Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk or orange juice
• 2 teaspoons poppy seeds 
• OPTIONAL: 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and lemon juice.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into egg mixture alternately with milk or orange juice; beating well after each addition. Fold in poppy seeds and blueberries if using.
3. Fill muffin cups lined with paper muffin holders. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Makes about 12 muffins.

Quinoa Fried Rice

This recipe is a great way to clean out your veggie drawer, or use up frozen veggies. I use green beans, peas and carrots and onion. Yum!!! Get creative with it.

Photo By:
www.peasandcrayons.com

1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups water

2-4 tsp low sodium soy sauce
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/8 tsp garlic powder [oh yes, I love my garlic! adjust to taste <3]
1 cup of frozen or fresh veggies such as peas, carrots, and onion
1-2 large eggs, optional
oil, butter, or earth balance for sauteeing [I typically reach for the butter]
S+P to taste



First cook your quinoa. If you've never made quinoa, there are some great instructions here, where I found this recipe in the first place!

If, however, you are a quinoa pro, cook away--rinse and drain the quinoa, toast it, and add water and, if you want, some bouillon or a dash of salt. While its cooking, prep your veggies! Any combo of veggies, frozen or fresh will work. Saute fresh veggies in a frying pan until tender. You'll saute your garlic too but add it towards the very end to prevent burning. Add any frozen veggies with the garlic. Push the veggies to one side of the hot pan and crack your eggs on the other side and scramble. If your using a non-stick pan, you might want to add a teeny bit of butter or oil to the pan before cracking the eggs. Let cook a bit before scrambling.

When the quinoa is done, add a sprinkle of garlic powder, fluff, and toss quinoa into the pan with the veggies and egg. Next add your soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste and pan fry for a few minutes. Serve hot and garnish with parsley and sweet chili sauce if you'd like.

Barley, Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup

This is a really healthy (and cheap) soup. I actually got the recipe from a book of baby food recipes, and just tweaked it to feed our whole family. Shaun and I had never made split peas or pearl barley in anything, and were pleasantly surprised by how tasty they were in this filling veggie soup. However, it was not a photogenic soup. Healthy and yummy, but not the prettiest sight. So I opted out of taking a picture of the final product.

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 3 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• ½ onion, diced
• 4-5 cups beef broth
• 1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
• 1 sweet potato, diced and peeled
• 1 potato, diced and peeled
• ½ cup dried split peas, rinsed
• Sea Salt and Black Pepper, to taste

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add celery, carrot and onion and cook, stirring occasionally until carrots are tender, about 5 minutes. Add broth and barley and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add sweet potato, potato and lentils. Simmer until barley, potato and lentils are very tender, about 25 more minutes. Add more broth if needed. Add sea salt and pepper to taste. Heat and serve.


Also, this makes a great meal for Baby too! Just puree it up and make sure it's cool enough. Yum!

Sprinkledoodles

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
Dash of salt
Rainbow Sprinkles

Cream butter and sugar well. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Add powder and salt. Beat well. Add flour and mix well. Shape into balls and roll in sprinkles. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes.

Fluffy Coconut Muffins

I made these on a whim the other night when we had company drop by, and was amazed by the results! They are seriously incredible. The coconut extract and coconut are both a must. These "muffins" might be better dubbed cupcakes--they're fluffy and light and heavenly.


Ingredients
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons coconut extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, oil, eggs and extract. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, stirring just until moistened. Fold in coconut and pecans.

Pour into muffin pan with parchment cupcake liners. Bake at 325° for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Yield: 3 dozen muffins

Recipe revised from this recipe

Baked Donuts

For the Dough
3/4 cups Warm Milk (I used skim)
1 packet Active Dry Yeast
1 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
1/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
2 ½ cup Flour (I used bread flour)
Pinch of Nutmeg (I used a big huge pinch)
½ tsp. Salt

For the Glaze
* Enough to glaze all the doughnuts
¼ cup Milk
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
2 cups Confectioners Sugar
Sprinkles (optional, but come on...they just make them look so pretty!)

To make the dough, place ¼ cups of the warm milk in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk. Let sit for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining ½ cup of milk with the sugar and butter. Add it to the yeast mixture. Stir to combine. Add the egg and stir until incorporated. Add the flour, nutmeg, and salt and stir until the dough starts to form. Change to the dough hook and knead for until the dough starts to become smooth. If the dough is too sticky, slowly add more flour until it is no longer sticky.

Transfer to the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and has formed a ball. Place the dough ball in a large lightly greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until ½ thick. Using a doughnut cutter (if you don’t have a doughnut cutter, you can use circular cookie cutters or glasses – 1 that is about 3 inches, and the other that is about 2 inches for the inner circle) cut out the doughnuts until you have no dough left. If desired you can gather up the scraps into a ball and roll it out and cut out more doughnuts.

Place the doughnuts on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper, about 2 inches apart. Cover with a clean towel and let sit for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven 375 degrees F.

Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 7 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Be careful to not overbake these. You want them to be light and doughy inside. Let the doughnuts cool for about 5 minutes until ready to top with glaze.

While the doughnuts are cooling make the glaze. To make the glaze, combine the milk and the vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until just warmed. Slowly add in the confectioners sugar and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Remove the glaze from the heat and place over a bowl of warm water.

To glaze the doughnuts, dip them halfway into the glaze and place on a draining/cooling rack set over a baking sheet. Sprinkle with sprinkles if desired. Let set for about 10 minutes or until glaze hardens.


Source: www.krissys-creations.com

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

I found this yummy recipe here. We had these on Christmas Day for dinner for tacos, and loved them.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds beef (boneless chuck roast)
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced (optional--we couldn't find this, and it was tasty without too!)
• 1/2 large sweet onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Flour tortillas
• Favorite taco toppings (guacamole, salsa, shredded cheddar cheese, lettuce, rice, beans, cilantro, lime juice, lettuce, tomato....mmm!)

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine the chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika in a small bowl.

Rub the spice mix into the beef, covering each side evenly. Once the oil is hot (it will shimmer a bit in the skillet), place the beef in the skillet and sear on each side.

Remove the beef from the skillet and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Leave the pan on the heat, and add in the beef stock to deglaze, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato paste and minced chipotle and whisk into the pan sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.

Add the diced onion and minced garlic on top of the seared beef in the slow cooker. Pour the pan sauce down over the onions, garlic, and beef. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Remove the beef from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. (You can also strain out the onions if you like and mix them into the meat)

Serve the beef in the flour tortillas, topped with your favorite taco toppings, and enjoy!