Whole Wheat Lemon Ricotta Muffins

Courtesy of karalydon.com

Makes about 15 muffins

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

½ cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp of baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 cup part skim ricotta cheese

¼ cup white granulated sugar

¼ cup of packed brown sugar

1 egg

½ cup applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

1.5 tablespoons of lemon zest (about 1 to 1.5 lemons zested depending on the size of lemon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin or fill with cupcake liners

In a small bowl combined the flours and baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a mixer combine the rest of the ingredients. Using the paddle attachment, Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Fill muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean and muffins spring back when you touch them. If baked in cupcake liners they freeze really well

About 175 mg. sodium/muffin

Suzanne's Note: These are very good. Moist and flavorful. I have found that freezing muffins in cupcake liners hold up really well. And you can heat up frozen muffins in the microwave for 1 minute and they are ready to eat. Nice for busy mornings.

Flour's Famous Banana Bread

I was so happy that this recipe turned out. I have been searching for another banana bread recipe that would be healthier then the one I have used for years which has a lot of shortening. I am so excited because this bread was so moist and flavorful, without the shortening or butter found in almost every other recipe that I found. And I like it as much or more then my old recipe.

Recipe courtesy Chef Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery in Boston, via Foodnetwork

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed (about 2 cups mashed bananas)
  
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream (I used nonfat plain yogurt)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In a separate bowl,beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. (I used a hand electric mixer for about 5 minutes)

Drizzle in oil in with eggs. Add mashed bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla to egg mixture. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into a lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes one loaf in a 9x5 inch bread pan.

Eggnog French toast

This last weekend I had my siblings over for a morning Christmas party. We made a delicious breakfast with Hot Chocolate, sausage, Monkey Bread (which I will post later) and this delicious Eggnog French Toast. I love experimenting with recipes when they come over, because then I get the opinion of 12 people on the recipe. Well everyone gave this recipe a two thumbs up. So sorry about no picture, but I forgot to take one. My kids didn't care for it only because I used a loaf of french bread instead of regular bread, which they are picky when it comes to bread. But you could swap the french bread for regular bread.

courtesy of Allrecipes.com

2 eggs, beaten slightly 1 1/2 cups eggnog 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1 loaf French bread, sliced

Directions:

1.	Whisk the eggs. eggnog, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a mixing bowl until well blended. Pour the mixture into a shallow dish.
2.	Preheat an electric skillet to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease the skillet.
3.	Dip one slice of bread at a time into the eggnog mixture, being sure to coat each side of the bread thoroughly.
4.	Place the prepared bread slices into the preheated skillet, and cook, turning once, until golden brown on each side. Place cooked slices on a serving plate and cover with foil to keep warm until all French toast is cooked. Serve immediately.

Nutty Granola

So after making this recipe, I wondered why I have wasted so much money buying Granola at the store all of these years. This was truly just as good as the store bought granola.

courtesy of, Ellie Krieger, Food Network

Ingredients

cooking spray

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped raw,unsalted walnuts

1/2 cup chopped almonds (I used sliced almonds from the store)

1/2 cup unsalted Pecans

1/2 cup Maple Syrup (not imitation)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins, optional

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine, all of the ingredients. Spread mixture onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally. About 30 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Store in the Fridge in an airtight container.

Suzanne's note: I added a little bit more cinnamon then the recipe called for because I like cinnamon and wanted to be able to taste it better. I also used what we call "white raisins" since Joe really doesn't like raisins. But he likes the white raisins because the flavor is a little more mild and they seem to cook better.

Apple Pumpkin Muffins

I have been looking for new ideas for breakfasts and snacks. This recipe is great for both. They are really delicious. They also seem to have been disappearing very quickly. I guess I am not the only one who likes them.

courtesy of All recipes.com

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin

1/2 cup vegetable or Canola oil

2 cups grated apple 

STREUSEL:

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons cold butter

1. In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin, and oil. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in apples.

2. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.  In a small bowl combine the sugar, flour, and cinnamon for the streusel. Then cut in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle a little bit over each muffin before baking.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans.

Suzanne's note: I used 1/4 cup of wheat flour and 2 1/4 of white. I didn't even notice and might try upping the wheat flour next time. Also if you didn't want to do the streusel topping they taste great without it. It is however, the icing on the cake if you decide to make them with the streusel.

Orange Cinnamon French Toast

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 Tablespoons honey

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 cup Orange Juice

6 slices of bread

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

In a bowl combine butter, honey, and cinnamon. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Spread to coat the bottom of the dish..

In a shallow bowl beat the eggs and orange juice. Dip bread into egg mixture and place in a single layer into the baking dish.

Bake for 15 or 20 minutes or until brown. Serve with honey butter or warm syrup.

Suzanne's note: I used wheat bread and cooked it for 20 minutes. It didn't look really brown to me on the side of the bread facing up but it was done. It can also be tricky to get all 6 slices of bread to fit into the pan. The honey and butter that you cook the bread in turns into a crunchy carmel-like layer on one side of the bread, so I didn't feel the need to serve anything on top of it. This was delicious and I love the fact that it is crunchy and not soggy just as if you had cooked it on a griddle.

Mountain Man Pancakes

In a blender, liquify for 4 min: 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and 3/4 cup whole wheat kernels.

Then add to that 3 heaping tbs corn meal, 1 heaping tbs brown sugar, 2 eggs, and 1/2 stick of butter cut into small pieces. Liquify that for another 30 seconds.

Add 1 heaping tbs of baking powder and a scant 1/2 tbs of baking soda.

Pulse blender.

Let the ingredients rise to the top of the blender, then pour on your griddle and cook like regular pancakes.

Callie's Note: Don't have buttermilk? Mix 1 cup milk and 1 TBS vinegar or lemon juice. (for this recipe you'll need to double this and then toss the extras.)

PB and J Muffins

1 Cup Flour

3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

!/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1 TB Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/3 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1 Egg

2 TBS Butter

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 Cup of your favorite Jam

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, sugars, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in milk,

peanut butter, egg, butter and vanilla.

Spoon batter into 12 muffins cups, filling them only half way. Spoon 1 teaspoon jam into each cup, then poor batter on top to cover the jam.

Bake for 20 min or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in the center.

Let cool in pan for at least 5 minutes.

Rich Belgian-Style Waffles

1 egg
1 cup sour cream
½ cup milk
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking soda

1.) Preheat waffle maker.
2.) Put all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat on low until moistened and smooth.
3.) Pour a rounded ¾ cup of batter over grids.
4.) Close waffle maker, bake 2-4 minutes until golden brown.
5.) Repeat. Serve with hot or warmed syrup. Yield: 3 waffles.

Pancakes

This is my mother-in-laws recipe. It is great with canned peached and whipped cream or strawberries. I also like it because it just has a good wholesome taste. After getting used to this recipe, I can't go back to eating bagged pancakes that just add water. For now I just make one recipe for our family but I will have to start doubling it as Ethan gets bigger.

1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup flour (white, wheat, or half of each)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tsp. baking powder

Mix the ingredients in order. For thinner pancakes add more milk.

For Waffles: omit the baking soda, one egg-separated. Beat the egg white until white and fluffy. Mix all the ingredients.