Easy Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients

1/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup sugar. Add egg, milk, and oil to flour mixture. Pour half of the batter into your pan.  Then sprinkle a generous layer of white sugar and cinnamon.  Top with the other half of the batter.  Bake for 45+ minutes or until done.

Energy Balls

I found this recipe on a blog I love, The Frugal Girl.  They taste like little balls of cookie dough.  Only they have good stuff in them.  The kids love 'em.  They are perfect for after school or putting in lunch boxes instead of a cookie.  Mmmm.  I saw another similar recipe, and sort of combined them.  The link goes to the original, and below is what I did.

No-Bake Energy Balls

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, stir together peanut butter, honey, vanilla..  Stir in oats, wheat germ, powdered milk, and chocolate chips.

Refrigerate mixture for 30 minutes.

To make the balls, scoop out about a tablespoon of dough, press to compact, then roll into a ball. 

Repeat with remaining dough.

Store in the fridge.

Lemon Buddies

This is straight from the Chex box.  They are tangy and sweet, sort of like lemonade. 

9 cups Rice chex 1 1/4 cup vanilla baking chips 1/4 cup butter 4 tsp grated lemon peel (I used the entire lemon) 2 T fresh lemon juice (from half a lemon) 2 cups powdered sugar Measure the cereal into a big bowl. Melt the chips, butter, lemon peel and lemon juice on high for 1 minute and stir. Micro 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth.   Pour over chex.  Stir until evenly coated. Pour into a 2 gallon baggy.  Add powdered sugar.  Shake-shake-shake. Spread onto wax paper to cool.

Spiced Pecans

I forgot to take a picture of this one, and then they were gone.  They are so yummy.  The kids even loved them, and they usually aren't nut fans.  I looked at a couple recipes and combined them.  And didn't write it down, of course.  But this is what I think I put in there.

1# pecans
1 egg white
1 T water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp chili powder

Mix together egg white and water until foamy in a big bowl.  In a different bowl mix together sugar and spice.  (And everything nice.)  Toss pecans in egg whites until coated.  Sprinkle the sugar mixture on top and toss until coated.  Spread out on a cookie sheet or roasting pan.  Bake at 325 for 20 minutes.  Let cool slightly in pan, and then cool the rest of the way on wax paper.

Buffalo Ranch Popcorn

We had this last night during a movie, and it was fabulous! Definitely not the kids' popcorn.

I didn't measure anything, but the recipe went something like this:

Pop a big bowl of popcorn. Melt some butter, and stir in some hot sauce. Drizzle on the popcorn. Shake a bit of powdered ranch dressing mix on top. Stir it all up. Pour a giant glass of water to cool the fires. Enjoy!

Simple Granola

Many homemade granola recipes have extras in them, like coconut or nuts or fruit. My kids, however, just want the straight granola. I combined a few recipes and came up with this:

4 cups old fashioned oatmeal (not the 1 minute)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbl honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Put oatmeal into a large glass bowl. Microwave for two minutes, stirring halfway. (Not sure why, maybe helps to dry out the oats?)

Combine the other ingredients in a small bowl. Pour onto oatmeal. Stir until well blended.

Microwave for 4 minutes, stirring at each minute. Pour onto wax paper to cool. Spread thinly if you want little pieces, or thickly to break into big chunks. (And have less little crumbies all over the floor.)

Or alternately, in the oven, bake at 350 for 20 minutes, stirring every 5.

I have only done the microwave method, because it is so fast and turns out well.