Cheap Healthy Hummus

Ingredients:

Garbanzo Beans

Chopped Garlic

Cayenne Pepper

 

Homemade Granola

 

Homemade Granola:

Instant Oats

Fig Newtons

Vanilla

Brown Sugar

Cinnamon

Salt

 

Parfaits:

Nonfat Yogurt

Tropical Fruit Salad

Homemade Granola

Strawberry Jello Frozen Yogurt

I saw a picture for jello frozen yogurt on Pinterest and determined to give it a try. I googled some random jello frozen yogurt recipes for reference, and then made up my own version. I did two parts yogurt to one part jello. The end result was delicious, but it wasn't frozen yogurt. It reminded me more of jello with cream cheese in it. Yum.

Fall Harvest Treats

My friend Kim had asked me to host our Clemson Cross Impact Power Group Bible study at my apartment this week. We just started a new study this semester on the Book of Ecclesiastes. We are all really enjoying the study. There is so much wisdom in that book. We often meet at each others apartments or at coffee shops in the area. Most of the girls in our particular power group are grad student wives. Whoever hosts the group usually provides some light refreshments as well. I decided to prepare some colorful harvest munchies. I put together a trail mix from some random nuts and dried fruit I had in my cupboards. Okay, not so random. I made sure not to include prunes in the mix because I just thought they didn't belong. They were a lot larger than the other nuts and dried fruits so visually it would not have been pleasing. I wanted to make a veggie tray with bacon ranch dip. I remembered seeing a bell pepper used as a dip bowl on Pinterest, thought I'd give that a try. I sprinkled some bacon pieces on top of the bacon ranch dip so people would not be surprised by the bacon flavor of the ranch salad dressing. The munchies were a great hit!

Garland Family Tradition II: Popcorn & Milkshakes

Anthony and I had a date night tonight. We checked out a Redbox DVD, Star Trek Into Darkness, and made popcorn and cookies & cream milkshakes. Anthony and I have made the popcorn milkshake combination on occasion before which is another great tradition passed on from his family.

Saving Some Banana Pudding

So I have this little habit. As I cook or bake, I try my food to make sure it's on track. Well, if it is on track, sometimes I try it, and try it, and try it some more! I told my husband I was going to make banana pudding today. One of Anthony's friends is coming over for dinner so I'm making the pudding for dessert. Anthony is aware of my antics, and he knows how much I love banana pudding. He told me to make sure to save some for tonight!

I also saved some bananas for later because they were overripe. I'll probably make banana bread or banana muffins with them. Maybe I'll freeze the baked goods for after I have my baby.

Anthony just texted to see if there is any banana pudding left!

Late Night Fall Snack

I crumbled up a couple pretzel sticks on top of a slice of pumpkin pie for some extra crunch and pizzazz. Anthony and I enjoyed it. We have fun.

Snack From Last Night

Anthony and I like fruit, yogurt, and granola sometimes as a healthy alternative dessert.

A Mug Full of Chocolate Cake

I was on Facebook checking out a giveaway on a friend's jewelry business page Purabellezza of Etsy when I ran across a recipe my friend shared on her page from someone else's blog. I immediately began following that second person's blog- livelovepasta.com, and I just made my first recipe off of it! Here is a link to the recipe I tried: http://livelovepasta.com/2011/05/nutella-mug-cake/. I altered a few ingredients to ones I had on hand:

4 Tb Aunt Jemima's Buttermilk Pancake Mix
4 Tb Granulated Sugar
3 Tb Cocoa
3 Tb Jiff Mocha Cappuccino Hazelnut Spread
3 Tb Entenmann's Hazelnut Coffee
3 Tb Oil
1 Egg

I stirred these all together in my mug with a fork and them zapped my cake batter for 3 minutes in the microwave. So fast. So good. So fresh & hot. It would be even more amazing with ice cream.