Peanut Butter Granola

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So as you can tell by yesterdays post I’ve been craving sweets and peanut butter.  Being on low carb, honey and oats is usually a no no but I couldn’t resist this yummy peanut butter granola recipe.  Maddie has been really eating a lot of granola bars and I was wanting to see if it would be worth making our own instead of buying them.  It turned out great!  Just wish I would have found this recipe this winter instead of the summer time.. with temps already in the upper 90s it’s so hard for me to turn on that oven. 

This is the recipe I used as my guide line but I added some other stuff too.  I left out the cinnamon and the vanilla and I added some wheat germ, flax seed and also some almonds I had blended up to make almond flour.  I also had some peanuts and almonds so I decided to chop them up and decided to throw them in too. Oh, and I also had some hulled sunflower seeds too.  (yeah it was a pantry mish mash but so good)  It was very good and since I haven’t had cereal in several months I had a bowl of granola with my almond milk.  Mmm.. man it was delish!! 
 

Peanut Butter Granola
Sprinkled on top of Greek yogurt or enjoyed on its own, this peanut butter granola is made with pantry staples, making it an easy recipe to whip up without making a special trip to the grocery store.
Ingredients:
Makes four ¼ c servings
2 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp. honey
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. oats
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. Combine peanut butter and honey in a bowl and microwave until peanut butter melts (approximately 20 seconds). Stir.
Stir cinnamon and vanilla into peanut butter and honey mixture. Add oats and stir until oats are completely covered in peanut butter mixture. Spread out oat mixture onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for 7 -8 minutes until granola is slightly browned. Let cool until granola is crunchy.

Or maybe it was this recipe I used.. the top one is too small of a batch.  I can’t remember what I did now.. I think I just mixed some stuff up and cooked it. 

Jennifer’s Granola
Original recipe makes 16 servings

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup flax seed meal
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, wheat germ, flax seed meal, brown sugar, sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, honey, vanilla and water. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and mix until evenly blended. Spread in a greased 9x13 or 11x7 inch baking pan.
3. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, stirring every 20 minutes, or until toasted. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Cafeteria Peanut Butter Balls

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I’ve been doing low carb since the end of Jan. and have now lost around 35lbs.  I was searching for a snack and came across these cafeteria peanut butter balls.  Not exactly low carb, but still healthier than any processed alternatives.

These turned out great!  I have made several batches from it, all different but they were all good.  The recipe calls for powdered milk, when I went to the store to get everything I forgot it.  The first batch I did without any milk and it turned out fine.  The next batch I used some of my protein powder, I had some chocolate peanut butter powder and figured it would go great with this recipe.  It did!  This last batch I did I didn’t have any chocolate chips but they are still good!  I have also just left it in the bowl I mixed it up with instead of making the balls… yep I got lazy, but it works fine too.  Maddie loves to grab a couple balls in the morning for breakfast and honestly I know it’s not the best breakfast but its just as good as a processed pop tart or some thing else like that.  (Yes I do offer to cook for her but she won’t eat eggs, biscuits or anything else I offer so this is better than nothing.)

After making a few batches I didn’t really follow the recipe, I just kinda dumped in what I thought looked right and usually it was more wheat germ and flax seed than she suggests but it still tastes great!

Here is the wonderful recipe.  Hope you enjoy it!

Cafeteria Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients:
1 - cup honey
1 1/4 - cups natural creamy peanut butter (I use Skippy Natural)
1 1/2 - cups dry powdered milk
3 - cups quick or old fashioned oatmeal, uncooked
1 - 2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 - 2 tablespoons flax seed
1/2 - cup mini chocolate chips, optional

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together with a electric mixer.
Form into balls with hands and freeze on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper until firm.
Remove from freezer and store in a large zip lock bag in the refrigerator.

Optional: If using chocolate chips add them with all the ingredients and roll into balls.

You can also leave out the wheat germ and flax seed if you don't have any one hand. It won’t alter the texture or taste. It was just a perk I added to sneak in some goodness.

Recipe yields: approx. 30 peanut butter balls

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I started doing Atkins at the end of January.  (I’ve lost 35 lbs so far) It was hard at first because so many nights I would just eat cereal for my supper, even when I made something for Maddie.  When I needed a quick snack it would be crackers or just some toast.  It took me a bit to stop those cravings, and I still do have those cravings at times.  I did a search for some Chocolate Chip cookies (the Atkins snacks get pretty expensive) and I ran across this recipe… Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I still haven’t bought almond flour yet but I also saw this wonderful idea on making your own almond flour so I gave it a whirl.  The flour worked out and the cookies came out great!  They don’t look the best but they taste wonderful!!  My wonderful phone pic of the cookies. 

---

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 12 cookies):

• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) almond flour or almond meal
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar  ( I used Splenda)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips  (can use sugar free too.  I used chocolate and peanut butter chips)
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Low Carb Pancakes

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I know I haven’t been writing much lately so here’s a little update.  (I will update on Mad a little later.) In January I went to the Dr. for my plantar fasciitis and he mentioned that when we started eating low carb it helped with his pain.  I figured what would it hurt to give it a try?  We all know I can stand to lose some weight too.  Since the 26th of Jan. I have lost 24lbs!  It hasn’t been easy but it hasn’t been as hard as I thought either.  My pain hasn’t subsided a bit though but I will still continue with the low carb eating.  I know all that sugar wasn’t good for me but I do miss having my cereal when I don’t want to cook. 

I was missing pancakes and waffles and I hunted up a low carb pancake recipe.  There are a lot out there but I still haven’t gone out and bought all the low carb stuff like almond flour and all the other good flours out there.  I found one that was made from pork rinds.  Yep, you read that right, Pork Rind Pancakes!!  I thought yuck, but was willing to give it a try.  (and I need to find a new sugar free syrup, it’s 11g for 1/4 cup and that is half my days worth of carbs!)

I decided to give the pancakes a go this morning.  My daughter just set there with her nose curled up as I was making them.  Once they were done and we tried them they weren’t that bad!  A little denser than regular pancakes but not bad.  She said they tasted like cinnamon rolls and I just wondered what kind of cinnamon rolls she’s been eating because, um, no!  Nothing like the cinnamon rolls I remember! 

Enjoy!

Here’s the recipe I got from Mr. Breakfast.

*image from Mr. Breakfast also

Low-Carb Pancakes (Pork Rinds)

(1 serving)    Printable Version

• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 of a 3-oz bag of unflavored pork rinds
• 3 packets of Splenda (or other sugar alternative)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 dash nutmeg

Crumble pork rinds until they resemble bread crumbs.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs until frothy then add remaining ingredients and continue to beat until well mixed. Add pork rinds to the egg/cream mixture and set aside for 5 minutes to allow batter to thicken.
Cook on a lightly greased skillet as you would any pancake recipe. Drop batter on surface large spoonfuls. Cook until each side is lightly browned.
Serve with butter and a low-carb store bought syrup. Or for an interesting low-carb topping, mix 1 Tablespoon of sugar-free jam with 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons water and microwave for 45 seconds.
For more low-carb recipes try Mr. Breakfast's Low-Carb Breakfast Index.

These pork rinds are surprisingly low in fat and have zero carbs. They may sound pretty crazy, but these little pancakes are fantastic!

Some facts about Onions

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A friend of mine posted this on FB so I just thought that I would share it with everyone.  Pretty interesting stuff!

 

 

ONIONS! I had never heard this!!!

PLEASE READ TO THE END: IMPORTANT

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million
people there was this Doctor that
visited the many farmers to see if he could
help them combat the flu...
Many of the farmers and their families had
contracted it and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to
his surprise, everyone was very
healthy. When the doctor asked what the
farmer was doing that was different
the wife replied that she had placed an
unpeeled onion in a dish in the
rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms
back then). The doctor couldn't
believe it and asked if he could have one of
the onions and place it under
the microscope. She gave him one and when he
did this, he did find the flu
virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed
the bacteria, therefore, keeping
the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser.
She said that several years ago, many of her employees were coming
down with the flu, and so were
many of her customers. The next year she
placed several bowls with onions
around in her shop. To her surprise, none of
her staff got sick. It must
work. Try it and see what happens. We did it
last year and we never got the flu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it
to a friend in Oregon who
regularly contributes material to me on
health issues. She replied with this
most interesting experience about onions:

Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about
the farmer's story...but, I do
know that I contacted pneumonia, and,
needless to say, I was very ill... I came
across an article that said to cut both ends
off an onion put it into an
empty jar, and place the jar next to the
sick patient at night. It said the
onion would be black in the morning from the
germs...sure enough it happened
just like that...the onion was a mess and I
began to feel better.

Another thing I read in the article was that
onions and garlic placed around
the room saved many from the black plague
years ago. They have powerful
antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

This is the other note.

Lots of times when we have stomach problems
we don't know what to blame.
Maybe it's the onions that are to blame.
Onions absorb bacteria is the
reason they are so good at preventing us
from getting colds and flu and is
the very reason we shouldn't eat an onion
that has been sitting for a time
after it has been cut open.

LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS

I had the wonderful privilege of touring
Mullins Food Products, Makers of
mayonnaise. Questions about food poisoning
came up, and I wanted to share
what I learned from a chemist.

Ed, who was our tour guide, is a food
chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone
asked if we really needed to worry about
mayonnaise. People are always
worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's
answer will surprise you. Ed said
that all commercially-made mayo is
completely safe.

"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No
harm in refrigerating it, but
it's not really necessary." He explained
that the pH in mayonnaise is set at
a point that bacteria could not survive in
that environment. He then talked
about the summer picnic, with the bowl of
potato salad sitting on
the table, and how everyone blames the
mayonnaise when someone gets sick.

Ed says that, when food poisoning is
reported, the first thing the officials
look for is when the 'victim' last ate
ONIONS and where those onions came
from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's
not the mayonnaise (as long as
it's not homemade mayo) that spoils in the
outdoors. It's probably the
ONIONS, and if not the onions, it's the
POTATOES.

He explained onions are a huge magnet for
bacteria, especially uncooked
onions. You should never plan to keep a
portion of a sliced onion.. He says
it's not even safe if you put it in a
zip-lock bag and put it in your
refrigerator.

It's already contaminated enough just by
being cut open and out for a bit,
that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you
put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!).
Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll
probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your
sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in
a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial
mayonnaise will even begin to break down.

Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their
stomachs cannot metabolize onions
Please remember it is dangerous to cut an
onion and try to use it to cook
the next day, it becomes highly poisonous
for even a single night and
creates toxic bacteria which may cause
adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions and even food
poisoning.

Please pass this on to all you love and care
about.

Caramel Sauce Recipe

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Image from Savory Sweet Life

A while back I posted about some Apple Nachos and said I was going to try and make some Caramel Sauce.  I finally made some the other day.  It turned out alright but not as pretty as the picture above.  I used her recipe, but I used fat free half and half because I couldn’t find any low-fat or fat free whipping cream.  It still tastes pretty good and is a very light caramel color.  Maddie really likes it and has had 2 apples with some drizzled on top! 

Here is the recipe from Savory Sweet Life, my changes in parentheses. 

 

Simple Caramel Sauce Recipe

Makes 2 cups

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream, heated to luke warm in microwave (30 seconds)  (I used fat-free half & half)

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup heavy cream, heated to luke warm in microwave (30 seconds)  (I used fat-free half & half)

*optional 2 Tablespoons Rum  
*optional 1/4 corn syrup – for those of you who are concerned your caramel sauce will turn to candy)   (I didn’t use these)

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium sauce pan, add sugar and water (and optional corn syrup).  Cook the ingredients on medium-high heat.  Carefully watch the sugar syrup change colors around the outer edge to an amber-brownish color, or if using a candy thermometer – 350 degrees. Remove from heat immediately and using a wooden spoon or whisk, quickly stir everything to keep the sugar water from burning.  Your simple syrup should be a golden ale brown.  As you continue to stir, pour in 1/2 cup of warm heavy cream and pats of butter.  When the cream makes contact with the sugar water it will start bubbling violently.  Continue to stir until the sugar crystallization dissolves.  Finally, add 1/4 cup of additional warm heavy cream (and rum) until caramel sauce is nice and smooth.  Transfer to a heat proof jar and allow the sauce to cool on the counter slightly covered with plastic wrap for an hour.  Use immediately or seal the jar and store in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Note: *As caramel sauce cools, it will thicken.  Before serving, re-heat in the microwave for 30 seconds for 1 cup.

 

Here are some pictures of it boiling up and then after it was done.  Still warm so nice and runny. 

She couldn’t wait and had to have some before it got thicker.  She still loved it!!

Fab Five Banana Pancake Minis

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  See this beautiful lady?  Her name is Shauna and she’s my sister in law.  I’ve been trying to convince her to start her own blog.. I think I am slowly getting her to agree     She makes some really yummy stuff!  From time to time I will be posting the recipes she makes and shares on FB.  My brother does a lot of meat smoking and grilling so if he comes up with a good recipe I will be adding that too! 

These are the pancakes she made this past weekend.  Don’t they look good!?!

 

Fab Five Banana Pancake Minis

Hungry Girl 200 under 200
1 Serving

PER SERVING (5 mini pancakes):
185 calories, 1g fat, 343mg sodium, 37g carbs, 5g fiber, 7.5g sugars, 9.5g protein

Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about half a banana’s worth)

3 tablespoons fat free egg substitute

1 tablespoon light vanilla soymilk

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 splenda packet

Dash salt

Dash Cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a small bowl combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sweetener, salt and cinnamon) until mixed well.

2. In a separate bowl, combine mashed banana with all wet ingredients (egg substitute, soymilk, and vanilla extract) until mixed thoroughly.

3. Bring a large pan sprayed with nonstick spray to medium heat. Pour batter in the pan to form five mini pancakes. Once the pancakes begin to look solid, after about 1 minute, gently flip.

4. Cook for an additional minute, or until both sides are lightly browned and insides are cooked through. Then plate ‘em up and enjoy!

Apple Nachos!

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picture from Manifest Vegan

Apple nachos?  HUH!?!  I guess I’ve been living in a cave because supposedly the blogging world have been talking about these for a while now.  I decided to give it a shot!  But… I had no peanut butter or chocolate chips.  We decided just to use some chocolate syrup instead and they were wonderful!! I wanted to make a caramel sauce, there are so many great recipes out there, but I didn’t have any cream either.  I’m going to make sure I get some stuff to make the caramel sauce with too!  I think it would be so yummy with PB, caramel and chocolate syrup! 
The way the lady above made them looks so good too but alas.. I never have that stuff around! (and if I buy it either I or Mad would eat the chocolate chips and nuts before using them in a recipe)

So. here’s an ugly picture of what ours look like, but they were so good and Maddie just loved them!  This is def. a recipe redo!!

my picture

Apple Nachos

recipe and top picture from Manifest Vegan

• 3 crispy and slightly tart apples (we ♥ honeycrisp! yum…)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp creamy natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

For these, I sliced up some apples thin enough so it would be easy to eat the slice in one or two bites. I also lightly spritzed the apples with lemon juice to keep them from browning too fast.

Then I melted some peanut butter–until it was super runny–and drizzled it all over the apples. Next, I topped the apples and peanut butter with unsweetened flaked coconut, sliced almonds, a few pecans and, of course, chocolate chips. And finally, I drizzled a little more peanut butter onto the plate. Ya know, for good measure.

Couldn’t get much easier! Be sure to eat these with your hands, just like real nachos. :)

 

Maddie enjoying her apple nachos!

Oven Baked Onion Rings

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image from A Wooden Nest

Man oh man do I just love onion rings!!  Its kind of a shocker to the family I grew up with.  I was so picky about my food and didn’t like a lot of stuff, but since I have grown up I am loving so many things I hated then. 
The other day I was having such a craving for some onion rings so I decided to do a search.  A while back I ran across some oven baked onion rings and thought that I had pinned it.  Well, I couldn’t find them so I searched there and came up with a few.  I love this idea because we are eating healthier and haven’t fried anything in almost 6 years.  If I want something like that I wait until our weekend ‘eat out’ meal or the month ‘eat out’ meal.  To some that’s weird, only eating out once a week or even only once a month but it sure saves us some money and we can make stuff here almost as good and a lot healthier!

OK… getting on with the reason I am doing this post.  I love onion rings.. I love Panko… so this was the recipe for me!  I gave it a shot and they tasted great!!  The only problem I had with them was that after coating with the flour, then dipping in milk (I didn’t have any buttermilk)  I couldn’t get the coating to stick to the slick outside.  I only had a red onion so I don’t know if this is the reason why or not.  But.. needless to say they were good!!  I will def. do this recipe again when I am in need of that onion ring fix!!

Here’s my beautimus (yes that’s a word!  ) picture on the lovely paper plate!

Oven Baked Onion Rings
1 large yellow onion
Flour
Milk or Buttermilk
1 box Panko bread crumbs
1 tsp Salt

Grease or line a cookie sheet, and preheat your oven to 400°F.

Peel your onion, and hold it lengthwise to make slices 3/4" to 1"-inch apart. Separate the rings into a bowl or plastic zip lock bag, and dredge with flour until all of the rings are evenly coated.
Set up two more bowls. In the first bowl, add your milk or buttermilk until the liquid is about 1-inch deep. Fill the second bowl halfway with the breadcrumbs. Add the salt, and stir to combine.
Each flour-coated onion ring must first be dipped in the bowl with the milk/buttermilk, and then immediately dipped into the bowl with the Panko bread crumbs. Make sure that the insides and outsides of the onion ring are evenly coated with breadcrumbs, and then place on the cookie sheet. Repeat the process for all of the onion rings.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges of the onion rings are golden brown. Remove from the oven, and cool for 5 minutes. Serve with your favorite

Snickerdoodle muffins

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It’s getting cold again so of course I wanted to bake.  Been craving Snickerdoodle again so I decided to change the recipe up a little bit.  The original recipe is from Gifts in a Jar: Cookies by G & R Publishing  I posted about it a while back and you can read that HERE if you would like to.


So… I wanted a fat free snickerdoodle and decided to just play around and see how it went.  Well… it went awesome!  So good!  Now I have 3 recipes that are definitely  ones to return to.



These are the other two.


Fat Free Fudge Brownie

Fat Free Banana Bread



(Sorry about the lovely beautiful plate   too lazy to hunt up a pretty one that I haven’t broken yet)

Snickerdoodle Cookies
Cook at 375*F for about 10-15 min or until light tan. Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies!

3/4 C. Applesauce
4 egg whites
1 1/2 Cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
2 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
to sprinkle on top
1/2 C. sugar
1 TBS cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375*F.  In a large bowl, mix the applesauce, egg whites and sugar until creamy, add the salt (which I leave out) the baking soda and cream of tarter, stir until it is smooth.  Add the flour and continue to beat until the dough begins to form.  (Oh.. to give it a little buttery taste I used my spray butter and just sprayed the dough some and then stirred until it was mixed again.)  Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.   This time I sprinkled some in a greased (sprayed) 8x8 pan, a small shell pan I had for Mad, and a few in the muffin tin.  I added the dough and then I sprinkled more of the cinnamon and sugar mix on top.  Sprayed it again with just a little spray butter and cooked.  I honestly don’t know how long I cooked them, just keep checking and took them out when I stuck a toothpick in the middle and it came out clean.


They turned out pretty good!  Very nice when you are craving something but don’t want something with all that butter in it.

Linking up with Sandra for 

Banana Bread

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MMMMMM…..Banana bread.    Just love Banana bread!!  I don’t care if it has nuts, oats, raisins, chocolate or whatever.  I just love it!  (I actually prefer it plain though.)  So.. I had some bananas that we just got this past weekend and they were already going bad, didn’t really seem like a question on what to do! 

Here’s the recipe I used.  I got it from All Recipes and the photos are also from there since I didn’t take any of my own.  I made 2 small loaves, 24 mini muffins and 4 regular size muffins from a double batch of this recipe.  So yummy!!!!!   Wonder how well it will freeze… might try that next time.. don’t think this will last long.  Maddie loves it too!!

Hope you enjoy!!! (click recipe name for link to site)

Almost No Fat Banana Bread

Prep Time:10 Min    Cook Time: 55 Min      Ready In:1 Hr 5 Min

Original Recipe Yield 1 - 8x4 inch loaf

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup banana, mashed
• 1/4 cup applesauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add egg whites, bananas and applesauce; stir just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. Turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool before slicing.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 127 | Total Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 0mg 

 

*pictures and recipe from All Recipes

Fat-free fudge brownies

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I’ve been craving brownies lately so last week I finally found this wonderful recipe and decided to give it a shot.  They turned out great!  I decided to make them in our muffin tin instead and love how easy and convenient it is!  My hubby actually liked them too and he’s not big on sweets!  

Here’s the recipe I found over at Fat Free.  Check them out!  Click the name of the recipe for the link to the brownies.    Enjoy!

Fat-Free Fudge Brownies

 
 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
 1/4 c. unbleached flour
 1/4 c. plus 2 T. cocoa
 1 c. sugar
 1/4 t. salt
 1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
 3 egg whites or equivalent
 1 t. vanilla
 
 Combine dry ingredients.  Combine wet ingredients.  Combine wet and dry
 ingredients.  Pour into an 8x8 in pan sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking
 spray.  Bake at 325 F. for 23-25 min., or just until the edges are firm and
 the center is set.  (It took 30 min. in my oven, but I live at 6000 ft.)
 COOL TO ROOM TEMPERATURE and cut into squares.

Crafty Tuesday- Snickerdoodle Cookies

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Welcome to Crafty Tuesday!  Crafty Tuesday is to share with others your craftiness, either with things you have made (craftiness or baking because that’s crafty too!) little ideas on fun things with the kids or something cute you have found that you would like to make!  Please feel free to link up and take the button  from the pages above !  Thanks!!!

This time I am doing a cookie recipe.  It is my favorite Snickerdoodle recipe.  It’s from Gifts in a Jar: Cookies by G & R Publishing 


Sorry I don’t have any pictures of the cookies, I will be making them later on this afternoon.  I made the dough up last night.. with a little help from an elf.. but probably not the little elf you are all thinking of!  I’ll explain at the end. 

Snickerdoodle Cookies 
Cook at 375*F for about 10-15 min or until light tan. Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies!

1 C. butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 C. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
2 3/4 C. all-purpose flour

to roll the cookie balls in
1/2 C. sugar
1 TBS cinnamon 

Preheat the oven to 375*F.  In a large bowl, cream the butter until light, add the eggs and beat, until the mixture is smooth.  Add the dry ingredients and continue to beat until the dough begins to form.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in the cinnamon-sugar blend.  Arrange on a ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 min or until light tan.  Transfer to wire racks to cool. 

Enjoy!  These make the best yummy and soft cookies!! 

Ok.. so, Mad knew I was going to be making cookies for the party at the library on Wednesday, but I like to make my dough usually the night before I bake them, like to chill them and then bake them.  So.. last night after she went to bed I decided I needed to go ahead and make the dough so this afternoon all we had to do is roll them in the cinnamon-sugar blend and bake them.  We are kind of running out of ideas for the her little Elf to do so I found an old baby bowl, a tiny spatula and added some of the dough to the bowl then kind of sprinkled a little flour on the elf.  Not much because I don’t want to have to clean her that much. 

Anywho… I put a little of the dough in the bowl, I put that in the freezer and before I went to bed I set it out so that in the morning, if she wanted it she could eat it and it wouldn’t be icky from sitting out so long!  And yes, I know…. cookie dough for breakfast?  It’s not that much, and plus, she’s going to school and I won’t have to deal with her being hyper!    
(even though I froze it, it was such a small amount it was still icky this morning.. thankfully I had enough time before she got up to put fresh in)

She loved it and was so surprised!!  

  

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

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Yesterday I made up some cookie dough and baked half of it.  I have been craving peanut butter lately..ok, all the time, and I found these 2 great recipes for chocolate peanut butter cookies.  Pinterest rocks for finding what you want!  I found one that is a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, and the other is a marbled chocolate peanut butter cookie.  They both turned out pretty good!  Although I have to admit I liked the Chocolate chip peanut butter ones better.

The marbled ones are good but to me they are a little dry.. not sure what I did wrong or if I did do something wrong.  Also, the marbled ones, my second batch didn’t turn out at marbled as much as… I don’t know.. smooshed. 

Here’s the cookies I made and the links to the recipe…

I didn’t take pictures of the peanut butter chocolate chip ones so this pic is from the site I got the recipe

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Here’s the recipe I got from Mel’s Kitchen Café

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Printable Version
Printable Version with Picture

*Makes about 4-5 dozen

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (16 tablespoons) butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups smooth or chunky peanut butter
1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ tablespoons milk
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips (or a combination of peanut butter and chocolate chips)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the butter and peanut butter and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy (you can do this with a hand mixer or with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment). Add the brown and white sugars and mix until well combined. Add the eggs and mix for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture is well combined and light in color. Add the milk and vanilla and mix. Add the dry ingredients and mix just briefly. While there are still large spots of flour, add the chocolate chips (or peanut butter chips or both) and mix until the flour is completely mixed in and the mixture is well combined. Let the cookie dough sit for 15 minutes before scooping onto the baking sheets. It will firm up as it sits.

When ready to bake, scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto silpat or parchment-lined baking sheets leaving about 1 to 2 inches in between the cookies to allow for spreading as they bake. Bake for 10-11 minutes, taking care not to overbake in the slightest! Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes after baking before removing them to a cooling rack. This will help them set up and be firm enough to transfer without having them overbake in the oven. The cookies may look slightly underbaked but they will firm up as they cool. Resist the urge to eat them warm as they taste much better cooled.

I pop baked and cooled cookies into the freezer (in a large tupperware or freezer-safe ziploc bag) and they taste great out of the freezer, especially if they are left to sit at room temperature for a few minutes.

Recipe Source: My Kitchen Café

 

 

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER MARBLE COOKIES

 

Evil Shenanigans cookies… so pretty…

My cookies… not so pretty!  but still good!

 

Here is the other recipe from Evil Shenanigans

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Marble Cookies    Yield 5 dozen

For the peanut butter dough:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the chocolate dough:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

 

 

Begin by preparing the peanut butter dough.  In the work bowl of a stand mixer, or in a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and peanut butter until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla, egg, and salt and mix until well combined.

In a small bowl sift together the flour and baking powder.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until a uniform dough is formed.  Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for two hours.

Next, prepare the chocolate dough.  In the same work bowl you used before cream together the butter, sugar, and melted chocolate until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla, egg, and salt and mix until well combined.

In a small bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until a uniform dough is formed.  Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for two hours.



Once the dough is chilled roll each of the doughs out to 1/4 inch thick rectangle.  Cut each rectangle in half.  Working with one half each of the chocolate and peanut butter dough, place the chocolate on top of the peanut butter and fold the dough in half and then in half again.  Flatten the dough, roll into a log,  fold the dough in half and flatten again.



Roll the dough into a tight log, wrap with plastic and chill for at least two hours, or as many as three days.   Repeat with the remaining dough.



When you are ready to bake heat the oven to 375 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.   Slice the dough into 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick slices and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared sheet.  Bake for 8 – 12 minutes, or until the centers of the cookies are firm and the bottom of the cookie is golden brown.  Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Baked French Toast Sticks

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Hmmm… I know I will love these but just hope that Mad will love them as well.  She wasn’t a big fan of the regular french toast but this might be a little different. 


Will have to try it out and let you know how she does.  She’s such a picky eater… not sure where she get’s that from?   Hush momma and Aunt Patty!! 





I got this recipe from Alphabet Soup
Baked French Toast Sticks
adapted from One Crazy Cookie

1 (1 lb) loaf challah bread (or bread of choice)
1 cup milk
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp real maple syrup
2 tsp real vanilla extract
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425'F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spray well with cooking spray.

Cut bread into 1" slices, and then cut each slice into strips about 1 ½” wide.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, maple syrup, vanilla, powdered sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Be sure that it is mixed really well.  Pour into a shallow dish or pie plate.

Dip each strip of bread into the milk mixture, coating completely and allowing it to soak up a little of the liquid, but do not over soak (how quickly you have to work will depend upon the bread you are using!).  Place the strips of bread on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, then flip them over and bake another 5-10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
If serving immediately, dust with powdered sugar and cinnamon and serve with warmed maple syrup.

If freezing, allow to cool completely, then place on a baking sheet and freeze for a couple of hours.  Transfer to freezer bags.  To serve, reheat in a toaster oven for 3-5 minutes or in the microwave for a few seconds.

Enjoy!  :) Pin It

Sausage Biscuit Pinwheels

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I have been trying to find something that would be quick and easy to make in the mornings.  And something that Maddie just might eat.  Right now she’s on a Nutella kick but I want her to have something a little better.  So… I went to Pinterest, is there anywhere else?  Saw this wonderful Cheesy Biscuit recipe which led me to this one so I  just thought I would share it.  Sounds very good!!!

 

Plain Chicken’s Sausage Biscuit Pinwheels

Sausage Biscuit Pinwheels
(Printable Recipe)

1 can buttermilk biscuits

1 pound sausage, uncooked

Seperate biscuits and make two rows of 5 biscuits (biscuits touching each other). Use a rolling pin to create a rectangle. You may need a little flour to make sure the dough doesn't stick.

After the dough is rolled out, top with sausage. Spread the sausage evenly on top of the dough.
Starting with the long edge, roll up. Slice dough into 1" pieces. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes.

Busy at home

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Haven’t really posted much lately.  I have been busy in our home, just trying to put the family first instead of putting the computer first! 

Maddie has been having a great time making new things and just having fun playing and coloring… with momma!

Here’s a few pictures of what we have been doing lately.

Making some crust for some yummy Peanut Butter pie. This time with Graham crackers for the crust, she had a blast bashing them!  (cell pics.. not the best)

 

Making butter…  she had a blast shaking it…

and screaming as she was shaking it..

and we went to the Wildlife Expo they had several weeks ago.. she had a blast!

 

and something I want to print up and have for us to do together!  ABC Printable Scripture Cards

  We have been having a blast, and I am actually enjoying not being on the computer as much!  The guilt of not responding to everything on FB, posting everyday, reading blogs everyday is slowly going away as well.  Those that have families understand.. there are seasons for everything and right now my season is just relaxing.. not worrying so much about stuff and being a slave to my computer and blogs! 

Hope you have all been doing well!!

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
(Deuteronomy 11:19 ESV)