Gluten Free Almond Cranberry Apple Bread

Looking for this? This recipe has moved HERE! :)

Thanks for sticking with me as I move my blog recipes!

Budget-Friendly Baked Cinnamon French Toast

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

I'm quick jotting this down so it's a recipe I don't forget! The original idea came from here, just so I'm giving credit where it's due. I really wanted to make that recipe, but also really didn't want to use butter, and only had two bananas. Here's my tweaked version!

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 overripe bananas (mine were frozen)
1/w c. regular or Greek plain yogurt
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. flour
1/2 + 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. brewed coffee (just save a tiny bit from a leftover pot!)
1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips -- reserve for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If need be, thaw your bananas. If not, mash them.

"Cream" the yogurt, sugar, vanilla and salt. with a spoon or spatula. Add egg and mix well. Add bananas, remaining dry ingredients, and coffee. Mix well again until all dry ingredients are well incorporated and only a few tiny lumps of banana remain.

Pour batter into greased loaf pan.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, depending on your oven.

As the bread cools, press the chocolate chips into the top of the bread and allow them to slightly melt on top. :)

"Creaming" the sugar and yogurt.

What the complete batter looks like!

And finally, what I did with an extra slice this evening while watching Chopped with Hubby!! Chocolate chip ice cream and caramel sauce were the perfect, decadent complement! Highly recommend.

Slice and enjoy! <3

Favorite Pinterest Recipes this Week . . .

Just click on the title links to get to the recipes! :)

Chocolate Shortbread Heart Cookies from Two Peas and Their Pod





Easy Bacon Egg and Toast Cups from Martha Stewart Recipe




Citrus Vinaigrette from food.com





Poor Girl's Peppermint Mocha from right here!





This is my #TBT. Still one of my favs! It's so fun to see my recipes on Pinterest.



Love, peace and life. <3

Cranberry Cinnamon Breakfast Rice Pudding

I. Love. Breakfast.

I do not love freezing cold mornings and eating cold cereal on cold mornings.

Thus, this recipe was born.

:)


Cranberry Cinnamon Breakfast Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

1 c. uncooked rice (I use Jasmine)

1 c. frozen or fresh cranberries

1 c. water

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 c. white sugar

2 Tbsp. milk

My usual rice pick.

Instructions:

Place cranberries in a small sauce pan with 1 c. water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and strain liquid from berries. Set the berries aside. They should be tender, and slightly falling apart.

Cook rice according to package directions. My Jasmine rice cooks with 1 and 3/4 c. water for about five minutes.

When rice is soft and there is no excess water, add your cranberries. Stir gently with a rubber spatula. Add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, sugar and milk and stir again.

Serve hot with a cinnamon garnish. I think this would be divine with a little whipped cream on top, but alas, that was not on my menu this morning. Still, I could eat this for breakfast EVERY single day of winter. It's warm, sweet, and filling. **Plus, it's gluten and egg free! You could always substitute the milk for almond or rice milk too!**

Yep, princess dishware for the princesses that rule our roost.

Enjoy with life on these cold winter mornings. <3

Banana-Cranberry Quick Bread

Well, it's the end of the month again, which in our house means we can see the bottom of our pantry and fridge shelves! We still have a week to go though, since we shop strictly once a month due to distance and budget.

Our eggs, bread, and fresh fruit are almost gone, BUT I had a banana and some leftover cranberries in the freezer and just enough flour to get my brain thinking creatively. So this evening I made what I hope will be a delicious snack and breakfast loaf (that doesn't taste as cheap as it was!) to help us coast into our week before our next shopping trip.

This is adapted from my mom's original A - Z Loaf. This recipe is golden. I use it literally for every quick bread I make. 

Banana-Cranberry Quick Bread

Ingredients:

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1/3 c. oil
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) margarine, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 ripe or overripe banana
1 c. cranberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a regular bread loaf pan.

Simmer the cranberries on medium high heat with 1 cup of water in a small saucepan. When they are tender to the touch, pull the pan off the heat. Set aside.

Cream the margarine and sugar with the vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, egg, and oil. Mix with a hand or stand mixer on high until well incorporated. Add the cinnamon, banana, lemon zest, lemon juice and cranberries.

Mix again on a low setting until the cranberries give just a tinge of color to the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for an hour and twenty minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

The berries bake up so sweet, the crust is slightly chewy, and the lemon zest gives the perfect complimentary flavor.

My view for the evening. 

Enjoy with life, even when the pantry's empty.

Earl Grey Breakfast Biscuits with Lemon Sugar Glaze

My daughter's play group is having a tea party this week, and we get to be the hostesses!!

Isn't it every little girl's dream to have a giant tea party with all her friends? (Okay, maybe not every girl's, but definitely mine!)

Another generous mommy offered to bring the culinary fare, but in the spirit of tea time, I made these breakfast biscuits just for me and Bundle to eat tomorrow morning.

I cannot wait!



...okay...I totally already had two....shhhh.



This recipe calls for both brewed tea and tea leaves, so the flavor is great! The honey lends a sticky texture to the batter, and the lemon gives it a perfect kick.

Enjoy with tea.


Earl Grey Breakfast Biscuits with Lemon Sugar Glaze

Ingredients:

Biscuits

1 cup cooled earl grey tea
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. melted butter
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 c. flour
1 regular bag of earl grey tea leaves, dry
1 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Lemon Sugar Glaze

1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. milk


Instructions:

Mix the sugars, butter, salt, vanilla and brewed tea with a hand mixer or stand mixer on high for one minute.

Brewed and cooled tea

Add the egg. Mix again for one minute. Add the flour cup by cup, mixing in between each addition.

Next add the tea leaves (I just cut the bag open, and dumped it into the batter!), lemon juice and honey. Mix again on high for one minute, or until batter is thick, sticky, and all ingredients are incorporated.

Scoop batter into small (about 2 inch) heaps onto a prepared baking sheet. I treated them sort of as a drop biscuit. This recipe makes about 2 dozen, so I placed the biscuits about 1 inch apart, 12 per sheet.

Bake at 325 for ten to twelve minutes, or until golden brown.


While baking, prepare the lemon sugar glaze:

Stir lemon juice, powdered sugar and milk together until it forms a creamy, thick icing.

When biscuits come out of the oven, transfer immediately to a cooling rack or serving platter. Drizzle generously with lemon sugar glaze.


And of course, as usual... taste them immediately!

Bundle tested them out this morning. Result: "More cookie!"

The lemon and earl grey flavors pair perfectly together, and I can't wait to make them again!



Enjoy with life. And tea. <3

Apple Harvest Green Smoothie

Looking for a quick delicious way to ingest loads of essential vitamins and nutrients? Look no further.

Let's be honest...I regret absolutely NONE of the buttery, sugary choices I made during the 2014 holidays...I thoroughly enjoyed every calorie-packed bite.

However, I do believe I could benefit significantly from some more health-conscious food choices during 2015...starting now. :)

This green smoothie is loaded with protein, antioxidants, iron and vitamin C (not to mention countless other nutrients), but also satisfies a sweet tooth, especially for those tangy and nutty flavors of the season.

My toddler helped me with a few spoonfuls, and this tasty treat was gone in less than five minutes!

Apple Harvest Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 1/2 large Gala apples, roughly chopped
2 cups, packed, baby spinach leaves
1/2 chopped pecans
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. honey

Instructions:

Place all ingredients in a large blender and blend on high for about one minute, or until totally pureed.

The smoothie has almost a gazpacho texture, thick and chunky. If you like it more smooth, simply add more juice and blend longer.

As Bundle would say, "All gone!" 

Enjoy with life!  <3

Good Morning Muffins

My sweet Bundle is sick this morning. There's almost nothing worse than watching your sweet child suffer from illness without being able to help much.

Especially after looking outside and seeing this!

Even though it's a bummer to miss a beautiful day playing outside and enjoying fall's generous plethora of activities, it's still the perfect day to make the best of things -- to throw open the windows, drink warm tea, and bake up a delicious feel-better plate of muffins.

After using the 27th tissue, applying the vapor rub, and administering various medications, I asked Bundle if she wanted breakfast. Bananas are her favorite, and she ate almost an entire banana (progress!). Since eating is tough for anyone with a terrible cold, I thought I'd incorporate her favorite, easy-to-digest food in the form of a kid-friendly muffin.

These banana muffins are naturally sweet, nutritious and satisfying. Perfect for any fall day, even a sick one. :)

 Good Morning Muffins

Ingredients:
   (Makes 1 1/2 dozen)

3 ripe bananas
1 c. oats
1 c. flour
1/4 packed cup brown sugar
1/8 c. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. melted butter


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With an electric mixer, blend bananas, honey, brown sugar, egg, melted butter and milk.

Add the oats, flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon and mix again until all ingredients create a thick, creamy consistency.

When oven reaches 350 degrees, turn in down to 325 degrees.

Pour batter evenly into 12 muffin cups. You may have to leftover batter. I always bake a couple extra muffins up if I have extra batter at the end. Bake for 17-20 minutes.

Remove from muffin tin immediately and allow at least ten minutes to cool.

They're like the moistest, sweetest, banana bread in muffin form!

We will likely be spending the rest of the day like this, soaking in the autumn rays from indoors. :)

Enjoy with life!  <3

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Summer breakfast, perfected.

I've had an abnormally large abundance of zucchini in my fridge this year. Guess how much of it I grew myself? Zero. We have lots of friends and coworkers who have been extremely successful in their zucchini gardening endeavors this year, and we've reaped the benefits!

This GIANT came from one of Hubby's coworkers. We've been whittling it down for a week now!

My hubby makes literally THE best grilled onions and zucchini, as well as some awesome zucchini crust pizza, but after a week, we needed some more zucchini inspiration. 

I found a few recipes I knew I'd want to try immediately. Here is one of them. It's simple, chocolaty, and family (including toddler) approved, but I wanted to make a few changes--namely, to omit the oil and add Greek yogurt. I also tweaked the measurements of the vanilla, salt and chocolate chips to suit my taste.

Enjoy with life!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

(Makes 21 muffins)

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. cocoa

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. shredded zucchini

4 oz. mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare 21 muffin cups. (Flour, grease, use paper cups, whatever your preference!)

Beat the eggs, yogurt and sugars together until creamy. Add vanilla and all the dry ingredients. Beat on medium-high speed until well-incorporated. Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips last. 

The blurred action shot of Bundle helping me stir! :) I LOVE when my kiddo helps me bake!

Spoon prepared muffin cups 3/4 full. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F and bake for 25 minutes.

 

Dust with powdered sugar if you want!

Mmmm!

We ate these for breakfast and snack time several days in a row, and I ate them as a pre-workout snack too! Although the sugar and flour isn't great for you, there is no butter, and the cocoa and chocolate chips have those precious, delicious antioxidants us mommies always need! ;)

Happy Zucchini Season!

<3

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Granola bars are one of my daily food staples. Literally. I take one to school every morning and usually have one later in the day sometime. When you think about it, those granola bars could really add up! When I found this recipe for copy cat Quaker granola bars, I pinned it, knowing it would have to be tried.

Tonight was the night! I did tweak a few things. I didn't have the peanut butter chips, granola cereal or butter their recipe called for, but I used creamy peanut butter, quick oats and margarine instead. I think they turned out fantastic! For as little work these guys require, they'll definitely be made again in this house!

Ingredients:
1/2 stick of margarine
1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. honey
2 c. quick oats
1 c. Crisp Rice cereal (like Rice Krispies)
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. chocolate chips

Line two 9 x 5 loaf pans with tin foil.

Heat the honey, brown sugar and margarine in a large saucepan on the stovetop's medium setting. Stir until margarine is just melted.

 Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir until the sugar is dissolved (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and slowly fold in the peanut butter.

When peanut butter is just barely melted into the mixture, add the cereal and oats 1/4 cup at a time, coating oats and cereal at a constant rate until all of it is mixed in and evenly coated. {I folded into some of the chocolate chips immediately, but you could wait until the end to sprinkle them on top. I did both! :)}

It was a quick process, so I'm sorry that I don't have any other pictures of mixing in the dry ingredients and peanut butter!

Pour half of the mixture into one loaf pan and the other half into the other pan. Press mixture firmly into the pans with spoon or spatula. Press in the remaining chocolate chips (or all of them, if you didn't mix some in earlier).

To cool quickly, place the pans in the fridge for a few hours. You can cut these into squares or rectangles and serve immediately, or wrap individually for an easy grab-and-go snack! You know I'll be taking a few of these in my bag tomorrow morning for school...

Enjoy with life.