Banana Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

 These muffins are a variation of Jean Pare's  Banana Oatmeal Muffins.  I have one very picky eater in my house.  He does not like eating any sort of fruit or vegetable.  It is actually painful to see him choke them down.  Whenever possible I use recipes like this to my advantage.  It's weird, but he loves them and will eat more than anyone else.  These muffins are tasty and fairly simple to make.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup milk
3 medium mashed bananas

1 cup frozen blueberries

In a large bowl, measure the first 6 ingredients.  Stir to mix.  Make a well in the centre.
In a small bowl, beat eggs until frothy, mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.  Pour into well.  Stir just to moisten.  Stir in the blueberries.  Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake in 400* oven for 20-25 minutes.

My picky 5 year old chowing down on these muffins for breakfast.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love these muffins. They are one of my favorite baking recipes. Not only are they delicious, but they are full of a secret ingredient. The secret to these fabulous muffins? Cauliflower. That's right. These are quite healthy and a sneaky way for me to get some veggies into my picky eater. I originally found this recipe at Once Upon a Gourmet Gin. I decided it was time to post it myself as I've adapted it a little. She uses self-rising flour, something I never have in the house. It's very easy to find a substitute. The secret formula is for each 1 cup of self rising flour, use 1 cup all purpose flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. That's it.

Here's my adapted recipe.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups steamed fresh cauliflower, mashed and cooled
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 400*. Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray (or line with muffin cups) In a large mixing bowl sift together the dry ingredients (1st 5). In a mixing bowl stir together the eggs, milk, melted butter, mashed bananas and cauliflower. All to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. Add the chocolate chips. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full. Bake approximately 15-20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and remove from pan. ENJOY!

Super-Easy Banana Muffins

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that my middle child is really picky about fruits and vegetables.  He seems to only be able to eat them when they are in another form, so I'm always on the search for ways to get them in him.  I found this recipe on food.com.  It is the easiest banana muffin recipe ever!  Very tasty and moist.  And my son loved them, he ate 3 the first day we made them.  *I know these aren't the healthiest option out there, but man are they good!

1 cup Miracle Whip (I used Hellman's Mayonnaise instead)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
4 bananas (mashed with a fork)
1 tsp baking soda

Hand mix ingredients together.  Fill muffin tins with batter.  Bake at 325 for about 25 minutes (or until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean).  Makes 12 muffins.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cauliflower Muffins

Yes you read that title correctly! These muffins have cauliflower in them and they are delicious! I am constantly on the hunt for ways to get my 3 year old to eat veggies and I picked this beauty of a recipe up from Gourmet Gin. You can find the recipe at her site here. I didn't even tell my husband about the secret ingredient until they were all gone (he was duly impressed). My 5 year old noticed the cauliflower cooking when we were making the muffins (the boys are my assistant cooks) but missed the step where I put it into the batter. Most importantly my 3 year old loved them. In fact, he asked just this morning if we could make them again.
*You'll notice that the chocolate chips in mine melted that's because I didn't let the cauliflower cool down before adding it to the batter.

Yogurt Muffins

I know I'm having a bit of a muffin theme in my house - I'm also having a bit of a yogurt theme (I have a pile of recipes to post backed up that I just haven't had the time to post - bad blogger!) These muffins were really tasty. I think you could put any flavour of yogurt into them, I just happened to have some strawberry that needed using up (plus a few cups of the kids yogurt, peach and banana that I threw in - why not?)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup strawberry yogurt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350*. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In another bowl, whisk the egg, yogurt, vanilla and butter; stir into the dry ingredients. Fill muffin tin sprayed with non-stick spray, or lined with muffin cups. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

I wanted to make something different than our usual Saturday morning pancakes (shocker I know!) and had some fresh blueberries in the house that were calling to be baked up. My kids love muffins and I haven't made them in a while, so why not? I played with a Betty Crocker Recipe, changing for what I had in the house. The results speak for themselves. My oldest son ate 6 before lunch (regular size, not minis) and my youngest who will pick fruit out of most things ate 3 without any problem at all. I guess I have to make them again sometime :o)

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup strawberry yogurt
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Splenda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Heat oven to 400*. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat together the milk, oil, yogurt and egg. Stir in the flour, Splenda, baking powder and salt until flour is all moistened. Fold in blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake 20 minutes (or until golden brown). Enjoy!
*I sprinkled the tops with the PC brand Sugar/Cinnamon/Chocolate grinder just before putting them into the oven, which made them even tastier.

Cherry Chocolate Muffins and a Bananaberry Smoothie

Well, my oldest son asked me to buy some cherries not too long ago. Sure. Unfortunately, he decided that the best way to enjoy cherries was to make cherry juice and squish them. After cleaning up a good sized mess (note to self, never leave 4 year old with cherries unattended), I hid the rest of the bag in the back of a fridge drawer.

Coincidentally, I started noticing cherry based posts on some of my favorite foodie sites. One for chocolate cherry muffins caught my eye. This morning I decided to bake those muffins. But do you think I could find the original post? Why, oh why didn't I bookmark it? I should know better, I'm not going to remember who posted it...there are too many lovely recipe sites out there. So I started to search. Yes, I went through each blog site and typed in the word cherry to search. After about 10 blogs I found it. It was at Joy in My Kitchen. The recipe can be found here.
The muffins turned out quite nicely. I did omit the chocolate chips as I had used up what I had earlier this week making chocolate chip cookies. My son really liked them too.
I thought smoothies would make this into a more complete breakfast. They are so great and so easy. This version had:

1/2 container of vanilla yogurt (650 g size, PC provantage brand)
1/4 cup skim milk
2 generous cups of frozen mixed berries
2 ripe bananas, cut into chunks

Everything goes into the blender and blend until smooth. I did have to stop a couple of times to push the fruit down, but it all worked and tasted so delicious.
The funny thing was my youngest who watched me make the smoothies. He saw me put the banana in and said, 'no like banana Mama', but he was the first one to ask for seconds of the drink :o)

Muffins and a craving

These are Lara's (of Recipe Shoebox) Maple Muffins. She posted hers on Thursday and I knew that's what I was making Saturday morning. MMM, they were really tasty and so commented my toughest critics (aka my 4 and 2 year old). Definately a keeper!
Pictured below is my favorite craving. It is the Thai Hut's Pad Thai. I get serious cravings for this dish. I have tried to copy it, and I've come close but I can never get it as good. Jonathan and I were at a wedding Saturday night. I knew (but forgot) that it was a dessert buffet and didn't have dinner beforehand. Afterwards we were enjoying a kid free evening and reluctant to go home. So we just drove around and talked. And then I realised I was hungry (this is about quarter to 10) and I really wanted Pad Thai. We were on the other side of town and hit every red light between here and there. We walked in at 5 past 10. The owner said that technically they were closed, but if I turned their open sign off and locked the door he would make us some Pad Thai. Oh that is the nicest thing anyone had done for me all day. We took it home and feasted. Mmmm, now I want some more :o)

Orange Stuff, Muffins and Sharing the Love!

Where to begin? I have so much to say. 1st, can I brag a little? I now have Paul McCartney tickets! I am so excited about this! I never thought I would actually get to see him live, but I am - July 11th in Halifax! WOOT WOOT!


2nd - I'm very touched that Girlichef
thought to bless me with a blogger award this week! Thank you so much! I am supposed to pass it along to 7 other bloggers that I enjoy. I'd really like to pass it back to her because hers is one of my favorites, but I guess that isn't allowed, so...
I'm also going to stay away from passing it onto others that I passed an award onto before (it doesn't mean that I love your blog any less) and I'm going to not pass it onto others that I know Girlichef passed it along to this week. Look at me, giving myself all sorts of restrictions :o) Do you that makes this any easier when there are so many lovely blogs that I enjoy out there?
So I will pass this onto:
Tried and True Cooking with Heidi - I love that she is looking for delicious meals for her family, while sticking to a budget (sound familliar?)
Lauren's Kitchen - She's got some great recipes on here, also looking to feed a young one healthy and palate pleasing food
Coleen's Recipes- Coleen always has something yummy posted and gives the lovliest feedback too
Lick the Bowl Good - Monica has the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen (and lots more good stuff too!)
Cooking With Carrie - Carrie is yet another mom of boys who has some gret easy meal ideas
Cheat Day Cafe - I'm pretty sure that Melody's blog was the first food blog I came across when I decided to get serious about my food blogging. I love her recipes (in fact I'm making one tomorrow that I'll post later this week)
Smokey Mountain Cafe - Katherine's blog just impresses me again and again
*Just as a special note, I'd really love to pass something along to Katy of Food For a Hungry Soul but I know she chooses not to participate in these sorts of things. May I just then mention how much I enjoy her blog. I have tried out a few of her recipes and they are absolutely delicious. As well, she has the most encouraging feedback about what I have posted. She seems to be a truly special person.
And now the Orange Stuff. I've shared in the past how what an absolute struggle it can be to feed my youngest veggies. This past fall I purchased the book, The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine

I don't know if you agree with her food philosophy or not, but it fits in with what I believe. Keep offering kids veggies as you would with regular meals, but 'hide' veggies into foods that they do eat to ensure that their nutritional needs are being met. Works for me :o)
So this past week, I've made 2 recipes with the Orange Stuff. She calls it a Make Ahead Recipe: Orange Puree. It's really easy (just like making baby food). Take 1 sweet potato and 3 large carrots. Boil them in a little bit of water until they are soft. Drain. Blend it until it is smooth. Makes about 2 cups.
This is her most versatile puree. You can plan to use it up in a few days, or freeze it in ziplock bags ready to use later. This week, I made her grilled cheese muffins (with two adaptations - she uses her own flour blend and oil in hers).

1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup parmasan cheese
1 cup low fat cheddar cheese (I used light sharp)
2 eggs
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup orange puree (see above recipe)

Preheat oven to 350*
Mix all the dry ingredients plus the cheeses in a large bowl. Mix all the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Fold the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredient mixture. Mix until the flour is just moistened.
Scoop the batter into a muffin tin sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake 25-30 minutes (large muffins) or 12-15 minutes (mini-muffins).
These muffins are the lightest sweet muffins I've ever had. The taste reminds me of corn bread, but not as dense. My boys liked them a lot too. I made minis (I usually do). I think when I next make them I may play around with the recipe more to make them savoury-er - add some onion and herbs?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I apologise in advance if I've posted these before. If I did, it was when I started my food blog and took no pictures. Of course because I had made pumpkin pancakes this weekend, I had plenty of pumpkin left. My kids love muffins (especially mini-muffins) and gobble them down. Recipes like these are a wonderful way to get an extra veggie in them too. I found the original recipe for these on the Spark People recipe data base and then adapted a few things to my own liking. This is my adapted version. These muffins come out moist and spongy and very tasty!

1 1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C applesauce
4 eggs
1 15 oz can pumpkin (this is what the recipe calls for, but being Canadian our measurements are not in oz on the cans, the are in ml which doesn't translate well at all, one is weight the other is volume. So, I just use what I have leftover from the pancakes and it seems to work well - about 2+ cups)
1/2 C water
3 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 C semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400*. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray or use paper liners.
Mix sugar, oil, eggs, pumpking and water until smooth. Add dry ingredients, minus the chocolate chips and mix until everything is well blended together. Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill muffin cups 2/3 with batter. Bake mini-muffins for 10 minutes, check the larger ones at 15 (mine were ready then, the original recipe said 20-25). I got 48 minis and 12 regular size muffins out of this.

Carrot Bran Muffins

I've adapted this recipe from several bran muffin recipes. I find muffins are an excellent way to get some nutrition in my kids without them knowing it. My oldest son refuses to eat carrots, but loves these muffins. I also find kids love to eat mini-muffins.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup natural bran
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup crushed pineapple with juice

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Set aside.

In another bowl beat eggs. Add rest of the wet ingredients. Mix well.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until all the batter is moist. Don't overmix. Muffin batter will be lumpy.

Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake in 400* oven for 20-25 minutes. For mini-muffins reduce cooking time by half.

Allow muffins to cool in pan for a few minutes before removing. These muffins will be moist and delicious.

An alternative to weekend pancakes

I've been spoiling my sons by making pancakes every weekend. Unfortunately, now they seem to want pancakes every day. I've made a point of not making any the last 2 weekends. Last week we had waffles and today I made Raspberry-Yogurt Muffins. The recipe is absolutely delicious. I made ours as mini-muffins, without the raspberry jam filling. Just reduce the cooking time to 15-18 minutes. I also made the 'raspberry yogurt' by heating frozen raspberries (about 1/2 cup - I eyeballed it) for a minute in the microwave and mixing it with 1 Cup plain yogurt.