Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Lately, I've been having a hard time getting my little guy to eat anything healthy.

He caught a cold last week, and every time this happens, all he agrees to eat is bread. Chips, muffins, toast, etc. No fruit, no veggies. So when this happens, I do my best to work with his taste buds.

That's when I found this recipe. I altered it a little bit, just to help the texture and taste a little.
It totally worked.
I made these yesterday, and he's eaten like six of them so far.

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

(Adapted from Jill McKeever)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups low fat milk
• 1/2 cup natural applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup sugar (thinking I may substitute some of this with honey next time...)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (if you don't have any blueberries, you can always use raisins instead. still healthy, but much cheaper, especially in the cold months)

Directions
Preheat oven 400ºF degrees. Spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray or use cupcake liners.
Blend milk, applesauce, egg, and butter in a small bowl and set aside.
Stir flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center and pour wet ingredients into the well. Stir just until the flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in blueberries. Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake until golden brown; regular size muffins bake in 18 to 20 minutes, mini-muffins bake in 10 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.
Makes 12 muffins.

Special Touch:
Mix 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup light brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp butter together. Sprinkle over muffins about halfway through baking for a crunchy, sugary topping.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

I know, I've been a bit MIA lately. You can see what we've been up to here.

Now, on to the recipe.

This stuff was so, so good. And it helps that it's super easy. I made this for a family recently, and from what I hear, it was a hit. The cream cheese just makes it a tad more decadent.

This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

(Original recipe by NancyCreative)

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Ingredients

FILLING:

• 1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want the filling to be)
• 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

BREAD:

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 to 1 1/4 cup(s) pumpkin puree, canned or homemade
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

CINNAMON GLAZE:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 to 2 1/2 Tablespoons half & half
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 x 3-inch loaf pans. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg, and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Set aside. In a large bowl, blend 1 2/3 cup flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside. In another medium bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, canola oil, eggs and sugar; beat well. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. Fold in the chopped pecans or walnuts.

*

Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of the pumpkin batter layers in each loaf pan and then spoon or pour on the remaining pumpkin batter (if you don’t have enough pumpkin batter to cover the cream cheese layer entirely, that’s okay, because you’ll be swirling them together anyway). Take a knife and stick straight down into the top pumpkin batter layer and middle cream cheese layer; swirl the knife around in these two layers, creating a marble effect; this will give the cream cheese filling a nice swirly shape as it bakes.

*

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pans for 10 minutes; remove to a rack to cool completely. While waiting for the bread to cool, mix your cinnamon glaze: combine powdered sugar and half & half, blending well; then add cinnamon and mix until smooth and creamy. Note: the cinnamon makes this glaze darker in color, so if you want a lighter, creamy color glaze, just add a dash of cinnamon to the mixture. Drizzle over completely cooled bread loaves and then sprinkle on nuts for garnish.

Sweet Potato Mini-Muffins

I made these over the weekend with my little guy. I had some sweet potato left over from dinner the night before, and I hate wasting food (especially healthy food!).

As a baby, Noah looooooved sweet potatoes. His hands started turning orange, he ate so many. But since starting solids, he eventually lost that love. But I swear, as soon as he stopped eating so many of them, he started getting more colds and ear infections.

I wanted to find a way to incorporate them back into his diet. But since he wasn't interested in eating them normally, I had to get a little creative. I found this recipe, and I'm SO happy with it.

As soon as they were done, Noah ate FIVE of them.

And he has no idea how healthy they are. Next time, I might try to replace some of the oil with applesauce. They have an oatmeal-cookie-like flavor, so I think the applesauce would work great.

Sweet Potato Mini-Muffins

(Original recipe by Catherine @ weelicious.com)

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Ingredients

• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 2 Large Eggs, whisked
• 1 Cup Sweet Potato Puree, cooked*
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 1/4 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl whisk the remaining ingredients.
Slowly combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients just until they are combined (be careful not to over mix the batter).
Place 1 tbsp of batter in each cup of greased mini muffin tins and bake for 15 minutes.
 Serve. (Makes 30 Mini Muffins)

* To make sweet potato puree, bake sweet potatoes (or yams) in a 400 degree oven for one hour, allow to cool, slice in half lengthwise and mash flesh with a fork until smooth.
** You can place muffins in labeled freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months.

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

Growing up, every meal had to be rounded off with bread. Whether it was biscuits, crescent rolls, or just buttered toast; we always had bread with our meal. I don't know why. For some reason, the big pile of carbs spaghetti on our plates just wasn't enough. :)

Anyway, I took that with me, and I now have a hard time not including some sort of bread with dinner.

I made these for the first time forever ago, and they've been one of my favorite "quick and easy" biscuit recipes ever since. Sure, they're not as easy as the canned biscuits, but they're pretty darn close.

And who doesn't love the combo of garlic and cheese??

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

(Original recipe by Paula Deen)

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Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups biscuit mix
• 1/2 cup grated sharp Cheddar
• 1/2 cup water

Garlic Butter:

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the biscuit mix and cheese in a small bowl. Add the water and stir just until combined. The dough will be slightly moist. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the biscuits are firm and beginning to brown.

While the biscuits are baking, make the garlic butter. In a small bowl, combine the butter, garlic powder, salt, and parsley flakes. Mix well. As soon as you bring the biscuits from the oven, brush them with the garlic butter using a pastry brush . Yields 12 small biscuits.



Monkey Muffins

My little guy turned 2 earlier this month, but we didn't get around to throwing his "friend party" (because we have a bajillion family parties) until last night. It was a blast, and I'll be doing a whole post about it soon on my regular family blog. He absolutely adores Curious George, so the party theme was obviously easy to put together. What I love is figuring out fun foods to go along with parties.

You already know I love me some pioneer woman (did you see her Food Network debut this weekend?! She's so cute). So when I saw these on her cooking site, I knew they'd be perfect.

And they were.

They were a TOTAL hit. Everyone kept saying how incredible these tasted. One guest didn't realize I had made them. She thought I'd bought them. Yep. She made my night.

Anyways, do yourself a favor and bring these to your next party or bake them as a gift. Or just have a completely sinful weekend and make them for yourself. :)

Monkey Muffins

(Original recipe by Ree Drummond) 

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Ingredients



Leftover Bread Dough (or Refrigerated Biscuit Dough, Cut Into Thirds)

Butter

Sugar

Ground Cinnamon

Sweetened, Condensed Milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to muffin tins. Sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin.
Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle on more sugar and cinnamon.
Allow dough to rise, if applicable, or just go ahead and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.
Remove from oven and immediately drizzle plenty of sweetened condensed milk over the top of each one. Be generous! Allow rolls to sit for a little while to absorb sweet, sticky milk.
Scoop out with a spoon and serve to hungry humans.

Yield: 12 servings

Save Those Berries!

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Our family looooves blueberries, especially the little Piggy Wiggy.

I probably don't have to mention all the pluses of eating blueberries... all the antioxidants, fiber, and vitamin C? One of the best super foods you can eat.

Right now, blueberries are at their peak... and cheapest!

The problem most people have is that they can't eat 5 cartons of blueberries in a week.

And wouldn't it be nice to make those $1.65/carton berries last all summer?

Well, that's my plan.

Here's a quick and super simple way to freeze your own blueberries.

Here's what you'll need:

- Cookie sheet or flat tray

- Freezer bags

- A freezer :)

#1. Pick through and toss the bad ones (usually if you picked them yourself).

#2. Lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

#3. Freeze them (I leave them in there for a good 24 hours).

#4. Stick them in a freezer bag (better if you have those vacuum sealer bags). Make sure you get as much air out as possible to prevent freezer burn. Try sticking a straw in the corner, sealing it as tightly as possible up to the straw, then suck the leftover air out. Quickly remove the straw and seal.

#5. It's recommended to store for up to 3 months, so make sure to label your bag with the date.

As for washing, you have two choices: wash before or after freezing.

Before: Wash and drain in a colander. Let stand at least 10 minutes to dry. If necessary, pat any leftover water with a paper towel.

Any remaining water will make the blueberries stick together after frozen (which isn't that big of a problem. they should break apart pretty easily) and might cause some freezer burn. Also? Washing before gives the blueberries a tendency to get a little mushy when thawing.

After: Most people prefer to wash their berries after freezing, just to minimize the possibility of freezer burn.

Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can find them pre-washed (particularly if they're organic).

It's totally up to you. I washed mine before freezing, and I haven't had a problem. But my little guy is used to mushier blueberries from the frozen kind you buy at the store, so he doesn't care.

And that's it!

This process works for any kind of berry, actually.

Once you're done?

Give some of these blueberry treats a try!

Banana Blueberry Pancakes

(Weight Watcher's friendly!)

Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Cake

Need a gluten-free option?

Try these!

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Tutti-Fruity Smoothie

Pumpkin Bread

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com. It's sinful it's so good. I altered the recipe a little to skim the fat and sweeten it up a little. The best part? It makes 3 7x3" loaves (or two loaves and 6 muffins). I made it a couple of weeks ago, and I froze one of the loaves to save for later. We thawed it out last week, and it was like it'd just come out of the oven. If you want to get even sweeter, try adding a cup of chocolate chips to it. YUM.

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, applesauce, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Well, let's start this thing off right...

Who doesn't love some warm, gooey, melt-in-your-mouth banana bread? ... with chocolate.

Fall weather has finally hit the South this week. I don't think our temps have reached 80 yet! It's been pretty rainy, cool, and wonderful. In my world, nothing says FALL more like freshly baked bread, whether it's pumpkin, banana, or zucchini. Any of it is good in my book.
And if it's sweet, combine it with a hot cup of coffee (or hot cocoa for you non-coffee drinkers), and it's oh-so-yummy.

Since I'm still working off the weight my little boy decided to leave me with after his arrival, I've been trying to find recipes with (slightly) fewer goes-straight-to-your-rear-end type of ingredients. This was the best I came up with (I mean, we still want it to taste good, right?).
I got this from Whole Grain Gourmet, and it didn't last but two days.

I only made two changes to it. I didn't have any whole wheat flour on hand, but I do keep unbleached white flour (I don't like the idea of eating the same stuff that I put in my laundry) in my fridge. So that's what I used. Also, since I wanted to let little Noah try some, I left the walnuts out. My hubby doesn't really like them much anyway.

So here you go!!
(I promise it's heavenly. My husband said it's the best he's ever had.)

Whole Grain Banana Bread
Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup packed natural brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup mashed over-ripe bananas
• 1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, preferrably 60% cocoa

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Lighly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with butter.
3. Combine flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Whisk and set aside.
4. In another large bowl, combine butter, honey, and sugar and beat for two minutes. Add the eggs and lightly beat until just combined. Mix in bananas and vanilla -- do not overmix. Gradually beat in the flour mixture in thirds.
5. Dilute baking soda in ¼ cup hot (not boiling) water, then beat into batter.
6. Stir in, by hand, the chocolate chips and chopped nuts.
7. Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 325 for 52 minutes. (test for doneness being careful not to overbake as it may dry out the bread)
8. Remove from pan and place on a wire rack to cool. If you plan to serve this to guests and want clean slices, then allow it to cool for 30 minutes. If you want to enjoy some melt-in-your-mouth, out-of-this-world, warm banana bread, then dig in after 5 minutes.