Tasteful Tuesday

I'm running short on time this morning but didn't want to leave you high and dry so I'm giving you a link to the cute breakfast I'm making tomorrow for Groundhog Day. I will be using these pancakes. Also, later today check out my recipe blog for some divine peanut butter sandwhich cookies and I promise to get something besides tasteful tuesday up this week! Hope you have a fun Groundhog's Day and I hope winter is going to end soon!

Tasteful Tuesday

These are my absolute favorite muffins EVER! (They are closely followed by a pumpkin muffin I plan to share soon) They are moist and perfect in taste and texture. I am not normally a nut person, especially in breads and muffins, but the pecans in the streusel topping are a must. These don't last long at my house!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Combine streusel topping ingredients in small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, sugars, baking powder, salt and cinnamon until well blended. Add egg, butter, milk and lemon juice and stir just until mixed. Carefully stir in lemon zest and blueberries. Pour into lined muffin tin and sprinkle with streusel. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Combine glaze ingredients. Remove from pan and spoon glaze over the top.

Recipe Source: adapted from Julie Badger Jensen Essential Mormon Celebrations (great cookbook if you are looking for a new one)

Tasteful Tuesday

We just got back from our first camping trip of the year (okay, first one in a few years). We had so much fun! Camping is always a lot of work but is so worth it. I thought I would share some of the different food we had. Of course we had the normal roasted hot dogs, s'mores, and pancakes but we also tried some more interesting things and ways to cook. All of these ideas I had done before (camping as a kid) but my mom reminded me of them while she was here and my husband was very impressed. He especially liked the banana boats and asked why I had been keeping that one secret for so long. I wasn't able to get a picture of them but we will be making them again and I will definately get some pictures. Hope you are able to try some of these out!

Easy Omlettes

Eggs

Cheese

Salsa

Salt and Pepper

(or whatever you like in your omlette)

Ziplock bag for each person

Start a pan of boiling water. Crack your eggs into the ziplock bag (I did 2 per person). Put in salt and pepper in, along with whatever omlette items you like, we did cheese and salsa. Make sure to get all the air out and to zip your bag closed all the way! When water is boiling,put bags in water and let them cook. This did take longer than I was expecting. I flipped my bags over after 5 min or so. When cooked, pour out of bag and enjoy.

Roasted Starbursts

Place a starburst on the end of your roasting stick.

Put over hot coals until bubbly on top.

Let cool for a little bit. Pull off and eat. (Or you can place a marshmallow on your roasting stick, then put a startburst on top of that. Roast together over coals. Put between your graham cracker and chocolate like a S'more...we used the chocolate covered grahams for convenience)

Banana Boats

1 banana per person

Chocolate chips

Mini marshmallows

With a knife, slice through the banana skin length wise without cutting all the way through.

Within the skin, carefully cut the banana into three sections, removing a little chunk between each section. This will leave room for you to put the chocolate chips and marshmallows. Squeeze in as many chocolate chips and marshmallows as you can while still being able to mostly able to close the skin. Then place the banana in the hot coals for 10 minutes or so, until the chocolate chips and marshmallows are melted. Open up and enjoy.

Tasteful Tuesday

Sorry for my absence last week...I was having too much fun with my company. I have lots of fun activities to get posted now though!
I am having camera problems so I will get the picture for these breakfast cookies up when I figure out how to get the picture taken. A while ago my sister, Lee Ann asked if I had a good breakfast cookie recipe. I did not so I went on a hunt to find one. I tried a few different ones but really didn't love them. Today I came up with the one that will be my go to recipe. Kaitlyn helped me make them for a project that she needed to do and they turned out great. I think I will play with the recipe a little to see if I can add some whole wheat flour, flax, ect. I didn't follow the recipe exactly since I didn't have some things on hand but I will make a note where I digressed from the recipe. My husband will probably be getting these for breakfast now.

Breakfast Cookies (makes about 30 cookies)

2 cups brown sugar
2 1/2 cups oats
4 cups flour (next time I will try 1/2 whole wheat)
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup prune puree (I used applesauce)
2 Tablespoons water
5 egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup raisins (I used 1/2 cup dried blueberries and 1/2 cup dried cranberries & cherries)
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I left these out)
1/3 cup dried apricots (I used 1/4 cup chocolate chips, just for the kids)
Mix dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center and put in the oil, water, egg whites, puree and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in dried fruit and nuts. Use an ice cream scoop or your hands to make golf ball sized balls. Place on on greased cookie sheet or one lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly. They will not flatten during baking so you want them to be around 1/2". Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. 8 minutes will give you a soft chewy cookie, 10 minutes will make it a dryer cookie. I cooked them for the 8 minutes and they were perfect. Enjoy!

Tasteful Tuesday

We are people who are really picky about our pancakes. In fact, I only make 2 kinds: sour dough (which is the kids favorite) or these whole wheat pancakes. We usually make our own syrup since my hubby hates the store bought stuff but we recently were spoiled with real maple syrup and now my husband says we can never go back to the other. Considering the fact that pure maple syrup is super expensive, I have been trying other kinds of syrup to make up for it. I recently made coconut syrup and it was one that we all loved. I knew it would be good because it starts out with the same ingredients as the buttermilk syrup and we love that one. I have also had a thing for coconut milk lately. I'll have to get busy and share some other recipes using it since you won't need the whole can for the syrup. Hope you enjoy finding a way to use up some of that wheat you have in your food storage!

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes with Coconut Syrup

1 cup wheat (whole, not flour)

1 1/2 cups milk, divided

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 Tablespoons ground flax, optional

Combine wheat and 1 cup milk in blender and blend 3 min. (You do have to time this!) Add 1/2 cup milk and blend one minute. Make sure your wheat is fully blended. If it isn't, blend a few more minutes. Add rest of ingredients and blend until mixed. Pour onto hot griddle and cook until done. **Do NOT try to double this recipe. For some reason it never turns out. You will just have to make one batch at a time...a pain, but way better than ruined pancakes.

Coconut Syrup

1 stick butter

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup coconut milk

Combine all in saucepan and cook until thickens and bubbles. You can bring to a boil, stir constantly.

Tasteful Tuesday

Since I was really having too much fun with my family last week and left you high and dry, I decided to give you two recipes to try out. One is a really yummy breakfast recipe and the other is amazing pasta. I did change the recipes a bit from what they were originally but I tried to let you know what changes I made. Both recipes are really good and have definately made it into my must make again pile. Hope you have had a great start to your New Year and that you haven't already abandoned your resolutions....I haven't abandoned mine but am definately falling short. Good thing we get to start over each day and try to do better.

Baked Oatmeal

3 cups oats (I used 1 cup old fashioned, 2 cups quick)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Mix all together and pour into greased 8X8 pan bake at 350 for 20-25 min. Serve warm with raspberries and milk, if desired.

**This is half of the original recipe and I still had left overs. I did make some changes to cut out some of the fat: I used 1/4 cup applesauce and 1 Tablespoon ground flax, 3 Tablespoons oil in place of the amount of oil called for. I used partially thawed frozen raspberries since fresh ones are a little hard to come by for a decent price in the middle of winter. ***Update 2/5/10: I did make this again and have heard back from several of you and have found that it really is better to cut the sugar back to 3/4 cup and maybe trimming down the salt a little to 1/2 -3/4 teaspoon. Thanks for all your thoughts!

Easy Manicotti

Sauce:

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes, in juice

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 medium cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons dried basil

1/2-1 pound ground beef, cooked

Cheese Filling and Pasta:

3 cups small curd cottage cheese

2 cups grated parmesean cheese

2 cups shredded mozarella cheese

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves (dried can be used, just less)

2 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped

16 no-boil lasagna noodles (1 box of Barilla brand works great)

Heat oven to 375. Heat oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) in large saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, basil, and salt and ground beef. Simmer until thickened slightly, about 15 min.

In medium bowl, combine cottage cheese, 1 cup parmesean cheese, mozarella cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, and herbs.

To assemble, pour 1 inch boiling water into 9X13 baking dish. Add noodles one at a time and let soak until pliable, about 5 min. Separate occasionally with sharp knife tip to prevent sticking. Remove noodles from water and place in a single layer on clean dish towels. Discard water in baking dish and dry dish.

Spread bottom of dish with 1 1/2 cups sauce. Spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture evenly onto bottom three-quarters of each noodle (short side facing you), leaving top quarter of noodle exposed. Roll each noodle into a tube and arrange in baking dish with seam side down. Top evenly with remaining sauce, making sure to completely cover pasta. You should be able to make 2 rows of 8 manicotti. Cover baking dish with foil and bake about 40 min or until bubbly. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining parmesean cheese. Bake until cheese is browned and bubbly, 5-10 min. Remove from oven and let sit 15 min before serving.

**You can prepare this up until the baking step and then refridgerate or freeze. If you freeze it, thaw and increase baking time to 1- 1 1/4 hours.

**The original recipe left out the ground beef and used ricotta cheese.

Recipe Source: slightly adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

Tasteful Tuesday

When life gets hectic I go super simple with dinner. One of our favorites is to have breakfast for dinner. In my head I think I am doing better to serve this than say, PB&J. Here is our favorite waffles with a yummy, carmely buttermilk syrup. This waffle recipe comes from my father in law (yea...he got published!) and for some reason unknown to me, it has the word awful in it. Don't let that stop you, they are great! We also only have one of those old waffle makers that makes really flat waffles. When I have had them at their house, they are much bigger and lighter than the picture shows.

Dave's Awful Waffles

3 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

3 cups buttermilk

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil

Mix dry ingredients together. Blend buttermilk, eggs and oil. Add to dry ingredients. Bakein waffle iron. **When I make this for breakfast, I cut the recipe in half and have plenty for our family.

Buttermilk Syrup

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

pinch of salt

Combine in pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add:

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

This will foam a lot so make sure to make it in a big enough pan. It is also a good idea to make it an hour or so ahead so that the foam can dissapate. This makes two cups of syrup.

Tasteful Tuesday

Food for thought: When you go to cook something, whether it is a meal or a snack, what is your main goal? Is it taste? Nutrition? Budget friendly? Ease or convenience? Is it possible to have all those at the same time?
I have to admit that for me, I like my food to taste good. Recently, however, I have decided that we need to be eating more healthy and we need to be spending less money on food. Let me define what more healthy is to me: less meat, more veggies, less sugary treats (we already do a pretty good job getting enough fruit). So, although this has very little to do with the recipe I have posted today, let me introduce you to my new favorite foods: ground flax (it has been going into everything I make), beans (I buy them dry, cook a big pot and then freeze them for future use), spinach (it is amazing how many things you can put this in an not even know it is there), and brown rice. More on beans and rice to come but for today, check out this Chocolate and Banana Green Smoothie.....Perfect for a fun halloween treat and packed with lots of good for you stuff. Before now, I would have balked at even giving this smoothie a try. But it was really good and the kids loved it! (they have gotten really good at eating most of the crazy stuff I put in front of them these days...I have been really surprised) So, even though it is green, give it a try, and then post a comment to tell me what is important to you when cooking!

Banana and Chocolate Green Smoothie

2 cups milk

2 large handfuls spinach

2 Tblsp peanut butter

2 Tblsp honey

2 Tblsp ground flax

2-3 frozen bananas

handful chocolate chips

Blend all together and serve. The kids wanted it to be Halloween Slime.

(this recipe came from a blog Simple, Tasty, Healthy...at least I think that was the name of it)

Tasteful Tuesday

I have only one thing to say: Go. Go make this right now. Seriously. It was that good. I have never been to IHOP and so have never had their stuffed french toast. When I saw this recipe on Real Mom Kitchen I really wanted to try it. I have been dreaming of it since I made it for breakfast the other day. The kids wanted me to make it again that day for dinner. So here is the recipe.
Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 Tblsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
4 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 Tblsp milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 Tblsp orange juice
3/4 cup pureed strawberries
12 slices bread, I used Texas Toast

Start by combining the maple syrup, orange juice, and pureed strawberries in a saucepan. Over medium heat cook until it thickens slightly. Beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon together. Spread evenly onto the 12 peices of bread. Top 6 slices of bread with the 1/2 cup sliced strawberries and top with remaining slices of bread, keeping the strawberries and cheese in the middle. Beat the eggs and milk together and dip the "sandwhiches" in the mixture, coating well. Cook on a hot griddle. When fully cooked, sprinkle with powdered sugar and top with strawberry syrup. YUM!

What are you doing? Go make this now!