Pumpkin Walnut Granola Bars

With school starting back up its nice to have some after school, or lunch box snacks on hand. These are a traditional oat based granola bar with the added flavor and nutrient kick of pureed pumpkin. This more of a "fall" style recipe but this cooler weather today has me wishing it was already that time of the year. Enjoy!

Wet Ingredients:

-1/2 cup unsweetened almond butter

-Heaping 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin

-1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

-1/4 cup maple syrup

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon if you prefer)

-3/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together. 

Add in:

-2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (you could probably use quick cooking oats, but I haven't experimented with that in this recipe to confirm)

-3/4 cup chopped walnuts

-1/2 cup raisins

Once combined press "batter" into a sprayed 8x8x2 pan (brownie-ish sized pan). Bake at 350 for 18 minutes. Once cooled cut into granola bar size pieces or whatever shape your kids prefer. You could even cut out cookie cutter style granola bars. I like to wrap them in parchment sheets and store in the freezer to put into lunches. This recipe doubles well!

Herbed Chicken and Dumplings

This delicious recipe is great for this cool weather in Ohio. Wasting food is one of my biggest pet peeves, so this recipe was made to use up all the left over vegetables and chicken in my fridge. I frequently buy a rotisserie chicken at the beginning of the week to make meal prep easier. Thedumplings that top this soup are a baking mix such as Pamelas Products Gluten Free baking mix, or you could use Bisquick, Mix 2 cups of baking mix with 1 cup of water, 1 tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp dried rosemary.

Add to a large soup pot:

-2 tbs olive oil

-1 medium sliced onion

-4 stalks celery chopped

-3 large carrots sliced

-1 cup of fresh green beans sliced into small pieces

-4 cloves garlic minced

-1 zucchini cut into half moons

-handful of chopped fresh herbs such as basil, cilantro, thyme, oregano (about 1/2 cup)

-2 dried bay leaves

-salt and pepper to taste

Saute all above ingredients for 5 minutes. Next add in your leftover chicken (about 2 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken). Add in 4 cups of low sodium stock such as chicken or vegetable. If you don't have stock on hand use water. Lastly add in 1 large pitcher of water (about 6 ish more cups) and bring the soup to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes. After the vegetables are tender to your liking take an ice cream scoop and plop the dumpling batter into the boiling soup. Cover and let cook for 4-5 minutes. The dumplings will puff up and sit on top of the soup

Peach, Basil, and Pecan Salad

This salad incorporates fresh peaches and basil in an amazing dinner salad! Peaches go hand in hand with basil and pecans, and the salty bite from the feta and balsamic vinaigrette bring it all together! To make this into a meal add some rotisserie #chicken or chickpeas! 

-Chopped iceberg and romaine lettuce (or any lettuce you enjoy)

-1 sliced fresh peach per dinner size salad

-2 tbs crumbled feta

-1 tbs chopped toasted pecans

-1-2 tbs balsamic vinaigrette

-1/2 cup chickpeas

-Rotisserie chicken (serving size = palm of your hand) 

This is the link to the absolute best balsamic vinaigrette https://instagram.com/p/xkUQ6CqcL0/ . I make it in my #magicbullet and keep it in the fridge for up to a month!