Dinner Ready When You Walk in the Door

I went to Kalamazoo for the afternoon, but first I put this in the crock pot. It was nice and hot when I got home!

Chicken and Barley
3 pounds skinless, bone-in chicken (or 1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts)
1 tsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp thyme
1 cup pearl barley
1 can (28 oz) petite diced tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine or chicken broth


Place chicken in crock pot. In saucepan on stove, saute onions, celery and bell peppers until softened. Add garlic, salt, pepper and thyme and cook 1 minute. Add barley and stir. Add tomatoes and wine or broth and bring to a boil. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.

Mmmmm...granola

This morning I made super-easy granola. Yum!

Granola With Almonds
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup light brown sugar
6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP vanilla
4 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 cup sliced almonds

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, combine honey, brown sugar, butter, salt and vanilla. Add oats, wheat germ and almonds. Mix well and spread on cookie sheets. Bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven and stir again. Cool completely.