Breakfast Bars

I make these on a regular basis for a filling, breakfast on the go.  They are very versatile and easy to make.

You probably have everything you need to make them.

Here's the basic recipe (you can adjust to your own tastes):

350 degree preheated oven

1 can sweetened condensed milk or fat free sw. cond. milk

1 c peanut butter - I put a plastic bag in my measuring cup, then load the pb for easy clean up

1/2 c oil 

1/2 c applesauce ( I left it out this time, since I didn't have any and it was fine)

4 c quick oats (or steel cut)

3 1/2 c mix of dried fruits and nuts ( I used 1 c raisins, 1 c craisins, 1 c chopped walnuts, 1/2 c sliced almonds)

    suggestions: chocolate chips, pb chips, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, dried blueberries,           apricots. Well, you get the idea.
1 T vanilla
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Ahhh, versatility!  I didn't have enough peanut butter, so I added this to the mix.

A tip for quick chopping nuts: put them in a bag and roll over them  with your rolling pin until you get the right consistency. 

Put it all in the mixer, or you can mix it yourself, until all ingredients are moist.

Spray a 9 x 13 pan

Dump it in,

Don't you just hate messy hands?  I put a bag over my hand to press this into the pan.

Just get it pressed down well and relatively level.

Put it in the preheated oven and cook for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

This is how it comes out - just barely brown on the edges.  Don't overcook it, or the bars will fall apart after it's cool.

Let it rest for about 10 minutes. I have this cool cutter I use for cutting these.  I spray it, or your knife with cooking spray, because it's pretty sticky. I cut mine into 12 pcs. Leave them in the pan to finish cooling completely.
When completely cool, take them out and wrap individually in saran wrap for a quick, on the go breakfast.

 Enjoy!!

Friday Update (3/25/2011)

Here's the stuff I have to show you today:

This is the vege soup I fed the worms yesterday evening. A few worms have found their way over to the pile.  I gave them a little mist of water......(btw, this is buried in the middle of the depth of newspaper shreds) so I covered it back up with another layer of damp newspaper and then

added a piece of wet cardboard to the top to help keep in the moisture (since it's so dry here in West Texas.) followed by the lid that came with the tub.

I did buy just a couple of plants. The one here is a grape Roma tomato.  I wanted some small tomatoes and I thought this would be an interesting choice this year.  It looks a little droopy from the ride home, so I gave it a drink of water.

Put the 2 water filled 2 liter coke bottles in the 5 gal bucket, sphagnum moss, then potting mix.  The tomato plant is a bit taller in the bucket than I want.  They really need to be planted halfway up the plant that you bring home from the store to help the root system get well established.  I am planting my other "store bought" plant (mint) with this tomato.

And here's the finished tomato and mint.

Here's my "baby" yellow squash.  I also seeded Nasturtiums around outside edge of the bucket  and I added a small piece of mint.

See the (white) roots coming out?  Time to plant my Black Diamond Zucchini!

I left it low in the bucket to protect it from the winds that we always get. I'll build up the dirt to the top as it grows. That's a cutting of mint in there with it to help deter squash bugs. (What a pain in the butt those are!)

Looks pretty barren, doesn't it?  The top one is (maybe you can see the purple seedling) purple basil.  Still waiting on my tomato seed to sprout.  Lord, give me patience, RIGHT NOW!!!  lol I gave it a good drink.

If you look in the center, there's a bean (bush)  peeking through.  I've had those in my portable green house (plastic crates) and it was really warm to the touch.

There's some basil sprouting from the portable double layered greenhouse.  These plants, I must say, look stronger than the 1st ones I started in the one layer of plastic because the heat and moisture are held in more efficiently.

These are Johnny Jump Ups sprouting up.  They are pretty and edible, too! 

I'm using this kelp tea for watering the seedlings.  They say it helps, but I can't really tell, yet.  We'll see.

 Going to rest for a bit now and TRY, I say TRY to do some cooking tonight.  I want to do some experimenting with kolaches.  When I get to it, be sure pics will be up soon after showing what and how I've done it.....have a GREAT WEEKEND!!

Time for a rest, I guess, Thanks, Mother Nature!

It's just too windy to do anything today.  I'm stuck inside since the dust has also reared it's head. I would teach you a good recipe, but we're having a few electrical issues with our house, so I'm waiting on my electrician to come fix that. So I guess the dogs and I will just chill out and watch some Netflix today and pray for better weather tomorrow so I can plant some spinach.  If I can get the electricity issue fixed today, we'll also be doing a beef bourguignon in the slow cooker as well as spinach, if the weather cooperates, so check back tomorrow.  You just NEVER KNOW what I'll be up to!

Portable Hot House

It's been pretty cool here in the morning, so I decided to re-arrange to make the temp a little higher for my little babies to sprout a little quicker. I had just started some in my little plastic underbed storage containers alone, but that seemed a bit too chilly this morning inside it, so this is my solution.

These are shoe box size Sterilite boxes that I found at Walmart for $1/each!
Again, a closed bottle of water for temp and weight control.
My label sticks are paint stirrers you can get for free at any place that sells paint.
And last, but not least, my "pellet" seed starter with the seeds in it.

Stack 'em up!  FYI - I'll be using this big crate for my carrots and beans  when I finish sprouting all these plants.

And here's the side view.  This container is in full sun on a white table.   When I stuck my hand in there about 1 pm, it was probably 80 degrees in there which is excellent temperature for sprouting seed even though it was only 70 degrees outside the box.  They should sprout pretty quickly at this rate...

The Worms Have Arrived!

Yup, they came today!

At first, I thought they may not be alive, but, yea, they were.  The instructions say that they were probably dehydrated from the trip and to add about 1/2 c water, which I did and they perked right up.

Here they are in their new home....

Gave them a little drink with the mister.....

I added more damp newspaper strips until it reached that little ridge (3/4 full) in the tub.  I also added a wet piece of cardboard to the top of the newspaper to help keep it cool.  Then I put the tub lid back on for my new friends. Sleep tight, little buddies!

This is the book I got to go with it...

Container Garden Tomatoes

It's really windy here in West Texas today, so I didn't get much done with 30 mph sustained winds and a BIG "Red Flag" warning (wildfires) today, but here's what I DID get done this morning...

My heirloom tomatoes.  I've not had any luck starting tomatoes from seed, but my new thinking is that, if it gets really tough, economically, I'm gonna need to be able to do it.  So this year, I'm doing an experiment on just that subject.  I'll share what I do and if any of you have any advice or tips, please feel free to chime in.....
I bought some cheap paint buckets at Walmart (about $5 with lid) that are food safe plastic.  It's so windy here in the spring, I thought I would weigh them down with rocks, but decided, instead, to repurpose my empty 2 liter coke bottles filled with water for weight.

Then I added some peat moss to the bottom of the bucket (drain holes drilled with my handy dandy Dremel.

And then a layer of potting mix, but not too high (about 3/4 of the way up)

And then a little "hill" of seed starting mix to put my pellet in.

Get that pretty damp (gently, cause that seed starter is VERY lightweight)

I got these at Walmart and the smaller ones for the smaller plants. Very clever.

That's the pellet with a 2 seeds in it that have been going for a couple of days

I bought this kelp amendment to help my seeds get started

Labeled the top and put it on tight, since my seeds have not sprouted yet.
Bury the pellet 1/2 to 3/4 up in the seed starter.

So here are my thoughts on this subject, tomatoes, at least:

1)  The water filled bottles provide temperature regulation. West Texas days are VERY how and nights sometimes VERY cold.  Tomatoes do their best around 80 degrees, so once the water in the bottles are warmed, they will steady out at that temp and be better for the plant.  

2) The filled bottles also add weight because of the high winds here and the dirt I use is so light, I think it will need a counterweight as it grows heavy with fruit!  

3)  The roots SHOULD go around the bottles, so no problem there.  

4)  I only fill the container 3/4 full, because when you transplant one from the store, it is suggested that you bury it halfway anyway, so if I don't move it, no stress to the plant.  

5)  Wind is a very damaging agent for a tomato, so by leaving it low in the container, it is protected from the wind.  I had several plants year before last that just snapped off from the wind.  Not a problem everywhere, I realize, but something to think about. 

6)  This also leaves room for the possibility that there is still a freeze in our future and there will be room within the container to just run out and put the lid on them to protect them from frost for the night.  

7)  As they sprout up hardening off should also be easier with that bit of plastic there for protection from the direct wind.  As they grow that 2nd set of leaves, then I'll start adding dirt to the top. Again, this is an experiment, so we'll see how well thought out this is for tomatoes.