 t. vanilla
1/2 c chocolate chips (opt.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Generously grease 9x14 pan. 
In large bowl mix oats, sugar, flax seed, cinnamon, flour and raisins.  Make a well in center of mix and pour in honey, egg oil and vanilla.  Mix well using hands. Add chocolate chips if desired.
Now pat mixture evenly into pan, leaving 1/2 inch of space to scrape out bars.
Bake 30-35 minutes (til golden edges).  Cut into bars while still warm and let cool.


*Submitted by Chantel, from her friend

Spicy Black-Eye Peas N' Ham

6 c. chicken broth (or water with a little chicken seasoning)

1 lb. dried black-eyed peas, sorted and rinsed (or canned)

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced

1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced (opt.)

8 oz. diced ham

4 slices bacon, chopped

1/2 t. cayenne pepper

1 1/2 t. cumin

salt and pepper to taste

    

QUICK METHOD (using canned beans): Sautee onion, garlic and pepper in oil. Add seasonings. Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until done. Pretty easy.               

SLOWCOOK METHOD (using dried beans): Put everything in the slowcooker with beans on the bottom. Cover and cook on Low for 10 or so hours until the beans are tender, or half the amout for high. If beans are still hard 30 minutes before needing to eat, pressure cook everything according to instructions for black-eyed peas.

*This is not a soup. It's more like pork and beans, but my husband said it's way better. It tastes delicious as a side, served with a big warm slice of corn bread! And if you're worried about the cholesterol from bacon, just eliminate it or only do one piece, pre-cooked and grease removed and then crumbled in to simmer with the rest of the ingredients. And I frequently don't have jalepenos, so we don't always put that in and it still tastes delicious.

From allrecipes.com

Honey Dijon Baken Fish

2 T butter, melted

3 T Dijon mustard

1 T honey

1/4 c. dry bread crumbs

1/4 c. finely chopped pecans

4 t. chopped fresh parsley

4 (4 ounce) fillets salmon

salt and pepper to taste

1 t. lemon juice (opt.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

In a small bowl, stir together butter, mustard, and honey (and opt. lemon juice if you're not using salmon). Set aside. In another bowl, mix together bread crumbs, pecans, and parsley.

Brush each salmon fillet lightly with honey mustard mixture, and sprinkle the tops of the fillets with the bread crumb mixture.

Bake salmon 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until it flakes easily with a fork. Season with salt and pepper.

*This was great! We tried it on flounder with lemon juice and it was just as good as with salmon. Also, I was low on bread crumbs so I also added in flax seed meal. And if you don't have pecans, try another nut or seed (I've used hemp seed before which works). The colors of this meal are great when served with slightly crunchy asparagus! We didn't even need anything else on our plate besides these the fish and greens.

**from allrecipes.com

Moist Turkey

1 (18 lb) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
2 c. kosher salt
½ c. butter, melted
2  onions, peeled and chopped
4  carrots, peeled and chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 c. dry white wine (or chicken broth)

1. Rub turkey inside and out with kosher salt and place in a large stock pot and cover with water.
2. Place in the refrigerator and allow turkey to soak overnight in the salt and water mixture.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly rinse the turkey and discard the brine mixture.
4. Brush the turkey with ½ the melted butter. Place breast side down on a roasting rack in a shallow roasting pan. Stuff the turkey cavity with 1 onion, ½ the carrots, ½ the celery, 1 sprig of thyme and the bay leaf. Scatter the remaining vegetables and thyme around the bottom of the roasting pan and cover all with the white wine.
5. Roast uncovered 3 ½ to 4 hours in the preheated oven, until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 180 degrees F.
6. Carefully turn the turkey breast side up about 2/3 through the roasting time and brush with remaining butter.
7. Allow the bird to stand about 30 minutes before carving!

*Recipe by Julie Haltiner

Egg-free Egg Nog

7 cups milk
1/2 c. raw cashews (soaked for 4 or more hours)
2 T. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c raw honey
3/4 t. cinnamon
3/4 t. nutmeg
3/4 t. powdered ginger

Blend all together. Serve cold.


*I enjoy using this to cook my oats in for a yummy morning oatmeal recipe: 1 cup oats to 1 3/4 c eggnog. Just boil egg nog and then add oats. Cook three minutes and then let sit for 3 minutes. Voila. I sometimes add in raisins when I add the oats, so they're more plump and warm too.

*You can also add this to nut milk instead of regular milk, but I didn't want to make our nut milk recipe...although it'd be easy if you soak more cashews and just make it at the same time. You can use pumpkin pie spice instead of these listed. Or add a tiny dash of clove and also tiny dash of tumeric (which gives a little yellow color).