Grilled Chicken BBQ Salad

Salad greens
Chicken breasts, grilled then sliced
Corn on the cob, cooked then kernels cut off
BBQ Sauce, drizzled atop everything


BBQ Sauce
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1/2 c Extra Virgin olive oil
1/4 c. BBQ Sauce
Splash of Lemon juice
1/4 c (or less) Brown sugar

Whisk olive oil into BBQ sauce. Once combined, then add in lemon juice & brown sugar to taste.

Skookie (Personal Size Cookie)

These cookies are always a big hit when we have people over. They're easy to make and really yummy!

2 1/2 T. softened butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 T. beaten egg
1/4 tsp. vanilla
6 T. flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
About 1/4 cup chocolate chunks/chips

For a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie, use the same recipe but take out chocolate chunks/chips for 1/4 cup white chocolate chips and add 3 T. macadamia nuts. Place dough in a 7 inch pie dish or any other small oven-safe dish (I use ramkin dishes). Heat oven to 475 degrees and bake for 5-7 minutes. Serve with ice cream on top of skookie and enjoy!

Brown Sugar Muffins

These muffins are another breakfast favorite of mine. I like them because they are so simple and delicious. The flavor is just plain enough to be able to serve them with a lot of different things or you could try adding things to the recipe like apples or other fruits. However, the recipe is a little tricky if you don't mix it properly. Be sure to use a good quality electric mixer to thoroughly cream together the sugars and the shortening. Add the egg, mix well. Add the vanilla, mix well. Finally add the milk, mix well, and then add the dry ingredients. If you don't get the shortening and sugars creamed properly and the other wet ingredients mixed in the milk and the shortening will react funny and become a strange lumpy type mixture--you know the old addage that oil and milk don't mix, well that's the idea. It will still mix a little funny when you add the milk but as you mix in the dry ingredients it should work out okay. (P.S. Mine never look like the ones in that picture. That's just the image that came with the recipe when I got it. Mine are typically a lot darker and look a little denser than those ones. Maybe I use darker brown sugar than she did or something like that but either way they're tasty. Especially right out of the oven with butter on them! Mmmm! You should never blog hungry I've decided...)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture just until combined. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Baked Oatmeal

This has become one of my breakfast favorites. It's fairly inexpensive to make, very filling and a lot healthier than some other breakfast options. I've found that it's great to make for a group of people like family/friend gatherings or a breakfast potluck. I've also prepped the ingredients and taken them on a trip where we used the kitchenette in the hotel to bake it and it was wonderful. We were able to have a filling breakfast before we left so we saved money and saved time for other fun things. It is surprisingly great the second and third day so don't worry about splitting the recipe. Simply save the leftovers in a tupperware container, reheat (if desired) and add toppings. It might not look as pretty but it's just as good if not better than it was the first morning.

Ingredients:
1 C Oil
2 tsp. Salt
1 C White Sugar
1 C Packed Brown Sugar
1 T plus 1 tsp. Baking Powder
4 Eggs
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
5 C regular, old-fashioned oats
2 C milk

Directions:

Combine oil, salt, sugars, baking powder, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oats. When well blended slowly add milk until totally incorporated. Grease a 9x 13 pan and pour mixture in; cover and refrigerate overnight. Uncover and bake at 350° F for 30-45 minutes or until firm and golden brown. Serve with brown sugar, half and half, milk, or cream, and canned or fresh fruits.

Krista’s Nutrition Calculations: 1/2 Cup serving equals 276 calories, 13 g fat
She suggests using applesauce rather than all of the oil, splenda in place of some of the sugar, egg substitute, and lowfat milk to lower it down to 196 calories and 6 g fat per 1/2 cup.
(Only an approximate guess)