After all the Christmas parties I’m restocked on gift-bags, tissue paper and bows! This makes me happy as re-using wrapping materials allows me to hardly ever spend money on wrapping paper!

I tried a new granola recipe and love it! In fact I have a batch in the oven right now! What I love about it is not only the way it tastes, but it’s also a little clumpy and I love clumpy granola! I’ve made it with out the raisins, because I don’t have any on hand right now and made it once without almonds, and it still tastes great! We like it in a bowl with milk, layered with yogurt and fruit for a parfait or even just by itself as a snack!

Me and the little girl went to the library yesterday and I came back with some books I’m very excited about! The Homemade Pantry has 101 recipes for scratch-made foods! I also borrowed Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, I’m excited about reading this classic cook book and can’t wait to see what I learn from Julia Child! Last night I started reading Thrifty – Living the Frugal Life with Style. I’m always excited to see a frugal book that’s not just about investments, interest, mortgages and all that stuff that’s over my head and bores me to tears!
What are a few frugal things you’ve been up to lately?

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had some delicious crepes at Ihop with yogurt, granola and fresh fruit and that I wanted to re-create it, and I did! The crepe recipe came from my Betty Crocker book.

I did half the recipe, but here’s the full recipe.

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 TBSP sugar
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 TBSP melted butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla (I put lots in!)
  • 2 eggs
  • Additional butter

First mix the dry ingredients, then add the rest. Beat it all together. Put a little butter in a pan and melt it, this will keep the crepes from sticking.

Pour some batter onto the pan, turning the pan to make it all spread evenly and thinly around the pan. Cook until the bottom is light brown then flip the crepe. I was nervous about the flipping part, but they were sooo easy, and with the butter, they didn’t stick at all! Once lightly brown on the other side put on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the batter melting a little butter in between. My cookbook said to put the crepes on a plate separated by wax paper, but I may try it without next time and just see if they stick together or not.

Once they’re cooked, you can do whatever you want with them! I filled my with peach yogurt, then rolled them up topped with more yogurt, mango, grapes, crushed granola bars* and confectionery sugar. Next time I make them I want to try a thinner strawberry yogurt (I used Greek yogurt, which is really thick) and maybe top with other kinds of fruit like cantaloupe! Yum!

*I was going to use homemade granola, but didn’t feel like making any, so instead I used some of the clearance granola bars I had.

And as a side note, last night I found out that I’ll be receiving a pre-release of The Money Saving Mom’s new book!!! I couldn’t be more excited!! I’ll do a review of it probably sometime in December! I love reading her blog every day, so I’m sure I’ll love the book too!

Cereal is a perfect breakfast because it’s so easy and fast in the mornings. But if you look at the ingredients usually sugar is one of the first 2 ingredients. So here’s an alternative. This granola recipe only uses honey, instead of sugar, and it’s chock full of fiber. Just make up a batch every now and then and you have granola ready to go for many breakfasts to come! You can also use in it making peanut butter power pucks, or a yummy parfait.

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups of old fashioned oats
  • 2 sticks of butter
  • 3/4 cup of honey
  • vanilla, maple flavoring, almond extract, cinnamon, or any flavoring you would like
  • Add-ins: raisins, craisins, chopped dates, sunflower seeds, coconut, chopped nuts or whatever else sounds good to you.

Melt the butter. Then mix all the ingredients, except the add-ins. Bake in a glass 9 by 13 pan at 350 degrees F, stirring occasionally. Bake until granola is light brown. Let cool then add dried fruit and nuts. Keep in an airtight container.

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