An Apple...Muffin...for the Teacher

     This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at Kyleigh's school. Today we were asked to send in muffins for the teachers.

     Putting a little twist on 'an apple for the teacher', Kyleigh brought in Mini Cinnamon Apple Walnut Muffins. (Recipe is at the bottom of the post.)

It's All Quiche To Me

Spinach & Bacon Quiche
adapted from Recipe.com Magazine

makes 6 servings, Weight Watchers 7 Points Plus per serving

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust
• 4 slices of bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 5 large eggs
• 3/4 cup fat free milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 package (5 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (1/2 cup)
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

    

Dinner Diary with Pictures -- Last Week of December

Sunday was Christmas and we were at Nate's parents house.
    His Mom made ham, green bean casserole, cheesy potato bake and a cheesy pineapple bake. It was some goooood eating. :)

Monday we were at Nate's parent's house for the big family Christmas get-together.
    Everybody brought something. There was a Baked Ziti, penne with sundried tomatoes, scalloped potatoes, venison sausage, salad, bread, and fruit. And then we brought pigs in a blanket and mashed potatoes. Then there was dessert. :) We brought Santa's chocolate chip cookies, layered mint fudge and butterscotch marshmallow fudge. My sister-in-law and her husband made a fabulously divine caramel cake. I ate one slice of that and was done. I didn't even try the other varieties of cookies that others brought. :)

Tuesday I made Tortellini Alfredo Casserole using an adapted version of a recipe I found in Recipe.com magazine.

Weekday Mornings

    Here in my neck of the woods, school is back in full swing and I have suddenly become very aware of what my family is putting in their bellies first thing in the morning. Is that cereal going to stay with my kindergartner all morning? Is my hubby really going to eat something when he gets to work? Most likely he'll get too busy and forget to eat until about lunch. As for my bundle of energy, well, I need to make sure her breakfast really counts. Of course without anyone getting bored with what is being served up. I admit, I am bored with the cereal-for-breakfast routine. So let's keep it interesting...

Eggs Benedict Mini-Series--Week 4

This is it! The culmination of the first mini series! Hard to believe this is the fourth week already. 


So let's rewind a bit.


    The first week we learned that eggs Benedict is a specialty dish served for breakfast, or lunch, or even brunch. The dish starts with a toasted English muffin half that is then topped with a slice of ham, or Canadian bacon, followed by a poached egg, and finally topped with a healthy dollop of hollandaise sauce. 
    While the construction of the dish is pretty straightforward, the history behind it is not. And we'll leave it at that for the "sum up". 


    After learning about the components that make up the dish, it became time to examine the pieces. The second week we delved into the poached egg layer. We discovered a few different approaches, but all-in-all, it boiled (no pun intended, seriously) down to the same way. 

There were a few missteps but my egg poaching will improve the more I do it--as is the truth with anything. 

Eggs Benedict Mini-Series--Week 3

It's Thursday, and you know what that means! The next installment of the Eggs Benedict Series. 

This week features the hollandaise sauce. I imagine that, with time, the sauce becomes easier to prepare--much like poaching the eggs. Another component to getting it right is having a recipe you are comfortable with. Don't fret, there are many to choose from.

Muffins with a Side of Mondays

    Last fall toward the end of pumpkin season, I bought up some of the last pumpkins I could find at the farmer's market. I took 'em home, steamed them, pureed them, and then froze them so I could break out the fresh pumpkin during the summer--when most pumpkins are unavailable since they are still growing. 

    The first container out in order to thaw was the white pumpkin puree. (Sometimes called Cinderella pumpkins.) I placed it in the fridge on a Tuesday, and on Thursday we had nachos and quesadillas for dinner. Seeing the now-thawed pumpkin, I used some of it in the cheese sauce (along with pureed peas) to increase the nutritional value of probably the one thing my girls would devour. :) They didn't suspect a thing. ::Insert evil laugh here::

    Coming back into the kitchen ready to make muffins, the remaining puree was looking out at me asking to be picked.....so I obliged. :) 

And we came up with---

White Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

Giant Breakfast Muffins--Avocado Banana!

Do I smell a Muffin Monday in the air? Perhaps.


Today it is more of an Avocado Banana Muffin aroma. And these are GIANT muffins! :)

Eggs Benedict Mini-Series--Week 1

I am super excited to announce the introduction of mini-series on HomeBaked Goodness!


Each week there will be a new "installment" of the series.


For my first adventure--Eggs Benedict.

Picture from Wizard Recipes.

Celebrate Mondays!

    Today is March 21! (Happy Birthday to my Brother-in-law!!!) How is March almost over? Where did the last 21 days go? Seriously, I barely remember. It is just a blur. Nonetheless, March is almost over. But that means spring is here and we are ready to welcome it with open arms. 
    I have the windows open and a nice little breeze blowing in and the sun comes and goes, the birds are chirping, my windchimes are singing, and the trees are budding. The smell of freshly mowed grass is in the air as well. It's warm without being too overwhelming, like being kissed on the face when you walk out. I love when we actually get to have a spring here in NC. It seems like most years we go from 40 degree weather one day to 80+ the next-- no, I'm serious. I'm not exaggerating on this one. It really has done that. But not today...ahhh, today. 

    For breakfast this morning, I decided to make french toast. Why not? While cooking these up, I remembered that we had picked up some strawberries at the grocery over the weekend. How to incorporate these into this breakfast? Then I remembered that we also had picked up some Greek yogurt. 

    
    I took out my food processor, rinsed off some strawberries, tossed 'em in, then scooped up some yogurt. After pulsing that for a minute or two, I wanted to add an extra healthy element, so I poured in a bit of wheat germ and then pulsed again. Ssshhhh! Don't tell the girls. :)

    The sauce turned out great on top of the french toast with Nutella. Great way to start off the day!

A few bites in. :)

I LOVE STRAWBERRIES!!

Chocolate Crepes w/ Pumpkin Cream Cheese

    It's time for dinner again-- oh, what to make? I was craving breakfast but how to make it seem new and fresh? While looking through some cookbooks for last week's Super Food Friday, I discovered a recipe for chocolate crepes...why not give it a go? But what to fill it with? For Stuffed French Toast I whipped up a semi unsuccessful pumpkin cream cheese, so I decided to try again. Thanks to the help of my four-year-old, this one was on  the money!
    I have to admit, one of the reasons I love making crepes is because I enjoy watching my daughter's face when I flip it without using a spatula. And it is just something I have fun doing: flipping crepes in the air. :) And having crepes is an excellent excuse to eat chocolate and maple syrup for dinner! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

   Chocolate Crepes
     found in and adapted from Wonderful ways to prepare Crepes & Pancakes

3 eggs.

 

  Crepes
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp melted butter

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling.

  Filling
1 package cream cheese
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Beat eggs with milk.

    Beat the eggs, then add the milk and vanilla extract and mix well by hand or in an electric mixer.

    Sift the flour with the sugar and cocoa and slowly add to the egg and milk mixture.

Flour, sugar and cocoa.

    Stir in the melted butter and blend thoroughly.
    If mixing by hand, pour the batter through a strainer to remove any lumps. Set aside to whip up the filling.
    In a mixer, beat the cream cheese until soft and creamy. Add in the pumpkin and beat well. Beat in the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Set aside for when it's time to eat!

Eggs, milk, flour, sugar, & cocoa.

    Heat a pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, turn down to medium (about a 5 on a scale of 10). Pour 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup of the batter (depending on the size of the pan) in the center of a hot, lightly greased pan. I poured my batter into a liquid measuring cup to make pouring easier and less messy--worked like a charm!
    Tip the pan in a circular motion to spread the batter around. Cook until the top is dry, then flip over and cook about 30 seconds.

Chocolate crepe batter.

Use cup to pour batter.

Cover the pan in a circular tipping motion.

Ready to be flipped.

The beautiful color of the done side after being flipped.

Chocolate crepes rolled with filling slathered in maple syrup.

  

    Looking for a dessert crepe instead? The next day I was craving something sweet and went hunting in through the kitchen. I found some leftover Maple Butter Frosting (yes, frosting) from the Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes and figured chocolate with a Maple Butter--how could I go wrong? Looking for a different dessert? This is it! Spread a decent layer of the frosting down the center, roll it up, and chomp away! Ya might want to have a glass of milk on hand. ;)

    Whichever way you go, enjoy it!

Stuffed French Toast w/ Pumpkin Cream Cheese

    For awhile, I've been wanting to make some sort of stuffed french toast for dinner but something always came up which put that out of the question. On Monday I decided "to heck with it" and just did it. I had pureed pumpkin already waiting for me in the fridge.

     I creamed together 3/4 cup of the pureed pumpkin with 8 ounces of cream cheese along with some cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice (my favorite spices to use with pumpkin!). 

     I love using Texas Toast when I make french toast because of its thickness-- the slices are 1 inch thick! Great for french toast, and even better for stuffed french toast! After making the filling, I sliced a pocket in the slices of bread with a knife and left about 1/4-inch around the other three sides.

     Then, using a spatula, I filled the 'pockets' with the pumpkin cream cheese. I then dunked the stuffed bread slices into the egg mixture (5 eggs whisked with a little milk, cinnamon, and melted butter); one side, then the other. 

    Then they went into an already hot pan--after it gets hot, put the heat to medium so that the outsides won't burn before warming the inside. The girls were pretty hungry so I couldn't get a good picture before they were inhaled, but you are aiming for a nice even brown. Mine are a little uneven, but like I said, I had to hungry girls not concerned with even browning--just french toast with butter and maple syrup!

  
    If you give this a go, I really hope you enjoy them! I will use any excuse possible to eat chocolate, so of course I slathered some Nutella on mine then topped with maple syrup--I highly recommend this! My hubby likes giving them a good layering of butter then sifting some powdered sugar on top. The melted butter mixes with the powdered sugar for a pretty sweet topping to any piece of french toast, pancake, or waffle!

Super Food Friday: Cinnamon

    We've all used it in baking, especially lately with the pumpkin craze. And why not? It adds a nice taste. But what if I told you that some research considers it to be a super food? And not just a super food, but a super food for kids! 
    There is research that shows cinnamon helps to regulate blood sugar. How does this relate to the kiddos? Does the phrase 'mid-morning meltdown' ring any bells? By finding ways to spice up their breakfast, it could help to avoid any mid-morning energy crashes which often translate into meltdowns. 
    A study was also done proving the effects of simply smelling cinnamon. The cinnamon aroma boosts cognitive function and memory. Cinnamon is also a good source manganese, dietary fiber, iron and calcium. These are simply the benefits for children--there are plenty more that will be explored when we do the Super Foods for adults. 

Breakfast

• Try sprinkling it over cold cereal. I decided to sprinkle it over plain Cheerios with some honey for my toddler-- to simulate Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, minus the extra sugar! For my preschooler, I sprinkled cinnamon over her Rice Chex with a little honey-- this to simulate the Cinnamon Toast Crunch she is allowed only on the weekends, minus the extra sugar! 
• Add cinnamon to your morning oatmeal. Why not add in raisins (or dried fruit of your choice) and a little brown sugar? Yum!
• Having pancakes for breakfast? Add cinnamon to the batter! Or make a buttery cinnamon topping!
• Add to plain yogurt.
• Cinnamon would be a good addition to your granola too!
• If you are having french toast, add cinnamon to the eggs! I don't think I've ever made it without adding lots of cinnamon! It makes it delicious!

What do you have for breakfast? Any other ideas where cinnamon could be added?




*Note: As with all things, the key is moderation. Too much of a good thing can still turn out with harmful effects. Please don't go overboard with the cinnamon and overindulge! Remember folks, moderation.