Breakfast Muffins #2

1 1/2 C oats blended to flour
3 ripe bananas
1 1/3 C Peanut Butter
3 tsp Vanilla
1 TBSP flax seed
1 TBSP Chia Seeds resting in 3 TBSP water to get jelly
1TBSP hemp seeds
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 C cocoa powder
1/4 C plain Whey Protien
3 packets of truvia
1C Carob chips

bake at 350 for 15-18  its hard to tell when they done so watch closely

Breakfast Muffins

In our quest to leave cold cereal behind we are trying new things... as well as my daughters avoiding sugar (but especially artificial sweeteners)

Breakfast muffins

{SKINNY} PEANUT BUTTER, CHOCOLATE, AND BANANA MUFFINS

Modified from chelsea's version

Serves: 7-8

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup (~1 medium) very ripe banana OR applesauce
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon powdered oats (regular old fashioned oats that have been blended) 
• (**we blend a 9 grain mix)
• 1/3 cup carob chips

**that picture is not from my modified recipe, **

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the 7-8 cavities with nonstick spray and fill the other ones halfway up with water (ensures even baking).
2. we use muffin liners. not sure I could make these regularly if I had to wash my muffin pan every week.  ;) 
3. Remove the banana peel and mash well using a fork. Measure the banana after it has been well mashed.
4. In a large bowl, using hand mixers, cream together the mashed up banana, peanut butter (do not warm up), honey, & vanilla extract.
5. Beat until completely combined. Beat in the egg.
6. Beat in the salt, baking soda, baking powder, and oat flour.
7. To make the oat powder, take oats and pulse them in a blender or food processor until they are in a flour-like consistency. Make sure to measure the oat flour AFTER blending and not before or the amounts will be off.
8. Beat just until combined.
9. Stir in the carob chips.
10. Using a cookie scoop, scoop two full scoops of the dough into each muffin cavity. If you want larger muffins only fill 7 of the cavities. If you'd rather have more muffins fill up 8.
11. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.
12. I find that slightly under-baking these muffins makes them taste way more moist and light. If you don't like that though, bake them a little longer, just watch them carefully so they don't burn.
13. I also add in other things depending on the day...  chia seeds, flax, hemp, etc to add a mit more nutrition.

Touchdown Taco Dip from Pampered Chef

1 can re-fried beans (16oz)
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
2 TBSP taco seasoning mix (or Pampered Chef Southwestern Seasoning)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 oz cheddar cheese, shredded (1/2C)
1/2 cup pitted ripe olives, sliced
1 med tomato, seeded & diced
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions with tops
2 TBSP fresh cilantro or parsley thinly sliced
tortilla chips

1 Preheat oven to 350 Spread re-fried beans over bottom of a 9x13 glass dish. In bowl combine cream cheese, sour cream, & taco seasoning. Finely chop garlic; add to bowl and mix well.

2 Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over beans. Grate cheese over top. Bake 15-18 min or until hot.

3 To prepare toppings, slice olives. Dice Tomato and thinly slice green onions. Thinly Slice cilantro. Sprinkle them all over dip. Garnish with additional sour cream, if desired.

4 Serve with Tortilla Chips.

Pasta Shells

Cottage cheese or Ricotta cheese
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2-3 C Mozzarella cheese
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 T parsley
Italian seasoning
pepper

Mix all together and add meat (browned hamburger if you want it). Stuff into cooked shells and place in baking dish. pour spaghetti sauce over the top and sprinkle any cheese you want on top.
Bake 350 for about 30 minutes. until bubbly

Carmel Pops

Off of the Clover Club Bag

8 oz of Pops
1/2 C Butter
1/2 C Karo Syrup
1C Brown Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda

While mixing, cook butter, syrup, & Brown sugar for 2 minutes or until bubbly around the edges, remove from heat.  Add 1 tsp baking soda to cause foaming (this will allow for proper coverage of the pops)  Pour Carmel slurry over pops and stir until pops are coated evenly.  Place in oven at 250 for approx 45 min stirring ever 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and pour onto wax paper.  Break apart (before they cool) to desired pieces.

I use a disposable turkey roasting pan to make mine.

Best Ever Mashed Potatoes

Figure out how many potatoes you need for your group.

Fresh Potatoes, Mashed Servings: 25 Serving Size: 1/2 cup Amount Needed: 7 pounds
(from BHG http://www.bhg.com/thanksgiving/planning/thanksgiving-food-shopping/)

Wash, Peel, & Boil your Potatoes until done.  at this point drain the potatoes and place them on a greased (butter or olive oil) cookie sheet.  bake them at 350 for at least 30 minutes.  The goal is to dry out the potatoes as much as possible.  Once you have dried them out you want to run them through a potato ricer or we use the Fruit & Vegetable Strainer on our Kitchen Aid Mixer to speed up the process.  (You made need to add a little cream to get the dry potatoes to move through the strainer).

At this point there are still no measurements, you just add soft butter and cream to the potatoes until you get the consistency you want.   At this point you can season them as you please, we just do a little salt so the potatoes can just compliment the flavor of the Turkey, Gravy, Stuffing, etc.

We were given this recipe by Ethan at Communal Restaurant in Provo Utah (one of our favorites)
http://heirloomrestaurantgroup.com/blog/category/communal/
http://communalrestaurant.com/

Peanut Asian noodles & Chicken

I have a new go to dinner!  There is a recipe on this blog for Pad Thai that I Love but I just can never find the time to make it, don't get me wrong it is worth it but with 3 kids with one on the way dinner needs to be quick.  So here is my simplified version:

1 TBSP Ginger Root Puree** (if you don't have gingerroot it will still be good but ground ginger doesn't have the same flavor so I would just leave it out)
1 TBSP Sesame Oil
4 TBSP (1/4C) Soy Sauce or Braggs,  I use the TBSP measurement to save a dish to wash  :)
1/2 tsp Siracha
1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter

I mixed these in a bowl and microwaved to soften the PB but it never combined all the way and that is okay it will later.  :)

I diced some chicken and browned it, and boiled some noodles.  We had it once with Linguine and once with spaghetti, whatever noodle you favor or happen to have on hand.

Then mix them all in a pot and stir well.

At this point you can steam whatever veggies you want, we went with broccoli, but you could add so much more at this point, whatever you have on hand.  It is also still good without veggies if you don't have any on hand.  :)

**I buy a larger gingerroot peel it, dice it and then puree it in the magic bullet or blender with a little water and then freeze it in a mini muffin pan like they did here with cilantro, but I line the pan with saran wrap to make it easy to remove from the pan.  :)

http://www.thyhandhathprovided.com/2011/05/preserving-cilantroin-april.html