Country Cornbread

Country Cornbread

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 large eggs

1/4 cup cooking oil 

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, and grease the inside of a glass 8x8 baking dish to prevent the cornbread from sticking. (you can also use a cast iron skillet)

2. In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt until combined.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and oil.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir just until everything is combined. (don't over stir) 

5. Pour the batter into the baking dish, and bake for about 20 minutes. (or until the top and edges are golden brown)

Enjoy! 
 

Garlic Cheddar Drop Biscuits

 

Garlic Cheddar Drop Biscuits

*Makes 12 biscuits 

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

*For the butter topping:

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. 

2. Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, baking soda, and garlic powder. Cut in butter until crumbly. (I prefer to grate the butter, then cut it in)

3. Stir in milk and cheese.

4. Drop dough by heaping spoonful onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

5. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

6. While baking, combine the topping ingredients. 

7. Remove from oven, and let cool for 3 minutes before brushing with the butter topping. 

Enjoy!

Coffee Cake Muffins

Jana here with a muffin recipe that is sure to be a favorite!  I have noted this before, but I like to double a muffin recipe, and freeze the muffins. I then pull out how many I need for a breakfast meal, microwave, and they're ready to go. I told my kids that this was more of a specialty muffin. It has a few extra steps, because you are making a crumble for the filling, but it is worth the time! Another tip: if you are making a recipe that calls for buttermilk and you don't have any, there is a really easy substitute. For each cup of buttermilk you need, use 1 cup of regular milk, plus 1 tablespoon of either vinegar or lemon juice. Stir to combine, and you are good to go!

Coffee Cake Muffins
(yield: 9 muffins)

Filling:

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Muffin Batter:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Grease a muffin tin. (I prefer a silicone muffin pan) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. For the filling: in a small bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in the 2 tablespoons of butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (grating the cold butter will help with this process) Stir in the nuts if using.

3. In a stand mixer or medium bowl, beat the egg. Add the melted butter, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Mix to combine.

4. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt and mix just until combined. (don't overmix)

5. Spoon half of the batter into 9 of the muffin cups. Evenly divide the filling and pour it onto the batter. Finish by spooning the other half of the batter on top of the filling.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes. (or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean)

Enjoy!

Fresh Orange Muffins

Jana here with a new muffin recipe!  My six year old son likes helping in the kitchen, and loves to suggest new recipe ideas. Recently, he asked me if I could make some orange muffins soon. I love to bake muffins, and had never tried any orange ones so I was up for the challenge!  I followed a recipe I found on www.food.com.  This website, along with www.allrecipes.com are great resources when you have an idea of something you want to bake, but want to read through ingredient lists and reviews. I loved that this recipe used fresh oranges, and the flavor is unbelievable!  The muffins are very moist, and the texture is awesome.  Another benefit is that the ingredient list is pretty short, so you can have these mixed up and ready to put in the oven in minutes!

Fresh Orange Muffins

2 medium sized oranges
1 large egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a 12 cup muffin tin by lightly greasing.

2. Squeeze the juice from one of the oranges until you have 1/2 cup. If you don't get quite this much from the orange, add water to make the total amount 1/2 cup.  (I did this, and the muffins were still so delicious!)

3. Cut the other orange into bite sized pieces (peel included, but make sure to remove any seeds!). Blend the orange pieces with the orange juice until pureed. (I used my immersion blender, and it worked very well)

4. Mix this puree with the egg and melted butter until well combined.

5. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.

6. Use batter to fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!!

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

It's zucchini bread time of year, wahooo! Do you get as excited about this as I do?  Probably not.  But try this bread and you will, I can almost guarantee it!  We are already knee-deep in zucchini and I knew I wanted to make some delicious bread as a healthy alternative to having sweets in the house (I've almost gone a month without desserts!)  I started looking for a recipe to use and ended up adapting one to fit my needs.  Next time I plan on cutting out the sugar from the recipe completely and I still think it would be plenty sweet. 

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 egg

1/3 cup EVOO

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 TB plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup sugar *See note below*

2 TB honey

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup grated zucchini

Directions:

In true Sara fashion, I dumped all of the ingredients into the mixer together and turned it on a high speed for a minute or two.  Next I turned it down to a medium speed until everything was well blended.  I then poured the batter into a bread pan I'd previously sprayed and cooked it on 350 degrees for about an hour and 15 minutes.  At close to an hour I checked on the bread and stuck a knife in the middle to see if it was still doughy. It was, so I continued to bake past an hour until the middle was solid. 

This bread was SO, so good.  Like fantastic!  I put a note next to the sugar because although I used 1/4 a cup (the original recipe called for 3/4-yikes!) I really felt like the sugar could have been left out altogether, and a couple extra TB's of honey used instead.  

Enjoy! 

Sara 

Herb Cream Cheese

Hi everyone!  I have the tastiest, quickest recipe to share with you today. This herb cream cheese is perfect for pairing with crusty bread and I've even eaten it on top of scrambled eggs.  It's great for a crowd because it is seriously simple to make but tastes very decadent.  We use the herbs from our garden, but you could also easily buy some at your local Farmer's Market or grocery store. 

Herb Cream Cheese

Ingredients:

One block cream cheese 

Handful of dill and green onion, to taste

2 TB garlic

One loaf crusty bread

Directions:

Soften the cream cheese in the microwave for a few minutes.  Dice the dill and green onion and mix with the cream cheese, along with the garlic.  Spread on the bread (toasted if you like) and enjoy! 

Sara 

Banana Muffins-no sugar, flour, or butter!

It's a hilly place, this life of mine.  Full of peaks and valleys, highs and lows.  Especially with my health.  About a year ago I decided I would learn to run.  I was certainly at a "healthy" weight, but really I'm using even that term loosely.   In my opinion, a skinny person isn't necessarily a healthy one.  We have that all kinds of mixed up in America.  Some of the strongest, most fierce and brave and HEALTHY women I know aren't the skinniest ones.  Some of the skinniest gals I know are the most self-conscious and the most obsessed with working out and the scale, and certainly the most unhappy.  To me, healthy covers more than our looks, happiness is included too.  So finding myself thin last year but not truly healthy wasn't a happy thing.  I began to run, starting and finishing Couch to 5k.  I even ran in my first 5k and came in third place! I was hooked.  

Fast forward through winter, where even after a few periods of majorally slacking off, I hit the treadmill again.  And then life sped up and Brett worked longer hours and there I was again, desperately looking forward to nap times, after breakfast times, and bed time for snacks and chocolate and m and m's, and chips.  Junk.  Folks, I was looking forward to junk.   

So I changed.  After having one particularly painful afternoon with a yucky stomach ache I was fed up.  I was feeling "Blah" emotionally and physically and not taking care of myself.  Since then I've cut out extra sugar.  I say "extra" because some things (but very few) like my soy vanilla milk has 6 grams of sugar I believe per serving, which I have once a day.  But I've said no to cake, cookies, pie, brownies, cinnamon roll, ice cream, and my FAVE, peanut m and m's.  I've been eating clean 80% of the time at least.  Most days 90% of the time.  I feel GREAT.  I have energy...I don't feel bloated.  I'm on day 11 of no sweets!! I've never done that in my life, ever.  

I even made muffins today that had no sugar, flour, or butter and they are delicious!  The girls liked them too.  Here's the recipe:

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients:

2 and 1/2 cups quick cook oats

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 eggs

1/2 cup honey

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ripe bananas

Directions:

Combine everything in your mixer and mix on HIGH speed for 2 minutes or so.  Next mix on medium to low speed for an additional minute.  Spray a muffin tin with EVOO cooking spray.  We used our mini muffin tin! Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-18 minutes!  

Homemade Sandwich Bread (Bread Machine Recipe)

Jana here, and today I wanted to share my favorite homemade bread recipe!  I make it for our family's sandwich bread each week.  Well, since we have 5 people in our family, a loaf doesn't typically last a whole week...so I normally make this about every 4 or 5 days. That is about the length of time that the bread will stay fresh. If you know you won't be able to eat it in that time frame, I would slice the loaf and freeze it. Then, you'll be able to pull out enough for each day, etc. The bread maker that I have (and love) is the Panasonic SD-YD250.  I have used it consistently for months, and always had great results. I highly recommend it!  This recipe is modified from one of the recipes that came in a booklet with my machine. My mother-in-law has the same bread machine, and told me about some modifications she made to make this a great sandwich bread. I tried it, and we loved the results too!

Homemade Sandwich Bread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons powdered milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons butter (I like to cut this into smaller pieces)
1 1/4 cups water
1 teaspoon yeast

For the bread machine listed above, this would require you to use the 'wheat' setting, and makes a 'medium' size loaf. I know all bread machines differ, but I think this recipe could be used in different machines!

Enjoy!

Sweet Peach Muffins

Jana here with a great Summer muffin to try!  I have frozen peaches that I prepared when they were in season last year. I thaw those, and use them in this recipe. But you can use canned peaches, or fresh as well! Using the amount of ingredients I have listed below, this will make about 18 muffins. I like to make a big batch like this, and then put them all in the freezer. It's a great way to pull out the number you need each morning, and not have any muffins go bad. I found inspiration for this recipe here.

Sweet Peach Muffins

3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 - 2 1/2 cups peaches, peeled and diced (with most of the juice drained)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare muffin tins by spraying with oil or spreading a thin layer of butter.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and salt until well blended.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir until combined. Fold in the peaches.

4. Divide the batter between 18 muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are golden brown, and a toothpick inserted comes out without batter.

Enjoy!

Best Homemade Biscuits

Are biscuits common around your house? I admit to almost never making them. Before now!  Where this post lacks in an intriguing title it MORE than makes up for in taste.  I have eaten a lot of biscuits, a lot of ways in my life.  These, by far, are my favorite! They are so good and so easy.  I even got to cut the biscuits out with a can.  I mean, how old-fashioned and lovely is that?! 

Best Homemade Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 TB sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup EVOO

2/3 cup whole milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Mix all of the dry ingredients together.  Put the oil in a small bowl and pour the milk in but don't mix the two.  Then, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.  Form a ball of dough with your hands and lay it between two sheets of foil.  Roll out the dough to your desired thickness.  Cut out biscuit shape with a cookie cutter or can.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes on a cookie sheet.  

Enjoy!! 

Sara 

{Gift Idea} Muffin Mix in a Jar

Jana here with a fun gift idea that you can make for the people in your life who enjoy muffins!  My Mom had a birthday recently, and I gave her this Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins mix in a jar, along with a silicone muffin tray. If you've never used silicone bakeware, you should give it a try!  I own a silicone muffin tray as well, and love baking with it. The muffins don't ever stick, and it is SO much easier to wash after you have baked with it!  (compared to a traditional metal muffin tin)  There are so many options you can do if you'd like to make a gift in a jar!  If you'd like additional ideas, there are many on Pinterest. I found inspiration for this recipe at a blog called Ambitious and Nutritious.  I encourage you to make a muffin mix in a jar, and think of someone you can bless it with!  Make sure to include the ingredient list, and baking instructions along with the jar.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins (Mix in a Jar)
`Makes 6-8 muffins

`Dry Ingredients for Jar:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup oats (old fashioned or quick cooking)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash salt
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

(layer ingredients in a pint/16 ounce mason jar)

Ingredients to Add to Mix:
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup milk, plus a splash more
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Empty contents of jar into a bowl, and mix to combine.  In a separate bowl, combine 'wet' ingredients, stirring to combine. Add wet ingredients into dry, and stir until combined.

2. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups, about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Jana here with another muffin recipe!  I love to make a big batch (or two!) or muffins, and put most of them in the freezer. Then, we just pull them out throughout the week for breakfast. Add some scrambled eggs, and you have a healthy, filling breakfast!  I found inspiration for this muffin recipe on the Taste of Home site. We have posted many delicious muffins recipe on our blog before.  Here are a few:

Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Strawberry Shortcake Muffins

Whole Wheat Muffin Surprise

Amazing Blueberry Muffins

Now, for the new recipe!
Yield: 12 muffins

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup milk

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 egg white


Topping: 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
               1 tablespoon brown sugar
               1 tablespoon butter, melted
               1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In another bowl, combine the applesauce, milk, oil, and egg white.  Stir into dry ingredients, just until moistened.  Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 of the way full.

2. Combine topping ingredients, sprinkle over batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing from muffin tin.

DIY Breadcrumbs

Jana here with a super easy "Do It Yourself" recipe that I am really happy about!  I have always purchased bread crumbs (to use in recipes such as Tuna Patties, or Stroganoff Meatballs), but recently decided just to make my own. I saw once on a Rachael Ray episode where she suggested keeping a bag in your freezer that you could add small leftover pieces of bread (the heel, bread that has gone stale, etc), and then make a batch of breadcrumbs once you had enough collected. Variety in types of bread makes it even better, I think!  For this first batch, I used several pieces of whole wheat sandwich bread, and some white hot dog buns.  This process is very easy, and I plan to store the breadcrumbs in the freezer.

DIY Breadcrumbs 

Bread of any variety/type

1. Place the bread on the middle rack in your oven. (directly on the rack) Turn on the low broil, and watch closely as the bread begins to brown. The broil time will vary depending on your oven. Monitor closely, so you don't burn the bread.

2. Once it has reached a point where the bread is lightly browned, carefully remove from the oven. Using a food processor or chopper, chop the bread into fine bread crumbs.

3. Spread breadcrumbs out onto a baking sheet, and put them back into the oven on low broil. This will allow them to brown again. (When you chop them in the food processor, they likely will feel soft again).  Broil again until lightly browned, then remove.

4. Keeping the breadcrumbs spread on the baking sheet, let them sit out for approximately 24 hours so they can dry out completely.  Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Bruschetta

Hi everyone!  Today's recipe is one of my favorites and brings back strong memories of traveling to Italy with my husband!  We went for a second honeymoon and ate tons of bruschetta while we were there-bread topped with olive oil and fresh veggies.  It is so, so tasty and easy to whip up! You can easily customize this to fit your specific tastes and leave out some ingredients if you like. 

Enjoy! 

Bruschetta

Ingredients:

Hard loaf of bread (I used ciabatta rolls)

2 TB EVOO

1 tomato

1 TB garlic

1 or 2 TB coarse sea salt

1 TB capers

2 TB fresh basil

Directions: Toast bread.  Stir up all other ingredients in a bowl by hand and top bread with it.  Delicious! :) 

Easy Garlic Bread

Hi, my name is Kyla.  I will be eight in a few days.  I'm Becca's daughter, and I'm going to tell you how to make easy-to-make, and SUPER good garlic bread. (My dad, who ONLY rates excellent for life-changing foods, rated it on the tip of awesome, the second best).  We loved it a lot and we thought it was better than the ones in restaurants because it had more flavor.  We hope you will enjoy it too.  Please let me know if you like it.  Thanks.

Easy Garlic Bread

1 loaf Italian Bread (or your favorite bread)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 a lemon
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1) Preheat oven broiler.

2) Slice bread and place on pan one at a time in a single layer.

3) Put the minced garlic, the 1/2 cup of olive oil and the lemon juice into a microwaveable bowl & heat on high for 30 seconds.

4) Use a pastry brush to spread your mixture evenly on the pieces of bread.

5) Then sprinkle on the parmesan cheese.

6) Now put it into the oven under the broiler until browning, melted, and bubbling.

7) Take it out carefully and enjoy.

Thank you for making our recipe and I hope enjoy the many others I plan to make.  Thanks, Kyla

Sweet Potato Bruschetta

This recipe is so versatile and delicious.  You can easily put this sweet potato topping on bread or crackers but I imagine it would also taste great rolled up in a tortilla, or on top of a salad! Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Bruschetta
Ingredients:
1 large sweet potato, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 TB EVOO
1 avocado, diced
2 TB chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
Salt

Directions:
1.) Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  In a medium sized bowl, toss together the sweet potato, red onion, and olive oil.  Roast for about 20 minutes.
2.) In another bowl, combine avocado, cilantro, lime juice and salt.  After potatoes and onion have cooled, mix together with the other ingredients.  Serve over bread, crackers, or on a salad!

Happy Eating! 
Sara 

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

Jana here with a recipe that will help you if you have excess zucchini from your garden!  This recipe that I found on food.com is made from whole wheat flour, and also uses double the zucchini as some other zucchini bread recipes.  The texture was great on the finished product...very moist, and delicious! 

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 medium-sized zucchini)

1/4 cup oil (or applesauce)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

2. Mix all dry ingredients in a medium size bowl. 

3. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, zucchini, oil, and vanilla.

 

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until combined.

 

5. Add to greased loaf pan.

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

Enjoy!

Granola Cookies

Becca here with another great make ahead breakfast recipe.  I've previously shared recipes for my kids' favorite Breakfast Cookies and the Soft Oatmeal Bars that I prefer, and this is another great one to have in your repertoire of breakfasts ready to pull from the freezer and eat on those mornings you need something quick, or even on the go, inspired by a recipe in Clean Eating for Busy Families.  The texture is similar to a soft granola bar.  I'm sharing the recipe like I make it, but feel free to substitute your favorite dried fruit and nuts, just be sure and chop them into small pieces first. 

Granola Cookies

6 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
2 cup whole wheat flour (I use hard wheat I grind fresh)
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
2 cups packed brown sugar (not all brown sugar is made equal, see note below)
1/2 cup milk (I use almond milk)
4 teaspoons vanilla extract (I use homemade real vanilla)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup raw sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, coconut oil, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla extract.  Whisk well to combine. 

Add in dry ingredients (oatmeal, flour, cinnamon, and baking soda) and just until moistened. 

Gently stir in cranberries & sunflower seeds.

Drop by 1/4 cup onto baking sheet (preferably lined with silicone baking mats or parchment paper, they'll stick a bit if not).  Pat gently to flatten.

Bake 14-16 minutes, or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown & the edges are set. 

Let cool completely, and stir in airtight container for a few days, or in the freezer a few weeks.

100% Whole Wheat Coffee Cake

Becca here with a really yummy coffee cake that is super moist, and a great balance of sweetness - just enough, but not sickening sweet like some desserts can be.  Plus, I use 100% whole wheat, so that means it's "healthy" and guilt-free, right?  All of my kids have always liked to help in the kitchen, and I try to let them when it's at all feasible (although now that there 4 of them 7 and under they have to take turns and have their day to help since I can't quite handle THAT much "help" in the kitchen at one time :).  My oldest daughter has been wanting to do things in the kitchen more on her own, and brought me the recipe that we based this on out of an American Girl cookbook she had "Molly's Cooking Studio."  The original recipe used several things I don't buy, including shortening and white flour, so we had a great conversation about how to easily modify recipes to make them 'better'.  Their instructions were supposed to be thorough for a beginner, but we found them a bit tedious and rewrote those as well to simplify the process (and not get 3 bowls plus the baking pan dirty!)  This classic coffee cake would make a great brunch, tea time, or dessert.  Enjoy!

100% Whole Wheat Coffee Cake

cake:
3 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour (I use 100% whole wheat, hard spring wheat that I mill)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

topping:
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425.

In a large mixing bowl (I use our electric mixer), combine 3 Tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar and beat until soft and fluffy.  Add the egg and milk, and beat until thoroughly combined.

Add the remaining dry cake ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt), and stir just until combined; don't over stir!

Pour the mixture into a greased 8x8 square baking pan.

Combine topping ingredients (melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon) in a bowl and mix to combine.

Sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the top of the cake.

Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.  Enjoy!

100% Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Becca here with a recipe my family really enjoys! I doubled this recipe to ensure that we had extras for the next day.  I love making extra pancakes so the kids or I can just pop into the toaster in the morning to reheat for a quick & healthy breakfast.  I store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.  If it's going to be longer than that before they're eaten, I freeze them until we're ready to use the pancakes.  Enjoy!

100% Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

4 cups whole wheat flour (I use hard spring wheat I ground in my Nutrimill, your favorite whole wheat flour is fine)
4 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free is best)
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (I use Real Salt)
2 Tablespoons honey
4 large eggs
3 1/2 cups milk (I use whole milk, but your family's favorite should be fine)
4 Tablespoons coconut oil or melted butter, plus a little extra for the griddle (I've used both, and they either works great!)
4 large ripe bananas, mashed
100% pure maple syrup or honey for serving, optional

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Make a well (hole) in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients - honey, eggs, milk, and melted butter. 

Stir all ingredients together thoroughly, but don't over mix. 

Gently fold in the mashed bananas.

Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour pancakes onto a griddle or large skillet over medium-high heat (I heat my griddle to 325).  Flip when the edges are beginning to turn golden brown, and there are bubbles throughout the pancakes. 

Serve with maple syrup or honey if desired.