January 9, 2012: Honey Nut Cereal Bars Recipe

Here’s a recipe I devised use several others as a base. I wanted something somewhat nutritious to serve to my women’s Bible study group as well as have a bit left over that I could contribute to the kids in the Good News Club (an after school program to teach kids about the Bible and Christianity), for which my pastor and his wife are teachers. I used what I had on hand to come up with this yummy recipe.

Honey Nut Cereal Bars fresh out of the oven and waiting to be cut.

Honey Nut Cereal Bars

¼ cup peanut butter

1/3 cup honey

2 T. vegetable oil

2 T. vanilla extract

2 T. plain Greek yogurt

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup sweetened coconut

¼ cup roasted sunflower seeds

½ cup pomegranate flavored craisins (or any flavor of your choice)

½ cup blueberry flavored craisins (or any flavor of your choice)

2 cups rolled oats

2 cups honey nut Cheerios

In a large mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, honey, and vegetable oil. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, or until the peanut butter is softened enough to easily blend with the other ingredients. Add vanilla and yogurt and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and stir together just until combined. Press into bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool completely and stand for several hours before cutting into bars and serving.

Makes 32 bars with about 100 calories in each bar, 3.3 grams total fat and 29.6 mg sodium (as calculated on SparkRecipes.com).

January 5, 2012: Low Fat Oriental Chicken Salad

I wanted to use a bit of leftover chicken I had in the freezer for dinner. My first thought was to make this chicken casserole that my husband so loves but, unfortunately, it’s filled with tons of calories. I decided, instead, to turn it into a lovely Oriental Chicken Salad. I used several different recipes to come up with this combination; the salad dressing is fat free and virtually calorie free so feel free to use as much as necessary to flavor your salad.

Low Fat Oriental Chicken Salad

Dressing

2 cups water

2 T. Truvia

3 t. dry pectin

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 t. soy sauce

1 t. minced garlic

1 t. kosher salt

¼ t. black pepper

¼ t. paprika

1 package ramen noodles

1 cup water

½ t. chicken bouillon

3 cups torn green leaf lettuce

1 cup shredded Napa cabbage

2 green onions, white and green parts sliced on the diagonal

2 mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 rib celery, thinly sliced

½ cup cooked, shredded chicken

3 baby carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 T. roasted sunflower seeds

Combine dressing ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat to boiling, whisking frequently. Cook at a low boil for about 10 minutes, until slightly reduced. Remove from heat, cool, and refrigerate.

Bring cup of water to boiling in saucepot. Add ramen noodles and boillon. Boil for 3 minutes then turn off heat and allow to cool (noodles will absorb excess liquid).

Combine lettuce, cabbage, onions, mushrooms and celery. Toss with 1/3 to ½ cup of dressing. Place in serving bowl and top with chicken, ramen noodles, carrots and sunflower seeds.

Serves one with approximately 525 calories – but this is a BIG salad and has enough protein to satisfy.