Favorite Chex Mix

I mentioned that we were on vacation with my husband's family and posted a picture of all the food it takes to feed 24 people.  Well, you better believe we had some amazing food while we were there!  My husband's family has a tradition of making Chex Mix every Christmas.  While I realize it wasn't Christmas, we still had the Chex Mix while on vacation, so I decided to share the recipe with you!

Favorite Chex Mix
13 cups Chex (5 cups wheat, 4 cups corn, 4 cups rice)
3 cups pretzel sticks
1 lb spanish peanuts
1/4 cup bacon grease
1/2 cup butter
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Tabasco
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp savory or poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 250.

Combine cereal, pretzel sticks, and peanuts in a large roasting pan.

In a separate bowl, melt the bacon grease and butter.  Add worcestershire and Tabasco to butter mixture; pour over cereal mixture and toss to coat.

In a small mixing bowl, combine seasoned salt, celery salt, garlic salt and savory or poultry seasoning.  Sprinkle over cereal mixture; tossing to make sure the Chex mix is evenly coated.

Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

This picture was taken before it was baked.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but it looks pretty similar to this.

Spinach and Berry Salad

First of all, let me apologize for my absence recently.  We just got home from a 10 day vacation with my husband's family.  We had so much fun that there was just no time for blogging!  And I don't have a picture of today's recipe, but I am hoping to get one up later today.  So instead of a picture of today's salad, here's a picture of just some of the food we had on vacation.  There were 24 of us, and this doesn't even include any of the refrigerated or frozen stuff!!!

I enjoy eating salads for lunch, and I eat one almost every day.  The type of salad I eat varies, but lately I've been hooked on salads made with spinach and berries.  I was inspired when we had dinner with friends and they made a similar salad that was just so delicious.  I will say, though, that the berries often cost more than what I would normally pay for fruit, but Sam's Club has pretty good prices on them during the summer.

Spinach and Berry Salad
Spinach
Strawberries, sliced
Blueberries
Sliced almonds
Crumbled feta
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Place spinach in a bowl.  Top with desired amount of strawberries, blueberries, almonds, and feta; drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette and toss.  Enjoy!

Baked Oatmeal

I have never liked oatmeal.  I've tried so many ways to make it and would always try to force myself to eat it, hoping I'd eventually learn to like it.  However, all my attempts were fruitless.  After a few bites, I would hit that point where I physically couldn't force myself to swallow any more.  I didn't want to load it with sugar, because that would defeat the purpose of eating it in the first place!  However, that all changed when I came across this recipe for Baked Oatmeal from Skinny Taste.  To my surprise, I really liked it!  I did alter it just a tad.  Keep in mind, though, that it's still not super sweet, but the fruit adds just enough sweetness for me.  I'm the type of person who enjoys regular Cheerios with no added sugar, so if you like really sweet cereals, this may not be for you (or you may want to add some extra sugar, honey, or a mashed up banana or two and add it to the wet ingredients).

Baked Oatmeal
2 medium bananas, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cup blueberries (or other berries), divided
1 tsp cinnamon, divided
1 cup uncooked quick oats
1/4 cup chopped almonds, divided
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly grease an 8-inch square pan.  Place the sliced bananas in a layer in the bottom of the pan, followed by 3/4 cup blueberries and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.  Cover with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the bananas are soft.

While the bananas and blueberries are baking, combine oats, 1/8 cup chopped almonds, baking powder, remaining cinnamon, and salt.  Mix well; set aside.

In another bowl, combine milk, honey, egg, and vanilla.  Wisk until well combined.

Remove the bananas from the oven and put the oat mixture over the bananas, followed by the liquid ingredients.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/8 cup almonds and 3/4 cup blueberries over the top.  Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the oatmeal is set.  Serve warm.  I usually make up a batch at night and keep it in the refrigerator for almost a week.  Each morning, I just stick a piece in the microwave to reheat it.

It looks pretty runny before it's baked.

But don't worry.  It bakes up nicely!

This one has mixed berries in it.

Autumn Salad with Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

Apples, cranberries, and pecans just sound right in the fall.  And they all just happen to be ingredients in this salad!  I think my sister-in-law introduced me to this salad and I love it!!!  I would recommend using fresh lemon juice as it tastes much better, but if you don't have any fresh lemons, go ahead and used the bottled stuff.

Autumn Salad with Lemon Poppyseed Dressing
1/4-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp poppy seeds
Romaine lettuce, chopped or torn
Chopped pecans
Dried cranberries
1 apple, chopped
1 pear, chopped

In a blender or food processor, combine sugar, lemon juice, onion, mustard, and salt.  With blender or food processor running, slowly drizzle oil into mixture; add poppy seeds and quickly pulse, just to combine.

In a bowl, add lettuce, pecans, cranberries, apples, and pears; toss if desired.  I usually toss only a few of the ingredients with the lettuce and save most of them to put on top.  I've found that if I toss all of the ingredients, they end up on the bottom of the bowl!  Serve with dressing.

Candied Almonds

I'm sorry for the amount of posts that have been about sweets recently.  As Sumiko said on Friday, we're quite busy this week since our families are together, so our posts are limited to recipes we already have ready to go.  Therefore, you're left with these not-so-nutritional-but-still-oh-so-yummy recipes.  Which leads to today's recipe: candied almonds.  Almonds aren't necessarily cheap, but I like to keep them on hand.  They make great snacks (in moderation, of course)!  I usually buy them at Sam's Club (the unsalted ones).  I've found they're typically cheaper there than anywhere else, even when they're on sale elsewhere.  Be careful, though.  These candied almonds are addicting!

Candied Almonds
1/2 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups raw, unsalted almonds

Line a baking sheet with wax paper.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine water, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. 

Bring to a boil over medium heat. 

Add almonds; stir until ALL the liquid is gone and the almonds are coated with the sugar mixture. 

Right after the almonds were added to the sugar mixture.

The sugar is starting to caramelize a bit.

We're just about there!

Remove from heat and spread almonds on prepared baking sheet.  Allow to cool 15 minutes.  Store leftover almonds in an air tight container.