Homemade granola is easy to make and a great way to save money on breakfast fare. Flavored with maple and vanilla, this recipe is a hit at my house.

My family loves cold cereal. That is clearly one of their comfort foods. It used to be that I could pick up boxed cereals for less than fifty cents a box after sales and coupons. Those days are long gone.

And while the price point, if it still existed, would certainly be tempting, I know that I can make more nutritious breakfasts with a little planning and elbow grease. Homemade granola is one that fits the bill around here.

This version is sweetened with real maple syrup that I buy at Costco or Trader Joe’s as well as a bit of brown sugar to offset the cost. Vanilla extract gives it a beautiful aroma and flavor while dry roasted almonds add some crunch. I add the nuts per serving to accommodate our nut allergies, but you could add one cup to the entire batch if you prefer.

I prefer clusters of goodness in my granola. What I’ve found is that pressing the granola into the pan helps these clusters to form. Limited stirring helps the clusters to stick around. Allow the granola to cool completely and it should crunch up.

This granola is great with milk, in a yogurt parfait, or on it’s own. Hubby has been known to eat it by the handfuls.

Store the granola in the pantry in an airtight container or freeze it for longer shelf life.

Recipe: Maple Vanilla Granola with Almonds

Ingredients

• 5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (do not use quick oats)
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1 cup oat bran
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dry-roasted, unsalted almonds

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 ° Line a rimmed, half sheet baking pan with a silpat mat or parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, and salt.
3. In a small saucepan, combine the syrup, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Heat just until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Pour the liquid over the dry mixture and stir to coat. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread evenly, pressing the mixture firmly.
5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Break into clusters and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before packaging in an airtight container.
6. Store in an airtight container. Freeze for longer shelf life.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

Breakfast is in the bag!

Include this granola in a breakfast kit to take on vacation or to gift to a friend. Include:

• a bag of granola tied with a bow
• a pint of fresh berries or a bunch of bananas
• a quart of yogurt or milk
• a bag of favorite coffee or a packet of tea

Maple Vanilla Almond Granola is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

Rice cooked in milk and cream has a creamy texture and offers a great start to the day, especially when topped with fruits, nuts, and syrups.

Sometime last year on a cold wintry day, a friend was waxing eloquently about the rice pudding she was making. I’d never had it, so I looked up recipes. The added egg in some recipes was a turn-off, especially with an egg allergy in the house. So, I opted for a quicker, egg-free version.

The result is actually one of the easiest recipes in my world. Cook rice in milk and cream instead of water! How simple is that? My kids call it “rice pudding,” but creamy rice would be more accurate.

I use half and half and nonfat milk because that is what I usually have on hand. I buy the half and half in large containers for a great price at Costco. But, feel free to experiment with the cream to milk ratio. Obviously, the dish will be more economical and less creamy if you use less half and half.

(For non-US readers, half and half is a product of half cream and half milk. You can make your own.)

I use arborio rice because it tends toward a creamier texture, but you can substitute other rices.

I dish up bowls of toothy rice and let my people top it anyway they please: cranberries, nuts, brown sugar, maple syrup. Pretty much anything you would use to top oatmeal would work to make a great, filling breakfast for any day of the year. It cooks in just 20 minutes on the stove top. No need to wait for a cold, wintry day.

Recipe: Creamy Rice

Ingredients

• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• dash salt
• Toppings: brown sugar, nuts, dried fruit, maple syrup, honey

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the half and half and milk. Bring to a low boil.
2. Stir in the rice and salt.
3. Cover and reduce to lowest heat. Cook for 20 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender.
4. Serve with toppings.

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

Cooking time: 20 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 6

Creamy Rice for Easy Breakfasts is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

Serve up a breakfast bar in the mornings for easy prep and good eating.

My kids love it when we stay at a hotel. It’s not the free cable or the free wi-fi. The pool is cool. But their biggest attraction is the all-you-can-eat breakfast bar.

Typically an array of baked goods, fruit, coffee, cereal, juice and milk, the breakfast bar suits everyone’s tastes and is easy to serve. Sure, some hotels also offer hot eggs and bacon. But, this more-like-continental-breakfast-than-not is an easy practice to institute at home.

Like at a hotel, the breakfast bar allows your diners to eat leisurely on their time-frame. You don’t need everyone to be awake and ready for breakfast at the same time.

I set our breakfast bar up when I wake, laying out an array of choices. I keep the cold stuff, like milk and cream, in the refrigerator for my family to get as needed. But, everything else lays in waiting.

Here’s what you can include:

• Instant Oatmeal Packets
• homemade granola, like Almond Ginger Granola
• freshly baked Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day
• quick bread like Spiced Carrot Bread or Coconut Banana Bread
• muffins like Blueberry Nutmeg or Pumpkin Chocolate Chip
• fresh fruit
• hard cooked eggs
• toast, rolls, or baguette with butter and jam
• coffee, tea, and hot chocolate
• juice and milk

What would you add to the ideal breakfast bar?

Serve a Breakfast Bar is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

With spring break and vacations in the air, it’s time to enjoy some vacation meals. Easy to pull together and tasty to boot, these dishes will help you take a break from the kitchen.

Maple Granola with Oats, Nuts & Seeds

Spring has sprung! Hopefully, you’re getting a chance to enjoy it with your peeps. We’re still on school schedule at our house. But, we’ve got a few vacation days on the horizon.

If you’re heading out of Dodge, or even if you’re just taking a few staycation days, it’s nice to have easy meals that transport well and satisfy tummies and taste buds.

The following are some great make-ahead recipes for packing in the cooler or cooking up on a night you want to relax. Comfort food at its best.

Breakfast Cookies

Marinated Chicken

Pizza Kits

Freezer-Friendly Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Meals to Make Your Vacation More Relaxing is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

Highly nutritious, full of antioxidants as well as iron and calcium, spinach is a favorite in my kitchen, especially thanks to its versatility to be served cooked or fresh.

As a child, I don’t know that we ever ate spinach. My parents were the kind sort that didn’t serve us creepy foods like liver, oatmeal, squash, or spinach. Those foods haunted their childhoods so they didn’t eat them nor did they ask us to. In recent years, however, I’ve come to know and love oatmeal, squash, and spinach.

You can have the liver.

Spinach is a close friend of mine, now. It’s highly nutritious, full of antioxidants as well as iron and calcium. And its versatility to be served cooked or fresh makes it a favorite in my kitchen. It’s also one of the Dirty Dozen, foods that retain residual pesticides, so it’s better to eat organic spinach whenever possible.

Frozen spinach is a great staple.

Somewhere in my teen years our family was introduced to the ever-famous spinach dip in a bread bowl, typically made with frozen spinach. Love that dip! I since created a Healthier Spinach Dip that avoids boxed soup mixes and other processed ingredients.

Frozen spinach is a great staple to keep on hand. Typically, frozen vegetables are a nice alternative to fresh, especially in the winter months, and are generally considered more nutritious than their canned counterparts. Frozen boxes of chopped spinach also go on sale fairly often, making it something easy to stock up on. Trader Joe’s, and perhaps other stores, also sells frozen bags of “loose” spinach, meaning you don’t have to thaw the entire package to use some. I love this for adding to scrambled eggs. I imagine it would be good in smoothies, too.

Since the spinach that is sold as frozen has already been cooked it will obviously have a different texture than fresh. It works well in casseroles, egg bakes, and dips.

However, I prefer using fresh spinach for a lot of other things, stirring into a meatball mixture, sauteeing with other greens, or serving in a salad. Even though, I’m often cooking the spinach, I can control how cooked it gets and avoid that sogginess that comes with overcooking. Wilted is nice.

Healthier Spinach Dip

Enjoying Fresh Spinach

Hubs was actually the first to introduce me to fresh spinach. We were dating and he made these fantastic chicken tacos with spinach and whole wheat tortillas. He was super healthy back then. I corrupted him; convinced him that butter was good for him. Took him to France and gave him a croissant. And the rest, they say, is history.

I’m the one trying to feed him spinach, now.

Since joining our produce co-op, I’ve become familiar with a new breed of spinach: unwashed and unbagged. Who knew, eh? Previously, I had bought bagged and triple-washed baby spinach during the winter months when other salad greens were more expensive and not very pretty. Now, we regularly get big handfuls of large leafed spinach in our box.

Storage and Preparation

I store the spinach leaves in a covered plastic container in the fridge and typically wash it up shortly before serving. Since spinach grows in sandy, gritty soil, the harvested leaves can be pretty dirty. It’s best to wash the leaves in a bowl full of cool water, swishing them in the water to loosen any grit. Rinse and repeat until the leaves are clean.

You can certainly wash the spinach ahead of time, run it through a salad spinner and store it in the refrigerator until ready to use. It tends to be hardier than other salad greens and can hold up better. Just make sure it’s not too wet when you store it.

Browsing a recent issue of Bon Appetit, I stumbled on this recipe for Skillet-Baked Eggs with Spinach that sounded intriguing. But, it wasn’t until Shaina told me about her eggs on brussels sprouts that I considered actually adding eggs to my veg. I didn’t have brussels sprouts or bacon, but I did have leeks, spinach, and pea tendrils.

I’ll tell you more about the pea tendrils next week, but let me say now that they are awesome!

Anyway, this egg dish is super easy to prepare — and delicious. Adventuresome FishBoy14 and I enjoyed it three times last week. Three times!

The last time I made it with just spinach and leeks and we both felt it was missing something without the pea tendrils. But, it’s still a healthy and tasty breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s a very simple recipe, you don’t need to measure exactly, but you can if you want.

Recipe: Skillet-Poached Eggs with Spinach, Pea Tendrils, and Leeks

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• 1/2 leek, thinly sliced into half moons
• 2 cups spinach leaves and pea tendrils combination
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a small skillet. Add the leek and saute until tender, about 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Add the spinach and pea tendrils. Stir gently and cook until slightly wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper
3. Move the mixture in the pan to create two small wells. Crack an egg into each well. Add salt and pepper as desired and cover until desired doneness, 3 to 6 minutes.

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

Cooking time: 10 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 2

Tasty Ways to Eat Your Spinach

Not only is spinach good for you (just ask Popeye), but it’s also delicious! Don’t be scared. There are lots of ways to prepare it!

Stir it into soups, pasta dishes, meatball or meatloaf mixture, or casseroles. Toss it in salads. Tuck it in sandwiches and paninis. Scramble it with eggs. Saute it with other greens and a bit of cream.

Recipes with frozen spinach

• Greek Eggs
• Bacon and Spinach Quiche
• Healthier Spinach Dip
• Greek Egg Casserole

Recipes with fresh spinach

• Spinach Salad with Oranges, Cranberries, and Sunflower Seeds
• Creamy Chicken Pasta with Spinach and Sundried Tomatoes
• Mediterranean Steak Salad
• Grilled Steak Gyros
• Creamed Sorrel and Spinach
• Tortellini Pasta Salad

What’s your favorite way to enjoy spinach?

Eat Your Spinach (Recipe: Skillet-Poached Eggs with Spinach, Pea Tendrils, and Leeks) is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

Have breakfast for supper! It’s a great way to save money and easily go meatless.

Unbelievably, one of the most popular dinnertime meals at my house is breakfast. I know. It’s a morning meal, but for some reason this meal makes everyone break out in a dance when I serve it for supper. And when my kids really like a meal, they hum. It’s weird, but they do.

Breakfast for supper is hum-worthy.

Thankfully, breakfast can take so many forms, it’s rarely boring. My people love it when I pull out all the stops. That would mean a pan of hashbrowns, a platter full of pancakes, a bowl full of scrambled eggs, bacon, and maybe some fruit of juice. I shoot for somewhat of a protein-carb-fat balance, but sometimes we just carbo-load and call it good.

1. Bake something tasty.

Whether it’s pancakes, scones, waffles, or muffins, we love to have some kind of baked good. And in a pinch, hot buttered toast or English muffins serve well in this capacity.

Some good ones:

• Coconut Lime Muffins with Chocolate Chips
• Lemon Blueberry Scones
• Pancakes with Apples and Whipped Maple Butter

2. Add some protein.

Most of us in the family can eat eggs, so scrambled or fried eggs are usually on the menu. Hubs loves his with a little diced ham. But since one of my crew is allergic to eggs, I try to make sure she has an alternate protein source, like bacon, sausage, or yogurt.

Ways to add protein:

• Maple Yogurt Parfait
• Baked Bacon
• Bacon and Spinach Quiche
• Breakfast Sandwiches

3. Get fruity.

We love to add some fresh fruit to the meal. If we don’t have something in season, then we opt for juice. And if we’re feeling extra happy and extravagant, we have both.

• Oven Baked Apple Compote
• Blueberry-Pineapple Smoothie
• Layered Fruit Salad

4. Include the humble spud.

Potatoes help make the meal more filling and infinitely more fun. It seems I can never make too many potatoes. While the frozen shredded variety fried until crisp is a favorite, these are great, too:

• Baked Potato Homefries
• Seasoned Homefries

And a stuffed breakfast potato? Now that is one tasty spud. You can lay out an array of toppings and let your people pick and choose. Most of the toppings can be prepped in advance, leaving you with a quick scrambling of eggs while the potatoes finish baking.

Recipe: Stuffed Breakfast Potato

Ingredients

• baked potatoes, try the crockpot method
• butter
• salt and pepper
• scrambled eggs
• shredded cheese
• chopped bacon or crumbled sausage
• diced tomatoes
• sauteed mushrooms
• salsa
• sour cream
• chopped onion

Instructions

1. Split each potato down the center and smoosh up the insides. Add a pat of butter, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Allow diners to add their desired toppings.

Preparation time: 20 minute(s)

Cooking time: varies

Number of servings (yield): 1

What’s your favorite rendition of breakfast for supper?

Have Breakfast for Supper (Recipe: Stuffed Breakfast Potato) is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

Homemade applesauce and frozen puff pastry come together for an easy apple turnover that will wow your friends and family.

Frozen puff pastry is one of my friends. It doesn’t visit very often, but when it does, we have a party. It’s so easy to work with and results in such fun and tasty baked goods, what’s not to love?

You can very easily prepare these delicious apple turnovers in a matter of minutes. You’ll wow your kids, your hubby, your mom, you name it. The only downside is that you’ll wish you had made more.

This recipe makes 8 apple turnovers. Last time I checked, these were about $2 each at the local bakery. Homemade is a little bit cheaper and so much better!

In my neck of the woods, frozen puff pastry is not an “inexpensive” item, about $6 per package, though cheaper if you can catch it on sale. With about 1 cup of homemade organic applesauce (about $0.50 to make) and some cinnamon sugar (practically free for the amount I used), these turnovers come out to be a little less than $1 each. While I would not call that a bargain, it’s better than store bought — for flavor and price.

Frozen puff pastry is super easy to work with. Allow it to thaw in the refrigerator. Then unfold a sheet on a piece of parchment. You might see some fold marks. You can smooth those out with a wet fingertip. Or not. I didn’t.

Cut each sheet into four sections.

Spoon applesauce onto one triangular half of each square. That sounds tricky, but it’s not. You just want to have enough space to fold and seal. So, a thin layer is good. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.

Fold the square into a triangle, over the filling. Use a wet fingertip to moisten the edges before pressing to seal. With a fork, crimp the edges of the pastry. Sprinkle the tops with more cinnamon sugar. If desired, you can brush the tops with an egg wash before sprinkling on the sugar.

Bake in a 400° oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Needless to say, these turnovers disappeared in a matter of minutes. My kids just loved them.

Next up: to find a more economical source of puff pastry so that I can feed our indulgences a little more often. Or, if I’m really brave, I might go out on a limb and make the pastry myself. This recipe for homemade puff pastry looks doable and would bring down the price point as well as increase the flavor — if I could do it right!

Recipe: Easy Apple Turnovers

Ingredients

• 1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed according to package directions
• 1 cup applesauce, like this homemade version
• cinnamon sugar
• egg wash, optional: mix 1 beaten egg with 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 °. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Unfold each sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface or on a piece of parchment. You might see some fold marks. You can smooth those out with a wet fingertip. Or not.
3. Cut each sheet into four sections.
4. Spoon applesauce onto one triangular half of each square. That sounds tricky, but it’s not. You just want to have enough space to fold and seal.
5. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.
6. Fold the square of pastry into a triangle, over the filling. Use a wet fingertip to moisten the edges before pressing to seal.
7. With a fork, crimp the edges of the pastry. Sprinkle the tops with more cinnamon sugar. If desired, you can brush the tops with an egg wash before sprinkling on the sugar.
8. Bake in a 400° oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 25 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

Easy Apple Turnovers is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

With it sweet crumb top, tart cranberries, and rich chocolate, this snack cake will disappear in a flash.

My family loves cake. More than pie. Yeah, they’re weird. I’d much rather have pie.

But, this cake might sway me. A sweet crumb top forms a bed for fresh cranberries and chocolate chips. Delicious! Perfect for an afterschool snack, dessert with coffee, or a decadent addition to breakfast or brunch.

Recipe: Cranberry Chocolate Snack Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour (I actually used white whole wheat for this batch)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flours, brown sugar, and butter. Pulse until coarse crumbs form.
3. Remove 1 cup mixture and set it aside.
4. Add the milk, egg, vanilla, orange zest, baking powder, and salt to the remaining flour mixture. Blend until smooth.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the batter. Sprinkle the cranberries and chocolate chips over the crumb mixture. Bake the coffeecake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 40 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

Cranberry Chocolate Snack Cake is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

Apples cook in the oven with brown sugar and spices, making for an easy delicious breakfast or dessert compote.

I’m on this little mission to make our meal prep easier and quicker. I love the process of cooking, but some days are just crazy with homeschooling (FIVE students this year), running kids to piano or hockey or science, keeping up on housework, and then of course, writing and cooking.

One way that I am streamlining the process is to teach my three older boys (14, 11, and 9) to do some more independent cooking. This has been met with fairly positive reactions. No one grumbles when I call him to the kitchen to watch a demonstration — unless the game is on — so I think we’re on the right track. They love to eat and want to know how to cook.

Another technique I’m utilizing is to convert into oven or crockpot recipes those that might have called for me to stand by at the stove. So, bacon and fried chicken are getting baked in the oven instead of the frypan. The same goes for our favorite sauteed apples. This recipe met with rave reviews when I first made it last week and has been requested several times over.

Amazing that it is so simple and yet so good.

Apples are tossed with melted butter, brown sugar, and spices and baked in the oven. The result is tender spiced apples perfect to eat on their own or to top pancakes or oatmeal for breakfast. They’d also be wonderful atop a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a simple and gluten-free dessert. Booyah!

This past weekend, I prepped 10 pounds of apples for this purpose to make ahead and freeze. (I used this thing to help me do it quickly!)

Then, I combined the mixture of apples, sugar, spices, and lemon juice in ziptop bags and tossed them in the freezer. Now, I can pull out a bag at night, let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight, empty the bag’s contents into a baking dish in the morning, dot with butter and then let it bake while I take a shower or tackle some other morning task.

If you don’t want to use your prepped and frozen apples for compote, you could also use them to fill a pie shell or puff pastry.

Recipe: Oven Baked Apple Compote

Ingredients

• 8 medium apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (I used pink ladies)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into cubes

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 °. Grease a baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl combine the apples, lemon juice, sugar, and spices. Stir well to combine. Dot with butter.
3. Bake for 25 minutes or until the apples are soft and the juices bubble.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 25 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

What’s your favorite dish to top with apples?

Oven Baked Apple Compote is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher

Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, it’s also a perfect meal to celebrate with friends and family at the holidays.

Christmas, New Year’s Day, and all the mornings in between are ideal moments to gather with friends and family to share a meal. Whether you have house guests, are visiting relatives yourselves, or just inviting the neighbors over for a mid-morning bite, breakfast or brunch can be a delicious celebration.

Consider one of these for your year-end morning repasts:

Chocolate Butterhorns 

Lemon Blueberry Scones

Maple Granola with Oats, Nuts and Seeds

Multigrain Blueberry Pancakes

Raspberry Baked Oatmeal

Do YOU have a favorite breakfast for this time of year?

Build a Better (Holiday) Breakfast is a post from: Good Cheap Eats. All rights reserved © Jessica Getskow Fisher