Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars

 

Lately I've been making a pan of these on Saturday's to have for breakfast for the week ahead.  The kids love them and will usually have them with a side of yogurt and piece of fruit.  They're only three ingredients and SUPER quick and easy to make.

8 cups Cheerios

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup honey

In a large glass measuring cup (I use my 4 cup measuring cup) add the peanut butter and honey.  Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and microwave an additional 30 seconds.  Mix well to combine.

In a large mixing bowl add 8 cups of Cheerios.  Pour the peanut butter/honey mixture over top and mix well to combine.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray, place the cheerio mixture into the baking dish and press into the bottom of the pan.  Cover and refrigerate for one hour or until set.  Slice into bars.  Keep refrigerated.

Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

I know...how hard can it be to make hard boiled eggs?  Does it really deserve a blog post?  Yes!  If you use your Instant Pot to hard boil your eggs, you absolutely need to know this method.  So many people do the 5-5-5 method or the 6-6-6 method or a 4-5-4 method....blah blah blah.  I'm a busy mama and don't have time to carefully time eggs.  I'll mess it up because there's always something to distract me.  So here's the easiest way AND it doesn't require you to babysit it.

Eggs, room temp (I do a dozen or two at a time)

1 cup water

Place the trivet in the bottom of your instant pot.  Add the water to the pot.  Place the eggs on top of the trivet.  

Secure the lid, set the valve to sealing, and process on high pressure for 2 minutes.  THAT'S IT!!  2 minutes!!

Allow the pressure to completely release naturally.  (Read: forget about it while you do other stuff)

Once the pressure has released, take your eggs out and store in the fridge.

Easy Instant Pot Yogurt

Y'all know I love me some Instant Pot.  My husband goofed one night and called it a Miracle Pot...which is probably what it really should be called.  We love the thing.  When I bought mine, I noticed that it had a "Yogurt" button and quickly dismissed it.  I thought to myself "well that button's never gonna get pushed".  I even explored it a bit and read through some blogs and tutorials and the sheer number of steps and seemingly endless instructions just further confirmed that I would not be using the Yogurt feature on this thing.  Then.  I stumbled across a video that changed my mind.  You can watch it HERE for step-by-step, super easy instructions and I highly recommend you do.  Then you can just reference this post for quick glances and reminders without watching the whole video again and again.

What you need:

Instant Pot

Milk (I looooove Whole Milk for this.)

Yogurt Starter (This isn't scary.  Simply buy a small container of plain Greek yogurt.  That's it.)

1 tablespoon measuring spoon

Clean Mug

Whisk

Ladle

Instant Read Thermometer

Mesh Strainer and Coffee Filters or Nut Milk Bag

Medium Mixing Bowl

Containers for storing your amazing yogurt.

-Before you get started, take 1 tablespoon of your yogurt starter (remember, that's just plain Greek yogurt that you buy in the yogurt section of your grocery store.  I used Fage 2% Plain Greek Yogurt) and add it to your clean mug.  You want it to come to room temp.

-In your clean Instant Pot, add 8 cups of milk to the liner.

-Put the lid on your pot and set the valve to Sealing.

-Press the Yogurt button until it says boil and the "more" light is on.

-Allow the pot to do it's thang.  It will "boil" for about 25-30 minutes.

-Once the boil cycle is over, take your whisk and run it over the top of the milk to remove any skin that has formed.  

-Use your instant read thermometer to make sure the temp has climbed to 180 degrees.  If it hasn't, simply put the lid back on and set it for another boil cycle.

-Once your milk is 180 degrees, stick your liner in the kitchen sink that has been filled with ice water.  

-WITHOUT EVER TOUCHING THE BOTTOM OF THE POT WITH YOUR WHISK...Stir your milk with a whisk while it sits in the ice bath and every couple of minutes check the temperature with your thermometer until it gets down to 110 degrees.

(It's important not to scrape up the milk solids that have scorched to the bottom of the pot.  This will make your yogurt gritty and you'll have milk solids in your yogurt.  Ew.)

-Once it's 110 degrees, remove the liner from the ice bath, dry it off, and stick it back in the instant pot.  

-Take your ladle and scoop some of the warmed milk into the mug with your Yogurt Starter.  You want to temper the starter (bring it up to the temp of the milk) before adding it into the pot.  Use a fork or a small whisk to stir the yogurt starter and milk together in the mug; making sure there are no lumps.

-Pour the mug of starter into the instant pot and whisk it into the batch of milk.

-Put your lid back on the Instant Pot and set the valve to Sealing.

-Press the Yogurt button again and it will say Yogrt. 

-(If the display keeps saying "boil", press the Cancel/Keep Warm button, Yogurt again and then the Adjust button until the timer display reads.)

-I like to set mine for 10 hours.  If you would like to adjust the time from 8:00 to 10:00, just push the + button until it reads 10:00.

-The Instant Pot will now begin to count up and incubate your yogurt.

*I like to start this process around 9:30pm.  That gives me time to get it up to temp, then cool it down, and set it start incubating right before I go to bed.  Then it incubates all night while we sleep and in the morning, you've got your finished yogurt and the only thing left to do is strain it.

*For Greek Style Yogurt:

-When the timer is up, remove the lid and transfer your yogurt to a mesh strainer that's been lined with coffee filters and placed over a bowl.  

-Stick it in the fridge and let it strain for 2-4 hours.

-After it's strained, (that liquid is called Whey) I like to transfer my yogurt to a mixing bowl and add 8 packets of Pyure (it's Stevia), about 1tsp. of real, good quality Vanilla, and my secret ingredient....a little bit of powdered sugar.  Yum!!!  I also add anywhere between 1/4-1/2 cup of the whey back into the yogurt to make it the consistency we like.  Whisk all of that together and then when it's the flavor and consistency you like, store it in a container in the fridge.  I like to store it in 8oz jelly jars for me and my husband to grab right out of the fridge.  For my daughters, I put some in reusable food pouches.  These are my favorites!

*For a thinner yogurt, just don't strain it as long...maybe an hour or two.

*For a drinkable yogurt, don't strain it at all.

*To use this as a substitute for Sour Cream or Mayonnaise, don't add any of the sweeteners or flavorings.

*You can add any toppings you want when you're finished and ready to eat it!  

-Fresh Fruit

-Crystal Light

-Strawberry or Chocolate Quick

-Honey

-Granola

-Nuts and Seeds

-Fruit Preserves

-Whatever you want!

*The Whey can be used for a ton of stuff too!  Substitute it in your homemade bread recipes for the water (just bring it up to about 110 degrees first), make Pancakes and Waffles with it, water your plants with it (especially tomatoes because they LOVE that extra calcium)...google different ways, it's kinda fun!

Whole Wheat Toddler Pancakes

Hello Friends!  This is my very first Toddler Food post!  Since my daughter is growing (way too fast, I might add) she is really into trying all kinds of new foods.  "Out with the baby food, mom!  In with the good stuff, please!"  One of her favorite things for breakfast are these pancakes!  They're healthy and slightly sweet and she can down 2 of them along with her fresh fruit.  I usually make about 3 batches of these at a time and freeze them.  That way we have a quick Sunday morning breakfast or on-the-go breakfast that I don't have to think about!  To thaw and heat I simply take them strait from the freezer to the toaster.  The number 4 setting on our toaster makes them perfect toasty and warm.  Oh, and a little trick:  Consider mixing the batter in a 4 or 8 cup measuring cup with a handle.  That way you can pour the batter directly onto the hot griddle.

1 large egg

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup quick oats

3/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon sugar (I use packed brown sugar.)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

butter or shortening for the griddle or skillet

Preheat a griddle or a non-stick skillet over medium heat.

In a medium mixing bowl (or that measuring cup I was talking about), beat the egg with a fork.  Add remaining ingredients (except butter/shortening) and beat until smooth.  

Once the griddle is heated, smear some butter or shortening on the skillet so the pancakes don't stick to the surface while they cook.  Pour the batter onto the hot griddle in the size you want your pancakes.  For my little one, I make them about the size of the palm of my hand...maybe less than 1/4 cup of batter.  (I eye-ball it.)  

Cook the pancake until bubbles appear all over the top and the edges get puffy.  Flip the pancake and cook the other side until golden brown. 

If you plan on making multiple batches to freeze, I lay each pancake side-by-side in a single layer on a cookie sheet and stick it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  I then transfer the partially frozen pancakes into a freezer bag and store.