Muffins, Oatmeal, and Ice Cream!

I have lots of recipes to put on here.  Here are few to catch up on!  

 Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

I got the recipe for these muffins here.   The kids and I liked these.  They definitely are not too sweet and the chocolate chips give it just the right amount.  They were a make again in my book too!

 Crockpot Steel Cut Oatmeal

This was fantastic!  I used a different recipe for this one, but then tried the following and LOVED it!
1 1/2 cup milk (I used skim)
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup steel oats
2 Tbs brown sugar, or maple syrup or other sweetener
1 1/2 Tbs butter, cut into 5 or 6 pieces (optional, I added it though!)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs ground flax seed
1/4 tsp salt
(you can add nuts, maple syrup, raisins, or more milk or butter)

Spray large crock well with cooking spray (or grease) add ingredients and cook on low for 10 hours or so.  YUM!!!!

 Banana Ice Cream

This one is SO SO easy and so good!  I sliced some bananas and froze them on wax paper and then put them in my blender until they were creamy!  I added some milk to it because it was very thick.  Graham and I love this!  It would also be good with some peanut butter or chocolate syrup on top.  Seriously... Try it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I found this recipe... oh... I really have no idea how I found it because I read too many blogs and one click leads to another and before I know it I'm on a new blog looking at a great recipe!  Here is the link to the recipe I found.  I started making these last fall and love them!  Gracie helped me make these last week and funny thing.. she didn't like them yet wanted to try them over and over.  Each time she still said "nope, don't like em!" ha!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
8 oz. canned pumpkin
3/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-line muffin cips 3/4 full. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until muffins test done.

Serves: 1-1/2 dozen.

I have been feeding my family...

 So it's been a year since I've posted.  My family has been eating in that time. Ha! My hubby isn't home tonight and I'm doing some blog clean up. Thought I'd share a few pics of food I have.  I'll do better about sharing recipes since I love to get new ones from other people!

Homemade freezer jam. If you think that this is too hard.. you are WRONG! I bought some fresh strawberries at the beginning of the summer.  Get some sure jell, some jars (even plastic containers will be ok if you'll use them up in a month or two) or some plastic jelly jars, sugar and follow the directions. It is not hard at all. I like mine smoother so I chop my berries on a food processor but you could use a masher.  Seriously..  homemade goodness all year.  I made some last week with Aldi strawberries too- just as good and they were only $.99 a quart!

 When my friend Gretch was over her son Owen helped me make some.  He loved eating "his" jam!

My mom had given me her bread machine and I just couldn't get a good loaf out of it, so I gave it away.  Then my friend gave me one and I tried this recipe. and it worked great!  I used wheat flour and baked it in the oven.  So basically the bread machine does the kneading and rising.  I don't want to brag (ha ha) but I was pretty proud of my loaf of bread!   I tried rolls in it too, but they were just ok. Need to keep trying.

There you go!  An updated recipe, or semi recipe post from me.

Ice Cream Cake!

Ready for the easiest but tastiest ice cream dessert ever? I've made this a handful of times and it always gets rave reviews. My mom found it somewhere and I was skeptical but I love it!

Ingredients

2 boxes ice cream sandwiches

2 reg. sized tubs of cool whip

choc. syrup caramel syrup

in a 9x13 pan open and lay out 1 box of ice cream sandwiches. I cut up 1 to fit the sides. Then put 1 tub of cool whip on top, spreading around. You don't have to use the whole tub if you don't want to. Drizzle choc on top of cool whip (or caramel, or both, whatever)

Lay second box of ice cream sandwiches on top of cool whip. Smooth cool whip on top and then top with caramel and choc. You can also add crushed candy bar (any flavor) on top. Put in fridge and serve frozen. YUM!

No bake energy bites (there must be a better name?!)

Energy Bites

makes approximately 2 dozen depending on size NOTE-This is the recipe copied from the website. I'll put my changes in blue. LOVED these!

• 1/2 C nut butter(almond butter, peanut butter, sunflower seed butter or any other nut or seed butter. Anything will work here) I used natural PB once, and regular once. Both were great.
• 1/3 C honey(I believe brown rice syrup would also work. I’m not sure of thinner sweeteners such as maple syrup and agave though as they may not hold together as well) used honey
• 1 C old fashioned rolled oats(you can toast for a nuttier flavor at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes)
• 1 C shredded unsweetened coconut(you can substitute any dry ingredients for this, wheat bran or germ, oat bran, some ground flax seed(I wouldn’t recommending using an entire cup!), any kind of ground nuts or seeds. For a cookie dough type bite try adding a few tablespoon of your favorite whole grain flour) used 1/2 cup coconut (we only have sweetened, but oh well) and 1/4 cup ground flax seed, and 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1-2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of sea salt if using a natural nut butter with no added salt
• 1-2 tsp your favorite spices or spice combinations(optional) cinnamon
• 1/2 C other addins(any kind of whole or roughly chopped nuts or seeds, dried fruit, good quality chocolate chips, etc) choc. chips (mini, or I also chopped a few dove dark choc. pieces) and poppy seeds. :)

In a large bowl add the nut butter, honey or other sweetener, vanilla and salt if needed. Use less vanilla if yours is very strong or more if you really enjoy the vanilla flavor and don’t buy an alcohol based kind. If all your ingredients are room temperature you should be able to stir to combine. If this is difficult you can warm in the microwave for a few seconds or even place the bowl in an inch or two hot water for a few minutes to soften everything. Once this is combined add the remaining ingredients.

In this case I used almond butter and for my addins I used equal parts sesame seeds, poppy seeds and mini chocolate chips. Mix well. Once it’s all combined place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then remove from the fridge, scoop out some dough and roll into a ball. I find it’s much easier, and works better to squeeze the handful together to compact it and then roll it into a ball.

If yours are too sticky you can considering adding more dry ingredients into them or rolling them in something like ground nuts, coconut, etc so they aren’t as sticky. Place the balls in an airtight container either in the fridge or freezer for quick and easy snacks.

Molasses Choc. Chip Cookies-YUM!

I got these from this website. I don't know how I found it, but I LOVE these! I'm in search of the perfect choc. chip cookie. I have my friend Jo's, my friend Jodi's, my friend Minda's and now this one. So far I love all of them but this one ranks up to the top. What is your all time favorite choc. chip cookie recipe?

PS- the key to these? Let them sit in the fridge overnight. And I used choc. chunks. :)

Ingredients 4 cups flour (18 ounces) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 sticks butter, softened (8 ounces) 2 cups sugar (15 ounces) 2 tablespoons molasses 3 large eggs, at room temperature 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate discs

Directions 1. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. 2. Beat butter, sugar and molasses until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. 3. Beat until well mixed. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate discs. 4. Let sit in refrigerator overnight before baking, and may be stored this way for up to two days. Yes, I realize this is the very hard part. 5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with silicon mats or parchment paper. 6. Gently form dough into 1 1/2 to 2-inch balls and place 2 to 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes on middle rack. 7. Remove from oven and let cool on pan for 2 more minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely if you have any will power left.

Lentil Casserole

We are having meatless Mondays at our house. (well, that's the goal, with Shane being gone, we had a lot of PB &J Mondays! I found this recipe here . Just go to the lijit search and type Lentil Casserole. This picture is after the cheese had cooled but guess what it was good! And guess what else? My WHOLE family ate it (even Graham, even Shane!) It was good as leftovers and also super easy to make.

Lentil Casserole

Ingredients
¾ cup lentils
½ cup rice
½ tsp basil
¼ tsp rosemary
¼ tsp oregano
¾ tsp garlic powder
3 cup chicken broth (can use water)

Directions
Mix all ingredients in casserole dish. Cover and bake on 300* for 1hr. 45 minutes to 2 hrs. (I stir after 30 minutes to mix in the seasoning.)

Serve over salad and top w/ sour cream. Goes well with tortilla chips. Or serve as a dip w/ tortilla chips and a with salad.

Read more: http://www.5dollardinners.com/2010/03/lentil-casserole.html#ixzz1NNP5rIB1