Skinny Banana Maple Oat Muffins

Today I present to you breakfast perfection. Its not often I can enjoy a dessert as breakfast and be completely satisfied with it's flavor AND nutritional content. These are the optimal loaves to bake when you're looking for something sweet but don't want to indulge.  No matter how healthy I make a dessert, in the back of my mind I'm always bothered by the flour. My banana bread recipe is incredible, and it is definitely a low guilt treat because of it's low sugar and oil content, but the flour is still present.  I experimented with the measurements of that recipe to create this oat version and I'm really happy with the results. Making oat flour is so easy, you'll feel like a baking expert when you try it for yourself!

A wholesome and delicious start to the day

Mornings around here are pretty rushed and this is a great quick breakfast that I feed my family knowing that they're starting the day with a good serving of whole grains, fruit and nuts. I love that these are portable and that they're not too sweet to have on an empty stomach. Enjoy this with a cup of milk and its like eating a bowl of  oatmeal, except as a tastier, baked-good version.  I'm having one as I type with my morning coffee and I feel great about it! I calculated the nutritional information for these babies and they're only about 77 CALORIES per muffin (or 130 calories per mini loaf)!!!! This is without the optional chocolate chips. That's honestly incredible...even with some added sweetness from the chocolate that's still a very low amount! What did I tell you about guilt free?! On that note, please excuse me while I go grab another muffin ;)

You can make these as muffins using a cupcake pan and decreasing the baking time by 3-6 minutes. Start checking them in oven at around 14 minutes for mini loaves and 12 minutes for muffins, as there is no bigger crime than over-baking a sweet treat ;)

Have fun with the mix in options...there are many different creations that can really alter the flavor! You can also swap out half the banana with pumpkin puree for a deeper orange shade and a varied dose of nutrients and taste.

Makes 12 mini loaves (or about 20 muffins)

Ingredients
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-2 eggs
-1/2 cup brown sugar (if not adding any sweet mix-ins you may want to add 1/4 cup more sugar)
-1 tablespoon maple extract (use vanilla extract if you don't have access to maple)
-1/2 cup 0% Greek yogurt
-2 tablespoons pumpkin butter (maple syrup or honey are good substitutes but add 1 teaspoon more cinnamon to dry ingredients to adjust flavoring)
-2 cups mashed banana (about 4 large bananas or 5 medium)

-2 cups whole oats or 1 3/4 cup oat flour (instant oats will grind quicker and yield a smoother baked texture than old fashioned oats, but either work)
-1 1/2  teaspoons baking soda
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
-1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
-1 tablespoon flax seeds (optional)
-optional: 1 cup mix ins (I used 1/4 cup pecan pieces, 1/4 cup cinnamon chips, 1/4 cup pumpkin chips, 1/4 cup chocolate chips)

To make
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Creaming the eggs and sugar

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the cavities of a mini loaf pan or line with baking cups.
Using a mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and maple extract (or vanilla) for about 5 minutes on high speed, until fluffy and golden.
-While the eggs are whisking, in a food processor combine 2 cups oats and grind until they are a fine powder, also about 5 minutes. If you want a super fine texture you can sift the oat flour, but I don't do this because I like the addition the small bits of oats add.  Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Pulse in your food processor together until well incorporated.
-Once the eggs have finished whisking, turn the mixer off and with a spatula gently stir in Greek yogurt, pumpkin butter and mashed banana (another easy way to mash the bananas is to transfer the oat mixture to a clean bowl and then place the bananas in the food processor and puree. Once completely smooth, I add the Greek yogurt and pumpkin butter then pulse until well mixed. Then I gently stir the banana mixture into the whipped eggs and mix it with a spatula).
-Add the dry ingredients and optional flax seeds to the wet mixture, mixing with a spatula just until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Do not overmix, as this will cause the batter to become dry as it bakes.
-Add your desired mix ins and scoop 1/3 cup of batter into each mini loaf pan (fill about 3/4 of the cavity). I pressed one chocolate chip into the center of each mini loaf and sprinkled flax seeds on top of some of them.
-Place pan into the lower rack of your preheated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached. These will firm up a bit more as they cool down (Baking range for muffins in a cupcake pan is about 13-17 minutes). My loaves were perfect at 14 minutes (and muffins at 15).
-Serve hot or room temperature and enjoy!

In case you missed the instagram video of my little helper grinding oat flour

Ready to hit the oven

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Sending a thank-you treat to my daughter's teacher

Chai spiced pumpkin pancakes

This has been breakfast in our home for the last two mornings, and on her way out the door my daughter asked if she can have more after school :) I think its safe to say that almost every cook out there can relate when I say my heart sang with joy at that ultimate stamp of approval. The rule in my house is if I made it, they eat it, whether or not they like it. So when a dish gets a request to be repeated...day after day...I know I have a winner.

This recipe is loosely adapted from my trusted Alice's Teacup cookbook. One of the things I changed is the type of tea used (another was completely removing the butter and also reducing the quantity of fat required). Spicing these pancakes with ground Chai adds another layer of flavor that takes them over the top. Chai tea includes warm flavors (like cinnamon, cloves and cardamom) and these spices pair beautifully with pumpkin. If you don't have Chai tea leaves at home, use a vanilla/honey flavored tea (nothing fruity please) or just increase the spices a bit listed in the recipe.

These are easy to customize, and I've tried a variety of add-ins...my favorites are pecan pieces, chocolate, butterscotch or cinnamon chips. When I add chocolate chips the pancakes become sweet enough to eat without syrup, but otherwise I add maple syrup and indulge in the perfect fall breakfast.

Makes about 16 medium sized pancakes

Ingredients
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-2 teaspoons chai tea (I buy these as bagged tea and use 2 satchels)
-2 cups flour
-1/3 cup brown sugar
-2 teaspoons baking soda
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
-1 teaspoon salt
-2 cups buttermilk*
-5 tablespoons vegetable oil
-4 eggs
-2 cups canned pumpkin
-optional add ins: variety of chocolate chips, dried fruit or nuts

To make
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-Grind tea leaves in a coffee or spice grinder until they become a fine powder.
-Mix together ground tea, flour, sugra, baking soda, baking poser, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
-One by one, to the dry ingredients add the buttermilk, oil, eggs and pumpkin, mixing the batter after each ingredient is added.
-Let the batter rest for 15 minutes. Once the time is up, stir the batter and let it rest for another 15 minutes. Mix in optional add ins at this time.
-Preheat a frying pan or griddle on medium heat and add about 1/4 cup of batter. Let the pancake cook, untouched, for about 2 minutes or until it bubbles and starts to look dry. Carefully flip the pancake over and cook for about another 2 minutes.
-Serve with maple syrup and enjoy!

*Use the rest of your buttermilk to make coconut almond chocolate muffins or pumpkin chocolate cupcakes with pumpkin cream cheese frosting!

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Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

I love anything pumpkin, especially desserts. Fall is my favorite season because of the breezy weather, beautiful colors on leaves, soup and hearty stews, and pumpkin!!!

I came across this recipe a while ago and have been waiting for an opportunity to try it. I must admit though, making these cupcakes was a really stressful experience. I started out with a recipe and quickly realized that I didn't have the accurate measurements for most of the ingredients. I measured out my brown sugar and didn't even have a 1/4 of what I needed, I was short on cocoa powder, the recipe called for too much butter (3 sticks in the batter!) and so forth, so I ditched the recipe and nervously did my own thing. My sister was "helping" by standing over my shoulder making comments like "This is really not your day" each time I discovered another lacking ingredient. There was even a supermarket run when I got to the frosting and discovered another shortage of supply on powered sugar.  I ended up spending 4 active hours on these cupcakes, and the result was a lot of drama and a very messy kitchen.

Another result? DELICIOUS cupcakes!!! The moistness is indescribable, a credit that goes to the pumpkin. With the cocoa powder and the pumpkin the cupcakes don't taste completely like chocolate or pumpkin, and the spice from the pumpkin mixture means you don't have to add anymore on your own.

These shouldn't take you guys as long as it took me now that there is a recipe you can follow, just make sure you have enough of the ingredients :)  These make a LOT of cupcakes, which I took as a great opportunity to share with friends, neighbors and teachers.  Don't panic at the butter/oil/sugar content, if this recipe was cut into 1/3 (12 cupcakes) the quantities are very reasonable.

Frost the cupcakes before you are ready to serve them, and store the frosting in the refrigerator and the unfrosted cupcakes on your counter-top.


Yields 36 large cupcakes or 24 large and 48 mini cupcakes

Ingredients
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-3 cups flour
-1/4 cup cocoa powder
-4 teaspoons baking powder
-2 teaspoons baking soda
-3/4 cup salted butter (1.5 sticks). If you don't have salted butter use unsalted + 1 teaspoon salt.
-3/4 cup vegetable oil
-4 cups sugar
-7 eggs
-2 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate
-4 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 cup buttermilk
-2 1/4 cups canned pumpkin (pie filling)

Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Frosting
----------------------------------
-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
-12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) cream cheese at room temperature
-4 cups confectioners sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-3/4 cup canned pumpkin (pie filling)

To make cucpcakes:
----------------------
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
-In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Drizzle in the oil and continue mixing.
-Add the eggs one at a time until well incorporated in the batter.
-Melt the baking chocolate and stir it in, add the vanilla.
-Switch the mixer to its lowest setting and alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk in two separate batches. Mix until everything is well combined. Stir in the pumpkin.
-Line cupcake pans with baking cups and fill the cups about 3/4 full.
-Bake the large cupcakes 20-25 minutes (mine were perfect at 23 minutes) and the mini cupcakes for 13-18 minutes (Mine took about 16).

While the cupcakes are baking prepare the frosting.

To prepare frosting:
---------------------
-Use a mixer to cream the cream cheese and butter until perfectly smooth. Make sure you start off with room temperature cream cheese and butter so it does not get clumpy as you mix it.
-Switch the mixer to its lowest setting and the vanilla and pumpkin puree.  If you over mix the frosting will be too runny. If that happens its ok, just place it in the freezer while the cupcakes bake and cool and it should be a little firmer when you are ready to frost.
-Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost them and sprinkle a dash of cinnamon on top of the frosting.
-DEVOUR and enjoy!!!

P.S. Happy Birthday Sarah and Kifah!!!

Savory Slow Cooker Pot Roast

The weather in California is FINALLY starting to cool down, and this pot roast is the greatest thing to eat on a day where you're busy doing stuff but still want a home cooked meal.

This makes enough for two and a half adults with some leftovers.


Ingredients
------------
-1 pound roast meat (I used tri-tip, but any cut will do)
-1 large onion, cut into thick strips
-1 can 'cream of' something soup (I recommend celery or mushroom)
-1/2 can water
-cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cardamon, whole dried black pepper balls
-roughly 1/2 to 1 cup each of the following (adjust to your preferences):
-potatoes cut into cubes
-baby carrots
-mushrooms sliced in half
-squash cut into cubes
-pumpkin cut into cubes (these were from the fresh ones I had frozen, and I was surprised to see that they had softened in the freezer) If you are using fresh, place this before the mushrooms


To make
---------
-Brown meat and onion stips in a pot until meat has browned on all sides. Season with s&p.
-Transfer meat and onions to slow cooker and add diced potatoes
-Add all the spices, then spread the 'cream of' soup over the meat
-Cook on low for 3-4 hours, or on high for about 2 hours.
-Add the mushrooms, squash and pumpkin on top of the meat after cooking halfway. Do not stir.
If you will not be home, go ahead and layer all the ingredients in the order I listed them from the start.
-Let cook for another 2-3 hours on low. Total cooking time should be anywhere from 5-6 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. The meat and veggies taste best the slower and longer they cook, but take care not to mush the veggies.


*I served with cornbread*

......YUMMY.....!

Roasted Pumpkin with Simmered Chicken and Yogurt Sauce

The fall season got the best of me this year, and I went out and bought myself a nice big pumpkin! Much to my 4 year old's disappointment, we didn't turn it into a jack-o-lantern. Instead, we got to work on peeling and cutting this tough vegetable into cubes. Then I portioned out the cubes into Ziploc baggies and froze them. But first...I made this...

This recipe generously fed 4 adults, with a bit of leftovers. The leftovers were awesome the next day!

Ingredients

------------

-About 3 cups cubed pumpkins

-Onion powder

-2 tablespoons olive oil

-32 ounce tub of yogurt (I used nonfat organic, use what you'd like)

-2 & 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with 1 tablespoon water

-1 pound chicken breast pieces, cut into cubes (about the same size as the pumpkins)

-Enough water to cover chicken and make broth (about 6 cups)

-Cinnamon stick, 4 bay leaves, 5 cardamons

-2 onions, cut into strips

-1/2 cup pine nuts (I had to make this with slivered almonds, it was still good)

Directions

-----------

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

-Toss pumpkin cubes in a baking dish with onion powder, salt, pepper and oil. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the pumpkin seems roasted and lightly browned.

-In the meantime, boil water in a 4 quart pot. Once boiling, drop in the chicken pieces and add the cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cardamon and salt. Simmer on medium low while pumpkin is roasting.

-Remove pumpkin cubes from oven and gently drop into the chicken broth, turn heat to lowest setting and continue to simmer for 20 minutes.

- In another pot, about 6 or 8 quart, mix cornstarch mixture with yogurt. Turn on heat to medium, and continue stirring (to avoid clumping or sticking or yogurt) with a wooden spoon until the yogurt starts to bubble.

-Slowly add the chicken broth (ONLY) with a ladle, and mix after each ladleful. Continue this until you get the desired consistency ( I used all the broth that I had made). Heat through.

-Throw out the cinnamon, bay leaves and cardamon, and add chicken breast pieces and pumpkin. Turn off heat and avoid over stirring, so the pumpkin doesn't get mashed.

-Saute onion in olive oil until it is soft and almost crispy. About 3/4 of the way through, add the pine nuts and toast them. Serve over the pumpkin and yogurt dish.

-I serve this with rice. It was divine!

Shortcuts

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-Although there isn't too much work involved in making this (you can go off and do whatever you want while the pumpkin is roasting and the chicken and broth are simmering), you can save time by using leftover shredded chicken and pre-made broth (but I'm not guaranteeing the results!)

-Also, you can pre-roast a bunch of the pumpkin cubes before freezing them in the baggies, and you can therefore skip that step in future recipes.