Kids in the Kitchen!

One of my 10 year old daughter's favorite dinners is a big salad bar. Tonight I gave her my cute little divided server and told her to fill each area with something for our salad. She did a great job - tomatoes, mushrooms, ham, cheese, cucumbers and our own homemade salad topping in the middle. We also had some hard boiled eggs. Everything went on top of some crisp romaine lettuce. You couldn't ask for an easier or more delicious dinner. We love the Cape Cod fat free balsamic dressing and find it at WalMart. She was so proud of her creation.

Here is the how we made the salad toppings in the middle -

2 T each of soy nuts, sunflower seeds, fresh grated Parmasean cheese, bacon peices and seasoning salt. This is great and much more economical than the store bought kind. Store leftovers in an airtight containter in the refrigerator.

Fruity Granola

I absolutely cannot be trusted around Linda F's Nutty Granola ! It is worse than crack. (OK, not that I know what a crack addiction is like, but... well ya'know.)
So, I came up with a plan to trim the calories just a bit. The final product is not bad at all. Actually, it's very good.

Joni's Fruity Granola

Spray coat the bottom of a large roaster with cooking spray. Heat oven to 250 and add the following:

1/2 cup peanuts

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup pecan halves

1/2 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup soy nuts

1 1/2 cups oats

In a saucepan melt:

1/3 cup smart balance margarine

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup cherry sugar free preserves

1/2 cup splenda

1 tsp vanilla

Pour over the nuts and seeds and mix well. Put in oven and stir every 20 minutes or so until dry. Mine took about 2 1/2 hours.

Thanks again to Linda F and her awesome recipes!