Yummy Apple Bake

Another Fat Chicks recipe. This one made a good breakfast. We used 2 apples instead of one. The only other thing I might do different next time, is just moisten the oatmeal. Eli liked it oatmeal-y, but I think I would've liked it more crispy.

Ingredients:

1 apple, cored and sliced

cinnamon to taste

nutmeg to taste

1 c. cooked oatmeal

2 packets Splenda (2 tsp)

I Can't Believe it's Not Butter Spray (I used Pam)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Arrange apple slices in a baking dish. Sprinkle a little cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar on the apples.

Cover the apples with the oatmeal and sprinkle more cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar on top.

Spray Pam over all. Bake in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your apple slices.

Banana Bread Smoothie

I didn't take a picture of this, but it was SO good! It provided something sweet outside of my regular snack fruits. It's amazing! I believe Eli (he usually makes breakfast) added two bananas, halved the cinnamon and nutmeg, and added 1 tsp of vanilla. Just a few changes

Ingredients:

1 Cup Skim Milk
1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Packet Splenda (or 1/2 tsp of regular sugar)
1 Cup Ice
1 Banana

Directions:

Blend together milk and spices. Add in ice and blend. Then, blend in banana.

YUMMY Cinnamon Rolls

I actually remembered this time to take pictures and not only the final product of these wonderful cinnamon rolls but a step by step process of how to make these cinnamon rolls. I honestly have to say I have been on top of it lately and I am quite proud of myself! :) Not only on this blog but on my own blog!

Melt in your mouth Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients: (3 different bowls, 4 if you count your mixer bowl, such as the kitchen aid)

First bowl: medium

3 cups of milk

2 cubes of butter

Microwave for 4 minutes or until butter is melted - let it cool down for a little bit before mixing the yeast and flour mixture to it.

Second bowl: small

3 Tbls of yeast

1 tsp of sugar

1/4 cup luke warm water (make sure it's not too thick, add a tiny bit more water if it's clumpy)

Let it rise until it literally doubles in size (it will foam up)

Third bowl: large

1 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

6 cups flour (my mom and I both use all-purpose- the blue bag?)

Mix together thoroughly

plus 5-6 cups of more flour later - you will add this after mixing all the bowls together*- I am just making you aware that there is 12 cups of flour total not just 6 cups like I initially thought

If you are mixing it using a wooden spoon use the third bowl as your main mixing bowl.

If you are using a mixing machine (kitchen aid) use that bowl and start my pouring in the Milk/butter bowl (first bowl) then the flour mixture (third bowl) then the yeast.

* My kitchen aid is small so if you have a larger kitchen aid you should be fine, but in my experience I started in the kitchen aid and I eventually had to dump the dough back into the third bowl and finish mixing it by hand.

Having mixing all of the bowls together the dough will be very sticky. But you are not done yet.

Add 6 eggs to the mixture- mix well.......*then slowly add one cup at a time of flour (5-6 cups)- I usually put five cups of flour into the kitchen aid then put the dough back into the large bowl then add the last cup. If you haven't already, place the dough back into the third bowl to let it rise. Once you add the 6th cup try not to handle the dough to much.

Before:

So try and mix the dough as gently as you can. The dough should be really soft. Not firm like homemade pizza dough. Soak a kitchen towel with very hot wa

ter (as hot as you can stand) and place on top of bowl, over the dough. Let it rise for at least 2 hours. It will double in size

After:

This is my third bowl or large bowl - Can you see the difference? - it doubled in size

Pull a third of the dough out of the bowl and place on a generously floured counter or table top. Gently roll out the dough using your hands not a rolling pin. You don't want to flatten the raised dough too much. Like I said earlier, try not to handle to much. It will look like a long oval.

Pour melted/soft butter on top, I like to use my hands, it's faster. Sprinkle Brown sugar (with my hands) and cinnamon on top of oval dough. You can also add nuts or raisins at this time if you like.

Roll up dough into a circle. Cut dough with dentalfloss. Just place under rolled dough, cross and slice. Do not cut with a knife, all that you will manage to do is flatten the dough. You want the dough to be soft and fluffy. I would make the slices smaller then I did. You will see how big I made them.

Before:

Place sliced cinnamon rolls on a greased cookie sheet. Let it rise another hour. I just let it rise over night. I did everything up to the point of letting it rise some more. That way you can wake up and all you have to do its put them in the oven.

After:

There's not a huge difference here but you can see that they grew a little bit. I made the cinnamon rolls to the right a little too big. Unless you like them big. I was able to make 2 dozen rolls but if you were to make them smaller I am sure you could make 3 dozen.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the rolls look slightly brown.

Take out of the oven and brush melted butter on top. Drizzle glaze on top

Glaze:

2 Tbl butter

1 Tbl milk

A little bit of vanilla extract

Powder sugar (just keep adding powder sugar until you get a thick consistency. You don't want it too runny, but you want it runny enough to allow it to drizzle.

The FINAL Product! YUMMY!

Blueberry Cream Muffins (with streusel topping)

Hello!! It has been far too long since there has been a new post on this blog. My excuse is that I've been having computer issues...but the truth is, like many excuses, it is only an excuse. There was nothing keeping me from looking for my lost camera cord. Ah well! I finally did find it, and that's what matters, I suppose.

I've looked through my camera, and I have seven wonderful recipes to share with you. I think I'll start with the most recent though, because it is pretty much my favorite of them all.

Here in Oregon, it is blueberry season! It is so cool to go and pick your own blueberries (for the fraction of what they normally cost at the grocery store)! I went picking for the first time last week, and they were delicious. I barely had enough left for baking after all the berries James and I ate...in fact, I actually didn't have enough, so I supplemented with frozen blueberries.

Anyway, I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. I actually combined two recipes and a couple comments from users. Here's what I ended up with:

Blueberry Cream Muffins with Streusel Topping
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/4 c. white sugar
1 1/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. oil
1 t. vanilla
2 c. sour cream
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
4 c. flour
3 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Streusel topping:
1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter (1/2 stick)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare muffin pan(s) by lining with paper liners or greasing the pan.

Beat eggs. Gradually stir in sugar (both kinds), while still beating. Stir in oil, vanilla, and sour cream. Mix until smooth. Add salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.* Gently stir in flour. Do not overmix; stir until just combined (batter will be slightly lumpy). Carefully fold in blueberries.

Prepare streusel topping by mixing all the ingredients together. I started with a fork, but quickly set it aside and just mixed with my hands. Mix until crumbly.

Fill muffin liners all the way to the top. This recipe makes 24 large (bakery sized) muffins, so you don't need to worry about running out of batter. Sprinkle streusel topping generously on each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes. I almost took my first batch out too early. I found that it took about 24 minutes in my oven. I tested the muffins by using a toothpick; when it came out clean, they were done.

*Of course, the original recipe has you mix together the dry ingredients separately. Feel free to do this if you want. I'm just lazy. ;)


Here are links to the main recipe that I used: Blueberry Cream Muffins. I used the suggestions of the commenter MommyFromSeattle (her comment is on the top right now).

Banana Bread

Ok so, I didn't know if I should post this recipe or not, either. It's a very straight forward recipe taken straight from the checkerboard cookbook (Better Homes and Gardens), and I assume you all already have perfectly wonderful recipes of your own for banana bread just how you like it. Well, if you do, just keep using your recipe (or, post yours here, too! :) ), but just in case you don't, here's a tried and true recipe (both Paula and I use it) for basic banana bread.


Banana Bread
Ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (I never measure, I usually just wait until I have 4 or 5 over-ripe bananas in the freezer. ;) )
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil, or melted butter (I use oil)

Streusel topping:
1/4 c. brown sugar
3 T. flour
2 T. butter, cold

Directions:
Grease sides and bottom of loaf pan (one of the bigger ones, 9x5x3). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt (Yes, this is one time I actually do mix the dry ingredients separately! Shocking!), set aside. In a medium bowl, mash your bananas. Then add sugar, oil, and beaten eggs. Mix well. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the banana mixture all at once. Stir until just moistened (it will still be lumpy). Pour batter into loaf pan.

Prepare streusel topping by mixing the flour, brown sugar, and butter together with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs. I don't have a pastry blender, so I just use a fork and knife. Sprinkle topping evenly over the batter in your loaf pan.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a knife inserted near the center comes out nearly clean. If needed, cover with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning. I didn't need to cover mine this time because my rack was set right in the middle of the oven. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

*Note: As you can see, there are no nuts in my banana bread. I'm not a fan. If you are a fan, however, you can add 1/4 c. chopped nuts to the batter and 1/3 c. chopped nuts to the topping.

French Breakfast Puffs!

I decided I wanted to bake something yummy for breakfast this morning. :) I really wanted to make these, but I didn't have the vanilla yogurt they called for, so I couldn't. (By the way, check out that blog (Baked Perfection)! She has baked some really delicious looking things. I'm going to try a lot of them.) When I found out I couldn't make the recipe I wanted, I went to allrecipes.com to search for something similar and found this recipe.

French Breakfast Puffs


Ingredients:

Muffins:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup butter (the recipe called for shortening, but I used butter and they were very good)
1 egg
1/2 capful of vanilla (not in the original recipe, but almost every baked good can use a bit of vanilla for flavor :) )
1/2 cup milk

Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons margarine, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners (or grease 12 muffin cups). The original recipe calls for you to mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg) together in a separate bowl, but I'm always too lazy to do this. ;) Cream together butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk. (Since I don't mix mine separately, I added the small ones first (baking powder, salt, and nutmeg), then half the flour, then the milk, and then the last half of flour.) Spoon batter into the muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes. While the muffins are baking, melt the butter for the topping in one bowl and mix together the sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. When the muffins are done, remove them from the pan and immediately dip the top of each one in the butter and then the cinnamon-sugar. (They're really hot, so be careful.) Serve warm.

They were very fluffy and quite tasty! I would definitely make them again. In case you prefer official wording or just want the original recipe, you can find it here.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

I have made this coffee cake a couple times and I love the flavor and it is so moist! The only thing is I have never taken a picture of it. So the picture here is from the website that I got this recipe from (dineandish.net). When I make the recipe, my blueberries sink to the bottom and it doesn't look nearly as pretty. I don't remember at all how I found that website and she said that she got this recipe from Cooking LIght. So now that all credit is given where credit is due...

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 1/3 cups low-fat buttermilk
cooking spray
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add vanilla, egg, and egg white; beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition. Spoon half of the batter into a 9-inch round baking pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup blueberries. Spoon remaining batter over the blueberries; sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 cup blueberries. Sprinkle the top evenly with 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

* I used brown sugar instead of turbinado sugar and it's great that way! I, strangely, don't keep turbinado sugar on hand.
* I also buy the smallest buttermilk (which happens to be 1 cup) and then I add regular milk for the remaining 1/3 cup. I don't use buttermilk very much, so I didn't want leftovers.
* When I remove mine from the pan I put a plate on top and then flip it over and then put a plate over that and flip it again to make it face up. Like I said, my blueberries sunk to the bottom, so I couldn't really just cool mine on a cooling rack so I put the plate on the rack :).
* The first time I made it mine was undercooked. Make sure the toothpick comes out clean. Yum!

Paul's Fried Rice

Here's another recipe most of you probably have already. You probably don't have it written down, though, so here you go! We often have fried rice on Saturday mornings. :) Paul likes to spoil me.

(Paul's fried rice is intended to be a breakfast meal, but it can work just as well for lunch or even dinner. If you want a more dinner-like variation, you could change the meat from bacon to something else like chicken or thinly sliced beef.)

Paul's Fried Rice
Ingredients:
2 c. rice, uncooked (Again, use Japanese short grain rice. Not instant. We like Calrose.)
1/2 package of bacon (about 8 strips), chopped into pieces
2 eggs, scrambled
1 c. frozen mixed vegetables (very approximate, I always estimate)
garlic salt (we use Lawry's)
sweet and sour sauce to taste (Ishimoto Family recipe to follow)

Directions:
Start the rice cooking. You can be ready with all the other stuff and waiting for the rice to be done, so don't forget to get it started. If you're having this for breakfast, start the rice first thing when you get up. In a big, deep frying pan (like a wok), start cooking the bacon. While it is cooking, season with garlic salt. Stir occasionally. Meanwhile, prepare sweet and sour sauce, scramble your eggs (How ever you prefer your scrambled eggs...I prefer mine with a little milk, salt, and pepper. Paul always adds a little garlic salt.), and cook and drain your frozen vegetables. When the bacon is done (but not overdone), drain most of the grease and reduce the heat to medium/medium low. The little grease you leave behind is what you fry the rice in. Add the cooked rice to the pan, and sprinkle with garlic salt. Add the eggs and vegetables and toss everything together. Sprinkle sweet and sour sauce over the rice and toss. Paul really only uses a tablespoon or two. Taste it as you go and add sweet and sour sauce or garlic salt until it tastes the way you want it to. Let it cook for about 5 minutes on low heat (just to add a little crispness), tossing occasionally.

Ishimoto Family Sweet and Sour Sauce (Paul's mom's recipe)
Ingredients:
1/4 c. white vinegar
1 T. soy sauce
3 T. ketchup
5 T. brown sugar

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer for a minute or two (be careful, the pot can boil over easily). Refrigerate any unused portion.

I categorized this recipe as Japanese only because Paul is Japanese after all, and they do eat fried rice there. However, this recipe is pretty Americanized, and also the sweet and sour sauce is more Hawaiian than Japanese. :)