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Congratulations to all of the 2011 Graduates… and especially to my awesome favorite “oldest neice” who graduated from high school this past week. And as a promise to her (as made not by me, but by my daughter) here are her cake pops… ok, no cake involved but the thought was there! Actually, that was [...]
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We had two things to celebrate today! I will admit my excitement for one of these was fueled mainly by my teenage daughter, as I really don’t feel the hype surrounding “The Royal Wedding” (post to come). The other, however, is the 10th birthday of my youngest. I really can’t believe how quickly the time has [...]
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This post will be short and sweet – and the pictures? Well, I had to take them in a hurry under poor lighting with seven people standing in the middle of that poor lighting waiting for me to serve it. A few years ago, I did the meatloaf cupcakes which was fun. This year as [...]
Have a spare cake mix just screaming to be used? I did. As I’ve said before, I have no shame in using a cake mix. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy “from scratch” baking too. So the other morning I had some spare time before I woke the house up and threw these together. The recipe is extremely easy and yields a tasty breakfast option. You can mix and match for flavors too, but I went with the kids favorite, chocolate chip. Here is the base recipe…
Cake Mix Muffins (Chocolate Chip)
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350. Line 2 muffin pans with paper cups or use baking spray.
Combine all ingredients except for chocolate chips. Stir until moist then fold in chocolate chips. The batter will be lumpy, don’t over-stir. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake 23 – 29 minutes. Note I filled the cups nearly full and it yielded 18 muffins. As you can see they don’t rise a lot, so I don’t think you can overfill them.
I hope you enjoy this shortcut recipe. The original recipe came from the book “101 Things To Do With A Cake Mix” by Stephanie Ashcraft and it was for a double chocolate chip muffin using a fudge cake mix and chocolate instant pudding.
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I have a few brand name websites that I frequent, such as: Kraft, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Nestle, Hershey’s and Land O’Lakes… Well today I had a little free time and decided to run through my “Recipe Sources” favorites list. When I clicked onto Kraft’s site, right there on the front page was one of my pictures – [...]
Oreo Truffles are no secret to the food blog world, especially with Valentine’s day, but hey, I liked how these turned out, so why not post on them! Besides, it will ensure I get my post a week in… (LOL). This is your classic 3 ingredient truffle made with cream cheese, Oreos and candy coating. I would say it is pretty user-friendly. After I combined the first two ingredients I rolled level tablespoon spheres (I hate the other word) and placed them in the freezer to harden. Then I used a small heart-shaped fondant cutter resulting in these cute, one-bite heart truffles. I will post the recipe just in case you don’t know it.
P.S. I really don’t care for Valentine’s Day. It is so commercialized and a financial rip off, but I have three kids and I don’t want to be a Valentine Scrooge…
Oreo Truffle Hearts
adapted from, well anywhere.com
Ingredients:
Directions:
Finely crush the Oreo cookies (a food processor is ideal here) and combine with cream cheese until well blended. Roll into desired shape and size and refrigerate or freeze until hardened.
Melt candy coating according to package directions, dip and let the coating dry before indulging.
It has been an exciting few weeks, to say the least. Ok, exaggerating completely. I have been MIA from my blog for several weeks. I hate that too. It has just been hectic and everyone in the family has been trading virus’. The most recent one knocked 4 of the 5 of us out for several days. Don’t get me wrong though, I haven’t starved my family, I just haven’t had the time or energy to photograph and post on the recipes. I have been experimenting with new dinner recipes too – but haven’t taken pictures and I don’t like to post without them. I am hoping now I will have a little more time to devote to this blog… and to the kitchen!
On to the reason I am typing now… I have had this weight watchers cookbook for over two years and scan these cookies quite often. I don’t do WW, I just prefer to purchase cookbooks that have nutritional values listed… and often these tend to be diet cookbooks. Here is the recipe taken directly from the Weight Watchers 20 Minute Recipes, Fall 2008 cookbook. The recipe is quite easy and it’s not a terrible choice for a chocolate treat, especially with this coming Monday… Valentine’s day (and I will save my opinion of this day, I am just not a fan). Taste you ask? I didn’t actually try one (shame, shame) but my daughter said they were really good. I like the fact that it is a rich cookie, but the richness is mellowed out by the white chocolate and the oatmeal.
Double Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (this is important)
In a large bowl combine the first five ingredients, beat until smooth.
Combine the oats, flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, stirring just until blended. Drop by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart on parchment. Bake for 9 minutes or until cookie centers are almost done. Remove and cool for 1 minute on pan then transfer to wire rack to cool completely (or indulge in a warm one!)
Makes about 10 cookies
Per serving (1 cookie): Calories: 109, Fat: 4.3g, Sat Fat 2.4 g, Protein 2 g, Carbs 17g, Fiber 1.1g, WW Points (old) 2 points
*Update, thank you to Susitrvl at Mad for Mexican Food for calculating the WW points in the new system – they total 3 points!
This post is linked to Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies - check it out!
This week’s post (yes, I am trying to keep up with the “post a week”) was last-minute, to say the least. I picked up a Good Housekeeping Cookbook, saw this recipe and thought it would be perfect for a cold, rainy holiday morning. Plus I knew I was going to dump on everyone and meet a friend at Starbuck’s for some “me” time.
The most complicated thing about these muffins was the shredding of fresh fruit. The actual recipe uses apple, but I only had one, and didn’t want to use it for this, so I used a pear… since I had three of those… I suppose any fruit would do. The recipe also called for walnuts – which someone apparently ate all of over the past few days. So I subbed some dry cranberries for the nuts. Needless to say, this recipe falls under the “adapted from” category as you will see my changes noted.
The muffin is moist, dense and filling (note 2 cups of oats!). Your options for fruit and nut combinations are nearly endless. So far, they have held up well and even my picky kids ate one without complaining that it tasted healthy. Make extra or freeze the leftovers for a quick, on the go breakfast!
Fruit & Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins
(adapted from Good Housekeeping’s Supermarket Diet Cookbook, Winter 2011)
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 standard muffin-pan cups, or line with paper liners.
IN a large bowl, combine oats, flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, with a fork, beat buttermilk, oil and egg until well blended; stir in shredded apples. Add apple mixture to flour mixture and stir just until the flour mixture is moistened (the batter will be very thick). Stir in chopped nuts.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan and drop 5 or 6 white chocolate chips onto the top of each muffin. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Mine actually took 21 minutes exactly. Remove pan and remove muffins immediately. Serve warm or freeze for a quick breakfast.
Calories: 210, 7 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 33 grams carbs, 18mg cholesterol, 320mg sodium, 3 grams fiber, and 5 grams protien. – Note these are for the original recipe, it does not taking into account my changes, although I am sure it is close.
