Mom's Coffee Cake

Coffee cake the way I remember it. And now I know why Mom always made this recipe. It uses oil and melted butter, respectively, instead of softened butter, so there's no cutting in the butter! I have another delicious coffee cake recipe from the BH&G cookbook, but it takes (literally) an hour to make, because both the batter and the crumb topping require cutting butter in. Who wants to spend an hour in the morning putting breakfast together (and *then* you have to wait for it to bake)? This, on the other hand, goes together really quickly.

For all but just our immediate family, I double this and bake it in a 9x12.

Combine:
1/4 C oil
1 beaten egg
1/2 C milk

Stir together, then add to milk mixture:
1 1/2 C sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mix well; pour into greased 9" x 9" pan.

Topping:
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup broken nuts (or substitute 1/2 C raisins -- or do both).

Combine. Sprinkle over batter.

Bake at 375 about 25 min. or until knife/cake tester comes out clean.

Serve warm.

Monkey Bread (Bread Machine)

Inspired by my IRL df GfG, I decided to make Monkey Bread for Thanksgiving breakfast.

Again, I fished around to combine several recipes to suit my needs (read: whims). I started here (where GfG got the idea), looked here, and here, as well. Oh, did I mention that I wanted to do the dough in the bread machine? (Well, I guess I did. In the title. But anyway . . .) No whackable cans of dough to be found here. No biggie. I let me trusty bread machine do the work, and it was just about as simple as whacking the can on the counter, if not quite as satisfying.

When all was said and done, it was a hit. Houston, we have a tradition.

• 1 C wheat flour
• 2 C white flour
• 1/4 C powdered milk
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 C water
• 1 egg
• 1 T butter, softened
• 1 t salt
• 1 t cinnamon
• 2 1/2 t yeast

• 1 C sugar
• 2-3 t cinnamon

• 1 C butter (2 sticks)
• 1/2 C brown sugar

1. Place first group of ingredients in bread machine.
2. Set for dough cycle.
3. Stir together sugar and cinnamon.
4. Place in ziplock bag.
5. Divide finished dough into 20 pieces.
6. Drop into ziplock bag.
7. Shake to coat.
8. Place in bundt pan or deep dish baker.
9. Melt butter and brown sugar together.
10. Pour over dough pieces.
11. Bake at 375* for 25-35 mins or refrigerate and bake in the morning.
12. Allow to cool for 15 mins. before inverting onto plate.

Crustless Quiche

Even though I can now make pie crusts, I still like this simple way to throw together a quiche without worrying about a crust.

from Karen M

• 1 C veggies
o sliced mushrooms
o spinach, torn or chopped
o green onions, chopped
o okra, sliced
o carrot, grated
o cauliflower, chopped
o zucchini, sliced
o tomato, chopped

• 1 C protein
o hot dogs, sliced
o tuna, flaked
o sardines, flaked after removing spine and scales
o chicken, shredded
o ground beef or turkey, browned

• 1 C cheese
o mozzarella
o Monterey jack
o cheddar
o Parmesan

• 4-5 eggs
• 2 C light cream or milk
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/3 C flour
• 1 T oil

1. Layer veggies and protein in greased pie plate.
2. Top with cheese.
3. Beat eggs with remaining ingredients.
4. Pour over ingredients in pie plate.
5. Bake at 375* F for 40-45 minutes, until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Soaked Whole Wheat Pancakes

When I originally posted my version of NoSpendMonth's pancake recipe (back in January), I promised that I'd play around with soaking the grains and replacing some of the fat with applesauce. So it took me a while. :-P

Here it is, though. We had these this morning for breakfast, and they were really good. Lighter than usual and more of a buttermilk taste, which I liked (not sour, just rich). I've got a stock of applesauce in the freezer, which made that modification simple (need to post my applesauce "recipe" soon; it's more of a "process" than a "recipe," but it's so simple that I want to share it).

• 4 C wheat flour
• 1 C oats
• 5 C milk
• 5 T vinegar
• 1 C butter, melted (2 sticks)
o or 1/2 C butter, melted + 1/2 C applesauce

• 3 T baking powder
• 3 t salt
• 3 eggs

DIRECTIONS
1. The night/7-10 hours before the meal, in a medium bowl, whisk together milk and vinegar. Leave to sit for 5 min.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together flour and oats.
3. Mix butter (and applesauce, if using) into milk mixture.
4. Stir milk mixture into dry mixture.
5. Cover and leave out 7-10 hours.
6. Stir baking powder and salt into flour mixture.
7. Whisk eggs in separate bowl and stir into flour mixture.
8. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat (if non-stick, oil is not necessary).
9. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.
10. Brown on both sides and serve hot

Banana Bread (bread machine)

I know part of the point of using the bread machine is to let it do the kneading for you, but you have to admit, having a quick bread mix and bake in the same (highly non-stick) pan, leaving no mixing bowls to wash, is certainly a plus. A friend sent me this recipe when I first got my machine, and we've really enjoyed having it. I adapted it to whole wheat flour and to soaking the grains.

• 2 C flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 3 T vegetable oil
• 2 T flax seed, ground + 6T water, whisked
• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 2 bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise
o or 3 small bananas, peeled and halved

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine.
2. Select the Dough setting, and press Start.
3. Mix the bread for 3 to 5 minutes until the bananas are mashed and all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
4. If necessary, use a spatula to push the dough from the sides of pan and scrape bottom of pan to ensure all flour is incorporated..
5. When 3 to 5 minutes have passed on the clock display, press Stop, turn off or unplug machine.
6. Smooth out the top of the loaf with the rubber spatula.
7. Select the Bake setting, set timer for an additional 7 hours and press Start. (The Bake cycle time may vary with machines, but should be about 50 minutes.)
8. To test the bread for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center top. If the bread is done, the toothpick will come out clean. If not, reset the machine on Bake and continue to bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
9. Remove the pan from the machine, but allow the bread to remain in the pan for 10 minutes.
10. Remove the bread to cool completely on a wire rack.

Stretching a Boxed Muffin Mix

The only possible application I can think of for this particular recipe is living overseas and only having access to blueberries in a boxed blueberry muffin mix (or lemon poppyseed, for that matter). If you were in the States and willing to mix up a batch of muffins, you'd just buy your own blueberries. If you wanted the convenience of a boxed muffin mix, you'd just make the mix.

So, for all my friends who live overseas...

Stretching a Boxed Muffin Mix

• 2 C flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

• 1 C milk
• 1/4 C vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp grated lemon rind
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 T lemon juice, optional

• ingredients called for by the muffin mix

• 1 boxed muffin mix

1. Combine 1st group of ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add the powdered mix from the box to the large bowl and stir.
3. Combine 2nd group of ingredients in a medium bowl.
4. Add the ingredients called for by the muffin mix to the medium bowl and mix.
5. Add the mixture from the medium bowl to the large bowl and stir.
6. Stir in any “mix-ins” included in the boxed mix (i.e. blueberries).
7. Pour into muffin tins and bake according to box directions.

• This will increase the number of muffins by 12.

*I use local "whole wheat," which is basically a white wheat flour, so it has the added benefit of increasing the healthfulness of the muffins, too.

Cinnamon Raisin Muffins (GFCF, eggless)

***Edited to reflect some recent changes I've made.

Yes, it's been quite a while. I had a very low-energy first trimester, a trip to the States, a life-impacting diagnosis for my 3yo, a new house, and a baby. I've been a little busy.

When life hands you a PDD-NOS diagnosis, you go gluten-free, casein-free, so without further ado, my first GFCF recipe posting, which you may recognize as closely related to the dried fruit muffin recipe I posted previously. It's my first from-scratch adaptation, and it actually turned out! Hopefully, there will be more to come...

Cinnamon Raisin Muffins (GFCF, eggless)

- 3/4 C brown rice flour
- 3/4 C tapioca flour/starch/powder
- 1/2 C coconut flour (ground coconut)
- 3/4 C sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 C rice/coconut milk, apple juice or coconut milk yogurt
- 1/4 C oil
- 1 T (heaping) flax seed
o grind & add 3 T water
o whisk together
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- (3/4 C) 100 g raisins

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray muffin tin cups well with a non stick cooking spray.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
4. In a small mixing bowl whisk ground flax seed with water and then add and stir together the milk/juice, oil, and vanilla extract.
5. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir until mixed.
6. Stir in the raisins.
7. Scoop batter (making sure to include raisins from the bottom of the bowl) into the muffin cups filling each 3/4 full.
8. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Peanut Butter Granola

After my success with the baked Honey Granola recipe that I'd remembered, I decided I wanted to try Pioneer Woman's Peanut Butter Granola version. I had finally remembered to ask for peanuts to make peanut butter (mental note: post recipe/instructions), so I was set to go. We definitely enjoyed it and will be making it again soon.

The only bummer was that I only had 1 can of oats, so I had to make a 1/2 batch. In case you haven't picked up on this by now, I hate baking/cooking breakfast that yields only one breakfast-worth. Oh well, at least it tasted good. And I snuck the measly leftovers for myself. :-)

• 1 stick butter (1/2 C)
• 2/3 C natural peanut butter
• 2/3 C honey
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 t salt
• 6 C rolled oats (10 C quick-cooking)
• 1 C raisins (optional)

1. Melt the butter and peanut butter together in a medium saucepan/pot.
2. Add the honey, vanilla and salt.
3. Stir the mixture until smooth and hot throughout. (It doesn’t need to boil.)
4. Add the oats.
5. Stir until the oats are completely coated with peanut butter mixture.
6. Turn the mixture into an ungreased cookie sheet, or a large 9 by 13-inch pan.
7. Spread the granola out evenly and bake it at 375° for 10-12 minutes. It will be brown and crispy.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan.
9. Break into pieces after cooled.
10. Add raisins, if using, when granola is cool.

For the 1/2 batch, I used my Pampered Chef deep dish baker. I could have packed it in more and used it and the mini deep dish baker for a whole batch.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

I had ML get koosa* the other day, because I wanted to make a different kind of muffin. We've been rotating between making orange apricot muffins and cinnamon raisin ones from Michelle's recipe, and it was time for a change.

I remembered a Chocolate Zucchini recipe I'd gotten off of AllRecipes at some point, so I pulled that one up. Doubled it. Tweaked it a bit (would you believe the sugar below is halved? =-o). And it's a new staple. I love the fact that I can shred 1 kilo of koosa, use 1/2 of it, and freeze the other half for a batch later on (which I baked this morning).

This recipe makes enough batter for 24 large-sized muffins (i.e. with the cups full, rather than 2/3; you know, the way they tell you not to do when you're learning about portion control? what can I say? we like muffin tops...on muffins :-/) and 24 mini muffins. I feed my family breakfast and have enough to put up two bags for later breakfasts (or send to neighbors, as I did this morning), plus the mini muffins for hosting a social visit. This last option is wonderful. I love having something already baked to pull out of the freezer when I'm busy preparing the house. The other part (having family breakfasts made ahead) isn't too shabby, either.

*What? You don't know all of the vegetables in Arabic? Fine. I'll tell you. Koosa is squash. Or zucchini. Well, more like sqacchini. It's somewhere in between the two. I use it for squash in recipes that call for squash and zucchini in recipes that call for that. It's less moist than US squash, and more moist than American zucchini. Consider yourself educamacated for the day.

Makes 4 dozen

INGREDIENTS
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups grated zucchini (1 lb. or 1/2 k)

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

DIRECTIONS
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In an extra-large bowl beat the eggs.
• Beat in the sugar and oil.
• Add the cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and stir well.
• In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
• Mix into dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just moist.
• Pour batter into prepared muffin tins.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes (10-13 minutes for mini muffins).

Today, I made this with olive oil, because, well, we didn't have any vegetable oil, and I'm trying to limp along without it, so I don't leave any to go bad while we're in the US. They turned out fine. I could taste the olive oil in the batter (when I was "cleaning" the bowl) but not in the finished product.

Stay tuned for the Applesauce Muffins I'm making soon. That should get us through breakfasts until we leave for the States. :-)

Overnight Coffee Cake

A friend texted me yesterday at about 5:00 asking if I wanted to do a cake to have at the gathering at my house this morning for our friend who's birthday was today or whether I wanted her to do one. A) The texting friend generally makes the cakes in our ex-pat group, and, although I know she likes blessing people this way, I wanted to take that task from her this time. B) I wanted to bless the friend who's birthday it was (we'd had a celebration for her this past weekend, but you gotta have something on your birthday, right?). So, I said I'd make a coffee cake.

At about 10:00 last night when I was completely wiped out from my day and the kids still weren't asleep, I seriously questioned my decision. A little late to call or text and say, "Actually, I'd rather you make something." :-l Plus, I still wanted to be a blessing to everyone.

I'd already made the decision that I wanted to serve something make-ahead. Me and baked breakfast on a timetable don't mix. That's why it's so important to me to have baked goods in the freezer from mornings when I do have time to make them. Otherwise, we'd be eating cereal every morning (never mind that we did this morning, anyway).

So, I went to the Breakfast>>Make Ahead/Overnight file on my computer (geeky, I know, but it works for me), and opened two recipes: Overnight Coffee Cake and Baked Oatmeal. I'd served baked oatmeal at a gathering at my house not too long ago, plus, I didn't have any raisins (although I'd like to try it with chocolate chips, so I will be making it soon, anyway), so I decided on the Overnight Coffee Cake.

Problem: it calls for shortening, and A) I'm trying to cut hydrogenated fats out of our diet and B) the shortening I have is bad, anyway (don't know why I haven't just thrown it away). A quick google tells me I can substitute butter, so we're back on track.

The original recipe just has the ingredients listed in a random order and says "mix them together." I can't do that! That's not proper baking etiquette! So I "fixed" the recipe and made it as listed below (I'd done that when I'd made it previously, but I hadn't noted it in the recipe).

Fortunately, it went together more quickly, probably, than it's taken to write about it (or even read about it), and I covered it with foil and stuck it in the refrigerator. Took it out about 7:00 this morning and put it in the oven about 7:45. Other than my funky oven baking it lopsided due to a variance in temperature, it came out perfectly, everyone was blessed, and I even have enough left over to send downstairs to a neighbor who's dishes I need to return.

So...I guess it was worth it after all. :-P

• 1 C butter
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 C buttermilk (or 1 C milk+1/2 t lemon juice or vinegar)

• 2 C flour
• 1/2 C oats
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda

• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1 t cinnamon

1. Cream butter and sugars.
2. Add eggs and mix.
3. Add milk and mix
4. Stir together dry ingredients.
5. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until combined.
6. Spread into greased 9 x 13 pan.
7. Stir together additional brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over top of batter.
8. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
9. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

This is, of course, from a SL thread way back when. Like, way back before I started copying the usernames to go with recipes so I could credit them. I did a search, and I can't find it, so it must have been from before they switched to the new system, and I never can remember how to search the archives, so my apologies to the original poster. If you happen to see this and want to claim it, please do. :-)

Good Old-Fashioned Pancakes

I tried a new pancake recipe today. It was raved about in a thread on SL, either one about hot breakfasts or one about not spending and making things from scratch. I can't remember. Both have been popular lately, given the economy (hot breakfasts being more economical than cold cereal, not to mention more filling :-).

Either way, the recipe is from Michelle over at No Spend Month. Yep, the same one I got the Blueberry Muffin recipe from. Stay tuned for her pizza dough recipe. :-P

We liked the pancakes. I'd like to get on the ball enough to soak the grains the night before, use applesauce for 1/2 of the fat, etc. That will come. And if I wasn't trying to make BETHANY's Chunky Potato Soup at the same time, we'd have liked them even better. I kind of let most of the pancakes get too dark. Oops. (I'll post the soup recipe after we have it tonight.)

Of course, I couldn't leave the pancake recipe alone (in case I haven't mentioned, I rarely do), as rave as the reviews may have been. Mainly I just tripled it. But I also added oats, just for a more multi-grain effect.

INGREDIENTS
• 4 C flour
• 1 C oats
• 3 T baking powder
• 3 t salt
• 3 T sugar
• 4 C milk + 2 t vinegar
• 3 eggs
• 1 C butter, melted (2 sticks)

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
2. Whisk milk, egg & melted butter in separate bowl.
3. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the liquid mixture; mix until smooth.
4. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat (if non-stick, oil is not necessary).
5. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.
6. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Honey Granola

I've been meaning to make crockpot granola for, oh, a couple of weeks now. I was either using my crockpot for something else, had used the oats to make oatmeal, or just plain forgot to put it all in the night before (or didn't feel like it).

As I was falling asleep last night wondering what we were going to have for breakfast this morning, since we were out of flour, and I'd forgotten to ask ML to get any, and I didn't want to dig into the breakfast stash in the freezer on a morning where I had the time to actually make something, I remembered that my crockpot granola recipe was based on an oven-baked recipe that I actually preferred. Duh.

So, for breakfast this morning, we had granola. And there are leftovers for a quick breakfast another day. Hurray!

Oh, and today I added coconut and sunflower seeds as the add-ins. Meant to put in raisins after it baked, but I forgot. I'll probably put them in the rest when I store it.

• 6 C dry oatmeal (or 10 C quick-cooking oats)
• 1 C butter (2 sticks)
• 1 C honey
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 C each nuts and dried fruit (optional)

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the honey, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. (Honey is easiest to measure in a well-oiled measuring cup, or just use a mini spatula to scrape out the measuring cup afterwards.)
3. Heat briefly with and then add the oatmeal. Stir.
4. Turn the mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet, the kind with shallow sides; a large 9 by 13-inch pan works well, too.
5. Spread the granola out evenly and bake it at 320° for 20-25 minutes. It should be a toasty brown.
6. Now remove it from the oven and allow it to cool and crisp up right there in the pan.
7. Store it in a clean coffee can or sealed canister.
8. Add the nuts and dried fruit, if you are using them, when the granola is cool.

I use two stoneware dishes that I have, one deep dish baker and one miniature deep dish baker. A 9x12 stoneware or stoneware bar pan would probably be best.

I have found that the granola bakes best in stoneware, second best in metal and burns easily in Pyrex.

I don’t stir the granola while it is baking, and I actually pack it down into whatever I’m cooking it in. I find that it stays in “clumps” better that way, and that is how I like my granola.

Blueberry (or other dried fruit) Muffins

Michelle over at No Spend Month posted a recipe on her menu thread on SL for Lemon Blueberry Muffins. I had dried blueberries, cranberries, and cherries thanks to a wonderful e-maginary friend who'd mailed me a care package (shout out to MelanieinWA!), so I chose to use Michelle's recipe as the base. We ended up not liking the "lemon" aspect, and I made a couple of other changes. Here's what I ended up with.

Blueberry Muffins

4 C all purpose flour
1 C quick-cooking oats
1 C sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 C skim milk (from powder is fine)
1/2 C canola oil
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz dried blueberries or cherries or other dried fruit
or 2 2/3 C frozen blueberries, unthawed
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray muffin tin cups well with a non stick cooking spray.

In a small mixing bowl stir together the milk, canola oil, egg white, and vanilla extract.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just moist.
Fold in the blueberries. Pour batter into the muffin cups filling each 3/4 full.
Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

I'm actually feeling well enough these days to re-stock my freezer with breakfast foods like this, so we can have them on busy/lazy/ill mornings!

PSA: if you're going to get unexpectedly pregnant and there's any possibility you'll have morning sickness/lack of energy, make sure not to do so when your freezer is not stocked (as it normally is) with cooked meat and pre-baked breakfast options. :-/

Edited to Add: I made these this morning as cranberry-orange muffins, and they were yummy. I used the last package of dried fruit a friend had sent me, :-( and I substituted 2 C of orange juice for the milk. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to make cinnamon raisin muffins by using raisins (I know; surprised, aren't you?) and doubling the cinnamon.

Apple Cracked Wheat (CP)

Mamamin6 posted this on a Sonlight thread on crockpot oatmeal. I was delighted, because we can't get non-quick-cooking oats here. (Well, there are the imported little bags of Bob's Red Mill, but one of those would feed my kids maybe one meal. And we'll not even talk about how much it costs.) Quick-cooking oats done in the crockpot are paste (ask me how I know). Yay for cracked wheat.

• 2 C cracked wheat or bulgur wheat
• 4 C (1 l) apple juice
• 4 C water
• 4-6 T honey
• 2-4 T unsalted butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t cardamom
• 1 C chopped apples (2 medium apples)

1. Put the cracked wheat in a dry skillet and toast over medium heat until you can just smell the aroma, about 5 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or overnight, until tender (the cracked wheat will take longer to cook than the bulgur, which is parboiled).
4. Stir the cereal well and scoop into bowls with an oversized spoon.
5. Serve with milk, cream, or soy milk, if desired.

mamanin6 says:
• To make plain cracked wheat, use 1 C wheat to 3 C water. We've also cooked steel cut oats with apple juice in the crock-pot, and that tastes good, too.
• If you like crock-pot cooking, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook is a great book. Lots of great recipes, and tons of great info about crock pots, how to convert oven recipes to crock pot, etc. It is one of my most used cookbooks! They have a delicious tapioca pudding recipe that you make in the crock pot.

I haven't had more than a bite of this (my goal is to eat raw for breakfast, and I've been pretty good about keeping to it), but the kids like it, MS especially. It's going to for sure be a regular in our repertoire.

Oh, and I skipped the toasting step the second time, and the kids didn't seem to mind, so I don't think I'll bother with it in the future.

Pumpkin Muffins

When life gives you pumpkin puree, make pumpkin muffins (or pumpkin butter, but we were already stocked up on that, or pumpkin pie squares, but I didn't have a yellow cake mix).

Okay, so life didn't just hand me pumpkin puree. I made it myself, but I still had to figure out what to with it, since all of my medium-sized tupperware seemed to have disappeared (the plan had been to freeze it in 2C portions for later baking, but you know what they say about the plans of men).

We hadn't had muffins in a while, so I dug around on the SL forums for a pumpkin muffin recipe. I came up with several, but this one was what I ended up using due to availability of ingredients. I, of course, tweaked it a little, but that's just the nature of the beast in my kitchen (and somedays...).

from Cindy in GA

it's not overly sweet, uses whole wheat flour, and makes 24 muffins. My dc love them! (The batter will seem pretty stiff, but the muffins come out wonderful.)

Combine the following dry ingredients:
4 C whole wheat flour
2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
or 1 t cinnamon, 1/2 t ginger, 1/2 t nutmeg, 1/4 t cloves
2 C sugar
or 1 C honey

Add:
3 eggs
1/2 C canola oil
2 1/2 C pumpkin

Mix well. Bake @ 350 degrees for 21 minutes. Makes 18 muffins.

I love the fact that the recipe says to bake for 21 minutes. :-P It's probably a type-o, but it made me smile, so I left it.

Pumpkin Crockpot Granola

I have been wanting to teach MS how to do more in the kitchen, both for his own sake and for mine. Thanks to the idea from my sister-in-law (MKH), I have started MS off with things he can cook in the crockpot. We have a gas stove and oven, and he's a little skittish about fire (guess I should be happy), and while he's going to have to get over that and soon, the crockpot has provided a way to get him cooking without crossing that bridge quite yet. He can make a roast, and he can make applesauce and apple butter so far.

Since breakfast is the bane of my existence, I decided a breakfast option would be a good thing to teach next. So, I planned to teach him last night how to do overnight crockpot granola (using the recipe I'd previously posted). School kind of went long yesterday, though, and we wrapped up read-alouds at 9:30 PM, just in time for MS to go to bed. :-/

This morning, we were doing kitchen-school, so I could get some dishes washed and bake some pumpkin muffins while the pumpkin puree I'd made earlier in the week was still good. Noticing the butter we'd put in the crockpot to thaw yesterday (don't worry, it's cold here already, so the butter was fine), the wheels started turning in my head. Hm, I've started using applesauce in place of 1/2 of the butter for the granola recipe...I bet pumpkin puree would substitute perfectly...I was wondering what I was going to do to use up the puree that I didn't need for the muffins...it's not even going to be enough to be worth freezing...it would be just the right amount, though, for granola...

So, MS's home ec for today was Pumpkin Crockpot Granola, recipe as follows.

Crockpot Granola
• 1/2 C oil or butter + 1/2 C pureed pumpkin
• 1/2 C honey + 1/2 C molasses
• 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t ginger, 1/4 t nutmeg, 1/8 t cloves
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 6 cups of oats - not quick cooking (more like 10 C, if it’s quick cooking)

1. Make sure you keep the cover of the crockpot cracked or off. Cook on low for 5 hours or until brown, stirring occasionally. The more frequently you stir, the finer the consistency. If you prefer clumpier granola stir less.
2. Add raisins, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips...whatever you desire after the granola is ready.
3. This is delicious as a hot or cold cereal, as a snack, a topping for yogurt or made into granola bars.

If you put the lid on directly/completely, you run the risk of cracking the crock (this has happened to someone who tried this recipe).

I put the butter in with the crockpot on high as I prepare to make the recipe and do a few other things. Once it’s melted, I add the other ingredients, except the oats. I stir them until they are mixed and then add the oats (and sometimes the coconut).

Recently, I chopped up several apples and put them in with the ingredients the night before. In the morning, we had dried apple bits in our granola. I’m going to try this with different fruits in the future to see what other options work.

We're planning on putting raisins in once it's done cooking. We'd love to put in roasted pumpkin seeds, but we don't have any. :-(

Granola (CP)

This is an amalgamation of two different recipes, one from a former Sonlight poster, TaminAZ, and another from HillbillyHousewife.com. I prefer Hillbilly Housewife's granola, but it is more time consuming, so, in a pinch, I make it Tam's way, in the crockpot. Most often, these days, I make it in the crockpot.

• 1 cup of oil or melted butter
• 1 cup of honey
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 6 cups of oats - not quick cooking
• 1 cup of coconut (optional)

1. Make sure you keep the cover of the crockpot cracked or off. Cook on low for 5 hours or until brown, stirring occasionally. The more frequently you stir, the finer the consistency. If you prefer clumpier granola stir less.
2. Add raisins, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips...whatever you desire after the granola is ready.
3. This is delicious as a hot or cold cereal, as a snack, a topping for yogurt or made into granola bars.

I leave the cover off and cook overnight on low. If you cook it on warm (which my crockpot doesn’t have) you should probably put the lid on cracked/caddywhompus.

If you put the lid on directly/completely, you run the risk of cracking the crock (this has happened to someone who tried this recipe).

I put the butter in with the crockpot on high as I prepare to make the recipe and do a few other things. Once it’s melted, I add the other ingredients, except the oats. I stir them until they are mixed and then add the oats (and sometimes the coconut).

Recently, I chopped up several apples and put them in with the ingredients the night before. In the morning, we had dried apple bits in our granola. I’m going to try this with different fruits in the future to see what other options work.

Baked Oatmeal

• 3 C rolled oats or 6 C instant oats
• 1/2 - 1 C brown sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 C milk
• 1/2 C butter, melted or 1/2 C applesauce
• 2 eggs
• Additions: carob or chocolate chips, dried fruits, nuts, etc.

1. Mix together.
2. Bake at 350 for 35 - 40 minutes. (Or cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.)
3. Cut and serve warm (some people pour a little milk over each square).

Due to food allergies, our version is made with coconut milk, egg yolks only (2 for each egg called for), and applesauce. And, yes, it still tastes good.