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Chewy Peanut Butter, Honey & Raisin Granola Bars

It was my turn to host my daughters play group and I wanted to make a snack that was nutritious but also delicious. When I decided on granola bars I knew they would be a huge hit. And a hit they were, I had a few parents ask me for the recipe so I knew I better hurry up and post this so they could all have it at their fingertips. I even had one little girl ask me if she could take one home in the car with her, of course I love to share my baked goodies so I told her immedietly yes.  I would also like to experiment with adding other items instead of raisins; such as chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, craisins…the options are endless. So next time I’ll ask my daughter what she wants me to add and I’ll go with that.
These are not only for little ones, my husband enjoyed them as a snack in his lunch for a few days. Everyone likes a mid morning snack and these make for the perfect answer. These would also be good set out when you have friends over because they can be prepared the day before.

I’d love to hear what you choose to add, Enjoy!

Chewy Peanut Butter, Honey & Raisin Granola Bars Recipe

Print recipe
Chewy Peanut Butter, Honey & Raisin Granola Bars Recipe
Serves 12-36
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 45 minutes
Total time 55 minutes
Meal type Snack
Misc Child Friendly, Pre-preparable
Website Simply Recipes
This healthy kid friendly snack is great for the whole family. Homemade granola bars are the best, you know all the ingredients and are very tasty. FrenchToasty.com has lots of healthy kid friendly snacks.

Ingredients

  • 1 egg white
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (crunchy peanut butter will result in a more crumbly bar)
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3 cups old fashioned oats (do not use instant or steel cut)
  • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick, melted)
  • 1/2 cup raisins (golden or regular)

Note

I've done 1/4c almond butter & 1/4c peanut butter or all peanut butter, both ways are equally as delicious.

Make sure to cut while warm, otherwise once cooled it makes it more difficult.

Let cool completely before eating, otherwise they may be too crumbly.

You can omit the raisins and add other goodies: chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, m&m's, mini marshmallows, craisins.... the options are endless.

Directions

Step 1
Line an 8x11 baking pan with parchment paper. (you could use a 9x13 for thinner bars) Make sure the paper hangs over the sides a little for easy removal. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 2
Put 1/2 cup of the oatmeal in a food processor and ground until fine. Pour this in with the remaining oatmeal and cinnamon in a bowl. (if you don't have a food processor you can skip this step)
Step 3
In the bowl of a mixer or by hand with a wire whisk, beat the egg whites until frothy. Then beat in the honey, then peanut butter. Now add the oat mixture, and pour the melted butter over the top. Stir until well combined. Add the raisins and give a quick stir to make sure they are incorporated throughout.
Step 4
Spread your mixture over the bottom of the parchment lined baking dish in an even layer.
Step 5
Bake for 25 minutes, until nicely golden brown on top. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Use a sharp knife and cut into bars (12-16, or into small squares 24-36) Return to oven and lower the temperature to 300 degrees F and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove and let cool completely before eating.

Easter Sprinkled Rice Krispie Treats

I decided to make rice krispies for Easter because I figured that the little ones would enjoy them. But I couldn’t just leave them at plain rice krispies I had to holiday them up. So what better way to do that then with white chocolate and sprinkles. They turned out so cute and I will definitely change the sprinkle color for other holidays.

This is a very kid friendly recipe. Not only to eat but to help make. So let the little ones get involved. Great steps for them would be dump the rice krispies in and stir. Dip in the chocolate and dip in the sprinkles. They will have a blast! Enjoy!

Easter Sprinkled Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients

  • 6 cups rice krispies (I used the gluten free kind this time and you wouldn’t know the difference)
  • 4 T unsalted butter
  • 1 bag mini marshmallows or 1 bag big marshmallows
  • 1/2 bag of white chocolate pieces (about 1 cup)
  • sprinkles in your color of choice (I bout the 4 pack at Target in the $1 section)

Directions

  1. In large pot melt butter and add marshmallows.
  2. Once marshmallows are all melted and smooth pour in rice krispies and stir until well combined.
  3. Pour into greased brownie pan and pat down. Let cool to harden.
  4. Once hardened cut into squares.
  5. Melt chocolate according to package. Usually they say melt for 1 minute on 50% power, stir and then heat in 30 second increments until all melted.
  6. Dip one end into the melted chocolate and then dip into the sprinkles.
  7. Set on plate or wire rack to let the chocolate harden back up.

I lined them up nicely in my snapware which also doubled as my serving tray once I arrived.

Blueberry Honey Yogurt Popsicles w/ Chia Seeds

I thought Popsicle sounded so good the other day (even though is was 40 degrees and raining) but I thought I’m making some anyway. Sure glad I did because they turned out delicious. My daughter had a blast helping scoop the ingredients into the Popsicle molds. She is so cute when I tell her I’m about to use the blender because she knows that it is loud and she covers her ears or goes into the living room and covers her ears in there. Kids seriously do the funniest things and make experiences so much more interesting and memorable. I love it!

These Popsicle  taste like delicious fruit and yogurt on a stick and I’m sure they will cool you down on a hot summer day. I used small Popsicle molds so my recipe made 16 small but I think if you had normal size molds this recipe would make 8, Enjoy!

Blueberry Honey Yogurt Popsicle Recipe

Print recipe
Blueberry Honey Yogurt Popsicle Recipe
Serves 8-12
Prep time 5 minutes
Cook time 4 hours
Total time 4 hours, 5 minutes
Meal type Dessert, Snack
Misc Freezable
These popsicles are a sweet treat that everyone will be glad you made. At FrenchToasty.com we have lots of kid friendly snacks and food.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
  • 2 cups honey greek yogurt (I used Zoi brand, but I'm sure regular yogurt would work also)
  • 1 tablespoon raw honey
  • 1/8 cup chia seeds

Directions

Step 1
In blender, blend honey, blueberries, chia seeds and 1 cup yogurt.
Step 2
Fill Popsicle molds with 1 cup plain yogurt. So this will be the top tip of your Popsicle.
Step 3
Add blueberry mixture on top of the yogurt.
Step 4
Freeze 4-24 hours until frozen. Mine took 4 hours but they were small.

 

Fried Chicken

I am really into birthdays and I like them to be celebrated on more then just the day. So this year my husbands landed on a Sunday which in my mind meant BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!! So on Friday when he said he wanted fried chicken I thought it was the perfect time to try a new recipe and I really love when we cook in the kitchen together. My daughter even put her apron on to help ;) which she loves to help, so it was a win win for everyone. Especially me, family time is my favorite time.

We found a recipe that took advice from all the pros- Emeril, Paula Deen, Ina Garten and Cook’s Illustrated. We also learned that if you soak your raw chicken in a buttermilk brine for hours you will be well rewarded with moist juicy chicken, not dry at all. I also listed the optional ingredients to spice this up. So enough talking here is the delicious recipe, Enjoy!

Fried Chicken Recipe with option of Spicy

Print recipe
Fried Chicken Recipe with option of Spicy
Serves 4
Prep time 2 hours, 30 minutes
Cook time 30 minutes
Total time 3 hours
Meal type Main Dish
Misc Child Friendly, Serve Hot
Website Smitten Kitchen
This recipe provides amazing fried chicken in your own home. FrenchToasty.com brings you your favorite recipes to prepare for your family.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2lb chicken tenders (Or 1 chicken cut into about 10 pieces, breast cut in half)
  • peanut oil (I just bought one bottle, and used only half)

Brine

  • 2 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • 1/4-1/2 cup kosher salt (you can adjust between 1/4-1/2 cup, we were just under 1/2 cup)
  • 2 medium garlic heads (mashed)
  • 1/8 cup granulated sugar

Batter

  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup buttermilk

Batter (Optional)

  • 3-5 tablespoons Hot Sauce (we prefer Franks but use your favorite, to make it spicy)

Coating

  • 3 cups flour

Coating (Optional)

  • 1-2 tablespoon cayenne pepper powder (To make it spicy)

Note

We chose to use chicken tenders, but this recipe is easily adapted to a whole bird, cut each bird into 10 pieces, breast in half and increase fry time to 7 minutes on each side.

Directions

Step 1
Mix brine ingredients in a large bowl. Place the chicken pieces in brine and refrigerate for minimum two hours, we did ours for four. Remove and place on rack to air-dry.
Step 2
Mix batter ingredients and place in a large bowl or pan. Large enough to coat chicken in.
Step 3
Coat chicken with flour, then place in batter. Drain excess batter off chicken and place in flour again and cover. Use tongs to transfer.
Step 4
To fry, heat peanut oil to 375 degrees in a cast-iron skillet. Do not fill the pot more than half full with oil. Place five to six pieces of chicken, skin side down first, in the skillet and cook, covered for four minutes. Turn chicken and cook, uncovered, for another four minutes. Allow the oil to return to 375 degrees F before frying the next batch.
Step 5
Remove the chicken from the oil and place each piece on a metal baking rack set on a sheet pan, keeping warm in the oven until ready to serve.

 

I just had too many pictures that showed the deliciousness so figured what the heck share them all! I served it with my Mayo-Less Dill Potato Salad Recipe

Tempura Green Beans

Tempura Green Beans

As a mom you are always trying to come up with a new way to get your kids to eat their veggies. Thankfully at this point I haven’t had to much of a problem but I know as she gets older I may come across this problem. This is a delicious spin on green beans that you could even pass off instead of fries…well maybe not but you could try:)

This kid and adult friendly side dish is the perfect way to eat green beans. My daughter wasn’t so sure about them so when I saw this idea in Parents magazine, I thought this is a perfect recipe to try. My 2 year old loved them, she liked the crunchy outside and I liked that she was eating them and loving them. Even my husband thought they were delicious.

Tempura Green Beans

Print recipe
Tempura Green Beans
Serves 4
Prep time 5 minutes
Cook time 10 minutes
Total time 15 minutes
Allergy Egg, Wheat
Dietary Vegetarian
Meal type Side Dish
Misc Child Friendly
From magazine Parent Magazine
Crunchy addition to your dinner table. Kids and adults love this spin on a classic vegetable. FrenchToasty.com has lots of side dish recipes.

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch green beans (washed and ends trimmed)
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 large egg (beaten)
  • 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Step 1
Wash and trim green beans.
Step 2
Dip beans one at a time in the flour and coat, then into the egg and then coat in bread crumbs.
Step 3
Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-15 minutes.

Before Baking

 

Creamy and Decadent Crockpot Hot Chocolate

This drink reminds of being a kid and coming in from playing in the snow and getting to warm up with a big mug of hot chocolate. What kid doesn’t love hot cocoa with mini marshmallows floating on top? Let me re-word that, what adult doesn’t love hot cocoa with mini marshmallows? This is not the recipe I’d make everyday because it is definitely on the sweet side, but it’s best piping hot on a cold and blistery day.

This hot chocolate would be great for a winter party, Christmas morning or decorating the tree. I made this recipe most recently for my daughters 2nd birthday party and the kids loved it. This decadent hot chocolate is the perfect recipe for your family this winter. Enjoy!

Creamy & Decadent Crockpot Hot Chocolate

Print recipe
Creamy & Decadent Crockpot Hot Chocolate
Serves 12
Prep time 2 minutes
Cook time 2 minutes
Total time 4 minutes
Allergy Milk
Dietary Vegetarian
Meal type Beverage
Misc Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
This decadent hot chocolate is made in a crock-pot to make it so easy on you to prepare all the other food. FrenchToasty.com has lots of drink recipes.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups milk
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
  • 1.5 cups heavy cream
  • 2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate, white chocolate or bittersweet)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Step 1
Combine all ingredients to crock-pot.
Step 2
Heat over low heat for 2 hours. Stirring occasionally to make sure it's heated through out.
Step 3
Serve in mugs with whip cream or mini marshmallows. Or BOTH!

Simmering to perfection in the crock-pot

The set up in my kitchen for guests to help themselves, and add as many marshmallows they want. I also had whipped cream but I guess it was still in the fridge when I took the picture.

Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll-ups (fruit leather)

Homemade fruit roll-ups at home have never been simpler. Only a couple ingredients, a blender, an oven and a few hours of patience and you have a healthy snack for your little one, or in my case husband and little one. Some may say this is time consuming but you are creating a healthy alternative to store bought preservative packed fruit leather.

Some may think that fruit leather is a weird sounding name, but that is what it technically is called but if that’s the case call them fruit roll-ups. Either way you will enjoy snacking on these because they are yummy in your tummy, that is what my daughter says.

Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll-ups (fruit leather)

Print recipe
Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll-ups (fruit leather)
Serves 40
Prep time 5 minutes
Cook time 6 hours
Total time 6 hours, 5 minutes
Dietary Vegan, Vegetarian
Meal type Snack
Misc Child Friendly, Pre-preparable
This recipe for homemade fruit roll-ups is delicious and children love it. Make this healthy snack for your little one. FrenchToasty.com has lots of kid friendly snack food.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups strawberries
  • 1/4 lemon (peeled)

Optional

  • sugar to taste

Directions

Step 1
Preheat oven to it's lowest temperature. My lowest temperature was 170 degrees F.
Step 2
Throw your strawberries and lemon into a blender or a food processor and blend until smooth, you may need to add a little water. You want it thin but still sort of thick, if that makes sense. Mine only took 1-2 minutes but my blender pulverizes things.
Step 3
Once smooth taste to see if you want it sweeter, I did not add any sugar, I felt the strawberries were more then sweet enough.
Step 4
Line baking sheets with plastic wrap, this will shrink a bit in the oven so make sure to have a little extra around the edges.
Step 5
Pour your strawberry puree onto plastic wrap. It should be thin enough to pour but thick enough to stay where it's poured. Use a spatula to spread into a thin even layer.
Step 6
Bake for 6-12 hours, all oven times vary. I started mine in the evening, shut my oven off when I went to bed and then turned it back on in the morning. I would say total mine took close to 12 hours, but keep a close eye on yours to make sure it doesn't burn.
Step 7
You will know it's done when it's tacky to the touch. Let it cool and then cut into strips and enjoy your healthy homemade fruit leather.

Once they are cooked and cooled I like to peel them off the plastic wrap and lay it on parchment paper. Then I will cut them into 2″ strips and roll them like fruit by the foot. It’s a fun way to pack them in your kids lunch or toss them into a mason jar on the counter for easy accessibility.

My blender filled to the brim with as many strawberries as I could fit and a wedge of lemon.

Baking in oven, I can fit 4 cookie sheets in at a time, and I recommend fitting as many as you can fit, just swap them every 2 hours for even cooking.

My daughter patiently waiting for them to bake! Don’t mind the smudges all over the oven…living with an almost 2 year old :)

Triple Berry with Citrus Twist Smoothie

Here is another smoothie recipe brought to you thanks to my daughter. We just back from Montana and it was a blistering 90 degrees everyday. With extreme heat I crave fruit smoothies and I’ve passed that on to my daughter. She wanted one the whole weekend but It’s a little difficult when you are camping in the middle of a field with a rented motor home…but hey that’s the beauty of being at home, all the amenities you grow a custom to, like smoothies when ever you want. I hope you enjoy this triple berry smoothie with a citrus twist, Enjoy!

Right now across the US everyone is experiencing extreme heat, so this smoothie recipe is coming in the nick of time. Drink this to help keep hydrated and cool off.

Triple Berry with Citrus Twist Smoothie
yield 1 16 oz smoothie

Ingredients

1/2 cup frozen raspberries, strawberries and blackberries mix
1/2 cup Greek plain yogurt
1 orange, peeled
1/2 cup ice
1 cup water

Directions

Blend all ingredients in blender until you have reached the desired consistency and enjoy!

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

My family is getting sick, so my husband requested chicken noodle soup. This is a classic soup that everyone goes to when they are not feeling the greatest, but it’s also great for a chilly day to warm up. Served in our new Buddha bowls that we got for Christmas. They are great and have a little handle to hold.

A classic chicken noodle soup is also great for little ones. My daughter loves to eat the carrots and noodles by them self and tosses them in her mouth as fast as she can chew. I hope you and your little ones can enjoy a chilly day with this soup or as a way to comfort your family if they are feeling under the weather.

Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth or water and bullion
2-3 carrots, chopped into bite size pieces
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup broccoli florets, cut very small (optional)
2 cups egg noodle
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
2 T fresh parsley, chopped for topping

Directions

  1. Bring broth to a boil. Add veggies and egg noodle. Cook according to noodle package, probably 8-10 minutes.
  2. Add cooked chicken in the last 3 minutes.
  3. Serve in bowl with fresh parsley on top.

Serve with crispy bread to make a complete meal.

Purple Passion Smoothie

Summer time is the perfect time to enjoy different flavors of smoothies. As I am packing for Montana my daughter is asking for a smoothie and since I need to use up all of the fruit in my kitchen before we leave I thought let try something new. This turned out to be an incredible addition to our day so I’m glad she asked for it. She loved this smoothie because it was the perfect mixture of sweet and fruity, and who doesn’t love a smoothie packed with fruit. I would love to know what your favorite fruit smoothies are because I’m always wanting to try new concoctions. Enjoy!

Purple Passion Smoothie

Yields: 2 16oz smoothies
Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients
1/2-1 cup frozen blueberries
1 banana
1 orange
a few strawberries
1 cup ice
1 cup water (you can add additional water to make smoother)

Directions

Blend all ingredients, and enjoy.