Simply Sinful Cinnamon Muffins

I made these muffins because I wanted something for breakfast for dinner but I probably wouldn't usually eat these muffins for breakfast. They were really yummy and probably too sweet for breakfast.

Source: kingarthurflour.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

There's their version of it. Here's mine.

Mine totally look like theirs!!! Well, one little oops that made them not as pretty. I stuffed them too full. The cinnamon part of the muffin bubbled out a little and actually burned on the muffin pan. That was fun to clean up! Next time (and I believe I'd make these again) I'll make sure to put the cinnamon filling closer to the bottom.

Here's the recipe:

Simply Sinful Cinnamon Muffins

Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup diced pecans (I didn't have any so I didn't put any in)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3 tablespoons soft butter

Filling
1/2 cup Baker's Cinnamon Filling mix*
3 to 4 tablespoons water

*Or substitute 3 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon for the Baker's Cinnamon Filling mix and water.

Batter
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons Signature Secrets(r) Culinary Thickener or cornstarch
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup cinnamon chips or butterscotch chips (I didn't have any)

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake papers, or grease it lightly.

Prepare the topping by mixing the ingredients together until crumbly. Set aside. 

Prepare the filling by mixing the Baker's Cinnamon Filling with enough water to make filling with a soft, pudding-like consistency. Set it aside. 

To make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, milk, and eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, including the chips. Add the dry mixture to the liquid, stirring just until combined.

Divide half the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Dollop 2 teaspoons cinnamon filling onto each muffin, then top with the remaining batter. Sprinkle with topping, pressing it in lightly.

Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and wait 5 minutes before transferring them from the pan to a rack to cool. Yield: 12 muffins.

Preparing for the Baby - Freezer Meals

In anticipation of baby #4, I spent a good portion a couple weeks ago of planning, buying, and preparing food. I made a total of 20 dinners (some were doubled). All were new recipes (except for a couple lasagnas) so hopefully they're good! If not, I didn't double too many of them. Here's my stash!

And here are all the links to all the recipes I made (except my lasagna).

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken and Chicken Curry

Baked Chicken Penne

Honey Rosemary Chicken, Lime Salsa Chicken, and Santa Fe Chicken

Parmesan Chicken Bake

Roasted Red Pepper Enchiladas

Chicken Fajitas

Cheesy Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Italian Turkey Soup

Black Bean Taco Soup

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwich

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chore Chart

There are a lot of great ideas for chore charts out there. I loved seeing a list of things kids could do by age. I never know if I'm expecting too much of my kids or not expecting enough. I think that kids don't do a lot of work around the house or they are too easily rewarded. I saw this list on Pinterest and thought it was a good way to evaluate how my kids were doing.

Source: scribd.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Here was another list that helped too.

Source: thehappyhousewife.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

What helped was that I could never think of things for them to do! There were the normal ones like getting dressed, brushing teeth, making your bed, and cleaning up your toys but I couldn't think of other things. Then, here was a list of tons of things that my kids could do ... because these lists said they could do it! :) One thing I discovered in all this, kids can do more than you think they can do! I let Landon and Cody sort the laundry and then asked them to fold their clothes. Landon was able to fold all of his clothes! I was shocked. I don't know why but I just didn't think that he could do it! Another thing we did was buy a little vacuum for the boys. It doesn't suck very well but it was only $20, it's light, and they LOVE to vacuum! I made up my own chore charts for the boys. I decided they needed some reward system but I didn't want it to be money, toys, or treats (food). I decided that for every 10 smiley faces (we use smiley faces instead of x's or check marks), they could watch a tv show. That way, if they didn't get their chores done, who cares! They don't watch tv that day! If anything, it's harder on me than on them. If they do more chores, they get extra smiley faces. It's a win win for me I think!
For Cody's chore chart, I did pictures since he doesn't read yet. For Landon, he has words since he can read most of them. If you can figure out what the pictures are for Cody's, then I'll be impressed!

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Whenever I go to Olive Garden, instead of getting the salad (I'm not a huge fan anyways) I'll get the soup. And the soup I get is their Chicken and Gnocchi Soup. It is AMAZING! Love it! If you haven't tried it, do it next time! When I saw this recipe online I was so excited to try it but I was trying to not get too excited since, you know, stuff doesn't always taste as good all the time. I know it's the summer time but we were having some monsoon rains that week and I thought it'd be perfect to make a soup.

Source: copykat.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Doesn't that just look a little yummy? And that's the only picture you get because for some reason, I guess I was too busy making it and dreaming of how good it was going to taste to take any! I've made this twice already and made a double batch the last time so I could freeze it for another day. Now we'll see how it freezes!

Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Author: CopyKat Recipes

Recipe Type: Soup

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 20 min

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons extra virgin oil
• 
  
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 
  
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 
  
• 1 quart half and half
• 
  
• 1/2 cup celery, finely diced
• 1 cup onion, finely diced
• 
  
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 
  
• 2 14 ounce cans of chicken broth if you enjoy thick soup, use one can
• 
  
• 1 cup carrots, finely shredded
• 1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)

• 
  1 package gnocchi, cooked  (you can find these in gourmet/pasta section of the grocery store - you may want to cut the gnocchi in half if it is large, or purchase the mini size if available)
• 
  
• 1 cup of fresh spinach coarsely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Instructions

Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter and olive oil over medium heat until the onion becomes translucent. Add the flour and make a roux. Let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half.

Cook gnocchi according to package directions.

Into the roux, add in the carrots and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick, add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasoning; simmer until soup is heated through.  Before serving season to taste by adding additional salt.

Smoothies

There are a lot of ideas on Pinterest to make your own quick smoothies. Here was one idea I saw and then I added to it a little bit. It was easy enough. Freeze some plain/greek yogurt in ice cube trays, put 2-3 of them in a bag with about 1 cup fruit, and then add juice. I added about 1/2 cup of spinach to ours. These were for John to make in the morning. FYI, he tried them with milk first and they were not good! He said with juice it was a lot better! I was thinking you could also do any flavored yogurt and it'd be even yummier!

Source: thetidynest.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Healthy and delicious? Hard to come by!

Homemade Pizza Hut Pizza

Playing catch up is so hard! I made this Pizza Hut pizza quite a while ago during the winter. It was pretty good except for the fact that I cooked it a little too long! Oops!

Source: cdkitchen.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

That's their beautiful picture of their pizzas.
And there's mine. Sort sad huh?

As always, you can click on the link or I've copied it here for you. The only thing they didn't have was how long to cook it for! I think I cooked them for about 19 minutes and noticed they were getting over cooked! Sad! So let me know if you know how long you're really supposed to cook these for. I'm guessing between 12-15 minutes.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/3 cup warm water (105 degrees F)
1/4 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 package dry yeast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (for dough)
9 ounces vegetable oil (3 ounce per pan)
butter flavored cooking spray
***Sauce***
1 can (8 ounce size) tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dry basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

DIRECTIONS:

Put yeast, sugar, salt, and dry milk in a large (2 qt.) bowl. Add water and stir to mix well. Allow to sit for two minutes. Add oil and stir again. Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed. 

Turn out on to a flat surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into three balls. In three 9" cake pans, put 3 Oz. of oil in each making sure it is spread evenly. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball to about a 9" circle. Place in cake pans. 

Spray the outer edge of dough with cooking spray. Cover with a plate. Place in warm area and allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

Sauce: 

Combine ingredients and let sit for 1 hour. 

For Each Nine Inch Pizza: Preheat oven to 475 degrees F Spoon 1/3 cup sauce on dough and spread to within 1" of edge. Distribute 1 1/2 Oz. shredded mozzarella cheese on sauce. Place toppings of your choice in this order: Pepperoni or Ham Vegetables Meats (cooked ground sausage or beef) Top with 3 Oz. mozzarella cheese Cook until cheese is bubbling and outer crust is brown.

Roasted Garlic Pasta Salad

So my sister told me about a blog she's been visiting to get her dinners and I've gotta say ... it seems like a great site! My goal this summer has been to eat healthier, "lighter", summer meals that don't bust the bank! This blog is really nice because she puts how much the meal is going to cost you. Well, about how much since prices change of course. Her blog it budgetbytes.blogspot.com.
For dinner last night, I made her Roasted Garlic Pasta Salad. It was really good! Now, I've been trying to get my whole family to eat more veggies and this salad was perfect for it. The ricotta cheese created a nice creamy sauce that wasn't overpowering. I am not a fan of tomatoes (nor anyone else in the family) so this was hard for me. I've been forcing myself to eat tomatoes for quite a few years so I've gotten better. I was the only one who ate them quartered up in the salad. We actually removed the tomatoes and blended them and put them back in for everyone else. My hubby said it made for great leftovers for lunch. Now, without further ado, the recipe.

Servings Per Recipe: 8 (about 1.25 cups each) 
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 20 min. Total: 30 min. 

3 Tbsp Garlic
1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 lb. Pasta Shells
15 oz. Ricotta Cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
3 cups Baby Spinach
Salt and Pepper to taste

STEP 1: Place the garlic in a small bowl or dish and drizzle 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil over the exposed cloves. Cover the bowl with an inverted plate. Microwave on high, in one minute increments, until the garlic is soft and fragrant (about 2 minutes) I minced garlic and it was done in 1 minute. Use caution when touching the dishes, they will be very hot. Allow the garlic to cool.

STEP 2: Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add the pasta, and cook for 7-10 minutes or until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta cooking water.

STEP 3: While the pasta is cooking, add the minced garlic to a medium bowl along with the ricotta cheese, a healthy dose of freshly cracked pepper, and about 1/2 tsp of salt. Add the 1/2 cup of hot, starchy pasta cooking water. Stir until it forms a smooth sauce.

STEP 4: Drain the pasta. Return the drained pasta to the warm pot (the burner should be turned off). Add the fresh baby spinach and pour the ricotta sauce over top. Slice the cherry tomatoes and add them to the pot as well. Stir until everything is well mixed. Add in the parmesan cheese and stir again. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm!


http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2012/05/roasted-garlic-pasta-salad-853-recipe.html