2 things I tried in muffin tins this week

I randomly came across these ideas from 2 completely different sources this week, but I thought they both looked fun. At the end of both, I can say that I needed to use muffin liners, because my pan is now all scratched up. They were, however, very yummy and cool because they come in the cute little muffin shape


Pizza Muffin Rollups
Start with your favorite pizza dough recipe, here's mine:

Easy Pizza Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbls yeast
1 tbls sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt (optional)
**Add this dough enhancer, it really makes your bread so much better. They don't have it in Cali, so I stock up when I'm at the Walmart in Utah!


Pour water into bowl, sprinkle yeast on top. Let yeast dissolve. Add remaining ingredients. Mix with beaters for 2 minutes. Knead a few times, using extra flour if necessary. Let rise in bowl for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out dough. Cover cooking sheet with a layer of Olive Oil, place dough on top, add toppings. Cook in preheated 400 oven for 15- 20 minutes
Now here is my muffin variation:

(just pretend you're making cinnamon rolls, except with pizza toppings)

1.

2.

3. (pour a drop or 2 of olive oil at the bottom of each one)

4. The finished product

Bacon & Egg Muffin

There is not much explanation, I think the pictures do enough. You can use ham instead of bacon.

Mold a piece of bread into a very buttered muffin tin, if you use a muffin liner, put butter in there too. Then sprinkle with bacon, then break an egg over the top. I might sprinkle some cheese on top next time. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until the egg is cooked to your taste.

Parmesan-Dijon chicken

 

I know I just posted something. I'm a little behind, sorry. My kids LOVED this.

6 boneless, skinless chkn breasts
1/2 stick of butter, melted
3/4 C dry bread crumbs
1/4 C grated parm. cheese
2 T Dijon mustard
My additions are as follows (use them if you want):
a dash of salt
a dash of garlic powder
a handful of crushed cornflakes (for more texture)

* Heat oven to 375. Mix bread crumbs, parm. cheese, salt, garlic powder, and cornflakes in a plastic bag. Stir Dijon into melted butter and mix well. Dip chkn, one piece at a time, into the Dijon mixture coating all sides, then place into the bag with the crumb mixture. Shake well to coat the whole piece of chkn. with the crumbs. Place on an un-greased dish or jelly-roll pan and bake, uncovered, for 20-30 min, turning once half way through. Check to make sure it's not pink and you're good to go.

Crock pot mexican lasagna

 

I know that some of you have seen this before and may have the recipe so I'll tell you this, the only difference is that I added a can of rinsed black beans to the mix. Otherwise here is the recipe:

4 C shredded chicken
1/2 C red enchilada sauce (you pick the spiciness)
1 C sour cream
1 can cr. mushroom soup
12-14 soft corn tort. cut or torn into pieces
1 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 can gr. chiles
1 can rinsed black beans
1 - 1 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese

* Mix ench. sauce with chkn. Mix in everything else except cheese and tort. Spray crock pot with Pam and start layering with tortillas then mixture, etc., ending with the mixture on top. Cook on low for 4-5 hrs. Top with cheese and cook for 15 more min. then serve and enjoy.

Meat!

My favorite meat preparations: Salmon and Tri-tip:

For our family, these are always easy, reliable and really good!

Dill Salmon



Ingredients:
Any size Salmon
Lemon
Mayonaisse
Dill
Salt & Pepper

All these amounts are measured by your own taste.

Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper, then squeeze on lemon, spread on mayonnaise, then sprinkle dill over the whole thing (my picture shows only half covered).

Bake 350 for 20 - 25 minutes. Or broil for 8 minutes on each side.

Tri-Tip Marinade
(Or whatever steak you have)

1 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 beef bouillon cube (I used chicken in a pinch)
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp ginger

Heat all ingredients in saucepan until dissolved. Let cool, before marinating. For best results, marinate overnight.

Enjoy your meat!

Homemade granola

This recipe is almost as easy as making cookies. And way delish-

In a pot, boil until sugar is smooth:

1 ½ C oil

1 C honey

½ C brown sugar

½ t vanilla

dash of salt

(you can double this recipe-but unless you have a gigantic bowl, you’ll want to do 2 separate pans and then have 2 separate mixing bowls too).

Add this to:

15 C regular oats (1 canister oats)

½ C millet

½ C pumpkin seeds

½ C flaxseed or wheat germ

(You can get these ingredients in dry bins at Smith's)

Mix dry mixture in a large mixing bowl. Coat oat mixture thoroughly and then spread onto cookie sheets. Bake each at 375 for 15-20 min or until golden brown. After it is baked, add dried fruit like craisins, raisins, coconut and toasted nuts (almonds). If you have dried strawberries-those are yummy too. Let it cool completely before storing. We love to eat this granola as cereal or with vanilla yogurt. Your husband will love you even more for making this. Great way using up some food storage. Mmmmmm….

All things PUMPKIN this month, right?

Pumpkin {White Chocolate Chip} Muffins

** Wish I had a picture here**

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cube butter, really softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups + 1 tbls of all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Half a bag of white chocolate chips (you can use the whole bag if you want)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Place muffin liners in tin. Or grease your muffin tin.

2. In large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, butter, sugars, and eggs. In medium bowl, combine flour, bk powder, bk soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir dry mix into pumpkin mix until well blended. Add white choc. chips. Divide evenly into muffin tin.

3. Bake 45 minutes, or until muffins spring back when lightly pressed

Makes 12 muffins. Ours were gone the next morning.

Creamy Italian Chicken

 

Crock pot meal, gotta love it.

6-8 ch breasts
2 can cr. chkn. soup
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix
1/2 to 1 chopped onion
1 can mushrooms, drained, or fresh if you want

*Grease crock pot, place chicken in, put everything on top (cube the cream cheese). Cook on high for 4 hrs. or on low for 6-8 hrs. depending on the intensity of the heat of your crock pot (mine cooks on the hot side so I did mine on low for 6 hrs.) You may want to stir occasionally to combine everything well. I served mine with brown rice, but you could also do egg noodles or even mashed potatoes. It was yummy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey - this blog has been fun.  I am trying to be "better" in my eating lately and I absolutely LOVE pumpkin CC cookies this time of year.  Here is a low fat / low calorie recipe that is awesome - without the guilt!  From Weight Watchers.

Ingredients

1 box Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz can unsweetened pumpkin
1 C. Mini Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheet with Pam. In a large bowl, stir cake mix and pumpkin together until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Use a cookie scoop or spoon to drop tablespoons of dough on cookie sheet. Bake for 12 -14 minutes. Remove to cooling rack after 1 min on sheet.

Number of Servings: 48 (small cookies)

Easy Apricot Chicken (a.k.a. Sweet n' sour chkn.)

 

Super easy and yummy.

6-8 breasts or thighs
1 18oz. jar apricot or apricot/pineapple jam
1 packet onion soup mix
8 oz. Russian dressing

*Mix and pour over chicken in a casserole dish. Bake @ 350 deg. for 1 hr. or 1 hr. 20 min. (diff. size pieces cook diff.). Serve with white or brown rice and veggies. Pour sauce from dish over rice! Yum!

Creamy Corn Chowder

I love this time of year primarily because its COMFORT FOOD season!  Yummy.  Here is a warm, creamy and healthy soup to warm you on those cold days!  -Stef

Creamy Corn Chowder
Recipe by Our Best Bites

2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. water
2 1/2 c. milk (skim or 1% work just fine and lighten it up considerably)
2 regular-sized chicken bouillon cubes, 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube, or 2 tsp. chicken base
1/2 lb. bacon (optional)
1 small onion, minced
2 red potatoes, diced into small cubes
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn, drained or about 1 1/2 C frozen fresh corn
Salt and pepper to taste
A few dashes of hot sauce (like Tabasco or Cholula)


Fry bacon until crisp. In the meantime, melt butter over low heat in a soup pot. When melted, add flour to make a roux and whisk until it comes together in a little ball. Add water and whisk until completely combined and there are no lumps. Add milk and chicken base or bouillon and bring to a simmer. Add potatoes, onions, and garlic, and simmer (but don't boil!), stirring very frequently, for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add crumbled bacon and corn and heat through. Add a few drops of hot sauce and then salt to taste. The reason why I don't have an exact measurement is that while the soup REALLY needs salt, bacon also really differs in its saltiness, so it can be super easy to make this soup waaaaay too salty. Start with about 1/4 tsp., give it a few minutes, and then add more if you need it.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with extra bacon and/or cheese if you want. Because, you know, if there's anything a perfectly healthy bowl of soup (it's only 3 Weight Watchers points!) needs, it's some extra bacon and cheese!


Serves 6-8.

Caramel Popcorn pumpkins

So, I got this idea from my friends craft blog, click here to see it. We did this for FHE tonight. Its not so much a recipe, as an idea.

Simply make your favorite caramel popcorn recipe, roll into balls.

Then use cut up tootsie rolls for the stem and green laffy taffy or lime tootsie rolls for the leaf, (I warmed mine up for 10 seconds, so it was a little more workable)

We made alot, and delivered them to some friends!

Mummy pizza

This goes with the picture below.
I made this last year for Halloween. It was super easy and fun.

6 plain bagels
pizza sauce
mozz. cheese
olive slices

*Open up bagels, spread pizza sauce, sprinkle mozz. cheese, place two olive slices for the mummy eyes. Bake 350 deg. for 10-15 min or until cheese is bubbly. You could even try broiling it.
-April

Alien brain dip

 

 

Fun and spooky way to get kids to eat veggies

Any 2-3 colors bell peppers
green olives (eyes)
pepper tops to make tongue's
asparagus spears or green onions for antenna

*Cut off tops of peppers, clean out. Fill with veggie dip. Use broken tooth picks to attach eyes and alien tongue to outside of pepper. To make the tongue's, just cut piece of pepper top into a tongue shape. Stick asp. spears or gr. onions inside dip for antenna. Serve with fav. veggies.

Let's get started

Ok ladies! Let's start putting recipes in. My hope is that we can all share recipes that we've tried and enjoyed and kids have enjoyed! I want us all to be able to cook for our families food that is fresh, and made with love. I'm so excited! You can put any recipe's in here; breakfast, lunch, dinner, easy meals, gourmet meals, snacks, desserts, anything. If you liked it, post it. Try to include a picture of it, if you can, so we can all know what it should look like. If you can't, just try to describe it in luscious detail. Woo hoo!