Mini Chicken Pot Pies

My mom used to make a really good chicken pot pie when I was growing up. I haven't had it (or any other chicken pot pie) in over 4 years...

I miss it!

Really never knew how much until I found this recipe on Pinterest. It looked super easy, so I made it yesterday and YUMMMMY!!! Mike said it was really great, and different from the Mexican/Italian that's my usual standard, lol.

Ingredients:
1 cup bisquick
1 cup 2% milk
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1.5 lbs chicken breast
1 1/2 cups mixed vegetables (I used peas, carrots, and corn)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 can cream of chicken
1 cup shredded cheese (I used mexican four cheese bc I had it on hand)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground thyme

For the bisquick mix:
In a bowl, mix together the bisquick, milk, eggs, and egg whites. Mixture will be runny, that's ok. :^)

1) Preheat oven to 375.

2) Spray 20 muffins cups with cooking spray. 

3) Boil chicken about 15 mins, till it's almost done, then add mixed veggies and cook for about 5 more mins.

4) Drain chicken and veggies, dice chicken, and put in a large bowl.

5) Mix chicken, veggies, cheese, spices, and cream of chicken.

6) Put 3/4 tbsp Bisquick mix in the bottom of each muffin cup.

7) Fill each cup with 1/4 cup of the chicken/veg mixture.

8) Pour 1 tbsp bisquick mix on top of each muffin cup.

9) Bake for 30-40 mins, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Nutrional info per mini pot pie:
Calories - 87
Protein - 7
Carbs - 6

P.S. - Sorry there's not many pics. I made the filling ahead of time, bc I was super busy yesterday, and forgot to snap any! Oops!

Granola Bars: Second Attempt (better!)

Ok, So....I wasn't GOING to make granola bars this weekend, it just kind of happened. So excuse my crappy cell phone pics, haha.

Bc it was spur of the moment, I didn't have any raisins, which I think would have made them better, but that's ok!

These were chewier than the first batch, which made them yummier in my opinion. If I were to do anything different next time, it would be to mix everything together and add the rice krispies at the end to try and keep them "krispie". ;-)

So here we go!

Ingredients:
2 & 2/3 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup no sugar added applesauce
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 & 1/4 cup crispy rice cereal (I used store brand)
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)

2 cups mix-in's of your choice: (below is what I used)
3/4 cup flake coconut
3/4 cup nuts of your choice (I used peanuts and walnuts)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
10 extra chocolate chips (saved to use for topping)

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Put oatmeal and coconut on a sheet pan and toast in the oven for 12 mins, tossing twice. (If you choose not to include coconut, still toast the oatmeal. It gives the flavor depth.)

3) Put applesauce and peanut butter in a large bowl and microwave for 30-40 secs, until the peanut butter starts to melt.

4) Mix the applesauce, peanut butter, and cinnamon together.

5) Dump in your mix-in's and mix well. But do NOT mix in your rice krispies yet. Learn from my mistake, lol.

6) Next mix in your oatmeal/coconut mixture. If it's still warm, it will melt some of the choc chips as you mix. This gives the bars a nice chocolatey flavor, yum!

7) It's at THIS point that I would mix in the rice krispies. :-)

8) Line a cookie sheet with tin foil, spray with cooking spray, and press the mixture into the pan.

9) Crush the 10 extra chocolate chips and sprinkle over the top of the pan. I didn't get a picture of this, but it's self explanatory! :)

10) Bake for 20 mins, then remove from the oven and "spread" the chocolate chip topping with a spatula. This just gives you an extra chocolate flavor without TOO many extra calories. 

11) Let the pan cool for 10 mins before cutting into 20 bars. Wrap individually in tin foil to freeze, or place in plastic storage container.

Nutrional info for one bar: (red is nutrional info from first attempt)
Calories - 185  (257)
Protein - 4        (4)
Carbs - 16         (43)

I'd say that's a pretty big improvement!

Granola Bars: First Attempt

Mike & I are going on vacation over Labor Day weekend, and we're going to try to save as much money as we can while continuing down the road to improving our health.  So when I found this recipe for granola bars on Pinterest, it seemed too easy not to try! We could eat these for breakfast while on vacation. :^)

I tweaked the recipe a bit, but this is what I tried:

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup honey
2/3 cup peanut butter (creamy is easier to mix)
1 cup flour
2 cups of whatever mix-in's you like (below is what I used)

1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1 tube mini m&m's (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup (2 boxes) raisins

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) On a sprayed baking sheet, toss together the oats and coconut and pop them in the oven to toast for about 10 mins, just until them become really fragrant. This will just enhance their flavor. (If you're not using coconut, still do this with just the oats.)

3) In a large bowl, microwave the honey for 30 secs. This will make it much easier for mixing.

4) Add the peanut butter to the honey and mix well.

5) Remove the oat mixture from the oven and add to the honey mixture. Also add the flour and all your mix-in's. Mix until you think your hand is going to fall off, haha. If your mixture is not incorporating well, add a tbsp of water at a time until it comes together. I used about 2 tbsp. Keep in mind, this mixture is meant to be very thick, but should stick together well.

*Note: I sprayed my hand lightly with Pam and dug in to make SURE it was mixed well.*

6) Line a baking sheet with foil and cooking spray, or you can just use parchment paper. Then press the mixture into the pan, so it's about 1/2 inch thick. Use the sides of the pan and really press it in there.

7) Bake for 20 mins. Let them sit about 10 mins before cutting into bars, then wrap in foil. These will keep for about a week in a food container, or you can freeze them. That's what I did with the majority of them.  (recipe made 21 bars)

Nutrional info for each bar:
Calories - 257
Protein - 4
Carbs - 43

Really blurry, but you get the idea...

Now.............these taste good and everything, but to me, they're almost TOO sweet, and they're very dense. So the next time I make them, I'll make the following changes:

~instead of 1 c honey, I'll use 1/4 c honey and 3/4 c no sugar added applesauce
~eliminate the flour
~add a cup of rice krispies (to make them lighter)

With those changes, the nutrional info will be:
Calories - 178
Protein - 3
Carbs - 21

I like those numbers a lot better. I'll be making these again with the changes sometime in the next month, and I'll let you guys know how they turn out! Enjoy!!!

Breakfast this morning - a yummy granola bar paired with hard boiled egg whites and light cranberry juice - yummm!