Category Archives: Breakfast

Getting Back To Basics

Posted on by
26

DSCF0228-001


The other day I was chatting on facebook with my friends and fellow bloggers Anita and Christine (Go visit them btw; they are both far more awesome bloggers than I) with the conversation being about food of course. Part of the subject matter was the fear people have of working with yeast. It’s a fear, that while I can understand it (yeast can be dead and you end up with a hockey puck… water too hot, you end up with a hockey puck, water too cold… hockey puck yada yada yada) I don’t have that fear. I think I was lucky. I started working with yeast back when I was a very young cook, about 20ish or so. In my naivete I didn’t realize I had anything to be scared of. There was no internet back then thus no horror stories, plus I was a young wife living in Germany and had no one to compare notes with and cooked on my own. So I made things with yeast. Did I start with easy white bread? Oh heck no. Again, no fear and lots of beginners luck. The first things I made were home made croissants and sticky buns, both of which can be temperamental and really AREN’T for beginners but I didn’t know that.  They turned out fine so thus began my relationship with yeast. We’ve gotten along fine through the years. There have been some arguments… yeast always won. But I’ve learned that if I treat it gently and keep it comfy and cozy temp wise, all is good.

But I’ve come to realize that there are a LOT of people who are leery of working with yeast. So here is Grandma Jan 😛 to explain how downright easy it is! Seriously… it’s easy. If you can cook, you can make a yeast dough. If you have ANY experiencing baking, you can make a yeast dough. So, before I get to the recipe, I’ll just give a few small tips.

1) Watch your water temp. Overly hot water/liquid kills your yeast in a heartbeat and water/liquid that is too cold will still eventually give you a risen dough, but it will take a LOT longer and if you’re new, you may wonder why your dough isn’t rising and give up thinking you’ve screwed up.

2) Use the new Platinum yeast from Red Star. It has added dough conditioners and it makes a difference in the final product. If you can’t find it though, use regular yeast…. it’s still fine

3) Knead knead knead. Under kneading seems to be the biggest mistake people make. If doing it in a stand mixer, follow the directions in the recipe. If kneading by hand, do the same. Kneading develops the gluten in the dough which gives you the texture you want. If the recipe says to knead for ten minutes, set a timer and knead for ten minutes. Also, the first few times you make bread, please, knead by hand. You need to develop a feel for what well kneaded bread dough should feel like. You’re looking for firm springy smooth rather elastic dough most of the time (unless the recipe says otherwise) And it’s a great arm workout hehe.

4) have your ingredients ready. Nine times out of ten, you will mix your yeast with water and let it proof while you do other things. But it’s usually for just a few minutes and then you continue on. So if there is another liquid that must be heated and cooled, have that already done so that your yeast isn’t turning into a the blob that ate Manhattan while you wait for something to cool.  And have your ingredients at room temp. You should always do that ANYWAY when baking but it matters more with a bread dough. This particular recipe calls for two egg yolks and you really don’t want to take ice cold eggs and mix them with your yeast as that throw off the temp. Bottom line? It’s not hard… you just need to remember some little things.

Ok, on to the recipe. This one is from Ina Garten and it’s awesome. The dough is wonderful! If you’ve made bread before, you know what I mean. This is so smooth, so elastic and so easy to work with. Not sticky at all but not too floury. It’s a great one for the beginner and quick for the experienced. The bread is soft with a good chew and a wonderful smell!

Classic Honey White Bread

  • 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees F; no more than 117 or so)
  • 2 packages dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups milk, heated and cooled to 110 to 115 degrees
  • 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled (plus more for the top of the finished loaves if desired)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 extra large egg yolks (I only had large eggs and 2 of those yolks worked fine)
  • 5 to 6 cups all purpose flour (I used bread flour and ended up needing 5 and 1/3 cups. You may need a bit more or less depending on the temp in your house, humidity, moistness level of the flour, etc. You want to end up with a firm not sticky but not rock hard dough)
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  1. Place the water in a measuring cup. Add the yeast and the sugar; stir and allow it to sit for about five minutes.
  2. Add the milk, honey, butter and yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on medium speed until blended.  Add the egg yolks, 3 cups of the flour and the salt.mix on low speed for five minutes.
  3. Keep the mixer on low and add 2 more cups of flour. Turn the mixer off and scrape the sides of the bowl. Raise the speed to medium and slowly add just enough more flour so that the dough comes away from the bowl and isn’t sticking to the sides. If you don’t have a stand mixer, the best way to do the mixing is with a heavy wooden spoon.
  4. Knead on medium speed for eight minutes. If hand kneading, dump the dough out onto a LIGHTLY floured board or counter and knead for eight minutes, until the dough is smooth, springy feeling and elastic.
  5. If doing in the mixer, when time is up, dump your dough out and knead for a minute or two. Grease a large bowl with butter. Put the dough in it, smushing it around to butter the bottom, then turn it over so that the bottom is now on top. Cover the bowl with a very slightly damp towel and put in a warm place to rise. While the bread is kneading, I turn the oven on to it’s lowest setting, let it get there then turn the oven off and crack the door a tiny bit. By the time the kneading is done, It should be about 85 degrees or so in the oven which is a perfect temp to rise bread dough at.
  6. Let the dough rise until it has pretty much doubled in bulk.
  7. Punch the dough down, turn it out and cut it in half. Shape each half into a loaf and put into two buttered loaf pans.
  8. Put back in the warm oven (or other warm place) and let rise again, also until doubled. It should be nicely risen to about an inch or so above the top of the loaf pan.
  9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the loaves for about 40 to 45 minutes or until it is a light golden brown and has a rather hollow sound when tapped on top.
  10.  Let sit in the pans on a wire rack for two to three minutes, then carefully turn out of the pan onto the rack to finish cooling.
  11. Take a loaf of bread, some butter and a jar of jam into the closet, hide from the kids and eat bread and read a trashy novel. I won’t tell.


Print Friendly and PDF

Leftovers? What Leftovers?

Posted on by
2


Sweet Potato Bread- mashed sweet potatoes, wonderful warm spices, lots of flavor

My household is, in very many ways, a fairly typical American household. In most respects, I’m fine with that; proud of it as a matter of fact. One way I’m not so thrilled however is in the amount of food we tend to waste. Fruits and veggies that go bad before we get to them, meat that gets freezer burned, leftovers that everyone gets sick of and end up getting tossed. It annoys the poop out of me. Which is why, after a day like Thanksgiving, when there are enough leftovers in most families to feed a small country, I like to try to do something with what I can. Something other than serving Russ and the boys turkey and the fixings for yet. One.More.Meal.

Being me however, what really happens is that they get turkey and all the fixings for just one. more. meal. And they cry and gnash their teeth and threaten to move into the neighbors house (and if you’ve seen me talk about my psychotic neighbor, you know the desperation THAT entails). So I placate them. I take the good stuff and recycle it into…well… other good stuff.

There’s a lot you can do with leftover cranberry sauce. A lot you can do with leftover sweet potato casserole. Yep, even with the kind that has 36 cups of brown sugar in it, as well as 8 sticks of butter and 5 bags of mini marshmallows. Trust me. Being the mom of six kids, with the typical “omg, our monthly bills cost HOW much?!” life, I’ve learned to create some yummy stuff out of other stuff that was also yummy once upon a time but that now just causes people to cry when they see it. Mind you, we are also a “normal” American family in that we still spend too much on groceries and still waste too much, but I like to delude myself into thinking that I have a handle on it and am getting better at it. Delusion is also an American way of life hehe.

This bread is a good way to get rid of those last few scoops of sweet potatoes. Don’t bother trying to scrape off the marshmallows (or nuts if you use them) or whatever else is in there. Just use it all. You’ll get a nice moist flavorful bread and a “woohoo!” feeling when you know that you don’t have to nuke the stuff for yet another meal.

Sweet Potato Bread

A nice golden loaf of bread flecked with bits of sweet potato. This will fill your home with the smells of the holiday season as it bakes. Moist and tender, this is great spread with butter or some pumpkin butter if you have it.

  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups (give or take a 1/2 cup or so. I usually go over and it’s fine) mashed sweet potatoes or leftover sweet potatoes
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease and flour (I use Bakers Joy) a large 9 (or even a 10 if you have it) inch bread pan and about 3 muffin cups. Yes, 3… this makes too much batter for one loaf, not enough for 2 8 inch loaves so I usually get the 9 inch loaf and a few muffins from it. The muffins become mine because I’m the cook… I think of it as a mom tax 😀
  3. In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugars,  eggs, vanilla extract and sweet potatoes. Mix well.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Dump them into the large bowl and using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, combine just until mixed. Do NOT over beat.
  5. Pour/spoon into the loaf pan and muffin cups.
  6. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with no crumbs on it. This will take about 20 minutes for the muffins and about 65 to 75 minutes for the loaf.
  7. Let cool in the pan for ten minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Try not to cut this until it is completely cool, cause it can be a bit gummy when warm due to the sweet potatoes. When cool however, it is just moist and tender.

Print Friendly and PDF

Tradition! Tradition! (Insert “Tevya” from “Fiddler On The Roof” voice Here)

Posted on by
7

Chocolate Orange Muffins

 

Back when my older kids were little, I started a tradition that still goes on today. It will probably continue when I am too old to see the stove and burn everything and there is a more than even chance that it will continue after my death. No, not because they will take over the duties but because they will dig me up, put a wooden spoon in my hand and set me in front of the stove. What is said tradition? Making so many darn Christmas cookies that we all start to gag at the thought of eating yet one more cookie. I make the same 7 or  15 8 kinds each year then add about 7 or 15 8 new ones. Add to this an assortment of home made candies, scones, muffins and such and we spend the holidays in a haze of sugar induced illness. But it’s so darn fun!! Or something. It gives me an excuse to get out my fat girl pants and loose shirts cause Lord knows nothing else will fit anyway.

So I have started looking for some new recipes for all of the above things. I have a few boards up on Pinterest with a vast assortment of things to make for the Christmas season. Were I to actually make all of the things I have pinned, every person in my family would weigh about 600 pounds. But, moving on… or back… or sideways, not sure which… one of the recipes I found was one for Chocolate Orange Muffins because something about the combo of chocolate and orange just strikes me as Christmasy. The one I found came from food.com  but I have changed it up quite a bit. As I’ve mentioned before, I am genetically incapable of making a recipe the way it’s written. This could be why I mess up boxed mac and cheese and hamburger helper. I always want to “fix” them. But this recipe got “fixed” quite nicely if I do say so myself. They may just be on the Christmas buffet. Well, not this batch… that would be rather disgusting. 😛

These are quite good. Moist with a nice orange flavor that is complemented by soft gooey bits of chocolate. The ganache makes these almost cupcake like but yet they aren’t too sweet for breakfast or to have with a cup of coffee.

Chocolate Orange Muffins With A Chocolate Orange Ganache Drizzle

  • Zest from one large orange (about 2 to 3 tablespoons)
  • 10 ounce bag dark chocolate chips, 1/3 cup reserved
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon orange extract (or about 4 drops of orange oil)
  • 1/2 cup good quality orange marmalade
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional but it goes well with both the orange and the chocolate)
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream (for the ganache and the amount can vary, thus the range)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Line 16 muffin cups with paper or foil liners.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and the sugar
  4. Beat in the eggs, vanilla extract and orange extract/oil. Add the sour cream & orange juice. Mix well.
  5. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda
  6. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula,  gently mix the flour mixture into the wet ones. Do NOT overbeat. Then fold in the chocolate, holding back that third cup. You’ll use that for the ganache.
  7. Spoon the muffin batter into the lined cups, getting each one almost full. Make a little dent in the top of each and spoon a bit of the orange marmalade on each muffin.
  8. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and the top no longer looks “wet”.
  9. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
  10. To make the ganache- in a small microwave safe bowl, mix together the reserved chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of the cream. Heat on 70% power for 45 seconds, then stir well. If it looks rather curdled and not shiny and smooth, ad more cream, a LITTLE bit at a time. It should get smooth and satiny looking. If it’s still too thick to drizzle though, continue adding cream a bit at a time until it’s thin enough to drizzle.
  11. Drizzle the ganache over the cooled muffins. Inhale one…or six. I won’t tell.

 


Print Friendly and PDF

Foodie Phases

Posted on by
3


Do you ever find yourself going through phases when it comes to eating and/or cooking? I know I do. And I don’t mean Twinkies or Cheetos or chocolate (oh my). Those aren’t phases. Those are needs of life that keep me functioning and breathing and keep many women from eating their young. I mean times when you find yourself cooking (or eating) the same types of food over and over again.

I tend to do this often.

My family cries.

Which means I get to eat all of things I make because they are too busy crying and saying “can’t we PLEASE have something other than dishes made with pickled herring!?’ (don’t ask)

Luckily for all of you, I am NOT going through a pickled herring phase… though talking about it right now has me craving some.

My phase right now is yeast breads. Not quick breads though I love me some Pumpkin Bread or maybe some
Pumpkin Cranberry Bread or some Spiced Brown Sugar Carrot Bread or…. ok, ok, I’ll stop now. Damn. Now I want some of those too. I need to quit talking about food.

Well, back to talking about food now. Yeast breads. Current phase…yada yada yada. Tis my current food “thing” right now however. I am enjoying honing my yeasty skills and playing around with some old recipes. I’ve mentioned before that I love artisan style breads though I still giggle when I realize that what we are all calling artisan most times simply means using grains and ideas that have been around for hundreds of years but fell out of favor to be replaced by mushy soft plastic bagged white bread. Wow… can we say run on sentence?

One style of bread I love is multi grain. I enjoy the flavor, I enjoy the texture from using something other than white flour and I love the chewiness and heartiness of a rustic artisan bread. Now if I could only hone my bread shaping skills cause I suck at that part of it lol. I always end up with these misshapen ovals instead of pretty ones. But that’s ok, they taste good anyway. And this one turned out quite well if I do say so myself. It’s a multi grain wheat bread and I added some dried cranberries to it as well. For a good place to go to get some grains and seeds to add to your breads, try the King Arthur Flour site . I absolutely love their products. My current favorite is the 12 grain artisan bread flavor . It’s a boat load of seeds and grains all mixed up into one tasty bundle and it helps make a good bread fantastic. So go get out some yeast and start baking. This one is chewy, hearty and oh so good with soup or stew.

Multi Grain Wheat & Fruit Bread

  • 1 cup 7 grain uncooked cereal (I use <a href=”http://www.bobsredmill.com/7-grain-hot-cereal.html”>Bobs Red Mill Brand</a>
  • 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 1 package yeast
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup warm water (about 110 degrees is optimal)
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 4 tablespoons oil
  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 cup King Arthur 12 grain artisan bread flavor (can use 1/2 cup sunflower seeds instead)
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  1. Combine the 7 grain cereal and boiling water in a large bowl. Let sit for ten minutes.
  2. Dissolve the yeast, 1 teaspoon of the sugar and the 1/4 cup warm water in a measuring cup. Let it stand for about 5 minutes. It should get nice and foamy.
  3. Add the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, remaining sugar, oil and yeast mixture to the bowl with the cereal.
  4. Mix in the 3/4 cup of warm water, then mix in the egg yolk.
  5. Dump it all onto a LIGHTLY floured board. Add in the 1/2 cup grains (or sunflower seeds) and the cranberries and knead everything together. At first you will have a rough shaggy mess of dough with lots of loose bits and pieces but keep kneading and it will all come together. Knead for about 5 minutes, then put the dough into an oiled bowl, turning the dough to get the top side oiled too.
  6. Cover the bowl loosely with either plastic wrap or a clean dishtowel. Place in a warm spot (I set mine near my wood burning stove…nice and warm) and let rise until it has doubled in bulk.
  7. Punch down and pull dough into 2 parts. Shape each into an oval shaped loaf, place on oiled baking sheets and let rise again until they have doubled in size. While they are rising, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Bake loaves for about 30 minutes or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
  8. I should tell you that these will cut better when cooled but we all know that fresh bread never gets a chance to cool, so I won’t bother hehe

Print Friendly and PDF

Eggnog, Fruitcake And Happy Accidents

Posted on by
4

 

Eggnog and fruitcake; you either love them or hate them. I have never met anyone who says “Oh, fruitcake (or eggnog) is ok. I eat some every year but that’s about it”. From what I’ve seen it’s more like this

Person 1- “I am really loving this eggnog I’m drinking. I look forward to it every year!”

Person 2- “OMG!!! You sick bas****!!! Get away from me if you drink that crap! It’s nasty! It’s made from Llama brains! You are no longer a part of my life!!

Person 3- *tackles person one, steals the eggnog and sucks it all down in 5 seconds flat, then proceeds to hold up an eggnog delivery truck to appease their addiction*

Replace eggnog and drinking with fruitcake and eating and you have the picture of the typical reactions to both eggnog and fruitcake. I stand firmly in the camp of those holding up eggnog/fruitcake trucks. Not….erhmmmmm *whistles innocently* that I’ve ever done that.

I adore both eggnog and the much maligned fruitcake. I make my own fruitcake every year (you can get it how you like it that way, which in my case means a ton of fruit) and tend to buy one or two or eight of the preservative filled Hostess or whatever brand I see… “Joes Fruitcake anyone”? fruitcakes. And I happily slurp down a gallon or twelve of store bought eggnog each holiday season. Don’t get me wrong… home made is good too but somehow it just isn’t the same as the overly thick, overly sweet kind from a carton.

So when I saw a recipe a while back on Mandys Recipe Box  for eggnog coffee cake, I knew I had to try it. I mean… it uses store bought eggnog! But (no offense Mandy) I knew I wanted to change it up a bit. Originally though, it wasn’t going to be a big change, just a matter of more struesel and more spice as well as the chance to use my LorAnn Eggnog Flavoring. But, like I said, that was originally. It ended up being a larger change than I meant to make but it actually all worked out and saved some calories to boot. PLUS, made this egg free for those who like that. How? Simple. I forgot to add the eggs to the batter. Oops. When I saw how thick the batter was, I added about 2 tablespoons more eggnog to thin it out some. It seems to have done the trick in replacing the eggs because this was quite yummy without them. And it was still moist and tender. So, as far as I am concerned, the eggs are optional. Next time I make it, I’ll add the eggs out of curiosity but that’s about it lol.

Sooooo… if you like eggnog and warm from the oven baked goods, try this. It has a nice eggnog flavor and a moist tender crumb (even without the eggs hehe). Good cake for a weekend breakfast or a simple dessert. This comes together quickly. The original recipe called for an 8 hour rest time but I skipped that and it was fine. That would however be handy if you wanted to mix it up the night before and just pour and bake the next morning.

Eggnog Coffee Cake

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 cup eggnog (add an extra 2 to 3 tablespoons if omitting eggs)
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon rum extract
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon eggnog flavoring (optional)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • STRUESEL- (I doubled this)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • GLAZE-
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons eggnog (enough to make a glaze of drizzling consistency)
  1. Grease bottom of a 13×9 inch pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together your struesel ingredients and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together your butter and sugar until creamy.
  3. Add in the eggnog, sour cream , extracts and eggs (if using).
  4. On low speed, beat in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  5. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. At this point you can refrigerate for 8 or more hours, but like I said, I didn’t.
  6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  7. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack.
  8. Mix together your glaze ingredients and eat a spoonful of it and drizzle all over the coffeecake.

Print Friendly and PDF

Psssstttt…. Remember Me?

Posted on by
9

Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Pie Parfait

 

Hey there everybody! Did you all have a good Summer? ready for Autumn? Me too. You back there in the corner saying “no, I want it to be 95 degrees still”… please leave. You scare me. 😛

I had to gasp a little bit when I saw that it had been almost 2 months since my last post. Sit back with a hot drink while I try to explain. In a nutshell… life just got a bit overwhelming and I needed to prioritize a little. Those of you who also blog can empathize when I say that at times you get so involved in the blogging world that the real one tends to fade away. And while that can be fun, it also isn’t healthy.

What also isn’t healthy is having a blog known for decadent treats and having to taste test all of it before you post lol. Mind you, I’ve always been good about not eating much of what I made for the blog but it was difficult having it around. The reason being, I was on a personal journey of my own to lose some of my excess weight. Have I succeeded you ask? Well, when I started I was a tight size 16 verging on 18. Now I’m more or less comfortable size 12 (depends on the brand of clothing). Almost 50 pounds of me gone with the wind…or the scale…or the Twinkies. Whichever 😛 Had I kept posting the things I normally made, I’m not positive I could have done this. Now however, I have the confidence to get back to work here.

Will everything I make now be low cal, healthy and boring? Hell no! I will still be posting decadent treats full of fat and calories. But… I will also be posting things that taste great but won’t make you need to pull out your fat girl pants.

What I am coming back with today is a mix of the two. Like I said up top, I’m ready for Autumn. To me, Autumn means pumpkin. Then I have a side of pumpkin and follow it up with some pumpkin to make it a nice rounded meal. 😀 Yeah, I kinda like pumpkin. I also like fitting into those size twelves. So that means that the decadent pumpkin treats have to be doled out carefully. Mind you, this isn’t exactly low cal. But neither is it a slice of pumpkin pie covered in home made whipped cream. And there is actually nutritional value in this. Go figure huh? Me… posting something semi good for you.

This also tastes amazing. It will take care of that pumpkin pie craving quite nicely at about 210 calories per serving. It’s also rich, creamy and decadent but made with Greek yogurt. I have this showing as one parfait but in truth that’s because I had no small glasses. This is easily enough for two people (thus the 210 calories). So go get some yogurt and open up a can of pumpkin. I think you’re going to like this.

Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Pie Parfait

  • 1 6 ounce carton vanilla Greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons canned pumpkin (NOT pie filling)
  • 1/3 cup granola (just use your favorite)
  • 3 tablespoons + one teaspoon light  non dairy whipped topping
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  1. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, brown sugar, pumpkin and 3 tablespoons of whipped topping by folding them together gently. Fold in the spices.
  2. In 1 regular sized or 2 small parfait glasses (or any glass…or bowl…or dog dish; up to you) sprinkle down half of the granola. Top with half the yogurt mixture. Top with more granola, holding back some for garnish if desired. Top with the remaining yogurt. Garnish with the remaining granola, the teaspoon of whipped topping and some cinnamon. Refrigerate for about an hour to soften up the granola.
  3. Dive in
  4. Put away your fat girl pants.

Print Friendly and PDF

// ]]>

Booberry! No, Lemon! No, Booberry! No, Lemon! MOMMA!!!!

Posted on by
19

Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake

This is what you hear when you ask your kids what kind of quick bread or pound cake you should make today. Our “boo” (Joshie to the uninitiated) wanted “booberry”). On a side note, my husband started calling Josh Boo when he was but a wee infant and the nick name just kind of stuck. Now he is Boo to practically everyone. We have half joked that when he gets to school age and the teacher asks his name, his response will be “Boo Aaron Brand!” and on his wedding day, the pastor will be asking his bride if she takes “Boo” to be her husband. Yes, we’re a strange strange family. I somehow doubt this comes as much of a surprise.

Moving on… Boo wanted “booberry cake”, Jordan (Zach was still asleep…at noon. Ahhh, the life of a teen on Summer vacation from school) wanted lemon. So what was a mother to do? I did NOT want to make one of each… too expensive and results in too much in the way of sweets in the house. Nor did I want to disappoint either boy.

So I remembered the recipe I had recently printed out for Ina Gartens Lemon Yogurt Cake. I’ve said before and I’m sure I’ll say again; you can never go wrong with Ina’s recipes. The woman is a cooking goddess. I have another one…or maybe two… might be three… of her recipes waiting to try after payday. With this recipe, I decided I could make both boys happy. I simply made the cake as written but adding about 2 cups of blueberries to the batter just before pouring it into the pan. On a side note, you ever make something while thinking to yourself what a cooking goddess/god YOU are only to find out after the fact that 350,000 have done the almost exact same thing before you did? Rather disheartening to ones cooking goddess dreams isn’t it? It’s like this big “well crap, I invented this darn it! I did, I did, I didddddd!!!” Sorry. I’m done now. 😛 Continue reading →

Change Is Good??

Posted on by
26


 


 

 

Alternately titled “Eating My Words” 😛

More than once in past posts, I have mentioned various foods I don’t like. Liver, Hazelnuts, peanut butter (well, peanut butter is a sometimes thing in the occasional PB&J sandwich but not the great love that I know it is of many bloggers *suddenly hears a ghostly voice saying “Get me a beer and a sammich, bi***!”).

Most the these hates are come by honestly and not just the odd prejudice. Peanut butter is something I didn’t really even care for as a kid; even the smell bugged me. Liver…well, I was brought up when the mothers of our generation were still doing the “you will sit there at that table until you eat every bite of your food” so many was the time I found myself gagging down cold liver *shudders*. As for hazelnuts, I was blessed to be able to live in Germany for 3 years during the time my ex husband was stationed there and it seemed like every….single….piece….of….chocolate…was infused with either a hazelnut paste or just the flavor. I grew to hate hazelnuts lol.

This led to me not really able to get into the current Nutella craze. You know what I mean…. every day you can come across 25 blogs sporting nutella recipes 😛

But you know how your tastes change over time? Well, one fairly recent day, I was in the store and saw one of those nutella snack packs with the little breadsticks and bought it on a whim as my husband looked at me as though I had lost it because he knows I hate the stuff. What can I say? I was shopping while hungry. Liver probably would have looked ok. I opened it for a snack later that night and tentatively took a taste. And fell in nutella love. And then had myself voluntarily committed because I hate hazelnuts. Now, mind you, it’s not something I eat every day and it’s never going to be on my top ten list of favorites but I do enjoy the snack packs now and a periodic spoonful of nutella.

So today I had an idea. I was going to make raspberry muffins and then thought to myself “Self… you’re freaking boring” So I thought I’d add chocolate. Then myself said to…well, myself… “self, this is looking better but you’re still not quite there. Try again”. At that point, I slapped myself around a few times to shut me up because it was getting a bit freaky in my head what with myself talking to myself. After a few slaps, the idea to put nutella in the muffins came to mind. I blame the temporary insanity on the slaps…and copious amounts of caffeine…and genetics. Continue reading →

Snickering Over Doodles

Posted on by
19

 

Snickerdoodle Muffins. Yum!!

I think I’ve mentioned before that I was a weird kid haven’t I? Not that this comes as a surprise to any of you who read my blog.  I have to say though, I came by it honestly. It was all the fault of my brother and sister. They corrupted me. Yep, yep yep. All laid at their psychological doorsteps. There was the time they filled the washing machine with tons of soap and it overflowed everywhere. When confronted by our dad, they said that I did it. Hello?! I was so young I don’t really even remember this happening, it’s just one of those passed down family stories. Point being, if I was that small, how the heck did I reach the washer? But, dad bribed me to “tell the truth” with an offer of jello. I’m a sucker when it comes to jello so I fessed up. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get the jello.

That was just one of the many ways they warped my poor tender psyche. There were also words which have stuck with me to this day and still make the five year old stuck inside my feeble minded middle aged body giggle hysterically. Like the word doodle. To you and you and you it means a sort of random drawing right? I don’t want to know what it means to YOU, you sick puppy. 😛

Not to me though. Nope. Done been warped, I tell you. It’s all his fault *points to my brother and wonder if he sees this*. Doodle to me still brings up mental images of a coloring book I had as a child that, on the cover, told me, in gaily colored words, that one of the fun things to do inside was to “doodle”. And I giggled. My brother giggled. My sister giggled. I’m pretty sure the dog giggled. Because to us,  doodles were a certain part of the upper female anatomy. We were kids… thinking of that part made us giggle. Lots. How did the word doodle come to mean boobs… breasts… cleavage, knockers, hooters…well, you get the point. I have. No. Earthly. Idea. I need to ask my brother. He’s even older and more decrepit than I, so he may know how that word came to be the word for boobage in our admittedly strange household. Continue reading →

Blackberry, You Taste So Sweet

Posted on by
23

Blackberry Lemonade Muffins

It’s become a challenge to find a video that will go with each blog post. Why do I do it you ask? Because I’m extremely strange first of all and also because once I start something. I become rather obsessive. 😀 This my friends, is why you get a really lame video with almost every post now hehe. I like to think of it as my being your doorway to new musical tastes. Or insanity. Whichever. You know you liked The Carrot Song.

I have a thing for berries also. I wait every year for them to show up fresh at stores for a decent price and not having the taste of…well… nothing at all. Out of season berries really suck donkey toes. So when I can’t get them, I use frozen. It’s not quite the same but it’s pretty darn close and it keeps me from going into “Lack of Berry Convulsions”, otherwise knows as LOBC. Don’t ask me how you pronounce that. Just roll with it cause you love me.

I like muffins. So does
this lovely lady who happens to be one of my favoriteist (yes, that too is now a word cause I said so) people.

Muffins are yummy. They can have all sorts of bad for you things in them (not that my muffin today does; just saying) and yet you can get away with eating 12 of them because they’re muffins. Not cupcakes, not cookies, but muffins. And if you add fruit in them, you then earned the right to call yourself the healthiest cook ever. Or something. Do that rolling with me thing again. Continue reading →