Cherry Almond Snack Mix

We are not a sugar cereal household. My poor kids have never tasted Cocoa Puffs or Frosted Flakes. They don't know that Fruit Loops will make your milk colored. I know, they are so deprived!

However, we ARE a cereal house. My husband teases me that I am like Jerry Seinfield with our 20 (yes 20) boxes of cereal that I keep at anytime. I buy when it's on sale and I have a coupon. We keep about 5 boxes open at a time and the rest are in the laundry room overflow. I don't feel badly about this, because my friend Melissa says she has MORE than 20 boxes in her pantry!!

Every once in a while I will make something with our cereal like a trail mix, Chex Mix, and People Chow (which you should check out at Our Life in a Click - I love her photography). My twist on the original recipe found on a Chex cereal box long ago is to replace half the chocolate chips with butterscotch chips. Yum!

Another favorite cereal recipe is Cherry Almond Snack Mix. For this one you need to start with this Quaker cereal (and yes you can use any of their three flavor version of this cereal).

Cherry Almond Snack Mix


4 c Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal
1/2 c sliced almonds
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp apple pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger)
dash of salt
1 c dried cherries, cranberries, or raisins


In a bowl, combine butter, spices and salt. Add cereal and almonds to bowl and toss to coat. Spread out mixture on baking pan with sides (aka jelly roll pan). Bake at 300 degrees for 20 mins stirring once halfway through the cooking time. Cool out of oven and then add the dried fruit (which I have not done yet in the above photo). Store in airtight container.

Butternut Squash Risotto - Vegetarian

As I've mentioned before, I have a little thing with risotto. It's like creamy heaven to me and perfect for fall weather. I adapted this dish to make it for a vegetarian friend and it was incredible even without the pancetta. I used basil in my dish because it's what I had growing out back, but tarragon would be nice too. Either way, your whole family will love this!

Butternut Squash Risotto

Adapted from myrecipes.com (serves 4 main dish portions)

1 1/2 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1/2" cubes

2 c vegetable (or chicken) broth

1 1/3 c water

2 tbsp marsala wine (can be purchased at the grocery store in the cooking wines)

1 tbsp minced fresh tarragon or basil

1 c finely chopped onion

1 tsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 c uncooked Arborio rice

2/3 c monterey jack cheese, cut into small cubes

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tbsp toasted pine nuts for garnish

fresh tarragon or basil for garnish

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Spray jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray and dump squash onto pan. Spread out and bake in oven for 20 mins, turning once halfway through cooking time. Reduce oven temp to 325 degrees.

In large ovenproof dutch oven, heat oil. Add onion and saute until soft and brown (about 10 minutes). Add garlic and saute another minute. Add rice to pot and stirring often, cook 1 minute. Stir in broth, water, wine and tarragon. Bring this to a boil over med heat (do not rush it). Then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Put dutch oven pot in the oven you still have going at 325 for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir in the squash, cheese, salt and pepper.  Let this stand for a few minutes in the pot. Then when you are ready to serve scoop into bowls or plates and sprinkle with the pine nuts and tarragon for garnish.

Fresh Apple Maple Muffins

A delicious recipe we made using the fresh picked apples we recently got. These are so moist, I didn't make the additional glaze. I baked the muffins and then wrap each one in plastic wrap and store them in a big ziplock bag in the freezer. They are perfect to pop in a lunch box!

Fresh Apple Maple Muffins
www.RecipeGirl.com
1 1/3 c flour
1 c quick-cooking oats
2/3 c sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ c milk
1/3 c melted butter
¼ c maple syrup
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 c chopped, peeled apples
12 pecan halves (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (through cinnamon). In a small bowl, mix milk, butter, syrup and egg; stir into dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill prepared muffin cups ¾-full (this is easiest to do when you use an ice cream scoop). Top each with a pecan half. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.