nature's candy

I'm calling this one "Nature's Candy" because my first thought upon tasting it was, "OMG, WHO NEEDS CANDY WHEN THIS EXISTS?!" ... Yep, I thought it in all caps and everything.

This recipe comes to you courtesy of Rachelle, who wrote to tell me that this has become her go-to side dish and even her 3 year old loves it! I was immediately intrigued by the cinnamon/basil combo and I just happened to have some extra apples that I bought on sale. All of the stars were aligned...

All I can say is that it completely blew me away. I fully expected to have to sprinkle a little salt or sugar on after baking, but it needed absolutely nothing. When is the last time you made a recipe that didn't require even a little pinch of salt? The apples are incredibly sweet after roasting and the subtle creaminess of the sweet potato perfectly compliments them.

It's sweet enough to eat as a snack, but subtle enough to eat as a side dish to a regular meal. I think it would be awesome with any number of roasted meats, Herb Roasted Pork Loin in particular. So, I hope you'll try this one! I don't think you'll be sorry! :D

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apple nut quinoa

As much as I love my myriad of baked oatmeal recipes, I've wanted to shake things up a bit lately and try something other than oats for breakfast.

Enter quinoa. If you've never had quinoa ("keen-wah") it's a little seed that is packed with protein and fiber. It cooks up fast and is fun to eat because the little pellets have a great texture once cooked. Usually quinoa is seen in savory dishes, but it also works great in sweet recipes, like this breakfast Apple Nut Quinoa.

The juice in this recipe provides all of the sweetness that you need and really ups the flavor a notch (or ten). Use any juice blend that you'd like, but try to get one that is 100% juice and doesn't contain any added sweeteners. I thought apple cranberry would have been nice, but the apple cherry that I used was much less expensive and happened to have no added sugar, so I went with that.

Hit up the bulk bins at your local grocery store or health food store for the best price on quinoa. It's often over priced when sold in small packages (these are usually found near rice and beans).

It's almost New Years and time for resolutions, so keep this one handy for when you get that sudden motivation to be "healthy"! ;)

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apple pie baked oatmeal

Seriously, who needs those autumn themed Glade plug-ins when you've got apple pie oatmeal baking in the oven? NO ONE.

So this, the latest installment in my baked oatmeal series, is an absolute winner. It is a little more involved than the other versions, but still very worth the effort to have this ready waiting for you every morning. Apples are still strangely expensive here, but many of you are being flooded with the fall bounty of fresh apples, so I did this for you. It's a gift to you. Okay, it's a gift to me too because I get to eat it every morning.

I've made a couple of small tweaks to the basic baked oatmeal recipe, which I think make a much better texture. It's not quite as dense and cooks more evenly overall. Basically, it's baked at a higher temperature, no foil for the first half, and there is more baking powder. It makes a noticeable difference.

So, put on a wool sweater, a cozy scarf, and dive straight into the fall season with this Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal. You won't be sorry!

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honey ginger broiled grapefruit

As soon as I cut this grapefruit open, I realized how much I LOVE grapefruit. It's been too long, dear grapefruit. Sweet, tart, fragrant grapefruit...

You probably need to be a grapefruit person to like this recipe, and a ginger person for that matter. Grapefruit can be somewhat bitter, which turns some people off and attracts others. I like the tart/bitter flavor so much that I usually don't put any sugar on them at all, but when paired with spicy ginger, a little extra sweetness didn't hurt. The result is a warm, juicy, sweet, slightly spicy, and super fragrant breakfast treat.

I have to thank Amelia for sending me this link to Broiled Grapefruit with Ginger from Girl Cooks World. I've wanted to try broiled grapefruit for quite some time, but I wanted to do something more than just plain grapefruit. Adding ginger is exactly what I was looking for. I swapped honey for the brown sugar because I love honey and ginger together and I felt it would be a little less sticky sweet. Brown sugar will definitely give you a more classic, brown, caramelized topping than honey, so keep that in mind.

One more note: cooking times for this will vary quite a bit depending on how hot your broiler is, how close you place the rack to the broiler, and the size of your grapefruit. Broiling happens fast, so just check the grapefruit every couple of minutes until it's cooked to your liking.

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mango coconut jasmine rice

I love all things tropical. I love the weather, I love the music, I love the FOOD. I often day dream of a prince charming who owns a jet and insists on flying me to Jamaica every weekend just to sit on the beach, drink rum cocktails, and eat delicious food. Of course, I'm not just going to sit around and wait for that to happen, so I'll just make the delicious food at home until it does. Ha. Right.

Anyway, I digress.

I'm not huge on desserts but every now and then I crave something sweet. This dessert fits the bill because it's not super sweet, it's just subtly creamy and sweet with chunks of sweet mango. Plus, it's just really pretty.

Normally this dessert would be made with short grain sticky rice, but since I already had jasmine rice (and can't get enough of that floral aroma), I just used that instead. So, if you're expecting a sticky mango coconut rice like you've had in a Thai restaurant (or in Thailand, for that matter), this is not it. This is just my convenient interpretation of that. Still delicious, if I do say so myself.

Oh, and I'm betting that you might be able to do better on the price than I did here. I've bought coconut milk for half that cost before, and sometimes during the summer mangoes go on sale for $0.99 each. Good luck!

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lemon raspberry baked oatmeal

During the hot summer months all I ever want to eat is lemon raspberry slushies. There's something about that sweet tart flavor that I find ultra refreshing.

Lemon raspberry muffins are also pretty tasty, so I thought, "why not put that flavor into oatmeal for summer?" It worked very well!

I increased the size of this recipe so that I could use a whole bag of raspberries and not have any left over (I hate having odds and ends of things in my cupboards and freezer). This recipe makes 8 sizable portions. Because I increased the volume and it contains some fairly tart ingredients (lemon, raspberry, yogurt), I also upped the sugar just a smidge. It's still only about 1 tablespoon per serving, which is far less than most colas and breakfast cereals.

While mixing up the lemon raspberry "custard", the scent was so intoxicating that it took everything in me to not eat it raw (there are eggs in there, so that's a big no-no). The lemon zest, vanilla, and raspberries combined create this magical, cake-like smell that was absolutely heavenly. This is definitely one of my top 3 favorite baked oatmeals (#1 is the banana bread, #2 is the pumpkin pie flavored). You've gotta try this one!

Oh, and hey, it's summer, so you might just be able to find fresh raspberries for a lower price than frozen!

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easy pineapple salsa

Okay, so this little gem really deserves a post of its own, rather than being hidden in the Chili Lime Shrimp Bowls recipe post.

This salsa is SO good that I could just sit and eat it out of the bowl (and I did while i was making the shrimp bowls!). It's really simple and extremely versatile. You can use this to top chicken, fish, burritos, quesadillas, salads... the sky is the limit. It should stay good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days but chances are it won't last that long!

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cinnamon pecan granola

Ahhhh... vacation was GOOD! But I couldn't wait to get back into the kitchen ;D I've been craving granola for weeks, so I decided to whip up a batch as soon as a I had a few free minutes to do so.

What I love about granola is that it's so customizable. I made cinnamon pecan flavor (with raisins) but you can use whatever nuts (or no nuts) and whatever fruit (or no fruit) that you want. I can't wait to start experimenting with more flavor combinations (cherry vanilla, ginger with bits of crystalized ginger). I used some ground flaxseed but you could certainly sub that for some wheat germ or oat bran... very customizable!

A lot of people are steer clear of granola because it is quite energy dense (aka high in calories), but the very ingredients that give it so many calories are the ingredients that also give it that classic crunchy texture. I used 1/4 cup each of brown sugar, honey, and oil. My granola was still pretty crumbly with a few clumps. If you like a super crunchy, clumpy granola, increase those three ingredients to 1/3 cup each. If you're tempted to reduce them further than I did, I suggest you just make a batch of muesli instead. It has practically the same ingredients minus the sugar and oil and is still one of my favorite breakfast items.

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smoothie packs & my favorite smoothie

I've got another quickie for you tonight. It's more of an idea than a recipe. I'm sure a lot of you Budget Byters already stock your freezers with these handy smoothie packs, but I wanted to share the tip for those who may be new to the kitchen. Not only does this make smoothies faster and easier to make, but they're a fraction, a small fraction, of what you'll pay at your local smoothie counter.

So, the formula is easy. Three one pound bags of frozen fruit of your choice, and four bananas. Divide the frozen fruit up into 8 bags, and place half of a peeled banana in each bag as well. Seal them up tight and toss them into the freezer. When you're ready to make your delicious smoothie, place the frozen fruit in the blender, add milk (or soy or almond milk), and whatever else you want and press go! No more hauling ten ingredients out of the freezer every time you want to make one smoothie. Just grab one bag and add a liquid. Sure, I also add spinach, cinnamon, and ground flax seed, but it's still way easier to have the fruit divided up. And it only takes about 5 minutes to make all 8 packs.

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banana bread oatmeal

I've had this recipe up my sleeve for about a week and a half now, but just haven't had time to post it... I've been enjoying this breakfast gem in secret all week!

After the half-way success of the gingerbread baked oatmeal, I decided that what makes a truly good baked oatmeal is fruit or vegetable puree (like the pumpkin puree in the baked pumpkin pie oatmeal). It provides thickness, body, and moisture. So, banana bread oatmeal, with mashed up bananas, was a natural next step. I basically just used the pumpkin pie oatmeal recipe and tweaked it to be banana bread flavored. I am happy to report, it was every bit as much of a success as the pumpkin pie oatmeal!

This baked oatmeal is moist, fluffy, thick, hearty and delicious. It tastes just like the best banana bread you've ever had and is 10x healthier (very little fat, lower sugar, and tons of fiber). It's just an all around win!

One more interesting thing about this oatmeal: it's nice and golden brown when it finishes baking, but as it sits in the fridge during the week it turns a little grey... but that's just the bananas oxidizing like a peeled banana would if it sat on your countertop. It didn't affect the flavor at all. So, don't let that scare you!

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jalapeno cran-raspberry sauce

Fresh cranberry sauce is one of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving foods. I love the tangy-sweetness and how it juxtaposes all of the other savory Thanksgiving dishes! I eat it on my turkey and on my stuffing and then the rest of the week I eat it on toast or as part of my "Thanksgiving wraps" (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce in a tortilla - YUM!).

I made this basic cranberry sauce for my first Budget Bytes Thanksgiving and have made a different spin on it every year since. The original recipe is so easy and so delicious that it's worth trying at least once. If you want something with a little more flare, kick it up a notch with raspberries and jalapenos!

The heat in this recipe is adjustable and you'll definitely have to use your taste buds to get it right. Every jalapeno is different so some tweaking is required. I removed all of the seeds from my jalapeno, saved them, and added them back in little by little as the sauce cooked to increase the heat to the point that I liked.

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apple cranberry hand pies

If you don't follow Budget Bytes on Facebook, then you're missing out. I like to share all of the cool food related things that I find around the web, like this amazing 60 second pie crust.

This crust really was as easy as it looks! But you'll want to keep one thing in mind: over working pie crust dough will give you a gummy end product. So, process as little as possible and roll out the dough as few times as possible when cutting your circles. If you don't have a food processor, you can still make this recipe by using a pastry cutter or knives to cut the butter into the flour... it will just take longer than 60 seconds ;)

I had some extra apples and dried cranberries laying around so I used those for the filling. Now that I see how easy these are to make, I can't stop thinking about other possibilities! Mmm, maybe even sweet potato and pecan! The sky is the limit.

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chicken 'n apple salad

I made this recipe on a total whim today and I'm SO glad I did. It is so delicious that I want to eat it every day for the rest of my life.

And guess what? It's so easy that I just might be able to.

I wrote the recipe to use two chicken breasts but I didn't realize until it was too late that I only had one chicken breast in my freezer... so please ignore the photos that show only one. Make it with two. It definitely needs two.

It is important to note two things: A) I buy my chicken breasts in bulk, divide them and freeze them in bags of two. That is how I get the insanely low price of less than $2/lb. B) Apples were on sale as well, $0.98/lb. Even if your prices are a bit higher, you'll most likely still come out on top. Have you seen what they charge per pound at the deli for chicken salad? It's a lot... like there's gold dust in there or sumthin.

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apple flax muffins

I'm really not one to use all sorts of fancy "health food" ingredients but strangely enough, I enjoy the flavor and texture of things like bran and flax meal. So, when I spotted a box of flax meal at the store for less than $3, I grabbed it. I love to sprinkle the stuff on my oatmeal or in my yogurt.

On the back of the box I found this recipe for apple flax muffins. I thought it looked interesting and it kind of reminded me of the morning glory muffins that I made and loved so much... except even healthier.

Well, I switched around some ingredients, made a couple of substitutions and came up with a version all my own. Flax seed contains a bunch of good fat so it wasn't necessary for any extra oil to be added to the batter. The texture of the batter is definitely different (a little stiff/gooey) and I almost thought the recipe was going to be a flop, but while they were in the oven magic happened. They puffed up and turned into delicious, light, yet hearty muffins!

After they cooled, I zipped them up tight in a freezer bag and popped them into the freezer. Now I can pull out one muffin at a time, thaw it in the microwave for 30 seconds and enjoy the yummy muffin goodness whenever I want!

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baked oatmeal

What is baked oatmeal and why is it different than regular old boiled oats? I had the exact same questions, my friends.

Baked oatmeal is the thicker, almost custard-like cousin, to oatmeal. How can that not be good, right? Well, it took me a couple tries to get the recipe right but I'm happy to say that last weekend I had baked oatmeal success!

You can use any fruit on the bottom. Apples are always an economical choice but use whatever is in season (peaches were on sale this week). I also used some frozen blueberries because I keep a big bag of those in my freezer. You can also try adding things like nuts, ground flax seeds, or other spices. Banana would be incredible with dulce de leche drizzled on top... ooooh.

One word of warning: I don't like things too sweet so I used a very minimal amount of sugar here. If you want a richer, more decadent, dessert-like baked oatmeal, double the brown sugar.

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morning glory muffins

Nom nom nom... (I'm eating one of these as I type this blog post)

So, I'm usually not that into muffins because they really just seem like cupcakes in disguise. Morning glory muffins, on the other hand, are chock full of all sorts of delicious, good for you things. My morning glory muffins have oat bran, shredded carrots, applesauce, raisins, walnuts and coconut, but there are tons of other options. In the future, I plan on experimenting with shredded zucchini, pumpkin puree and pineapple. If you're planning to experiment with other ingredients, just try to keep the ratio of wet to dry ingredients the same to keep the consistency of the batter the same.

That being said, they are still muffins and still have a decent amount of sugar so I'm reserving these for those long, lazy weekend mornings when I want something special with my cup of coffee. The recipe makes 14 and since I'm only planning to eat them as a treat, the majority will be frozen. Baked goods freeze beautifully, just make sure to wrap them up tightly to prevent freezer burn.


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muesli (cold oats)

Oh, the controversy!

The recent roll out of McDonald's Fruit & Maple Oatmeal has sparked quite a debate all over the internet. Is it healthy? Is it the devil? Does it really have as many calories as a cheeseburger? I don't know and it doesn't really matter because I can just make my own oats in about five minutes.

I did realize, though, that I needed to share one of my favorite ways to eat oats: muesli. It's easy, delicious, customizable and doesn't even need to be cooked. Muesli is basically any mixture of dry oats with fruit and nuts. It's different from granola in that it's not baked so it doesn't have that hard, crunchy texture. I used a basic mix of old-fashioned oats, raisins, walnuts and brown sugar. Other delicious options include: flax seeds, oat bran or germ, cranberries, almonds, coconut or dates.

Instead of being cooked, the muesli mix is soaked in either cold milk or cold yogurt until the oats are softened. If you're using milk, it takes as little as five minutes, yogurt should soak over night due to it's lower moisture content. I usually just let the muesli soak while I make my coffee then it's ready to go! The result is a flakey, chewy oat with buttery bits of nuts and little, sweet dried fruit gems. The texture is delightfully unique and it's a great alternative to hot oats during the warm summer months.

The muesli mix also doubles as homemade instant oatmeal packets. Just scoop a half cup of the dry mix into the bowl, add one cup water and microwave on high for 90 seconds. Your instant oatmeal is ready to eat.


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cucumber mango salad

Ahhhh, spring is in the air! At least it is here in Louisiana. The hot, humid weather already has me in the mood for light, cold dishes. If it's still freezing outside where you live, make sure you book mark this recipe for later. It's too good to miss!

You'll want to make this recipe in small batches as the dressing will cause the mango and cucumber to wilt a bit. I find that the salad tastes best on day one and two. Luckily, it only takes a matter of minutes to slice everything up and throw it together!


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raspberry chipotle bbq chicken

Sweet, tangy and spicy... What a powerful flavor combo. It's strong sauces like this that allow you to take something that is otherwise boring or inexpensive and make it into an outstanding meal. So, promise me that even if you don't want chicken, you'll make this sauce to use on something else.

Putting the sauce together only takes a few minutes but it does need to simmer for a good 45 minutes but it stores well so you can make it ahead of time if necessary. The sauce stores well so you can keep extra in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or in the freezer for 3-4 months. This Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce is super easy, will add tons of flavor to anything you cook.

I used chicken thighs as the vehicle for this yummy sauce but you could really use anything. Chicken breasts, ribs, tofu, pork chops... anything. Run wild with it.

Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce usually come in super small cans but even still, I usually only use one pepper at a time and have almost a whole can left over. I *always* freeze the rest. Divide the peppers and adobe sauce up into small aliquots and pop them in the freezer.


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mango pineapple chutney

I'll admit, for a long time I didn't know exactly what chutney was. All I knew is that it looked like little jars of jam when I saw it at the store... but why wasn't it with the rest of the jams? It had to be something special.

Right I was. Traditionally, chutney can indicate any number of ground up, paste like condiments served along side a meal, regardless of the ingredients. Americanized chutney is more like jam, often containing sugar, an acid component (vinegar or citrus juice), onion, some sort of fruit or vegetable and a healthy does of spices. This is the type of chutney I made and it was nothing short of magical.

I made the chutney with the intent of serving it over the tandoori kebabs but have ended up eating it on crackers alone or along with a smear of cool, creamy goat cheese. I can also easily imagine this sweet, spicy and tangy chutney dressing up a simple piece of grilled fish, pork or chicken.

This recipe made a huge batch (four cups), half of which I froze. Cutting it in half should be fairly easy, just use one mango, a small can of pineapple and halve the rest.


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