Apple Granola Muffins

I love muffins, it's basically a free pass to eat cake for breakfast. So what's better than cake for breakfast? How about cake and granola. Yum! I would never have thought to put granola inside a muffin until I saw this pear granola muffin recipe, but granola really is a wonderful filling and topping for a muffin and makes them a little more breakfasty. You can choose any granola variety you like, but I would recommend one without raisins. I used special K granola. Enjoy!

Apple Granola Muffins:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp of plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp of milk
2 tbsp of butter, melted
1 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of wheat flour
2 tsps of baking powder
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cinnamon
2 apples (1 granny smith, 1 gala), diced
3/4 cup of granola

Topping:
1 cup of granola
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
6 tbsp of butter, chilled

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners and lightly spray with non-stick spray. In a large bowl mix together eggs, sugar, yogurt, milk, and butter until well combined slowly mix in flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon until just combined. Mix in apples and granola. Fill each muffin tin with batter approximately 3/4 full. Make topping: Mix together granola, flour, sugar and salt. Chop butter into pieces and cut into granola mixture using your hands, until clumps form. Distribute the topping over the muffins. Bake until a fork inserted comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes. Make 18. (adapted from Martha)

Happy Eating.

S'Mores Bars

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate a super ton of turkey,etc! Thanks for baring with me as I got over my vacation brain (sort of). But here is a delicious way to come back, s'mores bars! I made these AMAZING blondies for my November Secret Recipe Club, and they are from Casey and her blog, Beautiful Disasters. Casey's Blog is full of delicious looking treats, but her brownies and bars are particularly outrageous. I had such a hard time deciding which to make, but I'm so glad I decide to make the s'mores. I decided to truly decadent mine up, by whipping up some homemade marshmallow cream (so easy, and so much better than the jarred stuff). Enjoy these delicious bars (if you aren't too stuffed from the holiday) and check out Beautiful Disasters for more great recipes!

S'Mores Blondies:
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 eggs
2 cups of flour
2 cups of graham cracker crumbs (about 2 sleeve of graham crackers)
1 tsp of baking powder
1 salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
2 1/2 cups of marshmallow cream (jarred or homemade)
2 cups of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until combined. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 12" pan. Press half the cookie dough into the bottom of the pan, sprinkle chocolate chips on in an even layer, then top with marshmallow cream, spreading with a spatula dipped in hot water. Then, top with remaining cookie dough, in chunks, leaving some marshmallow exposed. Bake for about 30 minutes, until cookie is golden and a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean. Let cool, then cut into bars and enjoy! (adapted from Beautiful Disasters)

Happy Eating!

Vacation

Hello!! I am currently in beautiful Jamaica on vacation! I will be back for the week of Thanksgiving! Thanks for stopping by!

Mini Pumpkin Pies

I can't believe I am about to say this, but Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I feel like summer barely ended, and we are halfway through November. But that's ok, because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is the best food (and family time) around and I can't wait for all the festivities to start. So, I got started a little early, with some yummy mini pumpkin pies with a graham cracker crust.

Crust:
12 graham crackers
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
3 tbsp of light brown sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 375. Line muffin tins with paper liners and spray lightly with non-stick. In a food processor, blend graham crackers until you have crumbs with no large chunks. Add salt, cinnamon and brown sugar and pulse to combine. With processor running, stream in the butter and mix until incorporated. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of 18 muffin liners. Bake until just fragrant and slightly toasted, about 5 minutes.

Filling:
1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree
1 can of evaporated milk
3/4 cup of light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbsp of corn starch
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of ginger
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1/4 tsp of ground cloves

Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees. In a large bowl mix all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tins, a little less than 1/4 cup per muffin. Bake until set but slightly wobbley in the center, about 25 minutes. Rotate once half way through. Let cook and then refrigerate overnight or until firm. (adapted from Martha)

Happy Eating.

Wine Roasted Lamb

I don't just eat potatoes for dinner, I promise. So here is the other half of my Sunday night fall roasting extravaganza. Leg of lamb!! I love leg of lamb, but I don't often by it, because they are so large, what are two people going to do with 7 pounds of meat?! So I was delighted when Whole Foods had half legs of lamb, still with the bone in, and a much more manageable 2 1/2 lbs (which was still enough to provide 2 dinners for 2 people, the leftovers became lamb fried rice, yum). The wine in this recipe soaks into the onions making them totally drunk and irresistible (yes, I called my onions drunk) and goes perfect with the richness of the lamb. A perfect Sunday evening.

Wine Roasted Lamb:
1 semi-boneless half leg of lamb, about 2 1/2-3 lbs
1 tbsp of olive oil
3 small onions
1 shallot
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of pepper
1 tbsp of salt
1 tsp of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup of red wine, drinking quality

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Rub the lamb with the salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, then drizzle with olive oil. Put lamb in a 9 by 13 casserole dish. Chop onions, shallots and garlic and put them in the dish around the lamb. Cook for 25 minutes, reduce heat to 325 and pour wine over lamb and onions. Let cook until a thermomater inserted in the lamb registers 140 (for medium rare), about 30 minutes more depending on weight. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Serve lamb with onions and wine drippings. Enjoy.

Happy Eating.

Standing Roasted Potatoes

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I have all those amazing dishes on the brain, particularly the sides. Stuffing and potatoes, what more could a girl ask for. Stuffing is probably my all time favorite food, but sometimes you just need an amazingly crisp roast potato. These take a good amount of time but they are worth the wait. In addition to delicious-ing up your Thanksgiving table (not that it needs it), they are perfect for Sunday night roasting, my favorite cold weather tradition. And now that the cold has settled in, expect lots more roasting to come.

5 golden potatoes
2 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp of olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes

Pre-heat the oven to 375. Thinly slice the potatoes into rounds (like potato chip shape). Divide potato slices between 6 muffin cups, and place the slices in the cups vertically (standing up). Slice the garlic, and divide between the muffin cups, putting the slices in between potato slices. Drizzle with olive oil and then season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Slice the butter into small pieces and put a few on top of each muffin tin. Roast for 1 hour until the slices are browned at the top, then lower heat to 325 and roast until potatoes are cooked through, about 30 minutes more. Makes 6 individual portions. (adapted from Martha)

Happy Eating.

Bacon Roasted Pork Loin

Bacon is magical. It takes something that is already delicious (a pork tenderloin) and makes it truly wonderful. The bacon gets nice and crisp on the outside, while the pork on the inside remains incredibly moist and tender. This is truly the best pork tenderloin I have ever tasted. Even the next day, when I put the tenderloin, sans bacon, on a salad, the meat was so amazing and perfect. This dish looks beautiful, and is super easy to make, the prep takes about 5 minutes. So the next time you need to special up a dish, remember, bacon makes it better.

Bacon Roasted Pork Loin:
2 pork tenderloins, 1 lb each
6 slices of center cut bacon, or other thick sliced
Salt, Pepper
1/2 tsp of rep pepper flakes
2 large onions
3 cloves of garlic

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Season the pork tenderloins with salt and pepper. Push them together and wrap the bacon around the tenderloins. Place in a 9 by 13 baking dish bacon seam side down, sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Chop onions and garlic and and add to dish. Roast for 20 minutes, then lower heat to 350 and continue roasting until cooked just too 140 degrees, about 10-15 minutes. Broil for a few minutes to crisp the bacon. To serve slice in between the bacon slices.

Happy Eating.