Whole wheat muffins

A long time ago I went on a search for a good, no great whole wheat muffin. I was lucky and the first recipe I found had an great base. It used a few ingredients that we don't use here and prefer to substitute but it gave me a place to start. 

What you need: 

2 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 tsp salt 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375

Combine butter, vanilla and maple, and mix until combined, add each egg mixing until blended. 

In a small bowl combine dry ingredients. 

Pour into wet mixture, and slowing pour in milk while mixing. 

Bake 18-20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. 

One reason I live these muffins is that there are so many options. 

Today I added 1 cup fresh blueberries, you can also add a mashed banana, just use a bit less milk, chocolate chips, nuts or anything else you can think of! 

I also made a simple crumb topping today. 

 

Combine until crumbly: 

1/4 cup butter, cold and cubed

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt. 

Sprinkle on muffins and bake as directed. 

I hope you enjoy these little gems! We sure do! 

Caramel chocolate shooters

So my husband bought me this awesome set if dessert glasses.

Two years ago. I haut never found a use for them! Then a few weeks back we had a girls night and I made cheesecake shooters! They were a huge hit! So I am here to share the recipe! 

Caramel chocolate cheesecake shooters: 

Here is what you need: 

Shortbread cookies

1/3 cup sugar

12oz cool whip, divided 

8oz cream cheese 

1 tsp vanilla

Caramel sauce

Chocolate sauce

What to do: 

 

Smash cookies into a fine crumb. (I used one sleeve and popped them in the blender). 

Combine cream cheese, 8oz cool whip, sugar and vanilla, beat until smooth. 

Them layer in a glass in this order:

1tsp cookie crumbs

1 1/2 tsp cheesecake

1 tsp caramel sauce

1 tsp cookie crumbs

1 tsp chocolate sauce

1 tsp cool whip. 

If desired top of finely chopped pecans! 

All my measurements for layers are estimated so please be forgiving :) 

I hope you enjoy! 

Mason jar mugs

I just had to do this project when I saw my friend with one! And I thought how cute for Emma's upcoming sleepover! This is a cheap and simple project! 

What you need: 

drill

3/16" drill bit

9/32x1/2x1/4x3/8" rubber grommets

Mason jar ( I recommend pint size or larger)

Mason jar lid and ring

Pliers 

Directions: 

-screw lid and ring tightly onto mason jar. 

-using the drill and bit, drill a hole in the lid. You may need to run the drill around the edge of the hole to make it just slightly larger, but not too big! If you have a slightly larger drill bit feel free to use that, I just worked with what hubs had. 

- remove lid and use pliers to remove shape pieces hanging down from lid. 

- slid in rubber grommet 

-insert straw and enjoy! 

My daughters are in love with these and they look super adorable with paper straws!! 

If you make them let me know!!

10 day real food pledge

I have been wanting to do a 10 day real food challenge for a while now. I was hoping some friends would join in but I think they were just too intimated. It can be a lot for some people. BUT with the help of 100 Days Of Real Food, I have managed to make a 10 day plan and we started our challenge today.

Our 10 day meal plan

DAY	Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Dinner
1	Eggs,Grapefruit, and Whole wheat Toast with Strawberry butter	Popcorn with Raisins, and cinnamon	Cucumber and Cream cheese on Whole Wheat bread with Applesauce and 1/2 Lara Bar	Greek Fajitas* (whole wheat pitas, with sauteed chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and tzatziki) with Whole wheat couscous.
2	Whole Wheat Waffles with Maple, and bananas	Apples with Peanut butter and raisins	Pita with Hummus, carrots, sugar snap peas, and cantalope	Whole Wheat pasta with tomato sauce, and salad
3	Plain greek yogurt with granola and frozen blueberries	Grapes, and triscuits.	Whole wheat zucchini muffins, peaches, and cheese	Coconut Chicken Satay*, with Brown veggie fried rice
4	Oatmeal with apples	Lara bars, with cheese	PB& fruit spread sandwiches, with peas and watermelon	Leftovers
5	Leftover waffles with berries	Applesauce	Hard boiled eggs, toast, peas, melon and grapes	Grilled cheese and roasted veggie sandwiches*, watermelon
6	Yogurt with Blueberries and granola	Smoothies	Hummus with pita, sugar snap peas, carrots, melon and cheese	Chicken nuggets, veggie pancakes, and grapes
7	Whole wheat muffins with berries, and melon	Triscuits and hummus	Leftovers	Sauteed talapia with brown rice, peas and carrots
8	Granola with milk, blueberries, and peaches	Melon and cheese	Mac&Cheese (homemade sauce, and whole wheat noodles)grapes, and peas	Carnitas Tacos, refried beans, and fresh salsa
9	Omelets with toast and melon	Smoothies	Zucchini muffins with grape, and cheese	Quesadillas on corn tortillas with leftover pork, and beans, with salad
10	Leftover muffins with berries	popcorn and raisins	Cucumber sandwiches with bananas and 1/2 lara bar	Fettichini alfredo with salad

Please pardon my bad HTML usage, its been quite a while. LOL.

Anyways that is our complete menu. The girls also get a 4oz cup of milk at breakfast, but only water throughout the day with the exception of Emma who receive coconut water during our long days outside in the darn desert heat. I also have a cup of unsweetened tea in the morning and hubs is sweetening his coffee with honey. I will also be working on a grocery list to accompany this as well, if you are interested and would like a copy please feel free to comment with your email, or send me a message on fb.

Also we had to make one exception for this challenge, the tortillas. Our local commissary only carried a variety with 8 ingredients rather than the rule of 5, and I don't have a tortilla press, so that was my cheat moment.

All recipes for foods with an * can be found on the Facebook Page for 100 Days Of Real Food on their meal plans!



And Just for kicks a quick recipe!!

Strawberry Butter:

1 Stick cold butter
3-5 Strawberries cut in to 4s
1/2-1 Tablespoon honey

Toss in a blender and let it go until smooth.

It took mine about 6-7 minutes to finally get that smooth consistency.

Plant killer episode 2

Turns out this year I am not doing so great at killing my plants. In fact they are thriving... I keep fearing I will wake up one morning and they will all be shriveled, brown, and dead.These pictures are from 3 weeks ago. (yes I am behind, but playing catchup this week!!)

 

We added a new basil plant, and you can see the boxwood basil and parsley are still thriving.

 

We also added a locally grown organic spearmint.

We also moved Mr. Green (the tomato plant) into a new, much bigger pot and got him a gorgeous yellow cage.

Abiageal turns 3!

Only a week late. And better late than never right?!

My dear sweet middle child turned 3 on the 15th! Suddenly she looks so big and mature. She had a blast with her friends, and her My Little Pony themed party. I am so proud of this kiddo! She can count to 10, say her ABCs, and is learning to recognize her letters and spell her name!! She also LOVES to load and unload the dishwasher (let's just hope she doesn't lose this joy as she approaches her teens, lol).

Cornbread 2 ways

Mmmmmmm. I love cornbread. I could eat a whole pan with only minimal regrets. So here are my super easy super yummy recipes!

Sweet honey cornbread:

1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup corn meal
¼ cup honey
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
½ cup frozen corn

Preheat oven to 400.
Grease a 9x9 pan.
Combine dry ingredients.
Stir in oil, honey, egg, and milk. Mix just until moistened.
Stir in corn.
Pour batter in pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Jalepeno cheddar cornbread:

1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup corn meal
2-4 tablespoons diced pickled jalepenos
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
½ cup frozen corn
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400.
Grease a 9x9 pan.
Combine dry ingredients.
Stir in oil, jalepeno, egg, and milk. Mix just until moistened.
Stir in corn and cheese.
Pour batter in pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!