Healthy Carrot Oat Muffins

For my kids, homemade muffins are one of the best snacks to have on hand.  I love baking up a batch of healthy fresh muffins to begin the week so that we have them for breakfasts and lunch snacks.  



These muffins are healthy, dairy free and whole wheat.  And if using Maple Syrup instead of honey they are vegan too!



I was not feeling like grating carrots but really wanted a carrot muffin. So I decided to try using the food processor to do the job!  Guess what?  It worked brilliantly!

The batter came out nice and thick but mixed easily together.  I so love an easy muffin recipe.  Mis all the dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients and combine.  DONE!  

I decided to make a batch of BIG muffins and a batch of BABY muffins too!  Easy for Fraser to eat and it also meant Gord won't be cutting up a big muffin (for Fraser) on the cutting board and leaving the crumbs behind for me!  

Healthy Carrot Oat Muffin Recipe

Makes 15 muffins (or 12 muffins and 12 mini muffins) 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole Wheat Flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp. ground cloves
• ¼ tsp. ground ginger
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• ½ cup plus 2 tbsp. Almond milk
• ½ cup pure maple syrup (or honey) 
• 3 Tbsp melted coconut Oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups peeled, grated carrot* (about 2 medium)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole-wheat flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.
3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, milk, maple syrup (or honey), melted butter (or coconut oil), and vanilla. Whisk until well combined.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the grated carrots.
5. Divide the batter evenly between muffin cups, filling each cup almost to the top. Bake until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Storage: The muffins freeze very well. If kept air-tight in a zip-top plastic bag, they will stay fresh in the freezer for 2-3 months. Defrost on the counter or in the microwave before enjoying. Muffins will keep at room temperature for 2-3 days.

*I used my food processor to make grating the carrots quick and easy. A box grater works well too but boy is it easy to put them in the food processer and much less mess! 

Fail Proof Play-dough Recipe

Yesterday I made up a batch of Play-Dough for Asher's Kindergarden class.  It's such an easy recipe to put together as long as you have Cream of Tartar!  Luckily I knew I had some in the cupboard, BUT I didn't have quite enough for a full batch so I ran to the store quickly to grab some..... WELL geez, it's not an easy item to find even when you know what your looking for!  But I did end up locating some.  

The other ingredient that I don't typically have on hand is white flour, since I don't use white flour in any of my cooking or baking.  But luckily I had purchased some for Gord's Christmas Shortbread and have some left over.  

So once I got more Cream of Tartar I was all set to go!  

Fail Proof Play-Dough Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 Cups of Flour
• 2 Tbsp of Oil (any oil will do, coconut oil, vegetable oil, even olive oil)
• 1/2 Cup of Salt
• 2 Tbsp Cream of Tartar
• 1 1/2 Cup Boiling Water

Play-dough making directions

• Pour 2 cups of flour into a bowl.

• Add 1/2 cup of salt.

• Mix in 2 Tbsp Cream of Tartar. (You can find this in the spice/baking section of just about any grocery store)

Stir oil into flour mixture. 

• Add 2 Tbsp of oil. For this recipe I used olive oil, but you can use any oil, and as long as it’s a kitchen oil, your playdough will be non-toxic and safe if your little one takes a tiny taste.  However it will be a pretty salty snack!

Stir with a wooden spoon until it comes together.
Then carefully use your hands to form a ball. 

• Pour in the boiling water. Be VERY careful because this makes the dough HOT!

• Mix all the ingredients together until they form the dough. At this point, if you don’t want to add any food dye to your playdough, you’re finished!

• After it’s cooled, to make several different colors of playdough, separate the dough into equal parts and roll it up into balls.

I made 5 small balls for multi cloured
Play-Dough. 

• Now, make a little dip in the middle of the ball to leave a little bowl for you to pour your food dye into. I didn't do this and mine ran off the edge.  

• Drip your dye into the dough bowls. This is a great time to mix dye colors if you want to make another color.

Half way through mixing you may need to add more dye.

• Knead the dough until the dye is thoroughly mixed. This is VERY messy! If you don’t want to stain your hands, use gloves, and make sure to put something down so you don’t stain your counter. I used a cookie sheet and then once mixed well I kneaded it on the counter. 

Here is our Multi-Coloured Play-dough!

Clean Eating English Muffins

I found this recipe some time ago and it had been on my recipes to try to do list but I had never got around to it.  That was until this weekend!  I got into the kitchen on Sunday morning and started a whole bunch of projects for the week ahead and making these Clean Eating English Muffins was on of them!  

I'll say the recipe is very simple and in total the actual time spent on these isn't long but there is a lot of waiting for dough to rise and the cooking process is long and slow too.  But they sure are worth it!!  

CLEAN EATING ENGLISH MUFFINS

(Makes approximately 14 muffins – depending on the size you cut them.)

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups whole wheat flour (+ 1 cup on reserve)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups milk (any type will work, I used whole milk), warmed.
• 1 (2 1/2 tsp) pack of active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour or cornmeal

YOU WILL NEED:

• 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper
• An oil sprayer/mister is very helpful
• A cooking griddle, non-stick pan or a heavy-duty pan such as cast iron.  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Warm the milk (I did this in the glass measuring cup), and pour in the yeast. Set aside and allow to foam a bit before using.
2. In a large mixing bowl, blend the 4 cups of flour and salt. Add the oil, but don’t bother stirring until you are ready add the milk.
3. When you have a nice bit of foam on top of the milk, pour the milk and foam into the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until it gets too thick to stir.
4. Knead.
5. The goal with this dough is to get a, “just-barely” sticky dough that is smooth and soft in texture. Your dough will still be pretty sticky at this point. Add that extra 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup at a time, kneading after every addition. DO NOT dump in the entire cup because you may not need it all (though you most likely will). Plus, doing a 1/4 cup at a time allows for the necessary amount of kneading.
6. When you have a nice, soft ball of dough, cover it with a nice, thin coat of olive oil to keep it from drying out while it rises.
7. Put it back in the mixing bowl, cover with a towel and let sit in a warm area for 1 hour. (I put mine in my stove – heat OFF but I turned the heat on to make it warm in there before putting my dough in to rise)
8. Punch the dough down and give it another brief kneading. Just a few flops of the dough are fine.
9. Sprinkle the rice flour or cornmeal lightly over your work surface. Put your dough on the work surface and roll with a rolling pin until it’s about 1/2 inch thick.
10. Cut out the muffins. I used one big circle cookie cutter that I often use for scones. 
11. Place the cut out muffins on a cookie sheet, spray them with a very light coat of olive oil, sprinkle tops with a light dusting of rice flour or cornmeal, cover with a towel and allow to rise for another 30 minutes in a warm area.

    

    Muffins Rising on the warm stove top

12. Using an ungreased frying pan or cooking griddle and place as many muffins as you can comfortably fit, in the pan.

    

    First Batch of Muffins cooking on
    my cast iron griddle.  Love this Griddle!

IMPORTANT: These cook on your STOVE TOP on LOW heat for a long time. Do NOT raise the heat to try and cook them faster. All you will get are burnt outsides and raw insides. Time is key. I cooked mine for about 15 minutes on each side. Test yours to adjust cooking time as needed.

Looking good!  The front ones got a little dark
so I moved them to the back and turned down
the heat a bit more!  Double burners are tricky!

I wasn't sure how mine had turned out until we decided to cut into one and see how it tasted.  I have to say Gord and I were both pleasantly surprised at the result!  They were perfect, soft and just fluffy enough and dense enough to be an english muffin!  YUM

This morning I enjoyed one toasted with some homemade peanut butter and honey.  SO GOOD!  

I know we won't use up the whole batch this week so I'll be freezing a bunch after I pre-cut them.  

This Whole Wheat English Muffin Recipe will be going in my recipe book for future use!

Recipe adapted from The Gracious Pantry 

Clean Eating Apple Crisp

I don't know why but Roast Dinner and Apple Crisp just go together!

I made a Pot Roast for dinner tonight and once it was prepped and in the oven; next came the Apple Crisp.  I decided to switch up my Apple Crisp recipe this time and give it a little twist by adding in some ground pecans and maple sugar instead of my usual Coconut palm sugar.  Plus I used coconut oil instead of butter which I have done before and it works out very nicely.

Clean Eating Apple Crisp

Crumble Topping

1/4 cup ground pecans

1/4 Cup Maple Sugar or Coconut Palm Sugar

1 Tsp Cinnamon to taste

1 Tsp sea Salt

2 1/2 cups rolled Oats

3/4 cup Coconut Oil

Ground Pecans

Apple Filling

3 large apples peeled and chopped into cubes

2 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

Apple filling with Maple Syrup and Cinnamon

Directions

• Grind the Pecans in a food processor or blender.
• Add the maple sugar, cinnamon, salt and rolled oats into the food processor and pulse a few times to break down the rolled oats slightly.

After putting the topping in the food processor
for a few pulses.

• Peel and chop apples
• Place apples into a deep pie dish or casserole dish and add in maple syrup, lemon juice and cinnamon.
• Stir apple mixture until coated evenly.
• Top apple mixture with crumble topping
• Bake at 350 for 30 Minutes

Peppermint Patties Recipe

These Peppermint Patties are a new favourite at our Christmas Eve gathering every year.  Last year I found this recipe somewhere and jotted it down in my recipe book to make.  I made up a batch last year for gifts and for the party and they were a real hit!  

So of course this year I had to make some more and I figured I would share the recipe after I posted a photo on Facebook and had several requests for the recipe.  

Peppermint Patties Recipe

4 + Cups Icing Sugar
2 Egg Whites
5-8 Drops Peppermint Oil
1 TBSP water
2 blocks Semi-Sweet Bakers Chocolate

Directions

Combine Icing sugar, egg whites, peppermint oil and water.  Mix with a hand mixer until a thick dough comes together adding more icing sugar or water to thicken or combine as needed.  It should be a nice thick dough. 

On a clean dry surface, roll out chunks of the dough using more icing sugar to reduce sticking to the rolling pin or surface. Use a small circle cookie cutter to cut out the shapes of the patties and place them onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  

**Note: If you don't have a circle cookie cutter you can alternatively just pull off small chunks of the dough, roll them into a ball and flatten.  

Let the patties dry out on the baking sheet over night. 

Once dried out, melt bakers chocolate in a double boiler and let cool slightly.  You don't want to dip the patties right into super hot chocolate or else they will start to melt a little themselves. Once slightly cooled, dip each patty into the chocolate, using a fork tap off the extra chocolate.  Place each patty back onto the parchment paper and place the tray into the fridge to help the chocolate set. 

 

Once set they can be put into packaging and placed into gifts with out needing refrigeration which is always nice!

Enjoy!  

And as always find me on Facebook or comment below to let me know how you liked the recipe and how it worked for you!

Frozen Gingerbread House

Maybe this blog is turning into a Christmas/Kids activities Blog over the Holidays.... BUT this is my life so my goal here is to share what is relevant to me and what would be helpful to me as a mom out there!

Asher missed school on Tuesday and therefore missed making ginger bread houses with his class too.  So last night when I came home he asked me to PLEASE get him stuff to make a gingerbread house.  So I headed out to the Bulk Barn in town today to find a gingerbread kit.  I was lucky enough to get the last pre-made kit in the store.... which means the job I hate most (building gingerbread house) is done!  YES!

BUT I was feeling pretty uninspired by the candy selection I could get for the house as I walked the isles.  And then suddenly it came to me.... BUILD A FROZEN HOUSE!

So with a new mission (I always do better with a theme), I searched the candy bins for all blue, white and silver candy!  Way more fun that little green trees and gum balls!

I also grabbed a bottle of Sugar cookie icing hoping it would be thick enough to hold the candy (it wasn't) .

Asher was so excited to get started when I got home tonight after I showed him everything I had picked out.

Here is what I got:

Here is our little pre-made gingerbread house

And here is what we turned that little pre-made gingerbread house into!  A Frozen Ginger bread house!  Or as Asher calls it Olaf's Gingerbread house.  

I do have to say, Christmas is really taking over this week.  I haven't been working out as regularly but I have been sticking to my 21 Day Fix meal plan pretty well this week!  So I'm happy with that.  After Christmas I'll be back at it!!

Now I better get back to filling out cards and Wrapping!!!

Magic Reindeer Food

After many plans and bouncing ideas off my husband about what to make for Asher's Kindergarten class gifts this year. We decided on Magic Reindeer Food.  

As much as all those cute candy filled baggies with jelly beans or malt balls with one red one for Ruldolphs nose are cute and would be fun to make... I just don't think the kids need any more candy at this time of year... or ever really.  

But I wanted to make something fun and special for each of them.  So Magic Reindeer Food won out!  

Here is the Recipe for Magic Reindeer Food:

8 Cups Quick Oats
Two Bottles of Sprinkles
18 Zip baggies
18 6" x 2" scrapbook paper pieces cut
18 Cut out Magic Reindeer Poems

I had Asher do quite a lot of this project which is always a good thing in my book.  I like it when the project is kid friendly so they actually feel like they made it too!

Asher mixed the Reindeer Food in the bowl and Scooped some into each baggie for me.  

I then cut out all the poems and measured the scrapbook paper to go behind the poem.  I gave him a 2-way glue pen to glue the backs of each poem while I stuck them onto the scrapbook paper.  

We then folded the bags over once and stapled the poem cards to the baggies.  And DONE!  

This whole job only took us about 30-40 minutes!

Pretty easy and you might even have all the supplies on hand!

Plus I made up the template for the Magic Reindeer Food poem and added it to my google docs so I can share it with you too!  

You can get the template here: Magic Reindeer Food Poem.

You can get the Template here: Magic Reindeer Food Poem