Cranberry Bran Muffins

This is from a bran muffin recipe that's classic.  Been around a while.  But I've gradually changed it around a little to better suit our family and the ingredients we can get over here.  What I love about this recipe is that it makes almost 3 dozen muffins- much more practical for our family considering we can clear 1 dozen as a family in one sitting and the girls will maybe still be hungry!  Yeah, that whole thing about teenage boys eating you out of house and home, applies to girls too!!   Thing 2 that I love is that you make these in advance and keep the batter in the frig for up to a month, making them when it's convenient.  Helps with our crazy morning routine!

Cranberry Bran Muffins

i cup boiling water

1 cup All Bran

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup shortening or oil (I always use oil)

2 cups buttermilk (or 1 cup yogurt, i cup milk- that's what I do...)

2 cups oats

2 1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups flour (I use either all wheat flour or half white/half wheat depending on the consistency of the wheat flour I've found...)

1 cup craisins (I've been wanting to try chopped dried apricots also- seems like that would by yummy too)

Pour Bran into boiled water, soak, set aside and let cool.  Cream shortening or oil with sugar; add beaten eggs, buttermilk or yogurt and milk along with bran/water mixture.  Add bran flakes, soda, salt, beat well; fold in four.  Stir in craisins.  Keep in refrigerator at least overnight before baking.  It will keep up to a month.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  

Apricot Muffins

Let's go ahead and establish in case it hasn't become blatantly obvious by now, that I am a horrible food photographer.  It is simply not something that I care enough about to figure out how to do better.  Maybe one day when I have oodles of spare time, but not today.  I love to cook and if it's a recipe that I want to share I'll snap a picture of it before I eat it.  The end.

These little jewels have lots of memories for us.  On our third anniversary we went to Heber Springs, AR and stayed in a bed and breakfast.  We were hoping to do some poor man's fly fishing (read as- we couldn't afford to pay for a guide and all the equipment) and sure enough the hosts of the bed and breakfast took pity on us and he offered to take us out for a half day adventure on the house.  It was fabulous!  The breakfast they packed with us to take out on the river including a version of apricot muffins- super yummy especially wearing weighters, waiting for the fish to bite at 5 AM!  These also meet my husbands requirement of not being "too sweet" (poor thing thinks that's normal...)

APRICOT MUFFINS

13/4 cup flour (I use wheat)

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg beaten

*3/4 cup orange juice *

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup walnuts (I sometimes leave this out since my weirdo families don't like muffins to crunch...)

Stir first 4 ingredients, make well in center.  Combine egg, orange juice and oil.  Add all at once.  Stir until moistened.  Add apricots and nuts.  Bake 400 for 20-25 minutes.  Dip tops in melted butter and powdered sugar.  

*I've started doing half orange juice and half lemon juice- makes it a bit more tart and less sweet*

PB & J Muffins

So as we're drawing near to the end of our time in the states and preparing to head back overseas, my cabinet has been getting more and more bear (actually it's completely bear now as we've moved out and are living with family but the above sentence applies to my life about three weeks ago when I made these muffins...).  Anyway, I was trying to get creative with the ingredients I had left and thought I remembered at some point in my life having PB & J Muffins.  Sure enough I looked on all recipes and found this recipe.  Disclaimer, these are VERY peanut buttery which for me, not a problem at all.  For my poor delusional husband who actually thinks that the words "too sweet" belong together in the English language, well these weren't is favorite.  And for my poor kids who are somehow managing to grow up under my roof and not like peanut butter, these weren't actually a favorite.  So, bottom line, yes, I am sharing a recipe that pretty much no one under my roof liked but me... Maybe not the best tactic but I thought these were so good and I want someone else out there in blog world to agree with me!  Anyway, here is the recipe as seen on the all recipes website...

Ingredients

CRISCO® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
2 cups PILLSBURY BEST® All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup JIF® Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup CRISCO® Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup SMUCKER'S® Jam or preserves of your choice
1/4 cup sugar
Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray muffin pan with no-stick spray. Stir together flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add milk, eggs, 2/3 cup sugar, peanut butter and oil to bowl. Combine ingredients on low speed of electric mixer, just until moistened. Do not over beat.
Fill prepared muffin cups evenly with half of the batter. Place 2 level teaspoons jam or preserves in the center of each muffin. Evenly divide remaining batter between muffin cups. Sprinkle with the 1/4 cup sugar. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool in pan 5 minutes.

Can someone agree with me on how yummy these are??

Here's the link where I found the recipe...

Waffles

These were perfect for a Saturday morning brunch.

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.

• Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.

Best Banana Bread

So, some food just don't photograph nicely and I've decided banana bread is one of those.  It's just not very pretty, but it's SOOO yummy.  This is the banana bread recipe my mom has been making me forever that she put in the cookbook that my family made for me when I got married.  I love trying new recipes and there are so many out there especially for things like banana bread in all the cooking magazines and things, but I always end up coming back to this recipe- it's simply the best, hands down, no question.  And so very easy.  The only change I have made to the original recipe is that I sometimes add a tsp or two of cinnamon.  And for the bananas-when you have bananas that begin to brown just stick them in your freezer and you'll have a ready supply of over-ripe bananas . 


Banana Bread
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat works as well as white)
1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
5 TBSP sour cream (for you girls in the Middle East- labneh works great)
1 cup mashed  over-ripe bananas (2-3) 
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix all ingredients together by hand and put in greased loaf pan.  Bake 1 hour at 350.

Pumpkin Waffles

These hit the spot on a cold fall morning. The batter keeps for a couple of days in the fridge so you can make them for Sunday brunch and then have them again Monday morning. The recipe is from my beloved Harry's Roadhouse Cookbook...

3 c. flour (I used 1 c. whole wheat)
5 t. baking powder
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. allspice
1 t. ginger
1 t. salt
1/3 c. brown sugar
3 T maple syrup
1 1/3 c. pumpkin puree
2 1/4 c. milk
5 eggs
1/3 c. butter, melted.

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then fold in the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Mix until combined but do not over-mix. Follow your waffle iron manufacturer's directions on how to cook them. On my waffle iron this recipe yields about 10-12 waffles. I make them all and then freeze the leftovers to pop in the toaster on any given morning.

At the restaurant they serve these with orange butter and toasted pecans...

Orange Butter:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. orange extract
Zest of 1/2 orange

Beat the butter with the sugar until smooth. Add the extract and zest. Save any extra butter for another day.

**Another variation is to use sweet potato puree. If you use sweet potato puree in lieu of pumpkin, eliminate the allspice and use only 1/2 the cinnamon. Substitute 1/2 c. orange juice for 1/2 c. of the milk and add the zest of 1 orange. Enjoy!

Lemon Poppy Seed Waffles

This recipe is from a restaurant cookbook - a place called Harry's Roadhouse on I-25 about 20 miles outside of Santa Fe in New Mexico. If you ever have occasion to go there you won't be sorry you stopped.

2 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 T baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 T poppy seeds
3 lemons, zested
1/4 c. butter, melted
1 2/3 c. milk
1 T vanilla
4 eggs
1 t. lemon extract* (I don't ever have this on hand so I've never added it...)

Mix together the dry ingredients. Zest lemons without getting into the white, bitter pith. Mix the lemon zest together with the wet ingredients and fold into the dry ingredients until incorporated (over mixing is a no-no). Be sure to mix the wet and dry ingredients separately. Follow your waffle iron's instructions for how much batter to use for each waffle. This batter will hold up for a couple of days so if you make waffles for Sunday lunch you can cook up the leftovers for breakfast on Monday. Enjoy!

Vegetable Quiche cups to go

Sorry- I keep forgetting to take pretty pictures of things  (good job, Kendra! ).  I always double this recipe because they freeze well.  This is my south beach breakfast.  Makes me feel healthy just looking at them!

1 pckg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach (I buy the bag that I think is close to 500 grams so the amount of spinach I used is actually not quite doubled when I double the recipe)

3/4 cup liquid egg substitute (never seen this here so I just crack and beat the eggs until it's the right amount)
3/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheese (I use swiss or mozzarella usually)
diced veggies of choice (I do any combination of onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic and/or mushrooms)
3 drops hot pepper sauce

Drain excess liquid from spinach.  Line muffin pan with foil baking cups.  Combine all ingredients.  Mix well and combine among muffin cups.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until set.  Recipe makes 12.