Cooking Lessons for Dad

Cooking Lessons for Beginners

Crockpot Peanut Butter and Flax Energy Bars

by Leave a Comment

Yield: 12 - 18 bars

Crockpot Peanut Butter and Flax Energy Bars

Ingredients

  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt, Kosher
  • 1 3/4 cup flaxseed meal
  • Cooking spray

Instructions

  1. Spray the inside of the crockpot or slow cooker with cooking spray.
  2. In a bowl, mix together peanut butter, honey and salt.
  3. Stir the flax seed meal in with the peanut butter mixture.
  4. Press the mixture evenly in the bottom of the crockpot.
  5. With a fork, pull the mixture about 1/4” inch away from the edge of the crockpot.
  6. Cover the crockpot with two layers of paper towels and cover with the lid.
  7. Bake the bars on low about 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours or until the edges are lightly browned. The bars should be soft. The top may still be moist until it cools.
  8. Let the bars cool for about 30 minutes.
  9. After the 30 minutes, cut the bars and remove them from the crockpot to continue to cool. The bars will become more firm as they cool. Serve.
  10. Serve.

Notes

You can make flax meal by grinding whole flaxseeds in a coffee grinder or blender.

You can use another type of salt if you so not have Kosher.

Instead of paper towels, you can cover the crockpot with a clean towel (no fabric softener on the towel).

Save leftover bars in an airtight container.

You may have to cook these bars longer or shorter depending on how hot your crockpot/slow cooker cooks.

© Karen Breyer

 

Banana Ice Cream

by Leave a Comment


Yield: 1 - 2 servings

Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 1 - 2 bananas, ripe

Instructions

  1. Peel bananas and cut them into smaller, similar sized pieces.
  2. Put banana pieces in the freezer for several hours until they are frozen and hard.
  3. Blend the frozen bananas in a powerful blender or food processor.
  4. Continue blending the bananas until they are smooth and creamy like ice cream. It takes a little while to transform into ice cream consistency.
  5. You can now mix in additional ingredients if you would like. Serve now or freeze in an airtight container for later.

Notes

This banana ice cream is amazing plain but you can add other ingredients to make and endless number of different flavors.

Some optional ingredients you could add to your banana ice cream include:
Chocolate chips, nuts, peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, coconut, fresh or frozen fruit.

Try adding in my Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter to this banana ice cream for an amazing treat! You can find this recipe at Cookinglessonsfordad.com

Freeze bananas on a baking sheet (cover with plastic wrap or wax paper) or in a covered container.

Freeze bananas for several hours or overnight.

See a cooking demonstration of this Banana Ice Cream recipe on the Cooking Lessons for Dad YouTube channel.

© Karen Breyer

 

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter

by Leave a Comment


Yield: 3 cups

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups dry roasted peanuts
  • 1 - 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chilled chocolate chips (mini or regular)

Instructions

  1. Put chocolate chips in the freezer for about an hour or until cold.
  2. Add oil to blender or food processor. Add the peanuts.
  3. Blend until smooth. Start on low and then increase the speed to high.
  4. Slowly add remaining peanuts and blend until desired consistency.
  5. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and blend thoroughly.
  6. Add more salt as desired a little at a time.
  7. Pour in airtight container.
  8. Fold in the chilled chocolate chips. If you want chocolate swirls, stir in some room-temperature chocolate chips. The warm peanut butter will melt the chocolate. The more you stir, the more they will melt and swirl.
  9. Refrigerate the peanut butter until it is firm. In the first two hours of chilling, gently fold the chocolate chips up from the bottom of the container every now and then. Stir as little as possible.
  10. Store this chocolate peanut butter in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Notes

You can also use dark chocolate chips.

You can use raw peanuts instead of roasted if you want.

I like the taste of Kosher salt best.

When using a Vita-mixer, use tamper through lid opening and push the peanuts down towards the blades.

When using a regular blender (needs to be strong enough to blend nuts) stop periodically and scrape the peanut butter down the sides to help it along.

You can also use a food processor.

If using salted peanuts, reduce the salt to taste.

This peanut butter will stay fresh at least a month in the refrigerator.

See a cooking demonstration of this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter recipe on the Cooking Lessons for Dad YouTube channel.

© Karen Breyer

 

link

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

by Leave a Comment

Yield: Varies

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Ingredients

  • 12-24 Whole, fresh strawberries
  • 2 cups chocolate (dark, milk, semi-sweet, or white)
  • Decorations like chopped nuts, candy sprinkles, coconut, or white chocolate if desired for decorating

Instructions

  1. Rinse and dry strawberries.
  2. Line a baking sheet or tray with parchment or wax paper.
  3. Microwave chocolate in a glass cup or dish on high until melted. Start with 1 minute and stir. If needed, microwave again a little longer (about 30 seconds) and stir again. Repeat until melted and smooth.
  4. Dip strawberry into melted chocolate by holding the stem. Pull out, twirl and allow excess chocolate to drip back in the cup. Set on prepared tray to dry.
  5. If decorating, do this now. Dip strawberries in decorations or sprinkle them on.
  6. Dry chocolate-covered strawberries at room temperature or in the refrigerator until chocolate is hard.
  7. (If you are going to double-dip or drizzle the strawberries with another layer of chocolate (like white on dark), wait until the first layer of chocolate has cooled completely and hardened. You can also dip the second layer of chocolate in additional decorations while the chocolate is still wet.)
  8. Serve or store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Notes

Strawberries may also be served before the chocolate is dry, it is just a little messy.

If you let the strawberries dry in the refrigerator they will take about 30 minutes for the chocolate to set. If you let then air dry at room temperature they will take longer. The warmer the air is the longer they will take to dry.

You may also melt the chocolate in a mini-slow cooker on warm. Stir frequently.

Make sure there are no water drops on the dish or spoon that is coming in contact with the chocolate. Any water can make the chocolate hard and lumpy.

I have used chocolate chips, bars, and chunks. You may also mix chocolate types if you want. If you use bars, break them into small pieces before melting. You can also use chocolate specially made for dipping and drizzling (sometimes called chocolate melts).

© Karen Breyer

 

Recent Posts