Family Chow Hall

After buying Nature Valley Granola bars with a coupon, I decided to try making my own homemade version of those delicious treats. With a family of seven, a dozen granola bars does not last long at all. For us, it’s really not worth spending the $4 to get 2 boxes of granola bars that will last less than a day.

Somewhere between a Payday candy bar and a whole grain granola bar, Nature Valley’s Sweet and Salty bars are the latest bar on the market and they are GOOD. I could not resist buying a few ingredients and heading to the kitchen… After you read the recipe, keep scrolling for a cost comparison…

Sweet and Salty Bars
makes 40 bars (a darn sight more than the 6 that come in a box)

4 c. crisped rice cereal
3 c. oats
1 c. crushed graham crackers
2 c. cashews or peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 c. sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 c. peanut butter OR butterscotch baking chips, or a combination of both

First, heat the oven to 275 degrees and put the oats on a jelly roll pan to toast. It should take about ten minutes, just let them begin to turn golden brown. Leave the oven on, since you will be using it again soon.

Next, combine the oats, crisp rice cereal, graham crackers, and nuts in a large bowl. Set this aside. In a saucepan, heat the sweetened condensed milk and butter and let it begin to bubble. Add the brown sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved. Then add the vanilla and stir well. Pour this gooey mixture over the cereal combination and stir well, tossing with a rubber spatula.

Press tightly into a greased jelly roll pan. Using a sheet of aluminum foil can be helpful for this, just lay it on top and press down with all your might. Remove the foil. Then, sprinkle the baking chips over the top and return to the oven for 10 minutes to let the chips melt. Remove from the oven and spread the melted chips over the granola as if you were frosting a cake. Cool in the freezer or refrigerator.

Cut into bars and wrap in foil or plastic wrap.

(To simplify this recipe, toss the baking chips into the mixture along with the cereals and nuts. Then you can eliminate the final step of returning it all to the oven and spreading the melted chips.)

Cost comparison; the amounts below reflect my estimate for the cost of each ingredient, the amount used in this recipe:

Crisped rice — $.50
oats — .$50
graham crackers — $.25
cashews — $2.00
sweetened condensed milk — $1.00
butter — $.50
brown sugar — $.50
vanilla — $.05
baking chips — $2.00

Total cost of 40 homemade bars — $7.30 equals $.18 per bar
total cost of 40 boxed bars (with coupon) — $13.33 equals .$33 per bar

I whipped up this fresh salad for myself yesterday at noon. Not normally a tomato eater, I was hungry for a salad but was without greens for it. I was surprised to really enjoy this dish!

Fresh Tomato Salad
serves 1

1/4 c. red onion, diced
1/4 c. red pepper, diced
1 T. olive oil
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, cut into chunks
6 green olives, sliced
Italian dressing
salt

I’ve been buying mozzarella in chunk form at Wal-Mart. This is softer and milder-tasting than shredded mozzarella, more like fresh. It’s not ideal for pizza, but it’s great for salads.

Saute the onion and pepper in olive oil until soft. If you like, you can leave them fresh and skip this step. Personally, I don’t like fresh onion very well - it’s often too hot for my tastes.

Next, toss together the cooked onion and pepper with the tomato, mozzarella, olives, dressing, and a sprinkle of salt. That’s it, folks. After that, it is ready-to-eat.

I ate this with a few crackers to kick-start a weight-loss diet. I think it would be great on Melba Toast. However, this would be really good on bruschetta, too, if you want to go to the extra effort.

This is a soup that I often forget about until I see it on a restaurant menu. One my mother never made and I didn’t know even existed until well into my adulthood.

Made with hearty-tasting beef broth and loads of sweet onions, this soup is a delight to serve. Pour it over crusty French Bread and top with cheese — you have yourself a tasty light meal or an appetizing pre-dinner soup.

I didn’t have a recipe for French Onion soup, I meant to search for one and then got in a rush and just threw it together. Now I’m glad I did because it turned out exactly the way I imagined it. It was rich-tasting, full of onions, with a hint of Worcestershire sauce.

(For the wrinkly noses in our family, I also made Creamy Tomato Soup and served it with Grilled Cheese sandwiches.) One of my children said, “It smells really good, Mom, but it looks like the onions are really slimy.” Indeed, the onions were really slimy and if that turns your kids off, I say don’t bother fighting with them. Give them the Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup or whatever.

So here we have it, French Onion Soup, enough for 6 servings.

French Onion Soup

2 large yellow onions - Vidalia or other sweet onions if possible
4 - 6 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
3 cans beef broth
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
French Bread
butter
cheese - Swiss or Provolone

First off, you have to slice the onions. Traditionally, they should be sliced thin and kept in rings. For ease of eating, I sliced thin and then cut the rings into quarters. In a large stock pot, place 4 Tablespoons of butter and the onions. Place over medium heat and cook.

And cook.

And cook. They should turn soft and you may have to add more butter so they don’t stick and burn. When they begin to turn golden brown, you can lower the heat.

Open the cans of beef broth and have them ready. Add the flour to your buttery onions and stir. They will become pasty and thick, this is when you add a little broth. Keep adding broth, a little at a time, and stirring well with each addition.

Finally, add the seasonings - Worcestershire, salt, and pepper. When this is done, turn the heat down as low as it will go.

Prepare the bread - Slice a loaf of French Bread and lightly butter each side of every slice. Place in the oven at 350 and toast. You can top the bread with cheese and toast until melted, or you can leave the toast as-is.

Finally, to serve this soup properly, place a piece of toast in your bowl, pour the soup over it, and top with shredded cheese (unless you decided to put cheese on the bread.)

Bon Appetit!