Peanut Butter Granola and Plant Cell Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza

I ran out of granola and instead of making more of the Banana Dark Chocolate Chunk Granola that I’d recently made, I was hankering for peanut butter.  I did a quick search on the internet for peanut butter granola and settled on this one I’d found at Hillbilly Housewife (a website I’d never seen or heard of before, but one I’m sure I’ll be back to check out more).  I love this Peanut Butter Granola to which I added some dry roasted peanuts and some cherry flavored dried cranberries.  I even just rough measured the ingredients without actually using measuring cups/spoons. 

Another thing that “sold” me on this recipe was its short baking time.  I will for sure be doubling this next time I make it and will try some chopped dark chocolate in it, too.  Yum!

Peanut Butter Granola, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 tablespoons Smart Balance butter

1/3 cup natural peanut butter (you could use any kind of pb you’d like)

1/3 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts

1/4 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)

1-2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium sized saucepan, melt butter and peanut butter together and stir until smooth and combined.  Add the honey, vanilla and salt and whisk together until all heated through together.   Stir in the oats.  Spread on a baking sheet that is sprayed lightly with cooking spray.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Stir the granola.  At this point I turned off the oven and left the granola in for about 4 more minutes.  Remove from oven and stir.  Let cool to room temperature.  Add the peanuts and cranberries (and chocolate!)

This granola is perfectly crunchy and has just the right amount of peanut butter flavor.  I can’t wait to have it with some vanilla yogurt and sliced banana!

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Scott recently had a science project in learning about cells and all the “things” in a plant cell.  Like mitochondrion, druse crystal, vacuoles, nucleus, chloroplast, ribosome, Golgi apparatus, smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER).  I know, whatever that I’m so smart I can name all those.  Oh yeah, I’m reading them off a diagram.  Anyway, the students had to put together some kind of diagram using food.  Here’s what Scott (and Kevin) came up with---

I made a 14 inch pizza cookie and they went to town putting all the things on it to look like a cell.

(Photo courtesy of Wayne’s Word.)

That’s my kind of diagram!  And the boys sure enjoyed eating it afterward.