Pinterest Baked Oatmeal Apple Cups {Review}

So that one time you thought you were baking one thing but you ended up baking another. Yep story of my life right now. I was going to make whole wheat apple muffins {stay tuned} but instead I ended up making these yummy treats.

I enjoyed browsing through this blog Sugar Free Mom . She has wonderful recipes and I love her personality. These baked oat cups are pretty simple, have great ingredients {Honey, Oats, Flax, Banana, etc.} that we use daily in our breakfast.

There were a few things I didn't have: Unsweetened applesauce - so I used 1/2 of cinnamon applesauce, stevia - I used honey, around 4tbsp because I love to drizzle honey over my oats, Instead of using walnuts, raisins or chocolate chips, I used apples that I had already chopped up.

One thing I would change is not using cupcake liners. I found the mix stuck to the paper regardless if you used spray. Make sure you spray down your pan well though.

After 30 minutes baking and 10 minutes of cooling the first taste was really good. My husbands first word were ''very healthy''. He soon did what I like to do and drizzled a little honey over the baked cups and said ''oh yeah''.. that's a good sign!

I really look forward to making the whole wheat muffins next time around. Give these a try one week and add a topping you would really enjoy!

Thanks Sugar Free Mom for sharing this recipe!

Avocado Egg Bagel

 Mornings are quite busy for us. I've figured it's totally worth waking up an extra 10 minutes every AM to start off the day with a good nutritious breakfast! My husband Tom loves making breakfast and this morning he definitely spoiled me. We live for simplicity and this breakfast definitely fits into the category.

• Toast your bagel {we put ours on the panini}
• Spread fresh avocado on your bottom piece and a pinch of cumin, black pepper & salt.
• Make a over easy egg and place on top. 
• BAM! You're done, now enjoy this scrumptious breakfast!

strawberry whole wheat banana bread

Okay, so I am totally excited about sharing is recipe with everyone. Tom & I really enjoy banana bread, A LOT! Every couple of months after we have collected 4 or more banana's in the freezer we make banana bread, it's a special treat for us!

Last year while making banana bread I looked in the fridge and realized that we had some strawberries that were going to go bad soon. I decided to cut them up and toss them into the bread batter. After a hour of cooking, it was finally time to taste this mysterious bread. We were skeptical, thinking it would come out soggy. Well, we both were wrong, it was AMAZING, and now it's our absolute favorite bread to make! I have even thrown in a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips, ahhhh it's ridiculously good!

 
Pre-Heat oven @ 350 degrees
Prep time 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1hr 40min

Ingredients: 

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
4 banana's

2 cups whole wheat flour (I'm sure reg flour taste good as well)
1/2tsp baking soda
1/3 cup milk
1/4tsp salt
1tsp vanilla
*3/4 cup strawberries*

Directions:
Combine all ingredients to the vanilla, beat till smooth. Add strawberries, mix for 1 minute. Pour into greased bread pan, place into oven for 1 hour, check with bread knife in the center to see progress. If still gooey continue to bake for another 30-40 minutes.

Easy Breakfast Frittata

Mornings are such a rush around this house, probably like many others. I would love to wake up every morning and have a bowl of cheesy grits with a side of bacon, one egg, and a big glass of Florida's Natural orange juice. But instead I am shuffling to find a granola bar, along with my keys, and trying to get out the door on time. This morning I had a little more time on my hands than usual. In a 1 1/2 hours I did three loads of laundry, one load of dishes, cleaned the living room and kitchen, made breakfast, and caught up on emails. Here is a really easy breakfast recipe I am sure you will enjoy, and it's perfect for even brunch. 

 Serving - 3-4

 Pre-heat oven @ 350

 Bake time - 25 minutes

 Cupcake pan - greased

  

Ingredients:

1/4 cup half and half

4 eggs 

4 slices of bacon - chopped

1/4 green peppers - chopped

1/4 onion - chopped

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup deli turkey

Parmesan cheese

Salt & Pepper to season 

You can use other meats: sausage, steak, ham etc. 

Directions:

Cook your bacon till it's nice and crispy. Then whisk together your half and half, and eggs. Take your meat, green pepper, onions, bacon, cheese, and lightly mix together. Pour evenly into your cupcake pan, pinch a little salt & pepper over each frittata, and cook at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. After your frittata's are out of the oven, sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese, pepper, and they are ready to serve!

 

 

Frittata's are a hit around this house. The eggs are fluffy, veggies make the flavors POP, and don't be surprised if you're running back for seconds, or thirds!

Other toppings:

Garnish with salsa!

 Serve with a nice big glass of fresh OJ and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Muffins

This recipe wins a award for the longest recipe name so far. These little treats are my husbands absolute favorite. I really don't care for nuts, so I will substitute them for chocolate chips. You can't go wrong with a little chocolate first thing in the morning.

Pre-heat oven @ 350

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter

4 banana's

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Spray your mini cupcake pan with cooking spray

Combine in order

Mix till smooth

 

You know you want to sample some of that batter!

pour evenly into cupcake pan, and sprinkle a little sugar over each one.

bake 10-15 minutes

Let them cool for about 10 minutes

gently turn muffins while still in pan, then take back of spoon and pop them out. Place on a cooling rack.

 Love my new anthropologie measuring cups.

Enjoy your scrum-diddly-ump-tious muffins! 

Banana + Nutella

Nutella = MY WEAKNESS!

Nutella is a staple in this house. We never run out of this creamy, delicious spread. If you haven't tried it out yet, you're missing out on half of your life. And if you don't like it, your taste buds are out of whack, just sayin'! 

This is by far one of the easiest recipes to make, simple & tasteful. All you need is: 

• Whole Wheat Bagels
• Nutella spread
• Banana's

Place your bagel in your toaster (we love to press ours on the panini) and toast it to your preference. Next, spread the nutella onto your bagel and top with banana's, enjoy! 

Labor Day Brunch

Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer. In high society, Labor Day is (or was) considered the last day of the year when it is fashionable for women to wear white.

 
 Myself, I never wear white. Within 10 minutes I probably, most likely would look like this...

Tom was snuggled up under the blankets this morning, playing on his phone, enjoying the beautiful breeze coming through the windows. I got up a little earlier to surprise him with Brunch-fast!

Saturday we made Bacon wrapped Jalapeno poppers, I had a carton full of the cream cheese mixture leftover, so I decided I would re-use it this morning. I decided to make a open faced, bacon, egg sandwich, with a side of fresh strawberries and homemade fruit dip.. can't forget the Iced Chai Tea !!!

 SN: My favorite places to buy mugs from is Anthropologie!

Ingredients: 

2 Slices of Everything Bread (You can find this in the bakery section at Wal-Mart, seriously the best bread!)

3 Eggs

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/3 Cup Tomatoes, diced

Cream Cheese (Want the cream cheese recipe that I used today? Go to Love & Football post)

Salt & Pepper to season 

4 slices of bacon (I used Turkey bacon today.)

Directions:

1.

Scramble your eggs and add your minced garlic.

2.

Cook your bacon till well done. while you are doing that go ahead and heat up your panini (if you don't have a panini, just use your toaster/toaster oven) and place on there till your bread is slightly golden brown. 

3. 

Take your cream cheese and spread it on top of your bread. Then add your scramble eggs and top it with bacon & your freshly diced tomatoes. Season with Salt & Pepper.

Tom could smell everything cooking, so my ''Surprise'' brunch-fast turned into him helping me.

 
Easiest Fruit Dip:

 serves: 2

12 Strawberries sliced

4 tbsp Oikos Plain Greek Yogurt 

(or Sour Cream)

3-4 tbsp brown sugar

Mix Greek yogurt and brown sugar together well. Then serve with fresh fruits! 

Wisco starring at us from outside! Don't mind the jungle scenery!

 so yummy!

 The best colors, Orange & Blue!

 Wisco, digging holes.

 I love this little guy so much!

Have a wonderful Labor day, filled with Love & Laughter!

Breakfast Muffins

So I have this new cookbook that was given to me by our dear friends as a wedding gift. It is called: ''The Pioneer Woman Cooks'', By: Ree Drummond. And ladies let me tell you, her book: ''The Pioneer Woman Cooks '' is so hard to put down and the recipes are SIMPLE & DELICIOUS! I highly recommend this book to be apart of your cookbook collection. If you are NOT a cook, she definitely makes cooking so much easier and fun. There are pictures for each recipe that are very descriptive so you don't get lost and there is always a story with each of the recipes, which makes it personable! (Great gift as well!)

Saturday night I was going through my baking pantry trying to decide what I could make for our Sunday brunch? My eyes went straight to the SUGAR and CINNAMON. Those two ingredients made me look back to my childhood when my parents would make me toast with Cinnamon Sugar, oh so tasty!

As I was contemplating what to make with those two ingredients I decided to pull out my new cookbook. As I was flipping through it I came across the French Breakfast Puffs and I was like.. SCORE! Found the perfect recipe and they looked delicious! 

Puff Ingredients

3 Cups All-Purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup of shortening

2 eggs

1 cup of moo

 

Coating

2 sticks of butter

1 1/2 cups of sugar

3 tsp of cinnamon and I put like a ton in there

 

1.
Preheat the oven @ 350 degrees and lightly grease your muffin pan (butter or shortening. make sure you get around the rims too.)

2. 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nut meg and set aside.

3.

In a mixing bowl (Your KitchenAid, if you have one) cream together the sugar and shortening.

4.

Add the eggs and mix again.

5.

Alternate mixing 1/3 of flour mixture and 1/3 of the milk to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.

By that time my kitchen counter looked like this:

Back to the recipe!

6.

Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. 

7.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Remove the muffins from the pan and set aside.

When I got to this point I went ahead and pulled out a baking sheet and placed parchment paper on it. Then I carefully took the muffins out of the pan and placed them on there to cool for about 5 minutes.

 8.

To make the coating, melt the butter in a bowl or glass pan (I used two meatloaf pans) and then in the other bowl or glass pan mix your cinnamon and sugar together.

9.

You can either dip your muffins into the butter or do what I did, and that was use a pastry brush or what I call the ''Kitchen paint brush'' and coat the the muffins thoroughly.

10.

Then you coat your muffin in the Cinnamon and Sugar and don't be afraid to go back and coat it again and again :) (You can also can use Truvia as a substitute.)

11.

Make a cup of coffee, sit back and relax and enjoy your muffin!

12.

Thought you were finished? So did I until I walked back into the kitchen and saw all this mess in the sink. Thank you Jesus for a dishwasher and my little ''Sweeper'' Wisco, who cleans up all the little droppings on the floor!

The End.