Lesson #176: Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

This is the perfect dessert for those windy, rainy, and cool Fall days. I love combination of textures and temperature in this crisp. The apples are soft & squishy, the oatmeal topping is crunchy, and the vanilla ice cream is smooth & creamy. My favorite way to eat this is to heat up the crisp is super warm, then top it with the ice cream. Some of the ice cream melts into the crisp creating a wonderful vanilla sauce. YUMMY!

LESSON LEARNED: Store the leftover crisp in the refrigerator and heat it up when you are ready to enjoy!

Recipe for Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

Lesson #135: Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Justin's favorite desserts are anything made with rhubarb. Since it was his birthday a few weeks ago, I made this dessert as part of his birthday dinner.

The filling reminded me of the best strawberry-rhubarb jam that I've had. The filling was tart, yet sweet and it was topped off with crunchy bits of brown sugar and oatmeal. I made a half batch since it was just the two of us, but we could have easily ate the full batch. Usually I don't regret only making a small batch of something (because I like to try new recipes!), but to be honest, I was a little sad when we finished up the pan of this dessert. :)

LESSON LEARNED: Make sure you bake this for the entire hour - I love how the top gets crunchy and crisp. Maybe that's why it's called a crisp!!!

Recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Lesson #127: Oatmeal and M&M cookies

In between removing wallpaper, putting up drywall, sanding, and priming the kitchen, I whipped up these cookies. I had extra pastel M&M's left over from Easter (and this caramel corn), so I decided to incorporate the candies into an oatmeal cookie.

I was glad I did! The cookies are crispy and chewy with just the right amount of chocolate. The uncooked dough balls freeze beautifully so you can bake them off as you need them. DELICIOUS!

LESSON LEARNED: Let these cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet. If you try to remove them early, they will fall apart!

Recipe for Oatmeal and M&M cookies

Lesson #121: M&M Oat Bars

These cookie bars are the perfect SWEET treat. A mixture of oatmeal and chopped pecans are layered with smashed M&M's and sweetened condensed milk, topped with more oatmeal/pecans, and sprinkled with M&M's. They are very colorful and would be so pretty with pastel colored M&M's or whatever seasonal variety is available. The cookie bars were super simple to make - the hardest part was waiting for them to cool before cutting!

LESSON LEARNED: Wait for these bars to completely cool before cutting. They are kind of ooey-gooey - which is super yummy - just really messy to cut.

Recipe for M&M Oat Bars

Lesson #94: Cranberry Granola

A typical breakfast or snack in our house is yogurt with granola and fresh fruit. I like it because it's relatively healthy and you can mix up the flavors pretty easily by choosing different fruits or granola. Last time I needed granola, I was in the store and it occurred to me that it was probably easy to make homemade granola and it was probably a lot cheaper too. So, I did some research on some of my favorite food blogs and came up with a base recipe. Surprisingly, I had all the ingredients I needed (except applesauce which I make in the fall), so it's a pretty convenient recipe too.

Now that I've made granola once, I won't go back to store bought again! The granola is a little spicy from cinnamon & ground ginger, pleasantly sweet from a touch of honey and brown sugar, and fruity from the applesauce and dried cranberries. DELICIOUS! 

LESSON LEARNED: Homemade granola is easy to make and tastes better too!

Recipe for Cranberry Granola