Little Guy's Chocolate Chip Muffins

Note:   Mississippi doesn't see cold weather like we have had.      Baking and cooking has not only been a good way to warm the body, but it has been a good way to warm the house.    Little Guy likes warm breakfast.     He has never been a cold cereal or pastry kid.     He wants warm, stomach filling breakfast.      As a treat, occasionally he makes these for us.

 
 
Little Guy's Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Little Guy's Apple Chips

Note:     Little Guy is having so much fun with his new food processor.    The first night he got it he wanted to chop and mix everything.     To try out his slicing blade, he grabbed a few apples and ran them through.    Immediately he said, "I bet we could make apple chips with these!"      So we did.      What a delicious snack.


LITTLE GUY'S APPLE CHIPS

Ingredients

1-1/2 T. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1 large crisp apple (Braeburn or Granny Smith)

Directions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees, then line a baking sheet with parchment paper.     Mix together sugar and cinnamon.   Wash apples and run through slicing blade of your food processor.    

( If you don't have a food processor, use a knife to quarter the apple lengthwise.     Cut up the slices as thin as possible.)  

Spread the apple slices on the baking sheet in one layer.     Sprinkle with spice mixture.     Bake for 1 1/2 hours.     Rotate the pan and bake another hour or until crisp.      If you don't think they are crisp enough, just turn off the oven and leave them pan inside until desired crispness.

Once they are done, remove from the oven, cool and then transfer to a container with a lid.      Yummy!

Cookbook: $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook

Note:   A dinner that only cost $5 is definitely appealing to my budget right now.     Quick, delicious and nourishing sounds really good too.      This cookbook won't be a surprise to you if you are already following her blog!   Aren't bloggers just the best?!?


"The $5 Dinner Mom" by Erin Chase
St Martin's Griffin, $14.99
Erin shows you how to size up the best supermarket deals, clip coupons that will really save you money and create a weekly dinner menu plan. She lists prices for all the ingredients and offers hundred of appealing recipes based on fresh foods.

Here are a few of Erin's favorites:

• North Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwiches - $4.90
• Curried Pumpkin Soup - $4.41
• Apple Dijon Pork Roast - $4.30
• Orange Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry - $4.94
• Creamy Lemon Dill Catfish - $4.95
• Bacon-Wrapped Apple Chicken - $4.96
• Country Ribs with Oven Fries - $4.77

Cinnamon Cream Cheese

Note: We are easing back into our homeschool routine. Some mornings it is taking more coaxing than others. The boys are enjoying this flavored cream cheese to put on their warm bagels.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese

Ingredients
1 block of cream cheese
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Directions

Mix all ingredients together well with hand mixer. Cover and chill until needed.

Cheese Glorious Cheese

Note:     Nothing says comfort like a grilled cheese sandwich.      When my Mom went into the hospital to have my baby sister, we would have starved if it hadn't been for grilled cheese sandwiches.     It was the only thing that my Dad knew how to cook.     But we didn't care because we loved them.       We were totally bummed when Mom came home and made us eat veggies again.    Ha!

The Basic Grilled Cheese

Ingredients
2 pieces of white bread
1 piece of American cheese
butter

Directions
Spray your skillet with non-stick cooking spray and turn on the heat to warm.      Spread butter on one side of both pieces of bread.      Place one piece of bread, butter side down, in the skillet.    Oooh... the buttery sizzle!     Top with a piece of American cheese.     Top with other side of buttered bread this time with butter facing up.         Let first side get golden brown and then flip.    When the other side is golden.    Transfer to a plate and eat while cheese and good and gooey!

The Viking

(We got this grilled cheese recipe suggestion from one of the chefs at Viking Cooking School which is why we nicknamed it "The Viking".     When we say use mozzarella cheese, we mean REAL mozzarella cheese like in the photo.     Rich, creamy, delicious.)

Ingredients
2 pieces of bread
slice of mozzarella cheese
1 piece of grilled chicken
butter

Directions:  
Spray your skillet with non-stick cooking spray and turn on the heat to warm.      Spread butter on one side of both pieces of bread.      Place one piece of bread, butter side down, in the skillet.    Oooh... the buttery sizzle!     Top with mozzarella cheese and grilled chicken.  Top with other side of buttered bread this time with butter facing up.         Let first side get golden brown and then flip.    When the other side is golden.    Transfer to a plate and eat while cheese and good and gooey!

The Tanner
(This is my son's specialty grilled cheese.    I love it when he makes these.)

Ingredients
2 pieces of bread or 1 bagel
2 thin slices of ham
2 thin slices of Granny Smith apples
slices of cheddar cheese
butter

Directions
Spray your skillet with non-stick cooking spray and turn on the heat to warm.      Spread butter on one side of both pieces of bread.      Place one piece of bread, butter side down, in the skillet.    Oooh... the buttery sizzle!     Layer with cheese, ham, apple, cheese, ham, apple, and end with cheese.  Top with other side of buttered bread this time with butter facing up.         Let first side get golden brown and then flip.    When the other side is golden.    Transfer to a plate and eat while cheese and good and gooey!

No Bake Oatmeal Cookie Balls

Note:    My husband LOVES no bake cookies.      I HATE them.   I hate the smell when they are cooking.    Hate the texture of them when you are eating them.      But, because I love my husband, I am willing to hold my nose and make him a batch.     I found this recipe for no bake cookie balls.    

No Bake Oatmeal Cookie Balls
adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the oats, sugar and cocoa. With clean hands, mix in the water, vanilla, butter and peanut butter to form a dough.

Wash hands, then roll the dough into balls 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Roll balls in confectioners' sugar until thickly coated.

Chill 20 minutes before serving.

Cookbook: "My Bread" by Jim Lahey

Note:     We have rediscovered making bread instead of buying it.     We are just loving it.    When this book showed up on a "must have" list while watching one of the morning news shows, I was hooked.     This man loves bread and he doesn't believe in kneading.      Who wouldn't at least want to try that?      He has delicious recipes for bread like roasted red pepper, pizza bianca, panino cubano, and traditional whole wheat.     I have included a fun peanut butter and jelly bread recipe for you to try which I found at ecookbooks.com.   




"My Bread" by Jim Lahey
W.W. Norton, $29.95
From the man who popularized the no-knead bread-making method made popular by Mark Bittman in an article in The New York Times, comes this very accessible book for the home cook. As advertised, there is no kneading involved. You just mix the ingredients and then let the bread rise slowly. There are many delicious variations to choose from. "My Bread" will get nonbakers baking. After all, what is better than home-baked bread?

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread

INGREDIENTS
- egg, beaten/1 large
- bread flour/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons
- whole wheat flour/2 tablespoons
- table salt/¾ teaspoon
- instant or other active dry yeast/¼ teaspoon
- cool (55 to 65 degrees F) water/1 cup plus 2 tablespoons
- unsalted smooth peanut butter/3 tablespoons
- unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, whole/¼ cup
- unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, roughly chopped/¼ cup
- seedless fruit jam of choice/1/3 cup

- nonstick cooking spray
- additional flour for dusting

Directions
1. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the beaten egg for glazing the bread. In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, salt, yeast, and the remaining egg. Blend the water and peanut butter in a blender until smooth (some settling will occur if this is left to stand, so blend just before using). Add mixture to the flour mixture and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough without any lumps, about 30 seconds. Stir in the whole peanuts until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, about 12 hours.
2. When the first rise is complete, sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Lightly flour your hands and gently pat and pull the dough into a rough rectangle about 8 by 12 inches.
3. Now you’re going to make a sort of jelly roll: Position the dough so a long side is in front of you. Spread the jam evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Lift up the far side of the rectangle and fold one third of it over toward the center, then continue rolling up the remainder into a cylinder. With the seam on the bottom, tuck the ends of the roll under to seal them, so the jam doesn’t ooze out during baking.
4. Lightly coat the loaf pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle half of the chopped peanuts into the bottom of the pan. Gently transfer the dough, seam side down, to the loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining chopped peanuts onto the dough. Cover the dough with a towel and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 hour. The dough is ready when it has doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.
5. About 15 minutes before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, with a rack in the center.
6. Brush the top of the dough with the reserved beaten egg. Bake until golden, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. If the peanuts start to darken, loosely cover the loaf with foil. Use pot holders to invert the pan onto a rack, remove the pan, and turn the bread right side up to cool thoroughly. (Don’t dawdle—the bread will get soggy if it cools in the pan.)