Good Friday morning!

I slept with JM and Paige last night, or should I say they slept with me, or better yet, on me. That’s kinda like sleeping with two walruses. I rolled out of bed at 5:15 am to escape the bed of invaders and just as I sat down with my cup of coffee JM walked in at 5:20 am and said, “I’m honnngrey, I want some dereal {aka cereal}!” Oh dear, I tried to convince him that it was not “morning time” yet but that didn’t work. Then I spilled my entire cup of coffee, and presently I’m tucked in my chair in the family room and he is climbing around the chair like a monkey as I type… naked, of course. If I can’t pull this post off, at least you’ll know why!

Before I forget, the kid’s life jackets from yesterday’s post are called Puddle Jumpers by Stearns. They are US Coast Guard approved and we love them! We bought ours at Walmart or  here’s a link to their site!

I’ll start with the Peanut Butter Crispies and I believe it is my civic duty to inform you that these are great for breakfast. They’re basically a glorified rice crispy treat… minus the margarine and marshmallows. My friend Marla has gone Paleo and writes a fabulous blog that has me thinking hard about the foods we eat. These little treats are not Paleo but they are good and a much healthier choice over rice crispy treats! Now, I haven’t adopted this Paleo lifestyle myself, but I do enjoy healthy choices and we’ve definitely cut out a lot of white sugar, white flour, and processed foods around here {with the exception of a few kid things}.  This recipe was adapted from this one.

Ingredients: (Makes about 2 dozen treats)

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 cups peanut butter (I used crunchy Smart Balance)
1/2 cup honey
4 cups rice cereal {I used Erewhon Organic Brown Rice cereal}
1 good handful (about a 1/2 cup) of mini-chocolate chips and/or shredded coconut

The original recipe called for agave nectar but because we are keepers of bees we have no shortage of the good stuff… so I don’t use agave.

This is sitting on the counter at the rental house.

This is where I prepare meals when we’re there. I’m so thankful that it has a great {& pretty well-stocked} kitchen, makes meal preparations enjoyable. This was also taken when it was cleaned up, it usually doesn’t resemble this.

Directions:

In a large pot on the stove top, melt the coconut oil and peanut butter on low heat.

Then, add in the honey and stir well.

Remove from heat and fold in rice crispy cereal.

 I used this peanut butter, not sure how “natural” peanut butter would do, if you try it let me know:

And this cereal, if you can’t find it on the cereal aisle, it might be in the gluten-free section:

Once everything is well-incorporated, place in a parchment lined or greased 9×13 pan. While it is still warm I added the chocolate chips and pressed them down a little so they stick. I also added coconut to half the pan for myself! Let chill in fridge for 20 minutes before cutting into squares. I keep these in the fridge so they stay nice and congealed… otherwise they get really crumbly.

This is a picture of the adult version because my kids don’t like coconut. Did you know the coconut you find in the freezer section of the grocery store has a fraction of the sugar as the bagged sweetened coconut on the baking aisle? It’s true. {1 gram of sugar per serving}

You should make them and at least try them for breakfast.

Next up, Curry Chicken Salad.

This has been my go-to recipe this summer, and it’s a winner! The only exception would be if you don’t like curry, and in that case, you may not like this recipe. We love it and it has been packed into many coolers this summer and kept us company on many boat rides.

This recipe was adapted from this one, it called for grapes and I’ve found that while I like grapes, I don’t like them in chicken salad because the next day they get squishy. The apples stay firm and crispy. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and spicy {but not a hot spicy, just a little curry kick!}.

Ingredients

serves 6-8

4 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup Gala apples, peeled and diced and placed in a bowl with orange juice to prevent browning
1/3 cup almond slivers, toasted
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 to 2 T honey
1 T orange juice
1 1/2 T curry powder
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub chicken with olive oil and generous amounts of salt and pepper. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until juice of chicken runs clear. When chicken has cooled shred chicken meat. Mix in large bowl with celery, apples and almond slivers and set aside.

In a medium size bowl, combine mayonnaise, yogurt, honey, orange juice {from apples}, curry power, salt and pepper.

Add mayonnaise mixture to chicken mixture and gently combine. Add more salt and pepper to taste. After it sits in the fridge for a day or two you may have to re-stir it, but it likely won’t last that long!

Serve however you’d like! We like it served with lettuce wraps of Boston lettuce.

I used these chicken breasts {purchased at Walmart, I don’t buy everything there but I do buy a lot of stuff there}.

I used this hydroponic Boston lettuce {also purchased at Walmart}. I’m laughing at myself because I didn’t photograph the front, just the roots. It says Living Lettuce across the front.

Even Morgan will eat this as a lettuce wrap, she’s my brave eater, the other two are weenies!

It’s also good in a whole wheat wrap, or on celery, or on a salad, or by the spoonful.

Ok, times up…. Happy weekend, y’all!!