HAPPY FEBRUARY!

I have rediscovered my bread machine and everyone who comes over is thanking me for it.

That's not cocky, it's just a fact.

There is something about homemade bread. The smell alone can make a person drool, but to be able to eat it on a regular basis...needless to say, I need to step up my exercise game.


I made this bread to go with some yummy lasagna pasta. Because, if you're going to have pasta--you might as well have some bread. This quick bread was super easy to throw in my bread machine and let it do its thing. However, if you aren't in possession of a bread machine, you're in luck! You can bake this bad stuff, too. And I mean that in a good way. You know, like... bad is good.

Annnnnnnnnyway.

Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from Home With Boys
- 1.25 C warm water
- 1.5 C olive oil (or vegetable)
- 3.5 C all purpose unbleached flour (or bread flour)
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp dry Parsley
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp basil
- 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
- 2 tsp active dry yeast

Directions for Bread Machine:

- Add your liquid ingredients to the bread pan.
- Add your dry ingredients, except the yeast, to the bread pan.
- Use your finger or a spoon to form a little hole in the middle of the dry ingredients for your yeast.
- Select the "French" setting, choose crust color (I did "Light"), and BOOM! Your bread is in the making. See how easy that is?

OR

Directions for Baking:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and spray bread pan.
- Mix together your wet ingredients, followed by your dry ingredients. Knead the yeast into the dough until all are combined.
- Place in bread pan, using spatula to make it as even as possible in the pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes.


Simple, easy, and delicious. My husband described the bread as BANGIN' more than once... and it BARELY lasted 48 hours in the house (this is including the fact that my mother-in-law is visiting, too).

I was in the market for a new brownie recipe to try (my friend and I were sharing a craving) and was sent this via Pinterest to try. I didn't do the original (9 x 13 of brownies is way too much to have around the house), so I had to make some changes.

These. Are. Amazing.

I'm allowed to say that, right?

Also, they're not awful for you. The way I made them, there's no oil, low sugar, and plenty of chocolate.


Vegan [Banana PB] Fudge Brownies

Ingredients:

- 1 (overly ripe) mashed banana
- 1/3 C peanut butter
- 1/2 C milk (almond or soy to make it vegan)
- 2/3 C unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 tsp vanilla

- 2/3 C all purpose, unbleached flour
- 2/3 C brown sugar
- 1/2 C [special dark] cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt

- 1/2 C chocolate chips


Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a 8 x 8 baking dish.

- Whisk together your banana, peanut butter, milk, applesauce, and vanilla until well combined. Gradually add your dry ingredients (minus the chocolate chips-- save those for last!)

The dough will be thick-ish.

- Fold in your chocolate chips last.
- Using a spatula, pour/scoop the batter into your prepared dish. Smooth the batter as evenly as possible.
- Cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. *Note: Be careful not to over bake, because then they wou't be "fudgy".)*

Hello all.

I have a lot of recipes saved that I intend to share with you. I've been so swept up in working on my YA novel and being a wife/mother that I admit you've been neglected. That happens. Sometimes things have to be put aside for a while-- but hopefully I'm making an excellent return to the blogosphere!

In order to do that successfully, I knew I had to start with a wonderful recipe-- so I hope you approve in my choice. I've been procrastibaking a lot (Procrastination- Baking). It tends to happen when I'm writing and working and all that jazz. Luckily, Michael doesn't seem to mind. He loves getting creative in the kitchen with me.

Citrus Tea Muffins


Note: This is a half-batch recipe (it makes six muffins). For a full recipe, make sure to double up!

Ingredients:

MUFFINS:
- 1/4 C butter, softened
- 1/4 C unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 C sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract *optional*
- 3/4 C flour (I did 1/2 C unbleached all purpose and 1/4 C whole wheat)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 - 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 - 1 tsp lime zest

OPTIONAL GLAZE/ TOPPING:

- 1/2 C powdered sugar
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- Juice from 1/2 lime
- 1/2 tsp butter, softened
- 1/4 tsp vanilla

- 1 tsp shredded coconut
- 1/2 tsp lime zest
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and line your muffin tin/ spray with cooking spray. *Remember this is a half recipe unless doubled*.

- Beat softened butter until fluffy. Mix in your applesauce, sugar, egg, and lemon extract.
- Gradually add your dry ingredients, including your zests.
- Use 1/4 C of mix for each muffin, approximately. Bake for 15 - 18 minutes, depending on your oven. Check with a toothpick to make sure they're cooked all the way through. Remove to baking rack to cool.


-While they're cooling, combine your powdered sugar, citrus juices, butter, and vanilla for your glaze. In a separate bowl, toss together your zests and coconut (if using).
-When the muffins are cool, drizzle the glaze over them, then sprinkle the topping on that. Let sit for a few minutes before serving so the topping stays put.



Recipe adapted from Positively Splendid.

It's Mrs. Healthy Ever After's Birthday! Make sure to visit her site. I positively love all her recipes and posts.

If you couldn't tell, I'm loving lemon this season. It just so happens that Nikki told me lemon blueberry is one of her favorites, so I shipped some of these to her for her special day... and ate the rest myself.

Just kidding. Michael really did help.

Kind of.


Ingredients:

- 1/2 C butter (1 stick), softened
- 1 C sugar (can lesson to 2/3 or 3/4 if desired)
- 1 tbsp of lemon juice OR 1/2 lemon, juiced
- zest of 1 lemon
- 7 tbsp milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp lemon extract (optional)
- 2 eggs
- 2 C + 3 tbsp unbleached, all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1 C of fresh blueberries

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare a muffin pan with liners/cooking spray.

- In a small bowl, toss blueberries with 3 tbsp of flour until blueberries are coated. Use a slotted spoon to remove blueberries and shake off any excess flour. Set aside.


- With a handheld or standing mixer, blend your butter and sugar. Add your lemon juice, zest, milk, vanilla, lemon extracted, and eggs. Continue mixing until smooth.

- Fold in your dry ingredients (either pre-mixed or not...I like to save dishes). Make sure you just use 2 C of flour, you already used the 3 tbsp!

- Carefully stir in your blueberries.

- Fill muffin cups with about 1/4 C of mixture.

- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes (depending on your oven), and check with a toothpick to make sure it comes out clean before removing to cooling rack. Recipe makes about 15 muffins.


Recipe adapted from Gimme Some Oven.

I've been dying to do something with Lemon Poppyseed because, well, let's face it-- it's delicious. It's one of my favorite combinations for when it starts to warm up... or I guess I should say for spring and summer, since it's always warm where I am.


Ingredients:

- 2/3 C butter, softened
- 1 scant C sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 bananas, mashed (I used overripe bananas that I had frozen)
- Juice from 1.5 Lemons
- 1 C unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 C whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp poppyseeds
- lemon zest from one whole lemon



Directions:

- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Line your muffin pan and spray with cooking spray.
- Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the banana and mix well.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each addition.
- Mix in the lemon juice, flour, baking soda, vanilla, salt, poppyseeds, and lemon zest.
- Scoop about 1/4 C into each muffin liner.
- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, depending on your oven. Remove to cooling rack and let sit for a few minutes before serving.


Recipe molded from Something Swanky.

This is one of my absolute favorite muffin recipes. Not only are they delicious, but they don't make you feel guilty for eating them because you know they have "good stuff" in them.

Ingredients:

- 1.5 C whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
-1.25 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 C butter (1 stick), softened (not melted)
- 1/3 to 1/2 C honey
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
1 C unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 to 3/4 C carrot shreds (I used a cheese grater to do this work!)

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare your muffin tin by spraying with cooking oil or lining with tins, or both.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine: butter, honey, egg, vanilla, and applesauce. Once well mixed, gradually add your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt).
- Carefully fold in your shredded carrots.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, checking with a toothpick. Give sufficient time to cool before serving.

Note: Muffins may seems soft or crumbly when warm. If you let them sit for a good amount of time, even as long as thirty minutes, they seem to be better formed and not as soft.

Recipe adapted from 100 Days of Real Food

CHRISTMAS IS ONE WEEK AWAY! We are also leaving to begin our move TOMORROW. While you're reading this we are probably frantically trying to figure out how we accumulated so much stuff over the last few years and trying to convince each other what's really important to take in the UHAUL.

Can you picture it?

Well, while you are, maybe you should think about making these amazingly delicious, super easy, healthy citrus scones! That's why you're here, isn't it?


Ingredients:

- 1/3 C chopped cranberries
- zest of one orange
- 1/3 C freshly squeezed [orange or clementine] juice

*Note: I used clementine juice because Michael stole my orange while I wasn't looking after I zested it! Sneaky bugger.*

- 4 tbsp non dairy milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1.25 tsp olive oil
- 1 C whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350.
- In a medium to large bowl, whisk together your juice, non dairy milk, syrup and olive oil.
- Add your flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and orange zest to your wet mix. Next fold in your chopped cranberries.
- Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it or lining it with parchment paper. Scoop your mix and put it on your baking sheet. I used 1/4 C per scone and got five scones exactly.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until slightly golden on top.


Confession: I made two batches of these. Why? Because I made them for friends initially but I kept going back for more... until there weren't any. To be fair, Michael had one, too, as did one of our neighbors. So... I only ate two... but still! They're that addicting.


Inspired from My Inspriation's Recipe.

When it's cold and snowy outside I crave hot chocolate more than coffee, even first thing in the morning. I got in the habit of mixing hot cocoa and milk in with my coffee... so, really, just adding a dash of coffee to my hot cocoa. It just feels more seasonal, which may sound a little silly, but it works for me.

Then I got thinking, what could be better than hot chocolate brownies?


These brownies are a bit thin and crispy, which is how I like them. If you prefer gooey brownies, substitutes are listed throughout the recipe with *asterisks*.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 C semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
OR *1/2 C Unsweetened or Dark Cocoa Powder*

- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 C butter
- 1 C sugar

*2 Tbsp hot water*

- 1 egg
- 2/3 C all-purpose, unbleached flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 C dark chocolate morsels/chips

- 2 C mini marshmallows
- extra chocolate chips [optional], for sprinkling

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Over medium-low heat, melt your butter in a medium sized saucepan. When it's about halfway melted, add your sugar and 1/2 C semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips *OR Cocoa Powder*.
- Once well combined, pour your mixture into a medium-large mixing bowl. Whisk in your egg and vanilla.
- Gradually stir in your dry ingredients.
*If you are going for gooey brownies, add your 2 Tbsp hot water in the midst of the dry ingredients. So, add a little flour, then add some water, then add a little flour, then add the rest of your water.*
- Fold in your [remaining] dark chocolate chips/morsels.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Edges should be pulling away from the sides. If you see it ballooning up in the middle while it's baking, don't panic. It will settle down.

Add the Marshmallows

Before your brownies have cooled, sprinkle on top your marshmallows, followed by extra chocolate chips if desired (I would suggest using minis!). Put them back in the oven and let bake for another 3 to 7 minutes. Watch them! When they get a little golden on top, like a good s'more, that's when they're ready (or before, depending on your preference) to come out!

- Let cool for a good 5-10 minutes before attempting to cut. Be prepared. They are a mess to cut and all of them may not look that "pretty" (which is something that bugs me, honestly), but boy are they TASTY!

Note: It almost makes it easy if you let them cool completely, then pop them back in the oven for a few minutes (5 to 10 just to warm them, on 350), then commence to cut them. That way the marshmallows have completely set-in and it makes it easier to get them separated!


The brownie recipe was adapted from HERSHEY'S Kitchen.

This is the first time I've made Biscuits & Gravy. I know. I don't know what my problem is. I guess I had this sort of premonition that if I made them, I'd eat way too much. But Clark really wanted so, so I finally gave in. Michael, much to our surprise [sarcasm sarcasm], wouldn't try it. He stuck to his eggs and bacon. The boy knows what he wants!

These are easy and not too time consuming, honestly. I always envisioned making biscuits was so difficult, but after investing in some rather cheap biscuit cutters, it wasn't hard at all.

Ingredients:

[BISCUITS]

makes 5 to 6 biscuits

- 1 heaping cup of all-purpose, unbleached flour; extra for dusting
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 C butter, softened
- 3/4 C buttermilk

optional: melted butter (for brushing the baked biscuits)

[SAUSAGE GRAVY]

- 1/4 pound sausage
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups milk

If you double your biscuit count, I would suggest doubling your gravy as well!

Directions:

[BISCUITS]

- Preheat the oven to 450F. Prepare your baking sheet with parchment paper or cooking spray.

- Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add in the butter, and using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut the butter in until crumbly. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

- Remove from the fridge and add in the buttermilk slowly and stir just until combined. I did about 1/4 C buttermilk at a time, mixing after each addition.

- Turn the dough out onto a surface lightly dusted with flour. Knead the dough, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. Roll/knead until it is no longer sticking to your hands or the surface you placed it on.

- Pat or roll the dough until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into circles with a biscuit cutter dipped in flour. Place on the prepared baking sheet.

- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter.

[SAUSAGE GRAVY]

- Brown the sausage in a medium skillet over medium heat, breaking it up it's cooking.

- Stir the flour into the sausage and sausage grease. Add in the salt and pepper.

- Cook, stirring constantly, until the flour is slightly browned. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring constantly with a whisk to prevent lumps.

- Lower the heat to low and cook, stirring until thickened.


Serve warm, together, as you like. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee.

Adapted from Taste and Tell Blog.

Guess what? Christmas is ONE MONTH AWAY! Can you believe it? We sang "Go Tell It On The Mountain" yesterday and I was SO EXCITED. I have to admit, every year I end up listening to Christmas music earlier and earlier. But, I mean, come on... who doesn't love Christmas music?

I needed a new muffin recipe. I know, I know. I make a lot of them. I can't help it. Luckily, these are super easy, have little sugar, and are SO YUMMY! I mean, pears in a muffin? If you love pears, you'll love these!


Ingredients:

- 1.25 C pears, chopped
*Note: My pears were REALLY ripe... as in I needed to do something with them, fast. It made the muffins really moist and I loved it that way. I haven't tried it with unripened or not-overly-ripe pears, but I have a feeling they'd be yummy no matter what!*

- 1/4 C milk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 C brown sugar (unpacked)
- 1.5 C whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 400. Prepare your muffin pan with liners, cooking spray, or both!
- Whisk together your milk, egg, unsweetened applesauce, and brown sugar.
- Stir in your flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until well combined. It shouldn't be ridiculously thick, but since you're using whole wheat flour it will be thick-ish.
- Fold in your pears.
- Scoop in your muffin tin filling 2/3rds the way full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Should make exactly 12 muffins!


Michael absolutely devours these. It doesn't surprise me because the kid LOVES pears. The reason we had so many that were too ripe was because he went on a clementine-kick for a while.

Happy Monday!

Confession: I have never baked with white chocolate chips until this year. And I have no idea why.

I am in love.

I've always liked white chocolate, but when it came to baking I just kind of avoided it. I keep regular chocolate chips in the house on a daily basis, but white chocolate? I mean, who really craves white chocolate chip cookies?

Well, Michael has decided he likes "white chips" much better than "chocolate chips" (ha), and I must confess that lately they've been teasing my taste buds as well.

Enter, white chocolate chip pumpkin blondies. AKA dance party in your mouth.


Ingredients:

- 6 tbsp butter, softened
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup pumpkin
- 3/4 C + 2 Tbsp unbleached, all purpose flour
- /2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 C white chocolate chips

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350 and spray an 8x8 baking dish.
- Using a handheld or standing mixer, cream your butter until fluffy. Add the sugar, vanilla, and egg (separately). Then mix in the pumpkin.
- Add your dry ingredients (pre-combined in a smaller bowl or not is up to you, I like to save dishes!).
- Fold in your white chocolate chips. The mixture may be really thick, and that's perfectly fine!
- Spread the mix as evenly as possible into your 8x8 dish.
- Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
Note: The recipe I took this from said 15 to 20 minutes, but mine took A LOT longer to be done. This could just be my oven, so if you want to start with caution set your timer for 15 minutes and go from there. My oven is old and slow.
- Set whole pan on cooling rack and leave it there for a good 10 minutes before cutting into the bars. Whether you serve them warm or at room temperature, they are positively delicious.


This recipe was molded from Lauren's Latest.

This original recipe was for cookies, and I imagine because we made so many changes they ended up being more like crackers. Michael absolutely loved them, which makes them a win in my book and worth sharing!

Ingredients:

- 1 3/4 C flour (I used all-purpose, unbleached but I do think you could use whole wheat)
- 2 tbsp Coconut Oil (melted)
- 2 tbsp agave syrup or honey
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 2 1/2 tbsp pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp sea salt

*Optional*
- Melted Butter
- Cinnamon/Sugar mix

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350. Prepare your cookie sheet with parchment/wax paper or cooking oil.
- Mix together your melted coconut oil, syrup/honey, vanilla, and pumpkin.
- Add your flour and spices to your mix. Kneed the dough until well formed.
- On a lightly floured, roll your dough out very thinly. Use cookie cutters (or pie crust cutters-- mine are here, just a little different since they're a couple years old) to cut the dough into desired shapes. Move to your prepared cookie sheet.

*Optional: If you want to give the crackers more flavor (which I did), lightly brush with butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top of them.

- Bake for 5-10 minutes (until slightly golden) and remove immediately to a cooling rack.


These are easy and especially fun for kids to help make!

Do your remember my Cara Box reveal? Jacquie (from Jacquie Here) gifted me a fabulous Vegan cookbook due to all my vegan goodies she found on my site. I finally put it to some use! There are definitely a few fall-themed recipes I want to use from it, and this was my first try!

While these cookies are delicious, they weren't exactly what I was expecting. The recipe says they are thin pumpkin cookies. Do they look thin to you? Me, either! Still... if they come with Michael's approval, I am likely to make them again (and try to mess with it some more to make them thinner!).


Ingredients:

- 1/3 C canned pumpkin
- 1/3 C canola oil
- 1/3 C sugar
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp molasses
- 3 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1.5 C flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
*optional*: 1/3 to 1/2 C chocolate chips


Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350. Prepare cookie sheet.
- Mix together your pumpkin, oil, sugars, vanilla, molasses, and powdered sugar.
- Add your flour, baking soda, salt, and spices to the pumpkin mix. If the mix is really sticky, add some more flour.
- Fold in your *optional* chocolate chips.

- Using a cookie scooper or 1 to 2 tablespoons per cookie, put them on your baking sheet.
*Note: Now, my cookies may not have been "flat and chewy" because the recipe says to flatten them, and I just used a cookie scooper. However, they were incredibly fluffy... so I'm not sure how, exactly, they would have been even if I had tried to flatten them. If you try this, please let me know how it goes!*


- Bake for 11 to 13 minutes


Transfer to a cooling rack and let them sit for two to five minutes, or so, until you gobble them up.

I had never made a bread like this before. It turned out absolutely delicious! I was extra nervous because we didn't have any "plain" beer and I ended up using a seasonal Blue Moon (see the picture).

But I was definitely happy with the results. Easy and delicious bread to accompany a special dinner for the hubby? Yeah... win.

Ingredients:

- 3 C flour (I used 1.5 white, 1.5 wheat)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt (sea salt, if handy)
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 bottle (12 oz) beer
- butter, melted (around 2-4 tbsp)

Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 350.
- In a medium bowl, mix together your flour, garlic, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.
- Gently stir in your beer. I poured it in thirds, mixing after each addition.
- Melt 1-2 tbsp (I used 2 and it was way too much, so start with 1 and then move up if needed) and pour it into the bottom of your 9x5x3 pan (or mini pans, however you are doing it). Make sure it evenly coats the bottom. Pour out any extra if it's not even distributed.
- Transfer your dough into the pan and use a spatula (or your hands) to evenly spread it through the pan. Melt another 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter and use a pastry brush to coat the top of the bread with the butter.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until top is golden brown and a knife can be inserted/removed without any batter sticking to it. Remove from pan (so the bottom doesn't get soggy) and serve immediately (if possible).


Super tasty and goes excellent with Stuffed Philly Cheesesteak Peppers-- which is going to be posted Wednesday, so check back!

This recipe was molded from gimme some oven.

It's beginning to feel a lot like fall around here! I was so excited when my friend (who just happens to be about 11 weeks along) told me she was craving apples. Of course this meant for our get together I was going to make her a new recipe! (Something tells me she might have known that....)

These muffins truly are easy. I used applesauce along with chopped apple to help get a true fall-flavor going. Molded from The Comfort of Cooking's Apple-Pumpkin Muffins. I was so excited for these. Pretty sure I will be making them A LOT this fall... although I'd like to change a few things to make them vegan (promise that will be posted once I do it)!

Ingredients:

- 1.5 C whole wheat flour
- 1/3 C brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1.5 C unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 C oil (I don't think you HAVE to have this, but it does make them more moist)
- 1 small apple (I used GALA), chopped
- 3/4 C oats
- 1/4 C wheat germ *optional*
- 1/2 C to 3/4 C raisins

Directions:

- Prepare a muffin pan with paper liners and/or cooking spray and preheat your oven to 350.
- Mix together your brown sugar, applesauce, oil, eggs, and Vanilla.
- Mix in your flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. If you're putting in wheat germ, add this as well.(You can pre-mix your dry ingredients if you want to, but I tend to not to save on dirty dishes.)
- Fold in your oats, then your apple. Lastly, add your raisins.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (mine took closer to 25 minutes). Remove from the oven and let cool a bit before devouring.


TA-DAH! If you're pregnant and craving some apples, this is the recipe for you! OR if you just LOVE apple recipes in general... ya know... either way.


Friends, please take time to remember what happened twelve years ago today and say a prayer for all those affected then and now by the events of September 11, 2001. We will never forget.

I was honestly surprised when Clark requested these for breakfast a few weeks past. When I tell Clark I will make anything he wants for breakfast it usually results in french toast or eating out. So when he asked me to make crepes, I must confess I was really excited.

This recipe I adapted from 100 Days of Real Food. It's one of my favorites. It's healthy(ish), and it's SO delicious.

Ingredients

- 3 eggs
- 1 C whole wheat flour
- 1 C milk
- 1/2 C water
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp butter, melted, plus extra for cooking

Directions

- Whisk together the eggs, milk, water, honey, vanilla, and butter.
- Mix in the flour, salt, and cinnamon little by little until evenly combined.
- Cover and refrigerate the batter for around 15 to 30 minutes.'
- Swirl butter around your pan (as it is heating, over low to medium heat) to completely cover the bottom and low sides.
- Pour enough batter on one side to thinly and evenly cover the pan. Quickly swirl the batter around to cover the pan in one thin layer.
- Let the crepe cook until bubbling (somewhat like a pancake). Very gently shimmy a spatula underneath it and flip it without breaking the crepe.
I have to brag a little here. Most people complain that this is the hardest part, and I felt like such a champ. It's probably because I made my crepes just a tiny bit thicker, but I had no trouble flipping them at all!
- Fry for one more minute on the other side, until golden brown, and then remove to a plate. I put wax paper in between them so they wouldn't stick until I was ready to serve them.

Now, you have options on how to serve them. You can roll them up plain and just top with maple syrup, or you can get creative. I put nutella and strawberries in the middle and then topped them with powdered sugar.

Are you drooling yet? These are wonderful for breakfast, dessert, or just about anything!