Pumpkin Muffins (or cupcakes) - GREAT for Weight Watchers!

These muffins are SO easy and so tasty.

In a bowl, dump in:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 yellow cake dry mix
• 1  29 & 1/2 ounce can of pumpkin
• and as much pumpkin pie-style spices as you want (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves).  I usually shoot for around a tsp of these total, with about 1/2 of that being cinnamon, and only a small pinch of cloves.  The muffins also taste good without the spices, if you don't have them on hand.

Bake according to the muffin directions on the cake box.  

Yields 24 muffins (or 48 mini-muffins).  

For those following Weight Watchers, each muffin is 2 Points Plus, and each mini-muffin is 1 Point Plus.  Also, if you eat 2 normal-sized muffins, that counts as 1 fruit/veggie serving.  ENJOY!

Pancakes & Syrup

Here are my go-to from scratch recipes for pancakes and maple syrup.

• Homemade pancakes
• Homemade maple syrup (yes, it's fake, but overseas, it's a great pinch-hitter)

Two great Chicken & Broccoli recipes

This recipe is always delicious, and looks beautiful to serve guests!

Chicken Broccoli Braid

And my friend Bethany shared this recipe, and it's wonderful. This is my standard quiche recipe, and I just alter what's inside (leftover fajita chicken w/ red bell pepper is sooooo tasty).

Chicken Broccoli Quiche

Big Beautiful Muffins

These muffins are SO tasty, very moist, and definitely a family favorite of ours. Not to mention they are super easy. I often double or triple this recipe. This recipe can also be the basis of many stir-in muffin recipes... add in fruit, like peaches, blueberries, or bananas.

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Melt 8 Tbsp. unsalted butter.
3. Grease muffin pan or line with paper cups.
4. In large bowl, mix:
   

   3 c. flour
   1 c. sugar
   1 Tbsp baking powder
   1/2 tsp baking soda
   1/2 tsp salt

5. In medium bowl, whisk together:
   

   2 large eggs, beaten
   1 & 1/2 c. lowfat plain yogurt (I rarely buy lowfat, as the kids need full-fat, so I use normal yogurt, and this comes out fine)

6. Gently mix the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture, until combined.
7. Fold in melted butter.
8. Fill muffin cups roughly 2/3 full, then put into oven.
9. Bake until golden, roughly 25-30 minutes.
10. Let cool in pan a few minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

These are great warm, and very, very delicious cooled, or served the next day (don't bother refrigerating them, just put in a sealed container on the counter). Enjoy!

Cream Biscuits

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (For our family, I multiply this recipe by 3.)

In large bowl, combine:

2 c. flour

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt.

With wooden spoon, stir in:

1 & 1/2 c. heavy cream

Stir just until mostly mixed, then turn out onto lightly floured countertop & knead until smooth. Press dough flat until 3/4 inch thick.

***I used to then cut biscuits out, with biscuit cutters, but recently started just cutting squares. It uses the whole dough and then you don't have the re-mixed more tough biscuits from the 2nd kneading/pressing.*** But if you like nice circle biscuits, feel free. I also like doing little "biscuitlets" (smaller biscuits to go along with soups, or for large groups) with smaller cookie cutouts.

Place onto parchment-lined baking sheet & bake until golden, approx. 15 minutes. Quick and tasty!

New Orleans-Style Beignets

These beignets (pronounced "ben-yays") are incredible! The entire batch (a big batch) was done in less than 90 minutes, and they were absolutely delicious! For me, this is now my donut substitute... donuts are so hard to perfect, and these were quite easy to "get right" the very first time I made them (yesterday morning).

The reviews say they're like Cafe du Monde's beignets-- that's quite a reputation. So if you get a hankerin (I know that may not be as motivating for those of you who live close to a good donut/pastry shop), I highly recommend this recipe:

Costa's French Market Doughnuts (Beignets)

Oh, and by the way, I didn't have evaporated milk and so looked on the web for a quick substitute and used 1/2 cream and 1/2 buttermilk as a substitute and they were delicious!

They're particularly good with coffee within 10-15 minutes of being cooked. Enjoy!

Maple Granola

After trying this recipe for the first time a few days ago, this is already a big hit around here, and I'm making it again. We'll store it in an airtight cookie jar and make it probably a few times a month to sub in for expensive cold cereals for breakfast. It's DELICIOUS!!! Enjoy~~~


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Dump into a big bowl, and stir until the oats are evenly coated:

• 10 cups rolled oats
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup real maple syrup (you can use the fake stuff... we did and it was tasty!)
  

As with the other granolas I posted about, spread it all out on a large cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes, taking it out every five minutes to stir it around, and keep it in an airtight container shortly after taking it out of the oven, so it stays very crunchy.

If you're reading this and thinking "that sounds too sweet for cereal", well, think of it as a snack then -- it's very crispy and when you're crunching it up in your mouth it really does taste like you're eating some kind of fancy maple cookie.

Aunt Pearl's Coffee Cake

Preheat @ 350 degrees


SPICE SWIRL INGREDIENTS:
4 T. Brown sugar
1 T. Cinnamon
1 C. finely chopped nuts (optional)

CAKE INGREDIENTS:
2 Sticks of oleo/margarine
2 Eggs
2 Cups of Sugar
1 cup of Sour Cream
1 t. vanilla
2 Cups of Flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

1. Cream the butter and sugar.
2. Add the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add gently to creamed mixture.
4. Generously grease a tube/bundt pan and dust with 1/2 of the spice mixture. Put 1/3 of the dough in the pan.
5. Sprinkle the remainder of the spice mixture over the dough before adding the other 2/3 of the dough.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.

DELICIOUS! My sister-in-law Jill made this tasty cake for us the last time I was in Texas. It's a great coffee cake, swirl cake, dessert, or breakfast! ENJOY!!!

English Muffins to try

English Muffins

Cornmeal
1 1/4 cups very warm water
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 cups flour
1/4 cup butter softened

Grease large cookie sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal. Mix sugar in water; dissolve yeast in sugar-water mixture. When yeast is frothy, add salt and 2 cups flour. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until batter is smooth (2 to 3 minutes). Add butter and 1 cup flour; continue beating until batter is smooth. Gradually, add in remaining flour, then beat until batter is smooth, sticky and thick. Turn out onto a well-floured pastry cloth, board or sheet. Coat all sides of the dough with flour. Cover with bowl and let rest 5 minutes. Knead dough five minutes until smooth. Roll out ¼ inch thick. With a biscuit cutter or a large can, cut into muffins. Place onto cookie sheet coated with cornmeal. Let rise in a warm place, covered with a towel about 50 minutes or until double in size. Bake muffins on ungreased griddle or skillet until golden brown, about 7 minutes on each side. Cool on wire rack.

A Few Christmas Recipes

I figured I'd consolidate some of the recipes I'm using this Christmas into one post, so I'd have them for future reference.




FOR CHRISTMAS MORNING:

• CINNAMON ROLLS 101- these seriously sound like they will cause all who consume them to instantly commence with the "Mmmmm"s. I can't wait to try them.
• (And for some other morning, because they look so amazingly delicious: ) Cinnamon Sugar French Breakfast Puffs- Buttery, sugary, cinnamony moist breakfast muffins. They look positively sinful.
  

FOR CHRISTMAS DINNER:
This year, we're going to do a Texas-themed Christmas, seeing as how it's technically our first Christmas outside of America. So, we're doing chicken & cheese enchiladas, classic beef tacos, enough guacamole to feed a small army, some salsa, and I'm going to try to make refried beans from scratch without pinto beans. :) I honestly have no idea if or how that will work. Here are some recipes I'm going to pick from:

• Molly's Refried Beans - These require bacon, which we can't get here. So I might need to get a fatty piece of turkey or something to make them.
• Refried Beans with all the facts- This site gives GREAT information about when and why to make beans from scratch, and her recipe sounds great too.
• Delicious-sounding refried beans- These sound really good, and she gives the step-by-step basic instructions for those of us who get scared about making things like beans from scratch. (Which sounds so silly, because most of the world makes beans from scratch, but we Texans with our delicious canned refried beans are spoiled!) ;)
  

Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Sausage, egg and cheese casserole
(from my sweet cyber-pal & fellow homeschooler, Kelly)

---

12 eggs
12 slices bread
2 3/4 c. milk
12-16 ozs. cheddar cheese
1 lb. bulk pork breakfast sausage (I use Bob Evans sage)
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. sage

Brown sausage and set aside. Oh, sometimes I put chopped onion in with it.

Cube bread and put into a bowl.

In another bowl mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper, mustard and sage. Add 3/4 of the cheese. Pour over eggs. Mix in sausage.

Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Cover and refrigerate over night.

Remove from refrigerater 30 min. before baking so pan isn't so cold (I use a stone, so I always make sure not to forget this step).

Bake at 350*, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes until eggs are set.

YIELD: 12 servings

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Muffins

Thanks to Girl Talk for this recipe - I'm off to make it now!

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Muffins

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar (I used 3/4 cup sugar, but we like ours sweet.)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin cups or use paper liners.
Beat cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Beat in egg, cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into cream cheese mixture until flour is moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups filling them 3/4 full.
Bake in preheated oven until tops are golden, about 20 minutes.

Dutch Puff (GREAT for big families)

Here's a great recipe for families of any size. Called a dutch puff, it's kind of like a puffy eggy creation. Similar in taste to french toast, but totally its own entity, we like it with syrup.

The original recipe is as follows:
Melt 1/3 cup of butter in a glass dish in a 425 degree oven.

Meanwhile, blend/mix the following:
4 eggs
1 cup flour (bread flour works even better, but whatever you can find should work- trust me... I've made this in China when I didn't even know the word for flour, much less bread flour! :) )
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp + cinnamon (if you like more, use more)
(SERVES FOUR-- for larger families, look below)

Once blended, pull the dish out of the oven (once all the butter has melted), and pour the liquid mixture into the dish. It's OK if butter mixes in a bit, stays around the edges, or gets on top.

Put the dish back in the oven for 20-25 minutes... until it puffs up and the tops of the peaks are brown. That's right... I said "puffs" and "peaks". It will puff up into what might look like a mountain range, with each corner reaching up toward the top of the oven, or with random peaks throughout the pan.

Serve hot, cut up into squares and it will thrill your family. Not only does it taste good, but it's inexpensive & easy to make, AND-- because it's got the eggs in it-- it's full of protein and so it sticks. They're not hungry 20 minutes later like sometimes happens with cereal.


FOR SIX:
1 & 1/2 cups milk
1 & 1/2 cups flour
6 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
1 & 1/2 tsp + of cinnamon


FOR EIGHT:
2 cups milk
2 cups flour
8 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
2 tsp + of cinnamon,

ETC...

Hope you and your family enjoy this delicious recipe!