Granola Bars

Everyone in my household loves granola bars! Especially ones with chocolate chips.  I tried the recipe on this website and it was a big hit!  The only change I made is that I put no brown sugar, and instead I put double the amount of honey.  Also, I blended the chocolate chips in to the mix before spreading it onto the pan.  I didn’t let the granola bars cool long enough before cutting them, so I didn’t get perfectly shaped granola bars – but that didn’t affect the taste!

Sarah’s Miller’s High-Protein Granola Bar Recipe

Heart-Shaped “Goldfish” Crackers

My son asked if he could have pre-packaged goldfish crackers from the store, and I explained to him that I’m trying to move away from snack food made in a factory that is processed and then put in a plastic bag.  He suggested we find a recipe online to make goldfish crackers.  We found this recipe and I have to say it’s so easy and the crackers turned out so yummy!  We didn’t have fish-shaped cookie cutters, so we used heart shaped ones.   If you make 20 hearts, it comes to 87 calories per heart cracker.

Here is the recipe we used:

homemade goldfish crackers

Lentil Soup

This one is a favorite with my husband and kids.  I estimate the calories per bowl to be about 300 calories.  It’s super easy and fast to make, and I often make double and freeze half of it.

LENTIL SOUP RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

1 large white onion diced up

6-8 oz Strained Tomatoes (I use the jarred ones from Whole Foods)

4.5 cups of water

1.5 cups of red lentils (washed and rinsed)

1 teaspoon salt

Olive Oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Bring water to a boil in a medium pot; while that is warming up continue with steps 2 and 3.
  2. Sautee the diced up onion in olive oil in a pan for about 4-5 min.
  3. Add the strained tomatoes and let it boil for 1-2 minutes
  4. Add the onion/tomato mix and the washed lentils to the boiling water.
  5. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the pot.
  6. Let the soup boil covered for 15 minutes
  7. Put the soup through the blender or food processor.
  8. Add salt, pepper and/or red pepper flakes to taste.

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

For this I used the recipe from this website: https://pin.it/ecgorizite6uck

I doubled all the ingredients and used a regular muffin pan instead of a mini-muffin pan.  I also didn’t include the honey.  They turned out fine, but my husband and kids didn’t think it was sweet enough.  Next time I will try making it with the honey!

Broccoli Salad with Cashews

Super easy, fast and filling snack that is also low in calories.  Simply steam some broccoli, throw it in a bowl and dress it in one tablespoon mayo, and then add chopped up cashews.  I use the magic bullet to chop the cashews.  I measure out 100 calories worth of cashews, and 1 tablespoon of my mayo is 100 calories.  In my mind the calories of broccoli don’t count, so this whole fast, yummy, healthy treat is only 200 calories!