Dave looked at me like I was crazy when he saw me standing in front of a counter full of ingredients, and I don’t blame him. Every afternoon I get this lightheadedness and feel dizzy, and the feeling extends well into the evening, and yet there I was, setting up mixing bowls and measuring cups. […]
Low(er) Fat / Healthy
Baking in BC: Healthy Breakfast Cookies
We were still in BC and my baking urges were not yet satisfied. The mocha cake was delicious but pure dessert, and the banana muffins were delicious but routine, so I found something that was new but not terribly decadent and it had been on my list to try for a while: Healthy Breakfast Cookies. […]
Baking in BC: Banana Muffins With Peanut Butter Chips
I had to make my famous original Banana Yogurt Muffins in BC once I saw Mom’s potato masher. “Do you have a potato masher, by any chance?” “I do, but it’s not a very good one. It has a penguin handle and it’s in the drawer.” Okay, Mom? That’s not a penguin. I think it’s […]
Banana Peanut Butter Chip Oatmeal Bread
(Yes, that top one has a slice taken out of it already.) It was supposed to be Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bread, but I’m still holding on to the perhaps groundless hope that Juliet will actually eat some of this. And we all know she doesn’t eat chocolate, unless it comes in a wrapper from […]
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
I decided there were more chocolate zucchini recipes out there worth trying. So I tried one. I admit I am a little distracted today. In addition, we had our summer outing at work today, so I spent the afternoon on a boat cruising around Manhattan. It was actually quite lovely, with wonderful views of the […]
Coconut Baked Oatmeal
I wanted to make something relatively healthy, but I’m really tired too, so it was time to try Coconut Baked Oatmeal. I pinned the recipe after we devoured the Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal from the same site (Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures), and it’s an easy recipe for the exhausted. You just put it all in a […]
Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting
As Nathaniel & Juliet would sing, “It’s the final countdown…” All week I have been using my colleagues at work as guinea pigs. They tasted, they described, they compared and contrasted. They weighed the issues: kids have to like them, they can’t be too messy, they need to appeal to the widest variety of tastes, […]
Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes With Greek Yogurt Frosting
read about Night 1 read about Night 2 Tonight was the last night of true experimentation. Whatever I make tomorrow goes to the kids at St. Philip’s Academy for Read It All Up®, and that’s that. But tonight I went back to the site where I found the extremely delicious recipe for Secretly Healthy Chocolate […]
Read It All Up Test Night 2: Pumpkin Cupcakes
(with Chocolate Pumpkin Frosting) read about Night 1 Now I really do feel like Annie in The Bake Shop Ghost. I’m trying one recipe after another, trying to find the magical one that will strike just the right note for Read It All Up®. I think tomorrow’s recipe is going to be the big winner, […]
Read It All Up Test Night 1: Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins
This is going to be a week of experimentation. My friend Carol and I have started up a non-profit called Read It All Up®, which is all about combining our mutual love for reading and food into a way to get kids to love reading at a very early age. You can see more on […]
Experiments In Zucchini: Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cake
Most people who know me know of my hatred of cooked vegetables. Unless you count corn and potatoes, which are more like starches, I don’t eat any cooked vegetables at all, ever. Oh, Dave sometimes purees some carrots and sneaks them into the spaghetti sauce, and I make carrot oatmeal muffins, but that’s really as […]
Oatmeal Tea Bread redux: An Adventure In Toasted Walnuts
I have a confession to make: I have never toasted nuts before. I generally don’t cook with nuts, either, and part of that is my own texture preference. I like nuts, but I don’t love biting into something crunchy and resistant in the middle of something nice and cakey. I don’t usually bake with chocolate […]
Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal
After I threw the corn muffins away, I had to make something else, and it was almost lunch time, and the kids requested that the primary flavor be peanut butter. I couldn’t argue with that idea, as I love peanut butter with a fierce, obsessive love. We’d had baked oatmeal at Mussers’ Bed & Breakfast […]
Oatmeal Tea Bread
Yesterday I didn’t bake anything. So tonight I baked two things. I made my signature banana yogurt muffins, although I was a little distracted and forgot to top them off with cinnamon chips. Crap. They turned out great anyway, I say with honesty, and without any ego. They’re just delicious, that’s all. But I’ve had […]
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins With Juliet
The kids were completely disinterested in the Chai Pumpkin Bread, unsurprisingly, and as of late I haven’t been baking things that Juliet particularly likes, so I offered to make her something she’d like, and after some waffling over the cookies vs. muffins debate, she made her wishes known: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, please. And she […]
Chai Pumpkin Bread
jump to recipe I wanted something to contrast yesterday’s bran muffins, something with a more complex flavor. When I saw that the ingredients for this recipe included cardamon, allspice, cloves, black pepper, and brewed chai tea in addition to cinnamon and nutmeg, I knew my search was over. See all that stuff? I figured I’d […]
Buttermilk Bran Muffins
jump to recipe I was planning on making carrot oatmeal muffins tonight, since I’ve run out of breakfast muffins, but then I was poking around in the Epicurious iPad app today and saw a buttermilk bran muffin recipe that looked like it was worth a try. When I got home, I asked Nathaniel which one […]
One Bowl Chocolate Cake
I’m not sure which I’m happier about: conquering a recipe with (liquid) coffee in it, or finally managing to successfully dust something with powdered sugar without having it look hilarious, like a 4-year-old did it. Both feel like long-awaited accomplishments, and both resulted in deliciousness. A long time ago, years before I was baking anything […]
Pumpkin Scones
jump to recipe The night after we got home from Pennsylvania, I was feeling the baking urge again. The baking urge means that I want to make something I’ve never made before. And that always brings me to my Pinterest board where I pin healthy recipes I want to try. And THAT is where I […]
Banana Bread
Nathaniel has been asking for banana bread again. He really liked the cinnamon swirl one I made a few weeks back, but what he was after was the recipe I used to use a long time ago, long before the baking frenzy began, and he wants chocolate drizzle on it too.
Weird Oatmeal Cake, and Baking Fever
It’s been an odd evening. On the way home, I decided I wanted to try this recipe for “My Best Oatmeal Cake”. The photo above is directly from the recipe page, but let me tell you, I don’t think there’s an iota of a chance that this recipe was used to make the cake in […]
Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
A while back I tried out a recipe for cinnamon oatmeal muffins that was a disaster. Adjusting and experimenting with it would have been a waste of time, especially considering how many wonderful recipes there are out there that are actually worth making, so I unPinned it. It went off into the Phantom Zone with […]
Mini Pumpkin Bran Muffins With Chocolate Chips
jump to recipe I am still a little surprised at the deliciousness of these. I had some pumpkin to use up, I bought some wheat bran I wanted to try out, and I had the urge to prepare something healthy, and I think I hit the jackpot with this recipe, which is pretty good for […]
Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Brownies
Like all the reviews said, they don’t taste quite like brownies, but it’s hard to stop eating them once you start. They were really easy to make, despite a few screw-ups along the way. And even though I made what might be my best batch of banana yogurt muffins ever yesterday, I still needed some […]
Baking In British Columbia
I have never baked in someone else’s kitchen before, but I was out in Sooke, BC, visiting my Mom, and bake in her kitchen I did. Of course I was in Canada, so all the ingredients were just a little bit different. The salt is in a square container instead of a round one, the […]
Pumpkin Muffins With Sugar On Top
jump to recipe I had Greek yogurt to use up, and I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to keep myself busy and distracted. The result? Pumpkin muffins. I started with whole wheat white flour, then whisked in baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I threw in more cinnamon than the recipe called […]
Chocolate Yogurt Loaf With Powdered Sugar
Tonight I made a Rudi Cake — a tribute cake to someone special and so much missed. For extra strength, I added espresso powder. And for his white hair, I topped it with powdered sugar. Made with love and sadness and a zest for life and good flavor, I present the Chocolate Yogurt Loaf. I […]
Cinnamon Oat Muffins
They can’t all be gems. I’m always looking for healthy muffin recipes, but I sort of knew this one was going to be a dud. Don’t make these! I’m still blogging them though. Think of it as a warning, some type of public service announcement. It’s too bad, though, I do love the cinnamon/oatmeal combination. […]
Carrot Oatmeal Muffins
I had one last burst of energy today so I made something healthy that turned out to be delightfully delicious, and not, you know, delicious enough just because they’re good for you. Carrot Oatmeal Muffins! Also they were very easy to make! First I got to break out my new peeler on the carrot. Cool little […]
Back At Home With Lemon Ginger Tea Muffins
I am back from my trip, operating on almost no sleep, but feeling the need to ease some stress with baking. I found this recipe for Lemon Ginger Tea Muffins on Pinterest and thought it was worth a shot. I didn’t add the pistachios, though. They looked really good, but they add Weight Watchers points that I could do without, I’m trying to get back on track after some missteps.
Nathaniel wasn’t feeling well at school today, so when Dave brought him home I was able to get the lemon ginger tea on double duty, brewing his up with some honey to soothe his weary throat. Should I mention he was playing Lego Harry Potter on the XBox at the time? Sick days can be fun.
On to the muffins.
Juliet Makes Banana Muffins
Tonight I got Juliet to help with the baking. Step one was to get her to stop stacking up all the supplies. (Note the baking powder on top of the salt. I’d already removed the peanut butter jar and the baking soda but she started rebuilding the minute I turned my back.) I think the […]
Spiced Yogurt Muffins
jump to recipe I love these muffins. I’ve made them before, but I change things up just a little bit each time I make them. An actual, real chef even ate one of them and didn’t pass out or spit it out or yell at me or anything…I think he even said they were good. […]
Low Fat Gingerbread Cake
I’ve had my eye on this recipe for a while, it’s been parked on my Recipes I’d Like To Try (Baking) board on Pinterest. On a Friday night, I tend to bake things that don’t require a tremendous amount of attention; a one-pan item is perfect, especially if it’s going to make the kitchen smell […]
Low Fat Chocolate Muffins With A Small Surprise
I’m exhausted, but I wanted a treat, and I didn’t want to feel crappy about indulging. For that, this is my go-to recipe. These muffins are incredibly easy to whip together in almost no time, and they always taste fantastic. Good texture, strong chocolate flavor, boosted by a little espresso powder. It’s a very basic […]
Quaker Oat Bran Muffins With Spices
(and Egg Accidents) I ate the last of the banana muffins for breakfast today. And I need breakfast tomorrow. Bran muffins it is. This recipe isn’t even on Pinterest, because it’s on the back of the Quaker Oat Bran box…at least that’s where it starts. But that’s just the foundation. It gets a lot more […]
Banana Yogurt Muffins
(a Laurie original) I made these again last night for two reasons. Reason #1: I had two of these. They were gigantic! And getting browner by the second. Reason #2: I wanted to see if the gloriousness of the first batch was a fluke. I put dry ingredients together: whole wheat white flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, […]
Banana Yogurt Muffins on a Fresh Start Sunday
Fresh start Sunday. I have not been very good when it comes to Weight Watchers over the past few weeks. I just got this sense of entitlement about late night snacking that has not been serving me well. (But isn’t late night snacking one of life’s joys? Why must it be so bad for you? […]
