We recently had to switch to a dairy-free lifestyle in an effort to see if our younger kids have a sensitivity that is causing them some serious sinus problems.  I was having a hard time finding granola bars for our kids that were dairy free, mostly nut free and not expensive. We love to cook as much as we can from scratch so I tried to look up recipes.  I could not find any that would work for our family’s particular needs so I decided to try and make them on my own.  Children were consulted and they love peanuts and rice krispies so I used those as our base.

We buy 90% of our groceries from Costco as you can see. I bought the “Crisp Rice” at Winco and if you need to be gluten free this is where you could substitute gluten-free Rice Krispies and make the granola bars gluten-free. We are not super gluten sensitive so I did not worry about it.

I had my three year old dump all of the ingredients into a bowl and stir. It was a little sticky so I helped her a bit.

Next I pressed the granola bars into the pan using a regular spoon and put them into the oven for 20 min at 350 degrees.  Your oven temperature may be different or you may want them chewier so check them after 15 minutes.

After baking I melted some chocolate chips and spread them on the top. Be careful if you use something with a handle since it could get very hot in the microwave.

I let the whole thing set a bit and my kids ate them pretty much over night so I would say they are a hit!  Next time I might try adding some raisins and cinnamon or even dried apples and see how they turn out.

Happy cooking!

Easy Dairy-free Peanut Butter Granola Bars

April 29, 2017

Servings: 12

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 20 min

Total: 30 min

Difficulty: Easy

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Dairy/Gluten-free granola bars for the kids

By: Oscoey

Ingredients

• 2 cups Rice Cereal
• 3/4 cup Peanuts
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
• 1 cup chocolate chips (dairy-free)

Directions

• Step 1 Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray.
• Step 2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Step 3 Put Rice Krispies, peanuts, honey and peanut butter into a bowl and stir.
• Step 4 Press your mixture into the baking dish and even out.
• Step 5 Bake granola bars for 15-20 min until they are firm.
• Step 6 Allow to cool for a couple of hours.
• Step 7 Microwave 1 cup chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish for 60 seconds. Stir and microwave them for an additional 30 seconds if they are not melty.
• Step 8 Spread your chocolate chips over the granola bars and enjoy!

Have you seen these cool candy toys made in Japan? They have all kids of fun food items to make!

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For Christmas I bought this  Takoyaki candy from Japan for my teenager. Takoyaki is one of her favorite foods and she found it online and wanted to try it.  It was ok and I wish I had gotten pictures of it but she had fun making it with the three year old and we had a good laugh out of it.  The oldest is heading off to college next year and to make her last year memorable I have been randomly ordering funny things off of Amazon to see how she reacts.  A couple of months ago I found this Japanese Candy “In A Toilet”  Drink Toy on Amazon after scouring the site for the perfect gag gift.  I ordered it hoping it would come before Easter and it happened to come last week on a particularly difficult day so I had her open it right away to cheer her up.  

We put it together on the kids’ art table which has been heavily used so please ignore the paint and or sticker mess in any of the pictures.  The three year old wanted to help so she was in charge of stickers and taste testing.  We did not look up where to place the stickers since the three year old was impatient and put them all over the toilet piece.  The girls had fun putting it together.

Despite the instructions being in Japanese there were excellent pictures and it was very easy to put together.

I love the details put into this candy, they even included a little piece of bathroom floor for the toilet to rest on.

Once the toilet was put together you pour the powder into the toilet, add water to the back of the toilet and enjoy! The mixture forms bubbles in the bowl of the toilet which you drink out of with a straw.

I tried the red flavor (strawberry) and it tasted like sour strawberries, similar to the filling in Zots, remember those?  Our three year old absolutely loved doing this activity with us and drank most of both flavors on her own.  My teenager and I got a good laugh out of it and now I am searching for the next thing to try.

Maybe I will get the Kracie Popin Cookin 9 Item Bundle with Sushi, Hamburger, Bento, Takoyaki, Cake Shop and More and dole them out slowly when we need a good laugh.  Seriously, I highly recommend them for a fun family activity.  Trying to figure out how to put the kits together builds teamwork skills, allows little ones to practice fine motor skills and gets your kids to try something new and exciting to eat.

Happy “cooking”!

My family has been pretty sick this winter and we have been eating a lot of soup.  We prefer to make our own chicken broth and use that to create our own soup but sometimes I just don’t have the time.  The solution I found is to use Lipton Soup Secrets Extra Noodles when I am in a time crunch.  I can cook these babies in under ten minutes and I make lunch healthier by using leftovers in addition to the soup.  My little kids love this soup and will slurp it down super fast but it has a lot of salt so it isn’t the best choice health wise.  To get around that I water it down a bit and make sure not to serve it more than once a week.

I can usually find Lipton Soup Secrets Extra Noodles for under $2.00 so I will buy ten and stock up when I see them.  I have also ordered cases off of Amazon which is super convenient when I can’t get to the store.  Some stores charge over $3.00 for these so watch your prices and try to stock up if you see it for less than $2.00, sometimes I can even find it for $1.39 which with two soup packet servings in a box is a screaming deal!

They are super easy to make.  Just boil water, add soup mix, wait 5 min (stirring occasionally) and it is done!  Since my kids are impatient I decrease the amount of water I add to the pot from 3 cups to 2.5 cups and add ice at the end.

While the soup is cooking I scrounge for leftover veggies and meat to make lunch a complete meal. Today I used leftover peas and corn from dinner and Ritz crackers for the kids. Neither kid wanted meat but the three year old did eat some pineapple as well.

For myself I made a sandwich roll.  We always have tortillas and lunch meat on hand. We buy in bulk at Costco and use them throughout the week.  Today there was leftover pork loin my husband sous vied for dinner and princess salad.  Princess salad is mainly composed of shaved Brussels sprouts and was named princess salad so the three year old would try a bite.  It worked and she loves it! Today’s princess salad included apples and was delicious in my sandwich with mayo, mustard and pork.

When the soup is done it is way to hot to eat so I add ice until it has cooled down enough for children to eat and lunch is served!

Some other ideas you could use are to add the veggies and or meat to the soup in the last minute of cooking, make a grilled cheese sandwich or even to make a salad for the classic soup and salad combo.

Enjoy!