{Thrice Favorites} Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Jana here with a recipe for delicious Apple Butter!  If you're not familiar with apple butter, it is a spread typically used on breads. (toast, sandwiches, biscuits, etc)  It is sweet, and can be used as a jelly.  Although it has the word 'butter' in the name, butter is not one of the ingredients.  After doing some research, I learned that the name comes from the spread's thick, soft consistency.  The ingredient list below will yield approximately one pint of apple butter.  You can store the apple butter in a sealed container in your refrigerator, or freeze the apple butter. If you choose to freeze the spread, make sure you leave space at the top of the container to allow the spread to expand as it freezes. I used Gala apples to make mine. You can use any variety of apple, although I would recommend using a sweet(ish) apple.  I used this recipe as my starting point, and then changed several things.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

2.5 pounds apples, peeled, cored, chopped finely
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup honey*
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Once apples have been prepared as described above, place in a slow cooker.  Mix remaining ingredients together in a small bowl.  Pour the sugar mixture over the apples.

2. Cook on high for 1 hour. Reduce heat to low, and cook for 9-11 hours.

3. Once the cooking time has passed, check the mixture for the following things: it should have thickened considerably, darkened in color to a dark brown, and most of the moisture should be gone.  If these things have happened, it is done cooking. If not, cook for an additional hour in the slow cooker with the lid removed.

4. Put the apple butter into a blender or food processor, and blend until it has a smooth consistency.

Enjoy!

Printable Version

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!

EASY Way to Cook/Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Jana here to talk about boiled eggs. I recently read a magazine article about the best way to boil eggs. I told my husband that there seemed to be so many methods (cooking times, when to add the eggs in the water, etc) for cooking the perfect boiled egg!  Then I came across a post on The Prairie Homestead blog (a blog I highly recommend!) with a completely different method. And she said it would be easy to peel the eggs after they were boiled. I have tried some of the other suggested methods for this in the past (adding baking soda to the water, etc), without much success.  

The method is to steam the eggs!  The first time I tried it, and every time after, it has made me so happy to peel each egg in a matter of seconds!  The eggs look beautiful...no big chunks of the white of the egg taken off when it was hard to peel. The yolks are cooked perfectly and a pretty yellow color. I am SO pleased with this method!  It's my 'go to' now!

If you have a steamer basket, great!  But if not, you can set a metal colander in a larger pot for the same effect.  Fill the pot below your steamer basket about halfway with water. Set the steamer basket on top, and add the eggs. Cover with a lid, and get the water started boiling. Once it is boiling, you will want to steam the eggs for 20-22 minutes.

And this is what the results will look like!!

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!!

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!  

Crustless Spinach Quiche + Redmond "Real Salt" Giveaway!

Becca here with one of my 'staple' recipes to share today!  After my apologies for the 'technical difficulties' on the blog this week, that were, technically, all because of my human error.  A migraine that had me out for a full 24 hours, combined with a day trip out of state to a theme park with my family plus several other family friends, theater costume measurements, horseback riding lessons, nursing home visits, Bible Studies, and regular homeschooling, chicken, garden, and household managing of a 6-person household meant that the blog fell through the cracks this week, so I'm sorry!

I DO have one of my "go do" recipes to share on the blog today, AND a giveaway for products my house is never without!  In fact, I searched twice to double check that I hadn't shared this recipe already, I couldn't believe I hadn't already posted it!  This crustless spinach quiche is a great recipe that I've served at any meal, for any occasion.  I've served it to a large crowd at birthday parties, taken it to friends that needed a meal, and fixed it at home when I needed to go to the store and we just needed a quick and filling dinner with what was left in the fridge.  My notes on the original from allrecipes date back to April 2007, so I've been making for at least 6 years.

Feel free to substitute with a similar veggie or cheese; in fact, this time, in the quiche pictured here, I used Pokeweed instead of spinach!  I had precooked it, after two friends' mothers, separately, helped the kids and I identify it, and I had thorough cooking instructions from one of them, plus read a lot online, and then followed the normal recipe from there.  A tip on all quiches, is to let them sit for about ten minutes after you remove them from the oven, to allow the eggs to set, so then you can cleanly and neatly slice it!  My kids all 4 love this quiche, I hope you'll give it a try!  Recipe follows giveaway info!

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you've probably noticed that I usually, in the ingredients list, mention that I use "Real Salt" for our household salt.  So when I was placing an order recently, and for Earthpaste also, which my daughter had been begging for again, since we'd been out for a few weeks with the recent move we had, I contacted Redmond and asked if they would be willing to do a giveaway, and they said yes!  So I'm super excited to be giving away the price package above!

In a one line explanation, I like to tell people that Redmond Real Salt is like using whole grains instead of white flour.  And it tastes SO much better I think; like to the point where white table salt at a restaurant or something has a funny after taste to me now even!  They have a super informative website here with a great video  and online brochure explaining the health benefits of a real salt.  As they say,

"Real Salt comes from an ancient sea bed in Central Utah, where for more than 30 years we've delivered completely natural sea salt -- nothing added, nothing taken away. That means you get more than 60 trace minerals in a delicious, healthy salt that is never chemically treated, bleached, or kiln dried."

So the winner will receive a 10 ounce container of Real Salt, as well as 4.75 ounce each containers of Organic Garlic Salt and Organic Onion Salt, both made with Real Salt!  They also have a seasoning salt, and a 26 ounce 'refill bag' size of Real Salt that I usually purchase (at amazon, vitacost, directly from Redmonds, or at my local health food store, depending on what is more convenient for me at the time!)

Redmonds also has a line of "Redmond Clay" products that I also use regularly and love.  The winner will receive a 10 ounce jar of the powdered clay also!  Their Earthpaste toothpaste is made with the Redmond Clay, xylitol, Real Salt, menthol, and essential oils, and is the only toothpaste 3/4 of my kids even like!  It doesn't have any foaming agents, and is safe to swallow also.  We've tried all of the flavors, and they like them all, although spearmint is their very favorite.  I like the convenience of the clay already hydrated in a tube for a first aid cream, and it really does seem to draw the toxins out of burns, bites, and stings, which we've had plenty of since moving to the 'farm' especially!

"Redmond Clay is a completely natural bentonite clay, extracted from the earth and brought to you in its pure, natural state. Redmond Clay is available as a fine powder, pre-hydrated gel, or in easy-to-swallow capsules.  Redmond Clay™ remains as pure today as it was when the Fremont indians discovered its uses long ago. As our world returns to more natural lifestyles, more and more people keep Redmond Clay in their medicine cabinets, first aid kits, and purses. Discover for yourself the healing benefits of Redmond Clay."

I've included lots of links above, and their websites are full of informative videos, graphs, and articles I'd encourage you to check out if you're interested; they really are products we use everyday at our house, and I'm excited for one of you to get to try them!  To enter, just use the rafflecopter below!  Notice one of the entries you can do once per day!  Contest ends 5/30/14.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Crustless Spinach Quiche

5 eggs

1 Tablespoon butter (or oil)

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 (10 ounces) package frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained well

1-2 cups shredded cheese (I like sharp cheddar, amount is your preference!)

1/2 teaspoon salt (I use Real Salt)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium skillet over medium high heat, heat butter (or oil) and onion for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent.

Add (cooked and well drained) spinach, and stir continuously and cook an additional couple of minutes until the water has all evaporated out of the spinach.  Remove from heat. 

In a large bowl, beat eggs until well blended.  Stir in salt, pepper, cheese, and  spinach mixture.

Pour into a lightly greased 9" pie plate, an cook at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until center has set. 

For best results in slicing, let quiche sit for about 10 minutes after removing it from the oven.  Enjoy!

Cool Overnight Oatmeal

Becca here with a recipe that's a perfect start for these days that are starting to be warmer.  It's been well documented here on the blog that I notice my children and I have a better start to the day with a good, hearty & nutritious breakfast, but I'm not naturally a "morning person," And with four little ones that usually all need help with something first thing in the morning, diapers to change, etc. plus the chickens, rabbit, cat, and dog that all need fed also, getting a good breakfast for five on the table (before 9:00 anyway :) can be a bit of a challenge.  I had actually seen a similar recipe to this overnight oatmeal in a magazine and thought I saved it, but then we moved, and I hadn't been able to find it, so I was super excited when my friend Analucia brought me a recipe she'd picked up at Whole Foods and thought I'd like it, for overnight oatmeal!  It literally takes minutes to mix up the night before, and would be perfect for a child to help with (or do on their own)!  The end result the next morning is super creamy, and has tons of possibilities for flavor, varying the type of dried fruit, or even leaving it out entirely to top with the fresh fruit that will be available soon!  The first time we had it my kids weren't sure about having 'cold oatmeal' but the second time they were expecting it, and enjoyed it even more!  My adaptation of the recipe will serve my four kids (with big appetites especially now that we live on lots of land!) and I twice.  My personal favorite combination is to use dried mango, and unsweetened, dried coconut!  Enjoy!


Cool Overnight Oatmeal


4 cups old fashioned oatmeal (not quick oats!)
4 cups milk (I normally use coconut or almond milk)
1/2 cup chopped, dried fruit (or leave out, and top with fresh fruit just before serving!)
1/2 cup chopped nuts or unsweetened, dried coconut


In a large bowl with a lid, stir well to combine all ingredients.  Cover, and refrigerate overnight.  May be served cool (our preference!) or warmed.

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!

Trick "Eggs" {Great for April Fool's Day}

Becca here with a fun recipe that is a family tradition at our house.  And yes, I know April Fool's Day was yesterday, but I've been meaning to post this for a couple of years and keep forgetting, so now you'll have it to remember for next year's April Fool's Day, or to really surprise your kids with a fun trick some other random morning!  I first made these several years ago, and they were such a huge hit with the kids, that I've continued to make them every year.  My oldest two kids this year remembered and were SO excited to see the breakfast again and thought it was super fun.  My 3 year old didn't remember or realize that it wasn't an egg, and commented that it was a REALLY big egg he got for breakfast this morning, ha!  Perfect, and my older ones loved giggling, and being in on the joke.  My baby (who just turned 1 year old, so technically isn't a baby anymore :( was just happy to get a plate, she loves to eat!  Anyway, this is a super simple way that really looks realistic.  I've used apricot halves in the past also, but I don't think they look as realistic in color.  I use Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla yogurt, that's my favorite kind anyway, and I think it has the perfect texture for making a fake egg.  Let me know your kids' reactions when you make them these 'eggs' for breakfast!!  Enjoy!

Trick "Eggs"


Per person -
1 canned peach half (a large can has about 8)
4 ounces of yogurt (my favorite for this, texture & color, is Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla)


Using a large spoon, place the yogurt onto a plate in one big pile.  Use the back of the spoon to smooth it out a bit, in a kind of oval shape.  Keep it thick, because placing the peach 'yolk' on top will flatten it some also.


Drain the peach halves well.  Use another, clean, large spoon to carefully place the egg onto the yogurt.  I try and put them a bit off center, like a real egg :)


Adding breakfast meat or ham makes the meal look even more authentic!  Enjoy!

We also had our traditional (and the one time a year I buy any sort of boxed jello product or gummy worms :) flower bouquet 'dirt cup' pudding with crumbled oreos and gummy worms for dessert.  I've done this different ways in the past, in little terra cotta individual cups (lined with foil!) and with fake flowers, hidden worms, etc. but this year I went simple and used one large container and flowers out of our yard.  Such a simple thing, but something the kids love and look forward to as one of "our" annual family traditions.  I usually do meatloaf muffins with mashed potato 'icing' on top dyed with beet juice, we're still getting into the swing of things from moving a couple of weeks ago, and Tuesdays are my most difficult to get dinner on the table days anyway, so that will have to wait; I told the oldest kids that asked about it, that it would be an even bigger 'fool' when I do it later in April, since they won't be expecting it, and they were, fortunately, excited about that.  What are some of your favorite family traditions?

Food Prep Day

Friends, I've had a revolution.  A food revolution of sorts.  It started a few weeks ago when I read my friend Natalie's post about her grocery budget and making your own chicken/vegetable stock.  I was intrigued.  I am always working towards healthier/more efficient ways for me to prepare food for our family.  By very consciously considering what I'm putting into my body I'm feeling healthier than I have, ever.  Like, even in my 20's.  It feels fantastic (more on this later) and so I've been spending a lot of time lately on meal planning.  One day this week I decided to accomplish a lot of food prep, like making these breakfast burritos that could be frozen for the rest of the week.  

I also took Natalie's advice and have been saving all of my vegetable scraps when I'm cooking, in a freezer bag.  I put them in the crockpot along with some spices and let it cook all day long.  The easiest, tastiest, vegetable broth ever.  I love that I knew exactly WHAT was in my vegetable broth when I made soup with it last night!  No guessing or worrying about what was really inside the cardboard carton from Wal-Mart.  

I also placed a whole chicken in the big crock pot this day, with spices rubbed on and an onion diced and placed in the crockpot.   I cooked this on high all day long.  It smelled fantastic! 

Once it was done cooking I let the chicken cool down and took all the meat off the bone.  I will either use this for cooking this week or put the rest in the freezer.  Then, I put the bones/skin/etc. back in the crock pot, along with some diced veggies (carrot, onion, celery) and a few spices and left it overnight.  

This made the most excellent chicken broth I was able to wake up to the next morning!  

Mind. Blown. 

(why haven't I been doing this before? It is so, so much cheaper and healthier than buying the carton broth!)

If you eat a lot of black beans (we do!) then buying a bag of dried black beans and cooking them on the stove top is so much cheaper than buying a bunch of cans of them.  You simply fill your pot with water and pour the beans in. Then simmer for a couple of hours and you're done! 

I also made breakfast burritos this same day.  It was very easy to get the vegetables and chicken going in separate crock pots while the sausage and vegetables cooked for the burritos.  I cooked 2 sweet potatoes (diced), a pound of breakfast sausage, one zucchini, and onion together in the skillet.  I also threw in some frozen peas and carrots towards the end.  Then I placed some of the filling in whole-wheat tortillas, sprinkled with cheese, and rolled them up.  I wrapped each of them in foil first, and then placed inside a Ziploc bag to store in the freezer! 

They are so good.  I just reheat them for a minute or so in the microwave. :) 

(note to self-include eggs next time! In my productive rush, I forgot)

These are the frozen veggies I put in the little crock pot to make the broth.

Wondering what the little girls were doing while I cooked?  Getting into things in the craft room is what! 

Or doing this.

So the chicken ended up making 3 huge Mason jars of chicken broth, plus all the meat! 

For $5.99.

Friends, that is a deal.

Yummy.

This food prep day took a lot of work.  It was very time-consuming and I realize I could have just bought most of the things I spent making. 

But, hear me out.  I ended up with food and broth that I feel safe using because I know the source they came from.  I ended up with a LOT of food and broth because I took the time to do it myself. 

I'm finding (typically speaking) when I rush my health and stay up too late and don't eat healthy and don't exercise I end up with more free time, more yucky tummy issues, and more sluggishness.

When I take time and slow down for my health and prepare meals, go to bed early, exercise each night, I end up with more energy, no tummy issues at all, and better quality free time. 

I'm hoping to include more of these food prep days in my routine in the future! 

Do you prep food like this?

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.

{Healthy} Breakfast Banana Splits

Becca here with a healthy and filling but still fun breakfast idea my kids loved!  For some reason breakfast is the meal of the day that I struggle the most with getting on the table.  But I notice a difference in both myself and my children when we've had a "good" breakfast, so I do try and make it a great, nutritious and protein packed start to the day.  This "banana split" comes together really quickly, and is simple enough that an older child could even prepare it on their own.  It would make a great after school snack as well. Feel free to substitute your favorite type of preserves and nuts on top - I'm thinking blueberry jam and pecans would be amazing too!  Enjoy!

{Healthy} Breakfast Banana Splits

(all amounts are per serving!)

1 banana

4 ounces Greek yogurt

1 heaping Tablespoon preserves (I used no sugar added, just fruit, raspberry here!)

1 Tablespoon roasted nuts (I used peanuts here)

Place banana into bowl; split into half if you need to, as I did here, to get it to fit!  Top with yogurt, then preserves, and then nuts.  Serve immediately.



Raspberry Cocoa Powder Smoothie

It's smoothie season! Well, technically not weather-wise, but waistline wise probably so.  I definitely indulged in many delicious Christmas cookies and was happy to do so!  And now, I'm happy to get back to filling my body with healthier choices, like this delicious and filling smoothie. 

When I make smoothies it's usually with at least one baby hanging off my legs (or sometimes two) so the measurements below are an estimate.  Feel free to use more or less, depending on your preference.  I usually just dump and make.  They always turn out great! 

Raspberry Cocoa Powder Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 cup spinach leaves

1/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened, vanilla

1/2 banana

1 TB honey

1 TB cocoa powder

Ice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in the blender until smooth!  Drink and enjoy :).  This goes especially well with a handful of almonds for a healthy, quick lunch or snack. 

Sara 

Porch Party

A Porch Party

 We had a little porch party.  A breakfast for dinner sort of shindig. 

"Let's celebrate just because" is my motto around here and we rocked this party.

 Almond milk, banana muffins (no sugar or butter-woooot), eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and bananas.

Can you celebrate today, just because?

Go on,

you can do it. :)

Pesto Egg Wrap

Becca here with a super quick, super delicious meal.  In fact, we've had these Pesto Eggs several times a week the past few weeks, and no one has complained a bit.  My two year old affectionately refers to these as green eggs, and can eat as many (or more) as I do!  A great combo also is to combine the pesto from this recipe with the kale from the recipe I posted here to go along with Dr. Seuss' classic Green Eggs & Ham!  The picture above is a 'serving suggestion' for the eggs, feel free to adapt to your family's favorites; we like them on a homemade whole wheat tortilla with a bit of avocado on top, or a bit of cheese.  Just the eggs by themselves are really flavorful, and paired with fruit make a great meal for any time of day.  I originally got the idea for mixing pesto and eggs from the Weelicious Lunches cookbook I checked out from the library.  I think eggs are a great, inexpensive, healthy protein that can be cooked in just a matter of a few minutes, making them perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Feel free to experiment your favorite store bought or homemade pesto!

Pesto Egg Wrap

*Recipe is per person, so you can easily multiply to serve your family!

2 large eggs
1 heaping Tablespoon pesto (your favorite, homemade or from the store)

Additional ingredients to make wrap pictured above:
1/4 avocado
1 whole wheat tortilla

Heat a skillet over medium high heat (I use cast iron on my gas stove).  Crack eggs into the skillet.  Break the yokes and move bottom cooked part to the top and let the liquid flow to the bottom of the skillet, carefully stirring to scramble the eggs as you go.

When the eggs are nearly set, gently stir in the pesto until thoroughly mixed and eggs are done. 

Add to warmed tortilla and top with avocado, if desired.  Enjoy! 

Broccoli, Ham, & Egg Bake

Jana here with a delicious and healthy meal that makes plenty for leftovers!  I like to make 'breakfast recipes' for dinner, just to change things up. (like one of my all time favorites, this Spinach & Bacon Frittata)  This recipe uses a 9x13 dish, and the food is pretty filling since it has ham and eggs for protein. Because of this, my family was able to eat it for dinner one night, and also have it for breakfast later in the week. I think you could use this idea in muffin tins also, and freeze the muffins to pull out for individual breakfasts as you needed them! I found inspiration for this recipe here.

Broccoli, Ham, & Egg Bake

4-6 cups small broccoli florets (fresh or frozen)
1-2 cups diced ham
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
8-10 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

2. If using frozen broccoli, thaw. Once thawed (or if using fresh), blanch the broccoli for 2 minutes. (cook in boiling water, then drain)

3. Layer the broccoli in the bottom of the baking dish, then the diced ham. Sprinkle the cheese on top.

4. In a small bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the seasonings, and stir until well combined. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the ham in the baking dish. Use a fork to 'stir' the mixture if you need to spread the egg mixture around a bit.

5. Bake 35-45 minutes, or until the egg mixture is set, and starting to brown.

Enjoy

Breakfast Skillet

Jana here with an idea for a weeknight dinner, breakfast, or brunch!  A restaurant we go to once in awhile, Village Inn, has some delicious breakfast skillets!  What's wonderful about a skillet dish like this is how easily you can adapt it to suit your family's tastes!  You can add more veggies, more protein, whatever you'd like!  I'm going to give an idea of what ours included, and then give some additional items you could add!

Breakfast Skillet

5-6 eggs
6 slices bacon, chopped
fresh mushrooms
1 large tomato, diced
3-4 medium potatoes, diced
shredded cheese
oil for cooking
salt and pepper

I scrambled the eggs in a small skillet. In a separate larger skillet, sauté the bacon pieces, mushrooms, tomato, and potatoes. Cook until items reach desired tenderness.  Season, and top with shredded cheese!

Some other yummy things to include would be ham, avocado, spinach, onions, and peppers!

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.