Nothing says home sweet home more than the scent of freshly baked granola tickling your nose! This is a special recipe that Chef Reba’s mother made for her morning cereal or just for a tasty and energizing snack! Jazz it up a bit and make it your own by adding your favorite healthful nuts and sweet dried fruit! Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup organic old-fashioned rolled oats
• ¼ cup organic flaked coconut
• 1 Tablespoon organic sesame seeds
• 2 Tablespoons organic sunflower seeds
• ½ cup mixed coarsely chopped unsalted organic nuts (filberts, almonds, pecans or whatever you like)
• ¼ cup organic local honey
• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• ¼ cup organic dried blueberries, or other small or chopped dried fruit

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Have ready 2 baking sheets, one covered with a sheet of foil.
2. With a wooden spoon, mix together the oats, coconut, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped nuts, honey and vegetable oil in bowl, making sure the dry ingredients are coated thoroughly with honey and oil.
3. Spread granola on the un-foiled baking sheet in one even layer.
4. Place in oven.
5. Bake until golden brown for roughly 20 minutes, stirring granola halfway through baking (after 10 minutes), being careful not to knock granola off the baking sheet while stirring.
6. Remove granola from oven and immediately spread out onto the other baking sheet covered with foil to cool.
7. When cool, break the granola off of the foil with your hands, transfer to a bowl and add the dried blueberries or other dried fruit, stir to combine.
8. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week!

Makes about 2 ½ cups, or 4 servings.

Is the fruit basket overflowing and you don’t know if you can eat it all before it goes bad? Then this mix and match fruit sauce is a perfect way to use up your extra fruit and by freezing some of the sauce, you can enjoy the spring and summer fruits all year long!

Ingredients:
Any combination of the following fruit, or add whatever fruit you need to use up:

• 1 gala, fuji or green apple, peeled and cored
• 1 banana, peeled
• 1 pear, peeled and cored
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• water
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, optional
• sugar to taste

Directions:

1. Chop all fruit into roughly 1 inch cubes except blueberries.
2. Put chopped fruit and blueberries into a pot and add enough water until just to the top of the fruit but not covering.
3. Bring fruit to a boil then reduce heat to simmer, uncovered, until the firmest fruits are tender- about 30 minutes.
4. While simmering, keep an eye on the water level, you don’t want the fruit swimming in water but you don’t want them to dry out entirely.
5. Mash fruit with cinnamon if using and add sugar to taste a little at a time. More or less sugar can be used depending on what selection of fruits are used and their level of sweetness, you may not need any sugar at all!

Serve warm or cold. Fruit sauce can be kept in refrigerator for up to 5 days or can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Ingredients:

• 2 pre-made 9” pie crusts, made without hydrogenated fats
• ½ medium onion, peeled
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 ounces button mushrooms, about 4, brushed clean and stem removed
• ½ of a small zucchini, cleaned and end removed
• ½ of a small yellow squash, cleaned and end removed
• ½ red bell pepper, seeded
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 ¼ cup Lowfat or Nonfat Milk
• 1 cup shredded low fat Swiss, Cheddar or Monterey Jack Cheese
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and lightly spray a 12 cup muffin tin with non-hydrogenated oil cooking spray.
2. Roll out pie crust onto a clean flat surface and using a 3” circular cookie cutter, or circular wide mouth glass, cut out 12 circles of pie crust.
3. Gently fit the circles down into each of the muffin cups and place in the refrigerator to chill while preparing remaining ingredients.
4. In a food processor or food chopper, pulse or chop the onion, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash and red bell pepper until coarsely minced but not a fine mush.
5. In a medium skillet, warm oil and butter over medium heat.
6. Add coarsely minced vegetables and sauté until just beginning to carmelize or brown, about 10 minutes.
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Remove from heat and set aside.
9. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk to combine. Set aside.
10. Remove muffin tin from refrigerator and scoop one heaping Tablespoon of vegetable mixture into the bottom of each of the crusts.
11. Top the vegetable mixture with the shredded cheese, dividing it equally among the quiche.
12. Pour egg mixture over the vegetables and cheese just to cover and come up to the edge of the pie crust.
13. Bake in oven until just set and the center of the quiche no longer jiggles and crust is beginning to brown, about 20-30 minutes.
14. Remove from oven and allow to set for a couple minutes before removing from pan and serving warm or at room temperature.

Makes 6 servings or one dozen mini quiche.

These healthful oatmeal cookies flavors change like the colors of a chameleon when you add your favorite mix ins! Get creative, the mix ins below are a delicious suggestion but use your imagination and experiment with the ingredients in your cupboard!

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup non hydrogenated shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• Mix ins:
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or other nut
• 3/4 cup sweetened flake coconut
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins or other small dried fruit

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Have ready a baking sheet.
2. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl.
3. With a hand mixer, beat butter, shortening and sugars on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
4. Break your egg into a small bowl and remove any shell that might have fallen in.
5. Add egg and vanilla to the butter mixture and beat until combined.
6. Pour flour mixture into the butter mixture and blend with a wooden spoon until just combined.
7. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut, pecans and dried cranberries or raisins and stir until just combined again.
8. For each cookie, drop a heaping Tablespoon of dough onto cookie sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart from each other.
9. Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until edges are lightly browned.
10. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for about 1 minute.

Scoop up cookies with a spatula and let cool on a cooling rack before enjoying!

The tidy cousin to the Sloppy Joe, these scrumptious sandwiches are slightly messy on the outside but help keep your body nice and clean on the inside with lean and cleansing protein rich lentils!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• ½ green pepper, diced small
• ½ red bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon mild chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon yellow mustard (wet mustard)
• 8 ounces cooked lentils
• 4 whole grain kaiser rolls or sesame buns

Directions:

1. Preheat a medium soup pot over medium heat.
2. Sauté the onion and peppers in the oil for about 7 minutes, until softened.
3. Add the garlic and sauté a minute more.
4. Add all remaining ingredients, except rolls, and cook on medium heat until bubbly and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
5. Turn the heat off and let sit for about 10 minutes, so that the flavors can meld, or go ahead and eat immediately if you can’t wait!
6. Serve a scoop of your Tidy Joe mixture on each bun

Makes about four Tidy sandwiches!

Bake, decorate and share these delicious raspberry cupcakes with your favorite buddy!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cups unsalted butter, melted
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup frozen raspberries, thawed and drained
• 2 ½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare cupcake tins with paper liners.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
3. In a separate, larger bowl, beat the butter, mascarpone, sugar, creaming until light and fluffy. Add the egg whites, and beat well.
4. In a small bowl, combine the milk and vanilla.
5. To the mascarpone mixture, add about one quarter of the flour mixture and mix well. Add about one quarter of the milk mixture and mix well. Continue alternating the flour mixture and milk mixture, beating after each addition until smooth.
6. Pour the batter into the cupcake tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cake springs back when touched.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, then turn the cupcakes out of the tins and onto a rack to finish cooling completely.

For the icing:

1. Meanwhile, puree the raspberries in a blender or small food processor.
2. Place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl.
3. Pour in the strawberry puree and whisk until smooth.
4. Top the cooled cupcakes with the raspberry glaze.

Let the cupcakes sit for a few minutes for the glaze to firm up, then serve.