New Tastes

Each week I get the lovely task of planning our meals, writing the grocery list and shopping for the food. It's kinda a love/hate thing, I get excited about looking for new yummy recipes to try but recently I've started to hate grocery shopping, I don't know why, I used to love it, but maybe that will change. Anyway...this week I tried some new recipes which I enjoyed. Tomorrow I'm trying to re-create Cafe Rio's Sweet Pork Burrito...we'll see how that goes. Here are two of the recipes that I really liked not only for their taste but for their simplicity!

French Dip in the Crockpot

4 pounds of some type of roast meat (rump roast, chuck roast, etc!)

1 can (10.5 oz) beef broth (I used Campbells)

1 can (10.5 oz) french onion soup (Also used Campbells)

Grape Juice (just enough to fill the rest of the crock pot)

french rolls or other crusty rolls

sliced cheese (we love Swiss or Provolone with these!)

Place your roast in the crockpot and pour the broth, french onion soup and grape juice on top. Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours. About 30 minutes before eating, take out the meat and shred. Place meat back into the juices and stir to flavor all the meat. Split your rolls and top with sliced cheese. Bake at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes or until rolls are nice and toasty. Top rolls with shredded meat and add a cup of the au jus (yummy meat juices) on the side to dip your sandwich in...SUPER YUM! Perfect for a Sunday meal or any day where it can cook all day long.

Now I love Clif Bars and these didn't taste exactly like the real thing to me but that's ok they had their own flavor and I really like them. The whole pan was gone in a day! I think I will be making these again today. I love granola bars and it's fun to be able to make your own homemade granola or bars because once you have all the ingredients you can make several batches and it's cheaper than buying them.

Ingredients

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 3 large biscuit style shredded wheat cereal, or 1 cup un-frosted spoon-size shredded wheat
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Spray an 8x8 pan lightly with cooking spray.
3. Place raisins in food processor and pulse until lightly chopped (it will be sticky)
4. Add the shredded wheat, oats, cinnamon and salt in food processor and pulse until mixture is finely chopped and incorporated.
5. In a large bowl whisk together eggs, honey, vanilla and peanut butter.
6. Add the oat mixture and chocolate chips and stir until combined.
7. Spread in prepared pan and bake 15-18 minutes until edges are slightly golden.
8. Let cool completely in the pan before slicing into squares.